Mike Holober

Mike Holober & the Gotham City Orchestra: This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters

by Angelo Leonardi
November 11, 2024

Dopo gli ultimi superlativi album orchestrali (Balancing Act, Palmetto 2015 e Hiding Out, Zoho 2019) la nuova incisione di Mike Holober con la Gotham Jazz Orchestra non dovrebbe stupirci, eppure questo doppio album ci ha nuovamente colpito. L'aggiunta di Chris Potter, John Patitucci, Nir Felder e della cantante brasiliana Jamile Staevie Ayres all'orchestra rende infatti il progetto quanto mai esaltante. Questi nomi completano un organico già nutrito di solisti ragguardevoli come Marvin Stamm e Scott Wendholt alle trombe, ...

Mike Holober: This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters

by Dan McClenaghan
October 1, 2024

We live on a rock. A few billion years of the workings of the complexities of carbon chemistry put us here. The systems and intricacies of every element that has unfolded to maintain us should be respected and preserved. Mike Holober's This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters, featuring Holober and his Gotham Jazz Orchestra, digs into this theme in a sprawling, two-disc big band jazz outing. Like life itself, and the resulting ecosystems, this multi-movement suite--an effort that is the ...

Jazz and a Little Blues with Mike Holober and John Mayall

by Jerome Wilson
December 21, 2022

This show mixes a bit of blues and soul with jazz vocals, guitar, and large ensembles. Musicians involved include John Mayall, Mike Holober, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, and Karrin Allyson. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 DIVA Jazz Orchestra “Heart" from DIVA Swings Broadway (Diva Jazz) 00:50 Gil Evans Orchestra “Lunar Eclipse" from Hidden Treasures Volume One: Monday Nights ...

Mike Holober & Balancing Act: Don't Let Go

by Jack Bowers
June 2, 2022

With Don't Let Go, pianist Mike Holober and the octet Balancing Act seemed to have found an ideal way to cross-breed classical motifs and contemporary jazz to produce a pleasurable listening experience. Then he added lyrics. Granted, not all lyrics are superfluous—even those that are either nebulous or indecipherable, as is too often the case here. It's simply that some listeners may be more receptive to an alternative in the form of, say, Marvin Stamm's trumpet, Dick Oatts' or Jason ...

Scott Reeves: The Alchemist

by Edward Blanco
October 8, 2021

Trombonist, composer and band leader Scott Reeves once performed a live concert at the City College of New York with his then quintet, which has now been documented as his newest offering entitled The Alchemist. However, new is not the operative word here, as this musical event took place on May 5th, 2005. While concentrating on compositions and recordings for his jazz orchestra over the last ten years, the pandemic provided Reeves with the opportunity to review the music he ...

Scott Reeves Quintet: The Alchemist

by Jack Bowers
July 21, 2021

Devastating as it has been, the global Covid-19 pandemic has produced a few upsides as well, one of which is the rediscovery by versatile Scott Reeves of a concert that his quintet performed sixteen years ago, in May 2005, at the City College of New York. With time on his hands as a result of the scarcity of gigs during the pandemic, Reeves visited his archives and found the recording, which he never intended to release owing to audio issues. ...

The 4th of July

by AAJ Staff
July 4, 2021

The 4th of July Music and lyrics by Mike Holober Music. Publisher: Connect the Dots Music BMI. How do we get there from here? a child asks her eyes open wide no fear that distant shore where hope and love are law Sparklers in small hands parades and marching bands unfurl your hopes and let them fly Why reminisce lose yourself in this? here's why ...

Marvin Stamm & Mike Holober

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 13, 2020

Trumpeter and flugelhornist Marvin Stamm's recording legacy is astonishing. If you sail through his discography at his Wikipedia entry, his list of recordings runs about a quarter of a mile. In addition to leadership albums starting in the early 1960s through to today, Marvin was on albums by every major artist from the period, from Thad Jone/Mel Lewis's Consummation to the Average White Band's exceptional first AWB album, from albums by Stan Kenton and Gary McFarland to Gato Barbieri, James ...
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CCNY Professor's Musical Journey Down the Hudson to Debut April 10

Source: Michael Ricci
April 1, 2010

Mike Holober to Lead Westchester Jazz Orchestra in Premiere Performance

In addition to teaching in the Music Department at The City College of New York (CCNY), noted jazz composer and pianist Mike Holober serves as artistic director and conductor of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra (WJO). On Saturday, April 10, he will lead the ensemble in the premiere of his composition “Flow: In Celebration of the Hudson River." The concert, at the Town Hall Theatre in Irvington, New York, begins at ...
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CD: Mike Holober

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
January 15, 2009

Mike Holober & The Gotham Jazz Orchestra, Quake (Sunnyside). Pianist-composer-arranger Holober chooses not to call his large congregation a big band. His scoring justifies the term orchestra. Balancing lushness with motion in and through the horn and rhythm sections, he evokes nature; the rustling of aspens in “Quake," bird song in “Thrushes." He is equally creative in his own pieces and in reinventions of songs by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Holober's soloists, including himself, are among the best ...
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