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Dan Pratt

Saxophonist-composer Dan Pratt has been favored as “a powerful player” by Jazz Times, with the PA Daily News adding, “Pratt is an impressive tenor sax man. Seriously, he's got energy to blow buildings down with his horn and a style that's so elastic he can wrap it all back up together again when he's done.” As a composer, Dan has been called “gifted,” (Birmingham Times) and “a true home run power hitter” (All Music Guide) whose “writing for a band is its principal asset.” (Master of a Small House)

Following two critically-acclaimed organ group outings, Dan heads in a new direction on Hymn for the Happy Man, his fourth recording as a leader and debut for his own Same Island Music imprint. The California native and longtime Brooklyn resident hadn't recorded a piano/bass/drums quartet record before, and he felt a need to explore this instrumentation that is such an essential strand to jazz’s DNA. On Hymn for the Happy Man, Dan is backed by the all-star rhythm section of Christian McBride on bass, Greg Hutchinson on drums, and Mike Eckroth on piano. Together, they realize seven well-crafted originals and breathe new life into one well-chosen standard.

In his professional tenure, Dan has been at home as a soloist and section member in some of the finest ensembles on the scene, having performed and recorded with such artists as Christian McBride, the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Fantasia, and Usher, in venues from the House of Blues to the White House. He is a founding member of the Brooklyn Jazz Underground collective, and is a regular member of the Christian McBride Big Band, the David Smith Quintet, and the Tammy Scheffer Sextet.

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4
Album Review

The Relay: The Relay

Read "The Relay" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Artistic cooperation and cohesion are evident from the first notes of The Relay's eponymous debut. With saxophonist Dan Pratt's “Four for," the composer and pianist Michael Eckroth— this quartet's co-leaders—sync up with a bright and fragmented melody line which seeds overlapping solos that sprout when bassist Matt Clohesy and drummer Allan Mednard enter the picture. Referencing a collective chemistry in both sound and name, that engaging opener sets the stage for a program that's pure magic. The ...

Album Review

Andrew Rathbun: Atwood Suites

Read "Atwood Suites" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Sassofonista e orchestratore canadese, Andrew Rathbun ha 47 anni e una ricca carriera alle spalle, svolta negli Stati Uniti con studi al New England Conservatory sotto la guida di Ran Blake e dal 1997 professionalmente a New York in vari contesti. A partire dal debutto del 1999 con Scatter Some Stones, ha inciso alcuni dischi da leader, il più noto dei quali è Sculpture (Fresh Sound 2002) inciso in quintetto col suo mentore Kenny Wheeler. Con quest'ultimo Rathbun ha collaborato ...

4
Album Review

Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble: Atwood Suites

Read "Atwood Suites" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Andrew Rathbun is a Canadian saxophonist who has made a major musical statement here with this collection of suites, two of which are based on the poetry of author Margaret Atwood. Rathbun's writing shows the influence of another Canadian, Kenny Wheeler, in its lush sonority, the frequent gorgeous flugelhorn solos by Tim Hagans and the role of Luciana Souza, who both sings Atwood's poetry with gentle forcefulness and moans wordlessly within the orchestral ensembles, the same way Wheeler often utilized ...

4
Album Review

Andrew Rathbun: Atwood Suites

Read "Atwood Suites" reviewed by Paul Rauch


The mingling of jazz music and poetry is not a new concept. It has always been an amiable, yet at times, uncomfortable fit. From a verse standpoint, it is in many ways liberating. While most vocalized lyrics and spoken word forms rely on rhyme to speak to cadence and rhythm, free verse poetry liberates the narrative from the confinements of structure, and much like an improvising instrumentalist, takes spoken language into a intertwining duality with the melody within harmonic dimension. ...

2
Album Review

Andrew Rathbun: Atwood Suites

Read "Atwood Suites" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


In a way, the Atwood Suites have been in the works for almost two decades. When Kenny Wheeler approached Toronto native Andrew Rathbun in search for a band in 2001, the former furthermore inquired if the latter would like a composition of his own penning to be performed beside Wheeler's “Suite Time Suite." Consequently, the “Power Politics Suite," which makes for the second half of the first CD, was born, with Wheeler's and vocalist Luciana Souza's sound specifically in mind. ...

8
Album Review

Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble: Atwood Suites

Read "Atwood Suites" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


The marriage between jazz and poetry is having a true moment in the present artistic sphere. The two have long mixed and mingled, oft proving sympathetic and symbiotic in their multidirectional moves, unique cadences, and improvisational capacities. But never before has the connection been so strong and centralized. With drummer Matt Wilson's triumphant encounter with the work of Carl Sandburg, soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom's exploration of Emily Dickinson's writing, saxophonist Benjamin Boone's collaboration with Philip Levine, and a handful ...

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Album Review

Dan Pratt Organ Quartet: Toe the Line

Read "Toe the Line" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins


Toe the Line is a phrase which signifies unwavering obedience to a doctrine, structure, or rule, but the Dan Pratt Organ Quartet defies such a rule. The group conforms to the rule of playing with flair, but little else.

Pratt, who plays tenor saxophone, was a member of the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Star Band, and his professional career includes work with Joe Lovano, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and the Christian McBride Big Band.

“Houdini," the first of eight ...

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84

Recording

Saxophonist/Composer Dan Pratt and His Organ Quartet Release New CD Titled "Toe the Line" on Posi-Tone Records.

Saxophonist/Composer Dan Pratt and His Organ Quartet Release New CD Titled "Toe the Line" on Posi-Tone Records.

Source: Two for the Show Media

Brooklyn strikes back with a passion on the Dan Pratt Organ Quartet new release “Toe the Line." Tenor Saxophonist/Composer Dan Pratt succeeds in combining lyrical melodies with complex but elegant angular rhythmic structure to create music that evolves and mixes together the soulful swing of yesteryear along with the pocket and vibe of today's most modern sounds Pratt is joined on the date by the stunning polyphony of Hammond B-3 sensation Jared Gold, the talented and dulcet tones of trombonist ...

97

Recording

Dan Pratt Organ Quartet - Toe the Line (Posi-Tone)

Dan Pratt Organ Quartet - Toe the Line (Posi-Tone)

Source: Master of a Small House

The Hammond organ is a hardy instrument, having weathered waxing and waning popularity since pioneers like Fats Waller and Bill Doggett brought it prominence as a viable jazz voice. Still, the number of players who opt to apply it to adventurous settings remains relatively few compared to the legion content to toe the line of convention. Saxophonist Dan Pratt and organist Jared Gold choose the less traveled path on this second disc by Pratt's working quartet. Gold is an important ...

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Performance / Tour

The Dan Pratt Quartet Tours the West Coast in Preparation for Recording Session for the Los Angeles Based Posi-Tone Records

The Dan Pratt Quartet Tours the West Coast in Preparation for Recording Session for the Los Angeles Based Posi-Tone Records

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

The DAN PRATT QUARTET Tours The West Coast In Preparation For Recording Session For the Los Angeles Based Posi-Tone Records Fronted by sax and bone, and backed by Hammond organ and drums, this fresh take on a traditional instrumentation features all original compositions and some heavy blowing by four of New York's top up-and-coming jazz musicians, including Brooklyn Jazz Underground Members Dan Pratt and Alan Ferber The band is: Dan Pratt: tenor sax, Alan Ferber: trombone, Jared Gold: organ, Mark ...

"Pratt exemplifies the approach of DPOQ. He composed most of the tunes on Springloaded, using challenging and unorthodox formal devices. Yet the tunes are accessible and melodic, and some of them, such as the uptempo burner "Who Knew," have the potential to become jazz standards. On tenor sax, Pratt has a huge, warm sound, and he improvises creatively and aggressively. He might play against the rhythm, and more often, he digs in and swings, as on "Blues With A Limp." —Marc Meyers, All About Jazz

"A warm, invigorating blast of N.Y.C. jazz energy recently blew through town, when the Dan Pratt Organ Quartet showed up at the Firebird Lounge. Pratt, a notable up-and-coming tenor-saxist-bandleader-composer, illustrated the self-evident point that jazz harbors many great players under the radar of public visibility... From Pratt's first solo, it was clear that he's grounded in the contemporary saxophonic language exemplified by players like Joe Lovano, but also lacks neither creative vigor or fresh ideas." —Josef Woodard, Santa Barbara Independent

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Relay

Same Island Music
2022

buy

Atwood Suites

Origin Records
2018

buy

Toe The Line

Posi-Tone Records
2010

buy

The Russ Spiegel Jazz...

RuzzTone Music
2007

buy

Springloaded

Sunny Sky
2004

buy

Two Islands III

From: Atwood Suites
By Dan Pratt

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