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Sam Minaie

Iranian-American bassist, Sam Minaie, was born in Reno, Nevada and started piano lessons at age 8. At age 14, he switched to electric and upright bass and was granted numerous command performances in classical bass performance while beginning to also work professionally in all styles of music around the Reno/Tahoe area. Sam was granted a full scholarship and received a Bachelor of Arts in Classical and Jazz Performance at the University of Nevada, Reno. He then moved to Los Angeles where, under scholarship, he received a Masters of Fine Arts in Jazz Studies at California Institute of the Arts. At CalArts, Sam studied with Charlie Haden and African Ewe master, Alfred Ladzekpo as well as a broad range of other world music masters. While in Los Angeles, Sam quickly made a name for himself as one of the most sought-after bassists on the scene and moved to New York in May of 2009. He has toured extensively throughout several countries around the world and has been recorded on dozens of albums with artists including Peter Epstein, Ralph Alessi, Ravi Coltrane, Tigran Hamasyan, Peter Apfelbaum, John Ellis, David Ake, Mark Ferber, Gary Versace, Joe LaBarbera, Roy McCurdy, Bob Sheppard, Brian Lynch, John Beasley, Tootie Heath, Sara Gazarek, Larry Koonse, Patti Austin, Butch Morris, Vinny Golia, Adam Benjamin, Ben Wendel, Tim Ries, Tim Hagans, Kenny Werner, Vince Mendoza, Patrick Williams, New Century Players Ensemble, Alfred Ladzekpo’s Ewe Ensemble, Lian Ensemble (Persian Classical Music), Bill Holman Orchestra, and the Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra. As well as being a bassist, Sam has produced and mixed several albums, and is active as a session cellist. He has also played tuba in Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra.

Sam is a co-leader and composer for Axis Trio and is currently busy touring around the world with 2004 Thelonious Monk Piano Competition Winner, Tigran Hamasyan.

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Album Review

Magos Herrera: Aire

Read "Aire" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Se amate l'universo musicale latino nelle sue varie espressioni--più o meno jazzisticamente orientate--verrete coinvolti profondamente da questo disco intenso e sorprendente. Magos Herrera è una cantante e compositrice messicana poco nota in Italia ma considerata tra le massime vocalist contemporanee. Magos risiede a New York dal 2008 e in due decenni ha pubblicato dischi ricercati, spaziando da contenuti jazzistici (ad es. Distancia con Aaron Goldberg e Lionel Loueke) a personali incursioni nel patrimonio musicale di Centro e Sudamerica ...

10
Album Review

Melody Gardot: Sunset in the Blue - The Deluxe Version

Read "Sunset in the Blue - The  Deluxe Version" reviewed by William H. Snyder


Henri Matisse, the master of the use of color, said, “Art should be something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue." Melody Gardot's Sunset in the Blue: The Deluxe Version shows its mastery, in both the color of its cover design and the execution of its musicianship. Back in the day, Matisse got in trouble with some art critics for his simile. Some listeners might have a similar reaction to Melody's music, but not all. Gardot's ...

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Album Review

Believers: Believers

Read "Believers" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


The three individuals making up Believers are each highly respected musical voices in their own right. Percussionist John Hadfield has performed and recorded with the likes of Nguyen Le and released an inspired duo EP with woodwind autodidact Lenny Pickett, called Heard by Others (Orenda Records, 2020). Sam Minaie, on the other hand, has played bass for household names such as piano virtuoso Tigran Hamasyan and the charming jazz-pop icon Melody Gardot. Which brings us to the last protagonist completing ...

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Album Review

Melody Gardot: Sunset in the Blue

Read "Sunset in the Blue" reviewed by Scott Gudell


Melody Gardot emerged from her own smoky shadows of the mid-2000s as if she were some femme fatale emanating from a film noir movie. The plot twist was that she was the good girl, but it was her body that had been damaged in an auto accident. An extensive recovery followed. Her long, lean cane only reinforced her long, lean looks. The shades added just a touch of mystery. If there was anything positive, it was that she confronted the ...

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Album Review

Chris McCarthy: Still Time to Quit

Read "Still Time to Quit" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


Only two minutes into “That's All You Get," the opening track to pianist Chris McCarthy's debut recording for Ropeadope Records, Still Time To Quit, and already it seems that everything that had to be said was said. Maybe that's why at this point the track coincidentally also reaches its end. A savage yet controlled display of friction and constant motion. At its core a rabidly jumping call-and-response structure, the opener displays the leader's scarily-dexterous chops on piano through speed as ...

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Album Review

Chris McCarthy: Still Time to Quit

Read "Still Time to Quit" reviewed by Paul Rauch


From 2017 to 2020, composer and pianist Chris McCarthy charted a path as a noted sideman for such notables as Jerry Bergonzi, Ben Allison and Jason Palmer. He was often seen performing with vibraphonist Sasha Berliner and in duet with vocalist Clotilde Rullaud. In short, he has gained a reputation for imaginative and supportive playing. McCarthy's path has been blazed from a renowned high school program in Seattle, to the cloistered realm of the New England Conservatory, finally ...

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Recording

Peter Epstein Joins With Ralph Alessi, Sam Minaie And Mark Ferber For First Songlines Release In Nine Years

Peter Epstein Joins With Ralph Alessi, Sam Minaie And Mark Ferber For First Songlines Release In Nine Years

Source: Cary Goldberg

Polarities, the New Album from the Peter Epstein Quartet, Will be Released on May 13 “...a wonderfully compelling and gripping album, on which instruments and sounds are of a rare expressive power." - Stef Gijssels, Free Jazz Blog, reviewing Epstein's previous release as a leader, Abstract Realism Saxophonist Peter Epstein may have slipped from public view a bit since leaving New York to take up a teaching position at the University of Nevada, Reno (where he is now the director ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Aire

Sunnyside Records
2023

buy

Identity

Self Produced
2023

buy

Believers

Orenda Records
2021

buy

Heyo!

Self Produced
2013

buy

Anxiety

From: Identity
By Sam Minaie

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