LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring Loren Stillman
Release Date: 01/01/2024
LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring Eric Reed
Liner Notes with David Bixler
Pianist Eric Reed calls on tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer Joe Farnsworth to join him on his new recording Out Late on Smoke Sessions Records. The record, which will be available on May 16, features seven originals that were intended to get this group of well-known musicians out of their comfort zones. In addition to our conversation in this episode of LINER NOTES, Eric uses the piano to give the listener a behind the scenes peek into his process and musical thought life.
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LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring Jon Irabagon
Liner Notes with David Bixler
AI-labor saving tool or existential threat? On his new recording Server Farm, saxophonist and composer Jon Irabagon contemplates the potential threat and promise of this omni-present technology. For this recording Irabagon augments his regular quartet consisting of keyboardist Matt Mitchell, bassist Chris Lightcap, and percussionist Dan Weiss with violinist and vocalist Mazz Smith, trumpeter Peter Evans, guitarists Miles Okazaki and Wendy Eisenberg, bassist Michael Formanek, and percussionist and electronic musician Levy Lorenzo. Imitating AI, Jon spent several years doing a deep dive into the...
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LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring Allison Miller
Liner Notes with David Bixler
Drummer and composer Allison Miller begins 2025 with several diverse and exciting projects. Big and Lovely, a recording of her original music with the University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band was released on January 10. On February 2 at 3pm at the 92nd Street Y in NYC Allison will present Rivers In Our Veins, an ambitious multi-media work featuring the award-winning dancer Michelle Dorrance as a special guest and features three additional dancers: Claudia Rahardjanoto, Maleek Washington and Luke Hickey, plus live video projections by Todd Winkler and an ensemble that features violinist...
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LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring John Beasley
Liner Notes with David Bixler
2024 has been a productive year for LA based pianist and composer John Beasley. He released three new recordings, two of which are up for GRAMMY awards. Nominated in the category of “Best Latin Jazz Album” is El Trio on Challenge Records which features bassist Jose Gola and drummer Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez. The second nomination in the category of “Best Large Ensemble Album” is for the recording Returning to Forever, a reimagining of Chick Corea’s Return to Forever with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band on Candid Records.
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LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring John Hart
Liner Notes with David Bixler
Love Is is guitarist John Hart’s sixth trio recording for SteepleChase records. For this recording producer Nils Winther wanted to mix things up for John and suggested keeping the trio format, but with a different instrumentation. This recording finds John playing with bassist Carlo DeRosa and cornetist Kirk Knufke. Carlo is a long-time collaborator, but the short rehearsal prior to the recording was the first time that Kirk and John had met, let alone played together. The result is a gratifying session of standards and originals demonstrating the artistry of seasoned professionals. For the...
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LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring Wayne Escoffery
Liner Notes with David Bixler
In the summer of 2023 saxophonist Wayne Escoffery found himself in Europe processing changes in his personal life while at the same time nursing a broken finger that prohibited him from playing his horn. He used this time of reflection to compose the music presented on his new record Alone on Smoke Sessions Records, which features pianist Gerald Clayton, bassist Ron Carter, and Carl Allen on drums. In this episode of LINER NOTES Wayne speaks of the challenge of creating something meaningful in a society that places a premium on the immediate.
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LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring Tim Armacost
Liner Notes with David Bixler
On his new recording, Something About Believing tenor saxophonist Tim Armacost is joined by trumpeter Tom Harrell and baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan as well as the outstanding rhythm section of bassist John Patitucci and drummer Al Foster. Listening to the music one is struck by the comfortability of master improvisers doing what they do best, however in this episode of LINER NOTES Tim explains that this recording is a snapshot of a journey that he embarked on a number of years ago while exploring synesthesia. The project began as a chordless quartet in which the musicians worked with...
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LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring Orrin Evans
Liner Notes with David Bixler
The shoes that grace the cover of Orrin Evans’ new record are special shoes from his childhood that were necessitated by being born with neurofibromatosis. The record is called Walk a Mile in My Shoe, and the shoes are a reminder of his condition and the impact that this neurological disorder has had on him. However, Evans yearns to move past the initial metaphor of the title in order to convey the ideas of feeling worthy and taking ownership of his journey. In this episode of LINER NOTES Orrin talks about the music, the musicians, and the music business.
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LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring Miles Okazaki
Liner Notes with David Bixler
After several decades of creating music in a manner that was beginning to feel routine, guitarist Miles Okazaki was searching for a fresh way to make music. He examined the processes of artists Ed Ruscha, Sol Lewitt, and Ken Price as templates for creating. In possession of these new ideas gleaned from these artists, he went into the studio with a group of musicians that were given prompts which were recorded and formed into what Miles refers to as musical “slabs.” These “slabs” were then sanded, polished, and sculpted, and the result is Miniture America, which Okazaki describes as a...
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LINER NOTES with David Bixler featuring Troy Roberts
Liner Notes with David Bixler
The colors black, white, brown, beige, and blue have all had a prominent place in music, but in the eyes and ears of saxophonist Troy Roberts the color green piqued his interest due to its ambiguity. Not only can the color green convey greed and envy or rot and decay, it can also represent nature and tranquility. Troy embraces green as an impetus to move and has named his new release Green Lights which is the subject of the first episode of the 7th season of LINER NOTES.
info_outlineThe last several years have brought about significant change for saxophonist Loren Stillman. A lifelong New Yorker, Loren and his family did a 180, and moved to Montana several years ago. With the time afforded to him by the pandemic, Loren, having made a name for himself as an alto saxophonist focused his energies on the tenor. The fruit of his labor is a new recording,Time and Again, released on Sunnyside Records featuring himself on the tenor along with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Mark Feber. In this episode of LINER NOTES, Loren speaks about the significant changes in his musical and personal life as well as the place that he envisions the tenor will have in his music going forward.