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Gavin Templeton
Always curious, Gavin experimented playing in a variety of musical genres and contexts. During college he performed, recorded, and toured with high energy rock and funk groups. He views those years as a crucial part in his musical development. The electrifying music and emotions of rock and funk are integral to his performance style.
Gavin moved to Los Angeles in 2006. He went on to receive a Master’s degree from the California Institute of the Arts where he focused on composition and performance. In addition to jazz, he spent significant time studying Indian classical music, West African drumming, traditional Balkan music, and modern classical composition. That exposure lead him to join the Eastern European- influenced band, PLOTZ! and co-create the experimental improv group, DR. MiNT.
Gavin performs under his name in varying configurations, and is a member of the Vinny Golia Sextet, the Joshua White Quintet and Daniel Rosenboom Quintet/Septet. He has performed and/or recorded with Charlie Haden, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Nels Cline, Joe LaBarbera, Vinny Golia, Larry Koonse, Darek Oles, the New Century Players, Butch Morris, Alfred Ladzekpo, Swapan Chaudhuri, Peter Epstein, David Rosenboom, daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra, The Temptations, and Wayne Newton, among many others.
Gavin's quintet album 'Asterperious Special' is out on Nine Winds Records. The album is comprised of his original compositions, and he is joined by Joe LaBarbera (d), Darek Oles (b), Larry Koonse (g), Gary Fukushima (p).
'In Series' will be his 2013 release on Nine Winds Records. It features Perry Smith (g), Matt Politano (p), Sam Minaie (b), Matt Mayhall (d).
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Dan Rosenboom: Polarity
by Jerome Wilson
On this album, trumpeter Dan Rosenboom and his quartet engage in a free-wheeling session which comes off as a modern update of Wayne Shorter releases such as The All-Seeing Eye (Blue Note, 1966). He engages in playful genre-crossing and experimentation here which incorporate the sensibilities of hip-hop and ambient music as well as modern jazz. The album's key track is the marathon opener, The Age of Snakes" in which Rosenboom's trumpet and Gavin Templeton's alto saxophone lazily float ...
read moreDan Rosenboom: Polarity
by Pat Youngspiel
Recently, Los Angeles-based trumpeter Dan Rosenboom has been experimenting with somewhat freer and edgier realms of improvisation, giving doomy metal influences a go on Trio Subliminal 2 (Orenda Records, 2022), and indulging high-energy trio interplay with plenty of delay effects and other sonic manipulation on Refraction (Orenda Records, 2021). Not to mention the opulent The Complete Boom Sessions (Orenda Records, 2022), which captured over 400-minutes, live to tape, recorded over five gigs at one of Los Angeles' premiere hubs for ...
read moreDan Rosenboom: Points of an Infinite Line
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Released in the environment of his own label's absolute creative control, trumpeter Dan Rosenboom's newest outing sees a chordless quartet venturing beyond the borders of swing, exploring heavy grooves and free-wheeling improvisation to the point where jazz, hip hop and the rough edges of many other genres meld together to a single style that simultaneously defies the same categorizes of which it is made. Rosenboom's L.A.-based cohorts, drummer Anthony Fung, saxophonist Gavin Templeton and double bassist Billy Mohler, are instrumental ...
read moreGavin Templeton: In Series
by Luigi Sforza
Tenerezza e vigore, delicatezza e fermezza sostanziano la natura di In Series. Affrontando sistematicamente l'ascolto dell'album del sassofonista Gavin Templeton affiorano episodi autenticamente ispirati che, pur non prescindendo dai consolidati precetti che normano il jazz moderno, consegnano al fruitore momenti di indubbia raffinatezza musicale. Karina," ad esempio, ha la sinuosità intrigante di una ballad tradizionale; qui il sassofono del leader non smette di ricordarci quanta liricità espressiva si può ancora sprigionare dagli strumenti attingendo ed ispirandosi ad un passato ...
read moreGavin Templeton: Ballast
by Dave Wayne
A native of Reno, Nevada, alto saxophonist Gavin Templeton is emerging as one of the leading voices of Los Angeles' suddenly burgeoning modern jazz scene. If the music on Ballast, his fourth album as a leader, is any indication, Templeton might just be on his way to becoming one of the leading voices in modern jazz, period. A product of the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied under Charlie Haden, Joe LaBarbera, Swapan Chaudhuri, and Vinny Golia, Templeton ...
read moreGavin Templeton Trio: Some Spinning, Some At Rest
by Robert Bush
LA alto saxophonist Gavin Templeton's sophomore release as a leader, Some Spinning, Some At Rest represents the values of composition and free-improvising with equal fervor and expertise, and alongside double-bassist Richard Giddens and drummer Gene Coye, Mr. Templeton has documented one of the finest saxophone trio recordings in recent memory. Templeton's soulful, yearning vibrato opens Exit Row," teasing a raw, primal groove from Giddens' groaning pizzicato and the fulsome architecture of Coye's sticks-on-skins. These two mesh ...
read moreGavin Templeton: In Series
by Glenn Astarita
Alto saxophonist Gavin Templeton has become a pivotal force in the L.A. progressive jazz scene and it's easily discernible, given his strong improvisational faculties, resonating tone, and penchant for bridging conventional means into the outside schema of the jazz vernacular. On his second solo release for Nine Winds Records, he embeds rock riffs, variable tempos, and odd-metered unison choruses with guitarist Perry Smith and a host of mood-evoking thematic episodes via these multicolored pieces. The artists conclude the ...
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