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Vinnie Sperrazza

Vinnie Sperrazza is a Brooklyn-based jazz drummer. His first album as a bandleader and composer, Apocryphal, was released by Loyal Label on Tuesday, September 9, 2014.

Originally from a small town south of Utica, New York, Vin moved to NYC a million years ago, just after the glaciers melted but before Tower Records closed.

He's played lots and lots of good music with many amazing musicians, but he feels really self-conscious about dropping names and all that so he's just not going to do it, save mentioning the late great Mr. James Williams, pianist, with whom Vin played many memorable concerts.

He feels incredibly lucky to have music in his life, to be able to work with great musicians, and to be able to present his music to an appreciative audience.

He's in lots of bands, spent the summer of 2014 as an actor (he played a drummer- not much of a stretch), is on some cool records that have either just come out or will come out this year (Dana Lyn/Vincent D'Onofrio Slim Bone Head Volt, Jacob Garchik Ye Olde), and as of this writing, just got off the road with the band Hearing Things, led by Matt Bauder. They were the opening band for Will Butler from Arcade Fire for a series of dates in the Midwest and Canada.

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10
Album Review

The Choir Invisible with Charlotte Greve, Vinnie Sperrazza and Chris Tordini: Town of Two Faces

Read "Town of Two Faces" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Infused with an inventive and organic zest, Town of Two Faces swings into the spotlight under the deft ensemble of Charlotte Greve on alto saxophone or voice, Vinnie Sperrazza on drums, Chris Tordini on acoustic bass. It is graced by a cameo from Fay Victor, a voice which paints jazz in bold uncharted colors, with her knack for reimagining the vocal weave in the jazz tapestry with her deep dive into a memorably melodic blues-and gospel-shaded piece, entitled “In Heaven." ...

6
Album Review

Blue Moods: Swing & Soul

Read "Swing & Soul" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


Swing & Soul is the second in a series of recordings by Blue Moods, one of the projects initiated by Posi-Tone Records producer Marc Free to attract new listeners to jazz. The release showcases a collection of compositions by pianist Duke Pearson, an underrecognized figure who worked for Blue Note as an A&R man, arranger, and sideman, in addition to leading several dates that remain in high regard by many aficionados. Five of Posi-Tone's leading lights, tenor ...

16
Album Review

Ethan Iverson: Technically Acceptable

Read "Technically Acceptable" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


The funhouse genius of pianist Ethan Iverson hits full nor'easter with Technically Accepted, an album so loaded with invention and cool it rises instantly to the pack of hands-down favorites for the still unformed year of 2024. Unbounded, Iverson's many quirks and instigations hurl madly around the house, the studio, the bodega down the street and it is up to the rest of us to keep up. That includes his two simpatico rhythm sections: bassist Thomas Morgan and ...

4
Album Review

Shawn Lovato: Microcosms

Read "Microcosms" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Bassist Shawn Lovato's debut album, Cycles of Animation (Skirl, 2017), possessed a conceptual sophistication that went far beyond an imaginative slice of creative jazz. The same is evident on Microcosms, an album that involves giving his terrific ensemble the chance to develop minute gestures into larger, more determinate shapes. The constant ebb and flow that results is compelling, with a sense of order that periodically takes hold amidst the individual members' freedom to find their own pathways to a common ...

7
Album Review

Ember with Orrin Evans: No One is Any One

Read "No One is Any One" reviewed by Paul Rauch


To truly be in the headspace to appreciate the music of Ember, an understanding of the individuals making up the collective is paramount. The original compositions are not mind boggling, complex exercises brandishing the challenging dynamics of jazz composition in the 2020s. Refreshingly, the writing is open ended, containing melodies that come across as recitable mantras. The individual approaches to modern melodic improvisation within the collective memory of the musicians so easily rise to the surface of No One is ...

3
Album Review

Charlotte Greve / Vinnie Sperrazza / Chris Tordini: The Choir Invisible

Read "The Choir Invisible" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The music on The Choir Invisible, presented by the musical equilateral triangle of saxophonist Charlotte Greve, drummer Vinnie Sperrazza and bassist Chris Tordini, presents the ear with a simple yet often intense beauty. Three strong sonic personalities exploring uncluttered territory. The trio, all of whom are busy members of the New York City jazz scene, formed their The Choir Invisible in 2017. This eponymous album is their first recording. When the subject of an alto sax, bass and ...

2
Album Review

New Faces: Straight Forward

Read "Straight Forward" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


New Faces is the brainchild of producer Marc Free, who comingles the talents of six young jazzers, each of whom has led at least one session for Posi-Tone. With the exception of a Herbie Hancock composition, the material is comprised of attractive, catchy themes of varying degrees of complexity, penned by a number of the label's artists and originally released on records throughout Posi-Tone's two-decade plus history. The record was recorded in one day, the group sounds well prepared, and ...

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Recording

Matt Blostein, Vinnie Sperrazza and Their Second, "Paraphrase"

Matt Blostein, Vinnie Sperrazza and Their Second, "Paraphrase"

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards

Music changes over time. What was mainstream in jazz circa 1965 is more retro now, 46 years later. So Al Cohn and Zoot Sims are long gone, their music still great, but people coming up with that take on the jazz sound are really not mainstream anymore; they are revivalists. So what then IS mainstream? Perhaps some of the things Dave Holland has been doing form one part of it. There's a looseness that isn't quite “free" in the definition ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Technically Acceptable

Blue Note Records
2024

buy

Swing & Soul

Posi-Tone Records
2024

buy

Town of Two Faces

Intakt Records
2024

buy

Between The Bars

Posi-Tone Records
2023

buy

Microcosms

ears&eyes Records
2022

buy

No One is Any One

Sunnyside Records
2021

buy

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