John Stowell | Michael Zilber

Live Beauty

82684

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MUSIC REVIEW BY Bill Milkowski, Downbeat

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4-STARS The potent partnership of guitarist John Stowell and saxophonist Michael Zilber plays out on this highly interactive and adventurous set recorded before a live audience at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley. Fueled by the remarkably empathetic Bay Area rhythm tandem of bassist John Shifflet and drummer Jason Lewis, Stowell and Zilber take their time and follow their muse quite freely throughout this intimate concert. Zilber, a Vancouver native who spent his 20s playing and recording in New York before moving to San Francisco, reveals a decidedly Michael Brecker influence in his bold tenor lines on the spirited opener, "In The Park," which has him nonchalantly double-timing and reaching into the uppermost register of his horn. He switches to soprano for an exhilarating romp through Shifflett's uptempo burner "Quantum Theory," which also turns Lewis loose on an extended drum solo. Zilber's "Stowell What" is a quirky, pointillistic nod to his Portland-based partner, who may be less well-known but is no less accomplished than his East Coast counterparts like Vic Juris, Ben Monder and Jonathan Kreisberg. Zilber and Stowell turn in a provocative duo reading of "My Funny Valentine," which features Stowell probing the microtonal zone on fretless guitar. And they close on a dynamic note, recalling the chemistry between Joe Lovano and John Scofield on a second-line flavored take on Sco's "Wabash III."








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