|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Officially Releasing Today - Adam Glaser, Excursions Adam Glaser's new album, Excursions, is a collection of 15 instrumentals spanning a variety of contemporary jazz styles. While his debut album, Wide Awake, featured Glaser leading an acoustic trio from the piano, for this second release he takes a step inward, exploring the limits and liberties of solo production and arranging.All 15 tracks are composed, performed, programmed and recorded entirely by Glaser using virtual instruments. The result is an eclectic mix of colorful songs that bounce from R&B and funk to jazz-pop and synth-driven electronica, all nestled in the fusion idiom. With the 2019 release of his debut album, Wide Awake, Adam took an important step forward as a jazz pianist, trio leader and recording artist. Now, with the 2021 release of his second album, Excursions, Glaser's focus turns to the composition, arrangement and production of 15 original songs traversing a myriad of contemporary jazz styles. In recent years, Glaser has been a featured guest artist with the Hofstra Jazz Ensemble performing the music of Duke Ellington, and led his own quartet at the Usdan Center Festival Concert Series. In 2019, he made his New York City Opera debut conducting the world premiere of Ted Rosenthal's acclaimed jazz opera, Dear Erich. As a founding member of Philork Jazz, Glaser has performed with this unique group of Philadelphia Orchestra musicians since 1999, joining forces with guest artists Larry McKenna (saxophone), John Blake (violin) and Tony Miceli (vibes) among others. Equally at home across the spectrum of pop, jazz and contemporary music, he has also collaborated with such diverse artists as the bluegrass-inspired DePue Brothers Band and world-music fusion ensemble Batik. One of the most engaging and versatile conductors on the classical scene today, Adam Glaser serves as Music Director of the professional-caliber Juilliard Pre-College Orchestras, which he has conducted in over 50 concerts at New York's Lincoln Center, and as the Director of Orchestras at Hofstra University. Career highlights include a nine-concert residency with the Symphonia Boca Raton, multiple appearances with the symphonies of Wheeling, Illinois and Victoria (BC) and the NYU Orchestras, and collaborations with such distinguished artists as Itzhak Perlman, Joyce Yang, Conrad Tao, Timo Andres and Monica Yunus. Selected honors include the American-Austrian Foundation's Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors, which sponsored his residence at the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna Philharmonic's Attergau Orchestra Institute. An established composer, Glaser's works have been performed by over 30 orchestras throughout the U.S. and Canada, including the orchestras of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Utah, Vancouver and Toronto. Profoundly committed to arts education and community engagement, Glaser is the creator and host of The Composer's Paintbrush, a series in which he leads audiences through an exploration of the creative techniques behind musical masterworks, originally commissioned and presented by New York's prestigious Morgan Library & Museum. A native of Long Island, New York, Glaser earned graduate degrees in orchestral conducting from the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Michigan, an MBA from the Ross School of Business (University of Michigan), a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a diploma in composition from the Juilliard Pre-College Division. He possesses an innovative vision and his delivery is nothing short of flawless as [he] hits it out of the park on this first recording as a leader. – Take Effect Reviews Tracks and Timing: 1. Naomi's Binomial Nomenclature (3:56) 2. The Art of Science (4:16) 3. Con Artist (4:35) 4. Who Wants Lentil Soup? (5:04) 5. A Little Bit of Your Love (3:52) 6. Lay Low (3:11) 7. I'm Ready (5:26) 8. Blues for Planet 9 (5:02) 9. It Snowed Last Night (2:30) 10. Pursuit No. 1 (3:38) 11. Moonshine (3:02) 12. The Catamaran is Coming Around (3:42) 13. A Man of Few Words (4:29) 14. Double Helix (3:11) 15. Delivery (4:51) Total running time (60:45) Produced by Adam Glaser. All songs composed and arranged by Adam Glaser, 1989 to 2012, Pickle Jar Music (ASCAP). All songs performed, programmed, recorded and mixed by Adam Glaser except "Con Artist" and "Delivery" (mixed by Tyler McDiarmid) and "Who Wants Lentil Soup?" (mixed by Barry Hartglass). Mastered by Dave Darlington at Bass Hit Recording, New York, NY. Glaser brings with him a glistening pianism that is lithe and elegant as well as warm and swinging. He also displays – with the supple muscularity of both hands – a unique piano voice invoked by the tantalising asymmetry of his lines, which often set off in all manner of wrong-footed directions and unexpected turnarounds, but always land exactly right, with their own fascinating rhythm. – Jazz da Gama Glaser plays with an expressive, lyrical touch that emphasizes technique, phrasing and creativity. – Joe Ross, Roots Music Report A very, very sophisticated musician "from another camp", who once again showed that in fact there are no camps, but there is simply Music, great and different. – Leonid Auskern, Jazz Quad write your comments about the article :: © 2021 Jazz News :: home page |