Seattle trumpeter Chad McCullough has been working hard to garner a reputation in his hometown and beyond as a versatile, creative musician. McCullough has performed with a wide range of artists, including Jay Thomas, Claudio Roditi, Marc Seales, Thomas Marriott, Ingrid Jensen and Bob Florence. He's toured extensively with the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the jazz trumpet chair, and also as the band's pianist.McCullough's debut recording, Dark Wood, Dark Water (Origin Records, 2009), taken from the title of a poem by American poet Sylvia Plath (1932-1963), is a strong debut, emphasizing the 27-year-old trumpeter's prowess as an improviser who demonstrates an understanding of the rich lineage of jazz trumpet.
AAJ Contributor John Barron spoke with McCullough recently, providing a window into Dark Wood, Dark Water, as well as his day-to-day work behind the scenes with Origin Records.
Check out Chad McCullough: Playing to the Gig at AAJ today!
Arturo O'Farrill, an extraordinary pianist, admits he came out of the bebop school of playing, a Bud Powell disciple, and his strong chops would attest to that. He didn't pursue the music of his father--the great Chico O'Farrill--in his younger days, but he came upon it as he studied the music. He came to not only appreciate it, but his excellent bands embody it.
There is no place for fear or doubt in pianist Craig Taborn's playing--such states are banished from a mind that seeks to explore the musical possibilities of each moment with maximum freedom. Taborn's improvisational playing is a continual creation where the journey is the thing, and words like beautiful, ugly and mistake have virtually no meaning. True improvisers like Taborn, with the ability to take the leap into the unknown, have always been a fairly rare breed.
Alto saxophonist Steve Lehman's Travail, Transformation, and Flow is his most fully-realized album to date. AAJ is celebrating the June 9, 2009 release of his new octet album with two reviews and a free downloadable MP3 track from the album: