Tag Archives: chris lightcap

The Irrepressible Matt Wilson Quartet Brings It

Matt Wilson Quartet: Kirk Knuffke, Jeff Lederer, Wilson, and Chris Lightcap. Photo by Tom Foley.

Like Louis Armstrong, drummer/composer Matt Wilson makes no distinction between high art and low art. He probably wouldn’t even accept the use of those terms. So he finds beauty and meaning in just about any piece of music, and he manages to satisfy both the demanding jazz veteran and the tentative jazz newcomer. His quartet—composed of four leaders who manage to work together seamlessly—is always fun, always surprising, and always communicating something behind the music, as it does on the new release, Hug!

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Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth: Jazz Currents with a Rock ’n’ Roll Undertow

Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth: (left to right) Tony Malaby (tenor sax), Craig Taborn (piano, Wurlitzer electric piano), Chris Cheek (tenor sax), Chris Lightcap (bass), Gerald Cleaver (drums, percussion). Photo by Nada Zgank.

Epicenter (Clean Feed Records ), the recent impressive release from bassist/composer Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth, offers a sonic love letter to New York City, with ferocious references to the city’s raunchy rock ’n’ roll history (“Down East”) to delicate love songs that recall tender moments in Lightcap’s personal history (“Arthur Avenue”). Along the way, the composer tips his hat to a wide range of influences that stretches from Velvet Underground to Ornette Coleman, and his layered compositions are ably fulfilled by Bigmouth’s sterling personnel—Chris Cheek and Tony Malaby (tenor saxes), Craig Taborn (Wurlitzer electric piano, piano, organ), and Gerald Cleaver (drums, percussion).

This Thursday at the Outpost, this stellar quintet, touring in support of the new release, will grab you by your musical lapels for a tour up and down the boroughs and byways of New York City. Continue reading →