The Frank Kohl Quartet - Reform

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 1981
File: MP3@128K/s
Time: 39:27
Size: 37,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:43) 1. All in Time
(5:49) 2. I Know I'll See You Again
(6:02) 3. Fall Again
(4:10) 4. Seagate
(5:46) 5. Reform
(4:22) 6. Folk Song
(5:31) 7. Island Song
(3:00) 8. Until We Meet Again

Jazz Guitarist, Frank Kohl was born and raised in the NYC metro area. He began playing guitar at age 7. He started his journey into jazz by joining his award winning high school jazz band. Musicians such as: Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Pat Martino and Jim Hall were milestones along the way of his musical development. One of his greatest influences was at a jazz club in NY called Rapsins. Here he could listen to uncompromised, cutting edge jazz of the highest level with musicians like: Linc Chamberlin- guitar, Lyn Christie- bass, Dave Liebman- sax. Later Frank became A student of Linc and soon he was performing with Lyn Christie.

"I remember around this time going to see Tony Williams Lifetime with John McLaughlin and organist Larry Young. My idea of what jazz was forever changed. I knew then that anything was possible in jazz"

In 1972 Frank attended Berklee College of Music and graduated in 1976 with honors. Students and teachers at that time in Berklee were: John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Steve Swallow and Gary Burton. After Berklee, Frank moved back to NY and performed professionally. In 1981, he released first LP "Reform" The Frank Kohl Quartet featuring Bassist Michael Moore. Around 1983 Frank moved to the San Francisco Bay area and performed his music for years And became a member of Don McCaslin Sr's band Warmth.

In 1990 Frank moved to Seattle where he lives today performing at NW jazz clubs such as: Tula's, Boxley's, Egan's, The Jazz Station.Frank also spends time in NY recording and performing at clubs like Small's, The Metropolitan Room, The Bean Runner.

In 2008 Frank recorded his second CD, "Coast to Coast" The Frank Kohl Quartet in NY with brother and pianist, Tom Kohl. It received rave reviews from Cadence Magazine, All About Jazz, Mike Stern, to name a few. In 2013 Frank recorded his 3rd CD, "Invisible Man" The Frank Kohl Quartet on Pony Boy Records featuring NY bassist Steve LaSpina.

Members of Frank's quartet vary, in Seattle you can hear him with: Bill Anchell, John Hansen, Jeff Johnson, Steve Luceno, Matt Jorgenson, Greg Williamson and others. In NY: Steve LaSpina, Tom Kohl, Steve Roane, Jon Doty And others.https://frankkohl.com/bio

Reform

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Frank Kohl - Invisible Man

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 50:29
Size: 116,1 MB
Art: Front

(6:07) 1. Invisible Man
(5:13) 2. In Your Arms
(6:15) 3. Born Again
(6:21) 4. Falling Sky
(7:48) 5. My Funny Valentine
(5:29) 6. Round About
(4:44) 7. My One and Only Love
(8:28) 8. Alone Together

Guitarist Kohl's third release as a leader, 2015's Invisible Man, features the New York bassist Steve LaSpina, whom Kohl first heard perform with guitar master Jim Hall. The music is a tight east coast sound, with many originals by Kohl. Elegant in simplicity, eschewing the thicker layers of many jazz presentations, this recording is to the point and floats along nicely. Kohl says "May we all believe in ourselves and not be deterred by the obstacles we face, I dedicate my music to that invisible part in all of us."~ Opiniones editoriales https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Man-Frank-Kohl-Quartet/dp/B00U0FJLO6

Personnel: Frank Kohl-Guitar; Steve LaSpina-Bass; Tom Kohl-Piano; Jon Doty-Drums

Invisible Man

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Frank Kohl - The Crossing

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:38
Size: 134,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:17) 1. The Crossing
(6:50) 2. O Grande Amour
(7:23) 3. The Masquerade Is Over
(5:06) 4. The Goodbye
(6:41) 5. Yesterday's
(9:17) 6. Middle of Nowhere
(6:11) 7. Sojourn
(5:28) 8. New Moon
(5:19) 9. Brigas Nuncas Mais

Guitarist Frank Kohl has consistently put forth meaningful and eminently well-conceived guitar releases. His latest album titled The Crossing presents a dual guitar and upright bass approach. Kohl from the Seattle Washington jazz scene has collaborated on several albums with bassist Steve LaSpina, the two are joined by guitarist John Stowell. The album is introspective and offers mature and seasoned performances by all. Kohl and Stowell have a unique bond with each guitarist being their own unique stylist, but both coming from the traditional Barney Kessel style of jazz guitar approach.

The Crossing is Kohl’s fifth leader album, filled with equity of original and comely standards the listener is treated to a trio that displays masterful collaboration, each taking on their role with panache and impeccable artistry. Kohl’s originals are filled with fresh ideas and composed with an inclination of the jazz guitar tradition.

His arrangements of tastefully chosen standards ring with promise atmospheric delight. For example, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “O Grande Amour” is given a relaxed playthrough by the trio. LaSpina has a breezy bossa nova feel that both Kohl and Stowell embellish. Both have the rhythmic language of the bossa nova mastered in both their accompanying and single-note playing. It is interesting to hear how both guitarists approach the melody, Kohl plays the melody first, with Stowell performing it the last time. Each has their own unique way of bringing out the charm of the Jobim melody. Stowell solos first; his lines are carefully constructed around the harmony and maintains a flowing eight-note pattern. Kohl’s solo has a wide range of techniques and colors, from rhythmically repeated notes to chordal statements.

“Middle of Nowhere” is a Kohl original with a straight-eight feel provided by LaSpina. The melody is catchy and joyful. The two guitarists have outstanding interaction on this track. Both speak the same jazz language, and that gives them the ability to complement each other. Hearing these two guitarists perform is going to be a treat for all jazz guitar fans. Kohl once again proves his acumen for writing smartly constructed originals adorning them with equally styled arrangements of standards. At first, I was unsure of the two guitarists’ idea, but Kohl and Stowell prove they are both masters of collaboration, each contributing to the success of a dual guitar sound. LaSpina per usual is nothing less than magical. It is easy to hear why artists such as the Mel Lewis’s orchestra (1978–82), Stan Getz (1986-87), Jim Hall (from 1988), Andy LaVerne (from 1989), and Benny Carter (latter half of the 1990s) called upon his bass predilection. The Crossing is worth the journey. Partake and enjoy. https://5fingerreview.com/frank-kohl-the-crossing-review/

Personnel – Frank Kohl: guitar; John Stowell: guitar and nylon string guitar; Steve LaSpina: contrabass

The Crossing

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Frank Kohl - Coast to Coast

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:00
Size: 118,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:02) 1. Wide Open
(4:46) 2. Coast to Coast
(7:29) 3. A Call for Peace
(8:32) 4. Fly Away
(8:34) 5. Bright Night
(5:06) 6. I Remember Clifford
(8:05) 7. Old Country
(3:23) 8. When All is Well

Frank Kohl approaches the guitar with an exuberant curiosity, but also a well-crafted ability skittering from influence to influence without ever stumbling. He sounds like he’s having a ball, too. That’s led to an album called Coast to Coast that boasts a savvy veteran player’s satisfying structural logic, but also its share of humor and fun. Kohl gets off to a fast start, with “Wide Open,” the first of six original pieces. The Seattle guitarist bursts out amidst a bouncy, insistent rhythm signature from drummer Jon Koty and bassist Steve Roane. That boisterous interplay allows Kohl to work at a varied pace, moving behind the beat and then just in front of it all the while sounding as effortlessly engaging as a classic Wes Montgomery pop-jazz side. Pianist Tom Kohl’s shrewdly involving solo, bolstered a series of trickling runs, only adds to the tune’s stirring optimism. It’s a vibrant, sun-filled opening track.

The album’s title tune follows. A riffy, swinging affair, it’s more in keeping with Montgomery’s earliest post-bop projects. Playing alongside a supremely confident Roane, who consistently lays down a firm bass foundation across the breadth of Coast to Coast, Kohl explores a series of buoyant themes to great effect. When Roane takes a solo turn, he really shines, too adding attractive new contours to the proceedings. A similar swinging symbiosis drives the moving ballad “A Call for Peace,” which again features Doty at the drums. While Kohl unfurls a series of finely spin lines, Doty explores an intriguing selection of polyrhythms. Though wordless, the instrumental nevertheless conveys both a deep concern and a stoic protest in the face of ongoing conflict. Tom Kohl also returns to provide a series of dark shadings at the piano, underscoring the tune’s gravity without ever taking away from the guitarist’s searching, heartfelt solo musings.

The original “Fly Away,” not to be confused with the oft-recorded gospel standard “I’ll Fly Away,” begins in a similarly ruminative mood, though from the start this tune has the feel of a reverie rather than a rebuke. Soon, Roane and Jerry Fitzgerald, who takes over on drums for three of the remaining four cuts, have kicked into gear finding a skipping rhythm that allows Kohl to soar once more. Channeling the most free-wheeling, open-hearted sounds of Pat Metheny, Kohl is as amiable as he is quick fingered. During his eventual solo, Tom Hohl plays with a stuttering force; the sounds this time arrive in clusters that suggest an afternoon storm cloud bursting.

Conversely, his opening piano on “Bright Night,” so softly introverted, sounds like something out of Miles Davis’ late-1950s modal jazz triumph Kind of Blue. Kohl answers in kind, playing with a caressing beauty. It’s perhaps the most impressionistic moment on Coast to Coast, and certainly one of its most attractive. Kohl’s take on Benny Golson’s “I Remember Clifford,” meanwhile, has a delightfully bluesy edge. In a move that almost belies some of the prettier moments that came before on Coast to Coast, Kohl punches out rows of notes with power, and grit. Conversely, his opening piano on “Bright Night,” so softly introverted, sounds like something out of Miles Davis’ late-1950s modal jazz triumph Kind of Blue. Kohl answers in kind, playing with a caressing beauty. It’s perhaps the most impressionistic moment on Coast to Coast, and certainly one of its most attractive. Kohl’s take on Benny Golson’s “I Remember Clifford,” meanwhile, has a delightfully bluesy edge. In a move that almost belies some of the prettier moments that came before on Coast to Coast, Kohl punches out rows of notes with power, and grit.~ Nick DeRiso https://somethingelsereviews.com/2011/10/14/frank-kohl-quartet-coast-to-coast/

Personnel: Frank Kohl, g; Steve Roane except 8, b; Tom Kohl except 2, 8, p; Jon Doty 1, 3, JerryFitzgerald 4, 5, 7, d. January, 2008, Madison, CT.

Coast to Coast

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The Frank Kohl Quartet - Rising Tide

Styles: Guitar Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:15
Size: 118,7 MB
Art: Front

(6:52) 1. Rock and Roll
(8:57) 2. Rising Tide
(5:07) 3. With Tears of Joy
(8:17) 4. Richman Poorman
(4:26) 5. Love Letters
(5:45) 6. Late Night
(8:29) 7. My Romance
(3:19) 8. Beautiful Love Solo Guitar

Rising Tide is Frank Kohl's fourth album as leader, and finds the Seattle-based guitarist slinging an especially contemplative vintage of swing. This time he is joined by his New York City quartet of bassist Steve LaSpina, pianist (and brother) Tom Kohl, and drummer Jon Doty. As Steve Griggs of Earshot Magazine wrote of his last album, Invisible Man, "While Kohl has clearly mastered technique, his guitar solos sing true with room for breath and emotion." These sentiments are nowhere truer than on Rising Tide, guaranteeing a truly welcoming experience.

To that end, Rising Tide opens with two original grooves: Rock and Roll and the title track. The former makes for some of the album's smoothest sailing, while Rising Tide eddies and whirls in its own unique way. Both showcase the bandleader at the height of his compositional powers, expressed in a playing style that is equal parts declaration and implication. Kohl's wheelhouse is his balladry, which finds ample proof in the sweeter inflections of With Tears of Joy and Richman Poorman. Both are emblematic products of a keen melodician, highlighting the artisanal sound that Kohl painstakingly elicits from his instrument.

Not to be ignored, however, are the contributions of his top-flight sidemen, who from their treasure hunt through Victor Young's Love Letters emerge with sensitive rewards. My Romance (Rodgers and Hart), for its part, showcases the rhythm section's effervescent synergy. Like a hot cup of mulled cider on a winter's evening, it goes down smooth and warms from within, emboldened by a hint of spice: exactly the kind of nostalgia we need in the impending season. Between these standards, Late Night, another Kohl original, shows the band at its interlocking best. Here one gets the nimble improvising of LaSpina, brother Kohl's delicate pianism, and Doty's effortless exchanges. As with each Kohl-penned tune, the title almost suggests itself, whispered like a premonition over the waters of his creative spirit.

A solo take on the Victor Young classic, Beautiful Love, closes out the set with barest essentials. The title perfectly describes the depth of Kohl's playing, which in its unaccompanied state embraces us as we are. Kohl's music has all the makings of classic territory, and this album is its ideal topography. Each melody blossoms with a formal yet spontaneous sound built upon heartfelt foundations and quality rapport. To many musicians, smooth exteriors and genuinely emotional interiors make for a difficult balance. In Kohl's hands, however, such equilibrium feels as inevitable as the music. The tide may be rising, but on this album's platform Kohl is riding his way into continued success. http://home.nestor.minsk.by/jazz/news/2017/01/1901.html

Personnel: Guitar – Frank Kohl ; Bass – Steve LaSpina (tracks: 1 to 7); Drums – Jon Doty (tracks: 1 to 7); Piano – Tom Kohl (tracks: 1 to 7)

Rising Tide

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