Nick Finzer - Dreams Visions Illusions

Styles: Trombone Jazz
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:06
Size: 139,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:01) 1. To Dream a Bigger Dream
(5:52) 2. Aspirations and Convictions
(2:06) 3. Intro To Follow Your Heart
(4:33) 4. Follow Your Heart
(7:26) 5. I Thought I Took The Road Less Traveled
(6:52) 6. But I Did What They Said
(6:43) 7. To The "Top"
(5:07) 8. Visions or Mirage
(8:36) 9. Waking Up
(3:47) 10. Now, Then and When

Nick Finzer returns with 10 challenging original compositions on Dreams, Visions, Illusions, made possible with support from Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works program.

The trombonist, band leader and composer kept busy during the pandemic by composing an album which is on par with 2019’s stellar Cast of Characters. On this album, Finzer engages his own usual cast of characters Alex Wintz on guitar, Lucas Pino on bass clarinet and tenor sax, Jimmy Macbride on the drums, Dave Baron on bass, and Glenn Zaleski on piano.

Their collaborations on Dreams, Visions, Illusions sound like the work of a band that has been playing together forever. (In reality, it’s been more than 10 years.) Each of its three segments is a powerful statement which adds to the cohesiveness of the project.

The Dreams section starts with “To Dream a Bigger Dream,” which finds Finzer’s trombone and Pino’s tenor taking impressive turns. The main theme is supported by the energetic rhythm backing of Macbride and Baron. The album is at cruising speed by the time we get to the ballad “Aspirations and Convictions,” which continues the Dreams theme and contains a gorgeous bass solo by Dave Baron and delicate ride cymbal work from MacBride.

“Follow Your Heart” ends the first portion of the album with renewed vigor. Glenn Zaleski attacks the piano while Nick Finzer and Pino provide melodic leads, before Finzer steps out with an outstanding solo. Wintz and Zaleski also get to shine in their respective solo sections.

The middle segment of Dreams, Visions, Illusions features the dynamic “I Thought I Took the Road Less Traveled.” The song is expansive, with a mystical charm created by the interaction of Nick Finzer’s trombone lines with Lucas Pino. Alex Wintz’s clean tones and evocative style are featured in the middle of this shuffle, as the rhythm section builds the tension before Finzer settles the matter with his solo.

The near-epic “Waking Up” is the climax of the final section, Illusions. The song features a nuanced trombone and bass opening, which builds in power. Pino quickly enters the melodic stew and Zaleski offers fine piano riffs which dance confidently with Wintz’s guitar. Pino offers a fine bass clarinet section to change the sonic texture of the track, while Jimmy Macbride gets to stretch at the climax.

“Waking Up” would have been a great ending to this LP but there’s more, as “Now, Then and When” provides icing on top of this already delicious cake. Recorded in just one day in July 2022, Dreams, Visions, Illusions is on my must-have list for the year. It’s available via Bandcamp and at nickfinzermusic.com.
https://somethingelsereviews.com/2023/04/11/nick-finzer-dreams-visions-illusions/

Dreams Visions Illusions

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Nick Finzer - No Arrival

Styles: Trombone Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:28
Size: 134,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:32)  1. Rinse And Repeat
(5:48)  2. Never Enough
(4:28)  3. Maria
(4:57)  4. Tomorrow Next Year
(5:40)  5. Soon
(5:10)  6. No Arrival
(5:36)  7. Pyramid
(7:34)  8. Only This, Only Now
(7:39)  9. The Greatest Romance Ever Sold
(6:59) 10. A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing

To say a musician has arrived is to create the ultimate paradox. For in that notion is the suggestion of reaching the upper echelon in the art form, but also an indication of the end of a journey and the start of stagnation. With the true seeker and master musician, there is no arrival; there's merely the act of moving forward, and trombonist Nick Finzer is keenly aware of that. While he's certainly come into his own over the past several years, Finzer isn't one to adopt such an idea as arrival. He's all about growth mindset, and that's why he continues to impress and evolve. On his first date for Posi-Tone, Finzer fronts a sextet of his peers on a program that showcases his chops, taste, pen, and panoramic outlook. He never repeats himself, yet everything seems to be of apiece. The opening coupling perfectly makes that point. "Rinse And Repeat" is all optimism, as Finzer creates a musical depiction of day by day life as the ultimate mulligan. Then, with "Never Enough," he subscribes to realism and reflection, addressing mortality with pensive purity. Both songs stand brilliantly on their own, but each also proves complementary to the other. As the album continues, Finzer adds more quality originals. But of greater note, he also finds a way to honor his influences without taking a step backward. With a personalized take on Leonard Bernstein's "Maria" he addresses the grip that West Side Story had on his heart strings from an early age, through a waltzing take on George Gershwin's "Soon" he honors trombone icon Curtis Fuller, on Duke Ellington's "Pyramid" he rides and glides atop a double-time bass line while shining light on his bandmates and this under-heralded gem, and in "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" he tips his hat to the composer and the artist who's work introduced him to the song Prince and Maceo Parker, respectively. Then the curtain comes down down with an inflection-rich take on Billy Strayhorn's "A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing" that's as much about the man behind the music as it is about Ellingtonian trombone forebearers and mute masters like "Tricky Sam" Nanton. While Finzer most certainly deserves a good deal of praise for this one, it would be hard to understate the importance of the contributions from the rest of his crew. Lucas Pino's tenor saxophone and bass clarinet are stylishly indispensable, Victor Gould's piano glistens while getting to the heart of an idea, Alex Wintz's articulate guitar threads its way into all the right spaces, Dave Baron's bass bolsters this band from below, and Jimmy Macbride juices up the grooves, be they swinging or suggestive of other ideals. On No Arrival, man and band work off the same page. That sense of unity is but one of the many virtues of this date. ~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/no-arrival-nick-finzer-posi-tone-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Nick Finzer: trombone; Lucas Pino: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Victor Gould: piano; Alex Wintz: guitar; Dave Baron: bass; Jimmy Macbride: drums.

No Arrival

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Nick Finzer - Hear & Now

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:07
Size: 130.8 MB
Styles: Trombone jazz
Year: 2017
Art: Front

[4:49] 1. We The People
[6:07] 2. The Silent One
[4:50] 3. Single Petal Of A Rose
[8:55] 4. Again And Again
[6:30] 5. Race To The Bottom
[8:04] 6. New Beginnings
[7:31] 7. Lullaby For An Old Friend
[5:01] 8. Dance Of Persistence
[5:15] 9. Love Wins

Nick Finzer: trombone; Lucas Pino: tenor sax, bass clarinet; Alex Wintz: guitar; Glenn Zaleski: piano; Dave Baron: drums; Jimmy MacBride: drums.

New York-based trombonist Nick Finzer has benefited from mentorships under trombone masters Wycliffe Gordon and Steve Turre; but his third CD release, Hear And Now also brings the original trombones master, J.J. Johnson to mind. One of Johnson's last CDs, the minor masterpiece, Heroes (Verve Records, 1995), featured a sextet configuration with an enormously-talented pianist, Renee Rosnes, in the mix. Hear & Now is a sextet outing with an up-and-coming, unlimited potential talent, Glenn Zaleski, sitting in front of the eighty-eights. Both the albums are filled with cerebral-yet-always engaging tunes, all of them very artfully arranged—Johnson was a master at that craft. It seems that Nick Finzer is developing on a b-line in that direction.

On a nine tune set, featuring eight Finzer originals, along with Duke Ellington's "Single Petal Of A Rose," everything from the opener—the propulsive barn burner, "We the People," through to the dreamily gorgeous closer "Love Wins"—comes wrapped in often delicate, always intricate arrangements, featuring snappy interplay and back and forth harmonics between Zaleski's piano and Alex Wintz' guitar; with intimate conversations between the leader's muscular notes and Lucas Pino's searing tenor sax and his mellifluously beautiful bass clarinet work; all of this anchored by the solid yet-flexible bass/drums team of, respectively, Dave Baron and Jimmy Macbride.

The sextet broods in dark tones on "The Silent One." The music is, in part, Finzer's reaction to America's social framework, to events transpiring here and now. This tune changes directions and tempos; Pino's saxophone lets loose and anguished cry; Baron and MacBride churn up a disconcerting turbulence, before Finzer and Pino harmonize into a soothing—or perhaps slightly exhausted by the whole affair (the framework, not the music)—conclusion. The group's take on Ellington's "The Single Petal of a Rose," from the under recognized "The Queen's Suite," is a idiosyncratic examination of one of Duke's most beautiful tunes, with Zaleski displaying a light, floating touch on the piano, and Finzer and Pino (on bass clarinet here) sounding as if they'd fit into Ellington's orchestra, from any era. Finzer has crafted a complex showcase for his vision throughout the set, with music that goes moves from the timelessness of Ellington into more modern territory as it lays down an unsettled feeling with "Again And Again," into the frenetic, wired tight "Race To the Bottom." As for Finzer, it sounds as if he may be on track toward a race to the top, as much as an arranger/composer/conceptualist as he is a trombonist.

Hear & Now mc
Hear & Now zippy

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Nick Finzer - The Chase

Size: 146,0 MB
Time: 62:28
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Jazz: Straight-ahead/Mainstream
Art: Front

01. Life Happens (5:06)
02. Spheres Of Influence (6:42)
03. All Hype (5:50)
04. Steadfast (6:35)
05. The Chase (4:42)
06. Acceptance (7:26)
07. While You're Gone (6:11)
08. Why Aren't You Excited (6:04)
09. Search For A Sunset (7:35)
10. Just Passed The Horizon (Intro) (1:03)
11. Just Passed The Horizon (5:10)

The trombone's gone through a few good times and a few bad times as a front-line jazz instrument. Thankfully, for all lovers of this particular horn, these times are good times. Nick Finzer is one of the players responsible, a trombonist and writer with flair and variety. The Chase, his second album, helps to ensure that the good times will stick around.

Finzer's a member of Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, racking up a few million You Tube hits with the band's trademark reinterpretations of tunes like Radiohead's "Creep" and Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer." The tunes on The Chase are Finzer originals. Fresh and engaging, they're straight-ahead numbers for the most part, performed by a tight, sympathetic, sextet—with the exception of pianist Glenn Zaleski all of the players also appeared on Finzer's debut album, Exposition (Outside in Music, 2013). Tenor player Lucas Pino's an excellent partner for Finzer. He's credited solely with "saxophone" on the album sleeve, but the rich, woody, tone of the clarinet (and on the melancholy, sweet-natured "Steadfast" the bass clarinet) do seem to put in a few appearances.

Bassist Dave Baron and drummer Jimmy Macbride drive the pace on the up-tempo title track. As the title suggests, this is a fast, racy, tune: Finzer and Pino engage in tight duo playing, guitarist Alex Wintz and Zaleski solo with verve. "Search For A Sunset" is smooth-as-silk romantic. The up-tempo swing of "Just Passed The Horizon" brings it all to a joyous close.

It's the early hours of the morning—a quarter to three, perhaps—Wintz and Pino are absent, the barman wants to go home and the rhythm section is idly jamming in the corner. Finzer's still at the bar, his trombone muted as he takes the lead on "While You're Gone"—a delicious slice of jazz trombone that harks back to Tricky Sam Nanton. There are no words, but Finzer's at his most lyrical, his trombone at its most voice-like as it tells its tale, ably assisted by Zaleski and Baron's empathic solos. It's a fine example of the art of musical storytelling, the communication of emotion and narrative. Yep, good times for the trombone and good times for Finzer. ~by Bruce Lindsay

Personnel: Nick FInzer: trombone; Lucas Pino: saxophone; Alex Wintz: guitar; Glenn Zaleski: piano; Dave Baron: bass; Jimmy MacBride: drums.

The Chase

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