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Andrew D'Angelo

Andrew D'Angelo's charismatic presence and iconoclastic musical ambition have been well-established over the course of his twenty year plus career and his key roles in bands like Human Feel, the Matt Wilson Quartet and Tyft. His dedication to pushing his limits and his willingness to delve into new musical areas have been powerful inspirations to his peers and to a new generation of improvisers. His forceful tone and aggressive improvisational style have made him one of the most influential alto saxophonists of his time.

Andrew D'Angelo was raised in Seattle, where he forged powerful musical and personal relationships with fellow young musicians Chris Speed and Jim Black before moving to New York City in 1986. He reconnected with Speed and Black in Boston, where they formed Human Feel with guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel.

Human Feel would prove to be one of the central incubators of new jazz for the 1990's. When the band moved to Brooklyn in the early 1990's, they were rapidly absorbed into the blossoming downtown music scene, becoming sidemen of choice for many world-renowned artists. D'Angelo joined bands and made records with Erik Friedlander, Bobby Previte, Jamie Saft/Cuong Vu and would forge another long-lasting musical relationship with drummer Matt Wilson.

As a composer, D'Angelo has created a powerful personal language rooted in jazz but incorporating influences from electro-acoustic music, noise, and modern classical music. D'Angelo's work as a composer has included music for big band, chamber groups, string orchestra, various jazz ensembles and soloists.

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Radio & Podcasts

Andrew D’Angelo’s DNA Orchestra, Barrage & Luis Nubiola

Read "Andrew D’Angelo’s DNA Orchestra, Barrage & Luis Nubiola" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


The size of a group means nothing. There's as much fantastic music created by a trio as there is by a big band. This episode of OMJ attempts to prove that with sparkling new music from trios (Jason Robinson, Bruno Räberg & Bob Weiner -a definite must on my faves of 2020 list, Cuban/Polish saxophonist Luis Nubiola, and Rez Abbasi doing Django) to larger groups like Samuel Blaser live at Cornelia Street Café, Fred Lonberg-Holm's Stirrup and Norway's Barrage, to ...

3
Radio & Podcasts

Andrew D'Angelo, Nubya Garcia, Raoul Björkenheim & New Releases

Read "Andrew D'Angelo, Nubya Garcia, Raoul Björkenheim & New Releases" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


This week we have a wide-ranging palette, as well go from the maelstroms of Andrew D'Angelo's DNA Orchestra and Raoul Björkenheim's Interstellar Coltrane, to the subtleties of Mara Rosenbloom, Nathalie Darche and João Lencastre's Communion 3, through the fertile collaborations between the indie darlings Deerhoof with Wadada Leo Smith, or Nubya Garcia and Joe Armon-Jones while savoring the exciting North European bands chuffDRONE and Superposition, the latest Blue Note releases by Ambrose Akinmusire and GoGo Penguin, and Ricardo Grilli's tribute ...

Album Review

Andrew D'Angelo: Andrew D'Angelo & DNA Orchestra

Read "Andrew D'Angelo & DNA Orchestra" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Dopo quasi un decennio di attività, la DNA Orchestra di Andrew D'Angelo debutta con questo vulcanico album (al momento reperibile solo su Bandcamp) che raccoglie alcuni brani scritti dal leader e presentati in passati concerti. Dopo le drammatiche notizie del 2008 sulla salute del sassofonista (due interventi chirurgici per un tumore al cervello e una lunga terapia “alternativa" scelta da lui) fa piacere vederlo tornare in attività con quella forza d'urto che l'aveva imposto sulla scena di ...

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Album Review

Ted Poor: You Already Know

Read "You Already Know" reviewed by Chris May


Breaking news 3/23/20: Impulse! is getting its mojo back. Showing definite signs of, anyway... Since its glory days in the 1960s and 1970s, Impulse! has been little more than a logo wheeled out by its parent company, Universal Music, to lend credibility to unrelated one-off projects. Until very recently, the only newly recorded release worthy of Impulse!'s imprimatur was Alice Coltrane's swansong, Translinear Light, in 2004. Fast forward to 2018: A new dawn for ...

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Catching Up With

Andrew D'Angelo: Story of the Living

Read "Andrew D'Angelo: Story of the Living" reviewed by Daniel Lehner


The album artwork for Andrew D'Angelo's Norman features the album's namesake, D'Angelo's grandfather, as a young man, seated slyly and serenely. The significance of naming the album “Norman" was not only a nod to the fact that D'Angelo bears that as his middle name, but also that the album is dedicated in part to D'Angelo's mother. “I really wanted to make a record basically for my mother. Because, I mean, can you imagine what it's like watching your ...

302
Album Review

Andrew D'Angelo: Gay Disco

Read "Gay Disco" reviewed by Wilbur MacKenzie


In the time between the debut recording by reedman Andrew D'Angelo's trio with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Jim Black and the release of the group's follow-up, some dramatic and widely talked about circumstances have befallen the saxophonist. D'Angelo's battle with a malignant brain tumor proved to be an inspiring and transformative process, as the rumbling intensity and nervous energy of the debut has maintained its edge while giving way to a more harmonious disharmony. The most ...

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Album Review

Andrew D: Skadra Degis

Read "Skadra Degis" reviewed by Sean Patrick Fitzell


Throughout his career, Andrew D'Angelo has been known for pushing creative limits and challenging stylistic boundaries. A formidable improviser, he's as likely to spit incendiary lines from his alto saxophone as he is to ruminate introspectively on bass clarinet. Skadra Degis is the debut from his trio with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Jim Black--two musicians also known for blurring genre lines and probing improvisation. “Lame bounds out of the gate and is a surprisingly straight-ahead swinger. ...

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Music Industry

Agogic with Cuong Vu, Andrew D'Angelo: Something Good Going On in Seattle

Agogic with Cuong Vu, Andrew D'Angelo: Something Good Going On in Seattle

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards

Things have been happening for Cuong Vu since he moved out to Seattle. One of them is Agogic (T & C 001). Maestro Vu's trumpet locks in with Andrew D'Angelo's serpentine alto and bass clarinet, and they are held buoyant by the boldly blistering bass and drums of Luke Bergman and Evan Woodle, respectively. Add some smart avant-funk writing and some very cool interactions and soloing from the front line, mix that up with the boldly assertive, pin-incision precision of ...

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Interview

Interview | Andrew D'Angelo

Interview | Andrew D'Angelo

Source: Ars Nova Workshop

Ars Nova Workshop begins a New Year of music this Friday night with a concert by AGOGIC, who will be kicking off a three-date tour in Philadelphia before heading to New York and Chicago. This new project led by long-time collaborators Andrew D’Angelo and Cuong Vu features two emerging musicians from Seattle’s thriving jazz scene, drummer Evan Woodle and bassist Luke Bergman. ANW caught up with D’Angelo to talk about this new ensemble, Seattle’s evolving jazz scene, and his upcoming ...

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Performance / Tour

Hilmar Jensson/Jim Black/Andrew D'Angelo CD release at Tonic

Hilmar Jensson/Jim Black/Andrew D'Angelo CD release at Tonic

Source: All About Jazz

Saturday November 9, 8:00 pm, Tonic (107 Norfolk St., Manhattan)

Music from Hilmar Jensson's new CD Tyft (released October 2002)

Hilmar Jensson, guitars and electronics Jim Black, drums, melodica, electronics & virtual instruments Andrew D'Angelo, alto sax, bass clarinet & electronics

Hilmar is the guitarist in Jim's AlasNoAxis band, and these three musicians have been friends and musical associates since meeting in Boston in 1990 (the early days of Jim, Andrew and Chris Speed's band Human ...

"D'Angelo is an expressionist. On alto, he wields a visceral, heart-on-sleeve tone" —Jazztimes Magazine

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

You Already Know

Impulse! Records
2020

buy

Gay Disco

Skirl Records
2009

buy

Skadra Degis

Skirl Records
2008

buy

Speak To It

Songlines Recordings
1996

buy

Videos

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