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Hugh Ragin

A strikingly gifted post-bop trumpeter, Ragin's work as performer and composer was held in high esteem by his fellow musicians throughout the 80s and 90s. It was only at the end of the 90s, however, that word began to spread to a wider audience. Hugh Ragin, inspiring teacher, creative composer and trumpet virtuoso, has been named "a trumpeter with very few peers in terms of imagination or technical command" by jazz biographer Francis Davis in his notes for the "Live At The Knitting Factory" recording with Roscoe Mitchell. Ragin has also collaborated with musicians such as David Murray, Anthony Braxton, Dizzy Gillespie, Spencer Barefield, Fred Wesley, Leo Smith, Sun Ra, Maynard Ferguson, D.D. Jackson, Andrew Cyrille and poet Amiri Baraka, on both recorded and live jazz performances that range from bebop and freebop to the most "out" of avant-garde improvising. His compositions have been recorded by David Murray, Roscoe Mitchell, D.D. Jackson and Fred Wesley, and yet despite his success as a performer and composer, Ragin insists on "being an educator first." His life has formed as a compassionate gesture "to share the knowledge, and bring more people into music." For all areas of his teaching, Ragin puts a strong emphasis on the fundamentals. "I like to give enough material so that students can absorb what


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Album Review

Art Ensemble Of Chicago: The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris

Read "The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris" reviewed by John Sharpe


Having first come to international prominence in Paris at the end of the '60s, it seems fitting for the Rogue Art imprint to celebrate the Art Ensemble Of Chicago's progression into their sixth decade in the same city. This double CD documents the performance of an extended AEC at the Sons d'hiver Festival in February 2019. Only reedman & composer Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Famoudou Don Moye survive from the original quintet but, rather than accept this as a limitation, ...

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Album Review

Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris

Read "The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Recorded live in Paris in February 2020, The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris. presents Art Ensemble Of Chicago—as defiantly daring avant-garde as that first night in Paris, 1969 —giving no quarter whatsoever in their lifelong, diasporic pursuit of creation unbound. Breaking at the pace of a dream, surviving co-founders saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell and drummer Famoudou Don Moye return to the moment of conception with a two hour, double disc set The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris, ...

Album Review

Art Ensemble Of Chicago: The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris

Read "The Sixth Decade: From Paris to Paris" reviewed by Giuseppe Segala


Parigi è città fatale per l'Art Ensemble of Chicago: nel 1969 fu traguardo del prodigio artistico e umano preparato negli anni precedenti da Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors e Joseph Jarman, che avevano incrociato le proprie esperienze dapprima al Wilson Junior College di Chicago, nel 1961, poi nel lavoro con la Experimental Band di Muhal Richard Abrams, che dal '66 vide anche la partecipazione di Lester Bowie. Infine, nella formidabile attività musicale, didattica e sociale dell'Association for the Advancement of Creative ...

Album Review

David Sanford Big Band feat. Hugh Ragin: A Prayer for Lester Bowie

Read "A Prayer for Lester Bowie" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


La variopinta composizione di Hugh Ragin dedicata a Lester Bowie dà il titolo al nuovo album di David Sanford ma non ne esaurisce gli intenti. Il premiato compositore, bandleader e didatta di Pittsburgh aggiunge infatti sette suoi nuovi brani, confermando fantasiosa padronanza del disegno orchestrale in equilibrio tra linguaggio contemporaneo e tradizione. I brani del disco sono stati incisi nel 2016 e vedono la luce solo ora grazie all'etichetta Greenleaf di Dave Douglas. L'incisione è stata effettuata ...

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Album Review

Hugh Ragin: Revelation

Read "Revelation" reviewed by Jim Santella


With his virtuosic quartet in a session of his own compositions, trumpeter Hugh Ragin retains the tradition of jazz history while forging ahead in an avant-garde direction. The quartet lays down a heavy, walking bass foundation and a constant, surrounding, drum texture over which trumpet and tenor saxophone explore. Ragin's trumpet tone employs an edge that keeps his audience off- kilter throughout. Similarly, Assif Tsahar's saxophone cries come spontaneously, and hold a dramatic spirit to the music. Together, the four ...

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Album Review

Hugh Ragin: Revelation

Read "Revelation" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Houston-born and Colorado-based trumpeter Hugh Ragin long ago grasped the essential connections between modern jazz sophistication and soulful energy, but he has never articulated them as clearly and comprehensively on record as on Revelation. Ragin has been responsible for a recent string of releases on Justin Time, in addition to his recognized association with David Murray. He's joined on this all-original program by multi-reed player Assif Tsahar (on whose Hopscotch label he released Sound Pictures for Solo Trumpet two years ...

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Album Review

Hugh Ragin: Revelation

Read "Revelation" reviewed by John Kelman


While he has recorded less frequently as a leader than some his age, trumpeter High Ragin's career as a music educator in Denver, Colorado certainly hasn't prevented him from wider exposure with a variety of artists including Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray and, oddly enough, even Maynard Ferguson. But it is with the Creative Music Studio in the '70s that he whet his musical teeth and, consequently, his musical affiliation with the Afro-centric concepts of the Art Ensemble of Chicago will ...

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