Reuben Radding

Reuben Radding: More Than Just a Free Jazzer

by Marc Medwin
February 13, 2008

A low trilling crescendo, replete with harmonics, a sharp rise and sudden plummet as one of those upper partials is tossed off a cliff and fades into the distance. Yet, after a brief pause and in the very next gesture, it returns to create a triumphant major third. Such pithy compactness is typical of bassist/composer Reuben Radding's approach to music making. His free playing usually combines US grit and power with an always fascinating and detailed sense of European formal ...

Billy Stein: Hybrids

by Troy Collins
July 27, 2006

Hybrids, guitarist Billy Stein's debut recording, arrives after thirty years of playing sideman to some of the finest musicians in the New York area. A singular stylist with an unorthodox approach, Stein shares the same off-center sensibility as stylistic peers like Bern Nix, Joe Morris and Michael Musillami.

While attending Milt Hinton's Jazz Workshop at Hunter College in the 1970s, Stein found a kindred spirit in percussionist Kevin Norton, who now runs the Barking Hoop label. In the ...

Reuben Radding: Fugitive Pieces

by Marc Medwin
June 24, 2006

"The Gradual Instant --nothing could be more apt in describing the way this Reuben Radding disc is constructed. Each instant might take a moment, or three minutes, or longer. The episodic qualities of each track ensure adventure, introspection and transcendence for anyone inclined toward patience. This is not the Radding I've known. Sure, jazz lurks in the wings, ready to spring forth with post-Ayleresque freedom surrounding it like a halo, as on “Phosphorus, but jazz isn't the ...

Transit: Transit

by Tom Greenland
May 11, 2006

While improvising musicians thrive on novel combinations of instruments and musical personalities, there is also the sense that close and repeated creative camaraderie fosters group cohesion. Transit, the eponymously titled debut recording from the quartet of drummer Jeff Arnal, bassist Reuben Radding, alto saxophonist Seth Misterka and trumpeter Nate Wooley--all active on the grassroots avant jazz scene burgeoning in boroughs of New York--boasts both qualities, producing a satisfying blend of freshness and familiarity. The album exhibits a ...

Reuben Radding: Intersections

by Jeff Stockton
February 18, 2006

Reuben Radding has had to take initiative to get his music heard before. Luminescence, a recording of duets performed with multi-reedist Daniel Carter, was shopped around and ultimately released by AUM Fidelity in 2002; it gave off a do-it-himself scent that carries over to Intersections, the first release on the bassist's own Pine Ear Music label. Radding is plenty busy, performing and recording in combinations of various size and styles (including wicked work with Seattle's Wally Shoup Trio), but Pine ...

Transit: Transit

by Troy Collins
February 15, 2006

A varied session with roots in cerebral European improvisation, AACM-inspired sound experimentation and New Thing-era ferocity, Transit's self-titled debut demonstrates expert communication, the key to any successful cooperative venture. Although organized by percussionist Jeff Arnal, the members of the quartet share writing credits, relying on collective improvisation as their principle strategy. Though Transit's music is rooted in free jazz, these players are not constrained by preconceived notions.

From the tumultuous vortex of sound that opens the album to ...

Reuben Radding: Intersections

by Mark Corroto
January 25, 2006

Check the lineup on this recording and you might get a hint about where it is headed. A bass/vibes/clarinet affair often speaks to brainy, logical, and adroit musicmaking. Intersections is indeed passionate, but in measured doses.

Bassist Reuben Radding is equally comfortable in jazz, classical and ethnic music. His duet disc with Daniel Carter, Luminesence (AUM Fidelity, 2003), was a modern classic. He has also worked with Jack Wright, John Zorn and Dave Douglas. Calling in Oscar Noriega ...

Ursel Schlicht and Reuben Radding: Einstein's Dreams

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
March 1, 2011

Ursel Schlicht, pianist, composer, educator, we have seen via a number of postings here and on the guitar site; bassist Reuben Radding should also be no stranger to regular readers of my blogs. They both in their own way have strongly original approaches to improvisation, which their CD collaboration Einstein's Dreams (Konnex 5165) well attests. This is a full set of improvisations captured live at Location One, NYC, in 2004. The two run through an inspired series of freely improvised ...
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Mary Halvorson, Reuben Radding & Nate Wooley "Crackleknob" (Hatology 662)

Source: All About Jazz
March 24, 2009

Mary Halvorson - guitar Reuben Radding - double bass Nate Wooley - trumpet Crackleknob Hatology 662

One listen to this CD and that element of trust and synchronicity immediately comes through. This is the kind of music that can only come from musicians who know each other well. It is like dropping in on an intimate conversation. Ideas get launched and then get immediately picked up, morphed, and woven back in. There ...
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Wade Matthews-Reuben Radding-Andrew Drury US Tour

Source: All About Jazz
November 25, 2006

Matthews, Radding, Drury, an electroacoustic trio featuring Wade Matthews (laptop, alto flute, bass clarinet), Reuben Radding (bass), and Andrew Drury (floor tom + objects) will be on tour in the US from Nov 30 to Dec 10. Don't miss this rare treat to hear these internationally acclaimed musicians.

Nov30 - Champaign, IL - Krannert Art Museum (Univ of IL) Dec1 - Chicago, IL - Heaven Gallery Dec2 - Milwaukee, WI - Hotcakes Gallery Dec3 ...
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Pine Ear Releases Reuben Radding Fugitive Pieces CD

Source: All About Jazz
March 21, 2006

Fugitive Pieces is Pine Ear's second release by composer/double bassist Reuben Radding. A major contrast to the chamber jazz of 2005's highly acclaimed Intersections CD, this outing finds Radding leading a quartet formation with Nate Wooley on trumpet, Matt Bauder on reeds, and Andrew Drury on percussion, that is traditional only in its instrumentation.

Generated by verbal explanations of Radding's graphic and text scores, conceived specifically for the languages of the players--as well as open improvisation--the seven pieces form a ...
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Reuben Radding's "Intersections" Released on Pine Ear Music

Source: All About Jazz
December 7, 2005

BROOKLYN, NY -- Pine Ear Music has released Intersections, the debut leader recording by New York City bassist/composer Reuben Radding, with his new trio featuring Matt Moran on vibraphone, and Oscar Noriega on clarinet. As the title of the CD suggests, diverse paths, both musical and personal, find their meeting point in Radding's atonal, counterpoint-driven, compositions. The album concludes with a triumphant reworking of the “Dance of Fury" from Oliver Messiaen's landmark chamber work “Quartet For The End Of Time." ...
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Umbrella Recordings Releases Carrie Shull/Tara Flandreau/Reuben Radding – "The Branch Will Not Break"

Source: All About Jazz
August 8, 2005

New York bassist Reuben Radding who made a critical splash in 2003 with the gorgeous and haunting Luminesence, on AUM Fidelity (a collection of duets with altoist Daniel Carter), is back with a new CD, The Branch Will Not Break (UMR030), with Carrie Shull on oboe and English horn, and violist Tara Flandreau, now available on Umbrella Recordings. This collection of eleven chamber improvisations is stunningly evocative, and inventive, inhabiting a unique space somewhere between contemporary classical music and free ...
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