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AAJ writer C. Michael Bailey provides some additional insight with his review of Brandon Wright’s “Boiling Point” CD….

www.allaboutjazz.com

By C. Michael Bailey

The first thing conspicuous about Brandon Wright’s recording Boiling Point is his rhythm section, composed of pianist David Kikoski, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Matt Wilson. A second curiosity is exactly who this precocious young saxophonist is to have such a rhythm section. Wright, the 2009 ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer award recipient originally from Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, was educated at the Universities of Michigan and Miami, and of late, a member of the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, The Mingus Big Band and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. He has been leading his own quartet for several years and has finally gotten around to recording as a leader, fronting a quintet of the aforementioned rhythm section augmented by trumpeter Alex Sipiagin.

Wright composed seven of the eight pieces included on Boiling Point, the lone standard being a reflective “Here’s That Rainy Day,” on which Wright summons the tones of Stan Getz and Ben Webster infused with the muscularity of Dexter Gordon. But first things first, the opening “Free Man” is a thoroughly modern blues that has Wright breaking out in solo like John Coltrane on “‘Round Midnight” except sounding like Sonny Rollins. Wright’s attack is sure and true with no hesitancy in his playing. Both his writing and playing indicate he knows exactly what he wants to do. An empathic, almost telepathic relationship with his crack rhythm section also helps. Sipiagin provides a firebrand brass foil to Wright’s assertive approach, being no less assertive and perhaps even more musically loquacious.

Kikoski performs at his angular best on the opener and the disc’s title piece. He is the whimsical one of the bunch, charging Wright’s straight ahead momentum with left, right and U-turns, all anticipated supernaturally by uber-bassist Glawischnig. Glawischnig and drummer Wilson tighten Wright and Sipiagin’s swing on “Castaway” keeping the two jazz pedantics from spinning off into some post bop orbit around the planet Tony Williams. Wright already possesses an impressive resume that should only improve. At his current 27 years, he’ll be expected to have a long and creative career and it will be much fun to watch this young talent mature into a true master.

Track listing: Free Man; Drift; Odd Man Out; Boiling Point; Hear’s That Rainy Day; Castaway; Interstate Love Song; You’re My Everything.

Personnel: Brandon Wright: tenor saxophone; Alex Sipiagin: trumpet; David Kikoski: piano; Hans Glawischnig: bass; Matt Wilson: drums.

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Bruce Lindsay’s AAJ review for Brandon Wright “Boiling Point”….

By BRUCE LINDSAY

 

 

Track Listing: Free Man; Drift; Odd Man Out; Boiling Point; Here’s That Rainy Day; Castaway; Interstate Love Song; You’re My Everything.

Personnel: Brandon Wright: tenor saxophone; Alex Sipiagin: trumpet; David Kikoski: Piano; Hans Glawischnig: bass; Matt Wilson: drums.

Style:Straightahead/Mainstream

Read more reviews of
Boiling Point

New York based tenor saxophonist and composer Brandon Wright debuts confidently as a leader on Boiling Point—a strong and enjoyable straight-ahead album that seems set to establish his reputation on the jazz scene. Wright surrounds himself with some fine musicians and makes a judicious and unusual selection of standards to accompany his own tunes, ensuring a consistently high quality recording.

The opening riff of “Free Man,” played by Wright and trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, starts things off with a real bang—it’s hard hitting, emphatic and swinging. “Boiling Point” is in a similar hard bop vein—this time Wright’s tenor takes the lead line on its own while the rhythm section drives the tune forward. “Drift” is, by contrast, a smooth and gorgeous tune on which all of the musicians demonstrate real mastery of their instruments—controlled yet emotive performances across the board here, especially from bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Matt Wilson.

Wright’s arrangements of two jazz standards are excellent. Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Here’s That Rainy Day” and Harry Warren’s “You’re My Everything” are beautifully played, with Wright’s warm and confident tenor playing to the fore—David Kikoski‘s piano solos are also extremely impressive, showing a delicate and sympathetic touch.

Wright is not simply locked into the jazz tradition—he also has an ear for the music of other genres as he ably demonstrates with a version of “Interstate Love Song,” written by Robert DeLeo of hard rock band Stone Temple Pilots. Wright takes the tune—originally on the band’s 1994 albumPurple (Atlantic) and voted 58th in VH-1’s 100 Top Hard Rock Songs—and performs it on his own terms, investing the tune with a real straight-ahead jazz feel rather than attempting to “rock out.” The result is a success—a fluid, melodic, arrangement that retains some of the song’s hard edge but is recognizably a jazz performance.

Boiling Point is an intriguing album, with some exceptional playing from all of the musicians. Wright clearly demonstrates his writing and playing talents while his version of “Interstate Love Song” shows that he is willing to step out of the jazz mainstream in search of interesting and adaptable tunes—it’s an exploration that more jazz musicians should be willing to undertake and sets Wright up as a talented innovator of great promise.

 

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An amazing write-up for the Brandon Wright “Boiling Point” record from the Something Else Reviews music blog….

www.somethingelsereviews.com

Fresh, new talent worth listening to is often hard to spot. Good thing the folks at jazz label Posi-Tone Records specialize in bringing to our attention promising young talent who will keep the flame of jazz going for another generation. Their issuance yesterday of the first album by saxophonist Brandon Wright is the first step in a long, satisfying solo career, but it’s also another hopeful sign that jazz will remain vital and alive for years more to come.

 

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An insightful write-up of Brandon Wright “Boiling Point” by Dan Bilawsky…


Boiling Point
Brandon Wright | Posi-Tone Records (2010)

By Dan Bilawsky

The word tenor, in Latin, refers to “a continuous holding to a course,” and tenor saxophonist Brandon Wright does just that on Boiling Point. Whether Wright is engaging in a musical boxing match with trumpeter Alex Sipiagin or crooning over pianist David Kikoski on an established ballad, he always seems to maintain a consistent musical presence that transcends tempo, feel and style. Perhaps it’s his tone, which is big but not too brash and attractive, yet far from smooth, that ties it altogether. Regardless of what it is, Wright makes it work across these eight tracks.

Of course, some of the credit must also go to the rest of the band. Bassist Hans Glawischnig is the rock at the center of it all, making sure that everything lines up and is held together in just the right way. Drummer Matt Wilson, one of the most creative and enjoyable forces on the jazz scene today, has the rare ability to be fully interactive, while also maintaining his role as a key rhythmic element that locks in the time for the rest of the band. Kikoski occasionally shows a fondness for McCoy Tyner’s piano playing in his own sound, but he isn’t nearly as percussive as Tyner often was on his classic recordings. He also happens to have tremendous range as an artist and an incredible touch on the piano.

Sipiagin is the perfect frontline partner for Wright and he finds a good balance between bold and controlled. He creates some musical fireworks on Wright originals like “Odd Man Out” and “Castaway” but he can also turn it down a few notches for gentler material. While the aforementioned “Castaway” and the title track demonstrate Wright’s ability to write and play in a more aggressive manner, he works equally well in a more relaxed setting. His “Drift” sounds like it could have been an outtake from Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage (Blue Note, 1965) and his performance on “Here’s That Rainy Day” is soothing and refined. His tone takes on a velvet-like quality here as he gently glides over Kikoski’s piano. While his playing often heats up the material on this album, it’s Brandon Wright’s ability to go from cool to hot and everything in between that proves to be his greatest strength on Boiling Point.

Track listing: Free Man; Drift; Odd Man Out; Boiling Point; Here’s That Rainy Day; Castaway; Interstate Love Song; You’re My Everything.

Personnel: Brandon Wright: tenor saxophone; Alex Sipiagin: trumpet; David Kikoski: piano; Hans Glawischnig: bass; Matt Wilson: drums.

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John Barron’s AAJ review of the new Brandon Wright CD “Boiling Point”….

www.allaboutjazz.com

by Josh Barron

Saxophonist Brandon Wright has spent the last few years making a name for himself on the New York jazz scene as both a sideman and bandleader. Since graduating from the University of Miami, the New Jersey native has performed with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra and, most recently, has been touring with trumpeter Chuck Mangione. For Boiling Point, his debut as a leader, Wright teams-up with trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, pianist David Kikoski, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Matt Wilson for a hard blowing set of swinging originals and familiar standards.

The disc gets off to a no-nonsense, straight-ahead start with Wright’s “Free Man,” a catchy minor blues with an imaginative solo turn from the thick-toned tenor man. Indeed, Wright’s big sound and technical precision enable him to deliver fresh, creative lines on his other boisterous compositions “Drift,” “Odd Man Out” and “Castaway.” Throughout the recording, Wright demonstrates an understanding of stylistic sensitivity, moving gracefully from an aggressive, no-holds-barred approach on his raucous title track to the tender, lyrical rendering of “Here’s That Rainy Day.”

Sipiagin shares front line duty with an equally free-wheeling approach, blowing trumpet solos that are at once conscious of traditional and progressive music. Kikoski’s energetic soloing and punchy piano comping serves the music well. With taste and a deft touch, the pianist lives up to his acclaimed reputation as a first-rate sideman. The rock-solid support of Glawischnig and Wilson add fervor to this dynamic debut full of engaging sounds.

Track listing: Free Man; Drift; Odd Man Out; Boiling Point; Here’s That Rainy Day; Castaway; Interstate Love Song; You’re My Everything.

Personnel: Brandon Wright: tenor saxophone; Alex Sipiagin: trumpet; David Kikoski: piano; Hans Glawischnig: bass; Matt Wilson: drums.

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An insightful write-up of Brandon Wright “Boiling Point” by Dan Bilawsky…

Boiling Point
Brandon Wright | Posi-Tone Records (2010)

By Dan Bilawsky

The word tenor, in Latin, refers to “a continuous holding to a course,” and tenor saxophonist Brandon Wright does just that on Boiling Point. Whether Wright is engaging in a musical boxing match with trumpeter Alex Sipiagin or crooning over pianist David Kikoski on an established ballad, he always seems to maintain a consistent musical presence that transcends tempo, feel and style. Perhaps it’s his tone, which is big but not too brash and attractive, yet far from smooth, that ties it altogether. Regardless of what it is, Wright makes it work across these eight tracks.

Of course, some of the credit must also go to the rest of the band. Bassist Hans Glawischnig is the rock at the center of it all, making sure that everything lines up and is held together in just the right way. Drummer Matt Wilson, one of the most creative and enjoyable forces on the jazz scene today, has the rare ability to be fully interactive, while also maintaining his role as a key rhythmic element that locks in the time for the rest of the band. Kikoski occasionally shows a fondness for McCoy Tyner’s piano playing in his own sound, but he isn’t nearly as percussive as Tyner often was on his classic recordings. He also happens to have tremendous range as an artist and an incredible touch on the piano.

Sipiagin is the perfect frontline partner for Wright and he finds a good balance between bold and controlled. He creates some musical fireworks on Wright originals like “Odd Man Out” and “Castaway” but he can also turn it down a few notches for gentler material. While the aforementioned “Castaway” and the title track demonstrate Wright’s ability to write and play in a more aggressive manner, he works equally well in a more relaxed setting. His “Drift” sounds like it could have been an outtake from Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage (Blue Note, 1965) and his performance on “Here’s That Rainy Day” is soothing and refined. His tone takes on a velvet-like quality here as he gently glides over Kikoski’s piano. While his playing often heats up the material on this album, it’s Brandon Wright’s ability to go from cool to hot and everything in between that proves to be his greatest strength on Boiling Point.

Track listing: Free Man; Drift; Odd Man Out; Boiling Point; Here’s That Rainy Day; Castaway; Interstate Love Song; You’re My Everything.

Personnel: Brandon Wright: tenor saxophone; Alex Sipiagin: trumpet; David Kikoski: piano; Hans Glawischnig: bass; Matt Wilson: drums.

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Some advance coverage from Audiophile Audition for our next release “Boiling Point” by tenor saxophonist Brandon Wright…


www.audad.com
Brandon Wright – Boiling Point – Posi-Tone PR 8063 – 55:17 **** (4/20/2010)
(Brandon Wright, tenor sax; Alex Sipiagin, trumpet; David Kikoski, piano; Hans Glawischnig, bass; Matt Wilson, drums)

You can tell when a jazz label is serious about helping an artist with their debut release. You stand the best chance of success when you let your newbie use his own compositions and not rely solely on jazz standards. (“Let’s see what he can do with Lover Man.”) Let your musician show his composing talent as well as whether he can blow his horn.

Surround your future star with established veterans who can both blend and comp behind the leader, yet when it is either ensemble playing or showing their talent during solos, they are fully ready to be team players.

Well, Posi-Tone has done things right with tenor saxist, Brandon Wright. Top flight sidemen from the Mingus Big Band – pianist David Kikoski, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, and bassist Hans Glawischnig – are here. First call New York drummer supreme Matt Wilson can, and does play drums for a myriad of players, both inside and out, as well as lead his own groups.

Wright won the 2009 ASCAP Young Composer Award, so including five of his own compositions out of the eight tracks on his CD, Boiling Point, is entirely appropriate. Free Man opens the CD with a hard bop flavor. After the opening intro, Brandon immediately shows his blowing skills, with a mature hard attack. Sipiagin steps up and brings to mind Freddie Hubbard, while matching Wright’s intensity. David Kikoski’s solo shows why he is such an integral part of the Mingus Band as when he plays you don’t miss the horns-his touch is light, yet sparkling, and keeps pace with the front line before Wright and Sipiagin re-enter with the theme.

Drift shows Wright’s lyrical side and Sipiagin’s solo has a burnished quality that is deeply pleasing. Matt Wilson’s presence is felt as his cymbal work and drum fills add flavor and tone. Odd Man Out is further proof that Wright’s ASCAP award was well deserved, as he has great talent with the hard bop idiom that will please lovers of straight ahead jazz. Once again Alex Sipiagin’s solo makes him the center of focus, as he has stepped into the role of a commanding artist, for whom you eagerly wait to solo.

The title track is apropos as Brandon is hard-charging before Kikoski’s fleet hands up the ante, and Wilson pushes Wright into Coltrane territory. The obligatory ballad, Here’s That Rainy Day, shows Wright to be a more than capable balladeer with that warm hearty tone that indicates he can wring out the emotion that a jazz standard demands. My favorite track on Boiling Point is another Wright-penned composition, Castaway. It has a true 1960s Blue Note feel, led by Sipiagin again, with a take no prisoners strut, and propelled by Matt Wilson to a feverish pitch, before Wright lowers the temperature with a bluesy flourish. The rhythm section also shines on this extended number.

Posi-Tone has a winner on its hands with Boiling Point. Nick O’Toole has done another superb job engineering a crisp mix where all band members’ talents are fully presented. Brandon Wright has a bright future, and Posi-Tone has pointed him in the right direction with a classy debut CD.
TrackList: Free Man, Drift, Odd Man Out, Boiling Point, Here’s That Rainy Day, Castaway, Interstate Love Song, You’re My Everything

– Jeff Krow

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Some advance press for our next release “Boiling Point” by tenor saxophonist Brandon Wright…

by Derek Taylor
masterofasmallhouse.blogspot.com

Over four decades after his premature passing, Coltrane is still a near-inescapable force for jazz saxophonists who opt for tradition-minded playing. Twenty-something Brandon Wright certainly sounds under the master’s spell. From the bright, soaring unisions of “Free Man” the opening number on his new release, the tracks of Trane are a primary method of melodic travel. That observation may read like a slight, but it’s not indended as one. After all, if a player is going to cop a sound to build on, it might as well be that of the heavyweight champion.

Subsequent pieces in the program betray other indelible influences. “Drift” sounds shorn from a cloth similar to that of Wayne Shorter’s Sixties tune-smithing in the warm enveloping harmonies and dusky overriding melody. “Here’s That Rainy Day” has etchings of Ammons in the robust rounded tone Wright rings from his horn’s reed. A capable band of conscripts aid him in his cause starting with his canny frontline partner,Alex Sipiagin. Morgan and Hubbard weigh heavily as ringers in the trumpeter’s lithe phraseology and there are moments in his animated interplay with Wright that intimate stimulating frontline partnerships so common to the classic Blue Note-ear. Pianist David Kikoski, bassist Hans Glawischinig and drummer Matt Wilson also make fine company for the leader.

Tune-wise no true surprises present themselves in what is galvanizing, but ultimately somewhat generic hardbop fare. Wright was the 2009 ASCAP Young Composer award winner so the manner in which he limns close to convention in most of the contexts here is slightly disappointing. Five originals balance against a pair of jazz standards and the left field choice of the Stone Temple Pilots “Interstate Love Song”, reconfigured here as a ballad with muscle. All pieces prove able-bodied blowing vehicles and Wright and his crew tackle them wih equal aplomb. There’s a pleasing consitency between compositions and a solid album coherence to the set.