Burton Greene/Roy Campbell Quartet: Isms Out

by Michael Holman
May 5, 2005

Free jazz pioneer pianist Burton Greene and trumpeter Roy Campbell front this deeply satisfying CIMP release. The disc has an eclectic feel, striking a nearly ideal balance between free improvisation and more structured jazz, while also drawing on some notable world music influences. Venerable drummer Lou Grassi and bassist Adam Lane round out the quartet and provide some enjoyable solos as well as solid support for the leaders. The album is primarily Greene's project, as he provides most of the ...

Burton Greene/Roy Campbell Quartet: Isms Out

by Michael Holman
March 18, 2005

Free jazz pioneer pianist Burton Greene and trumpeter Roy Campbell front this deeply satisfying CIMP release. The disc has an eclectic feel, striking a nearly ideal balance between free improvisation and more structured jazz, while also drawing on some notable world music influences. Venerable drummer Lou Grassi and bassist Adam Lane round out the quartet and provide some enjoyable solos as well as solid support for the leaders. The album is primarily Greene's project, as he provides most of the ...

Burton Greene/Roy Campbell Quartet: Isms Out

by Derek Taylor
February 11, 2005

Comebacks have a vexing tendency to fizzle and self-combust. The aged player who can work his or her way back from the brink of anonymity to the limelight is a fortunate one indeed. Witness altoist Jemeel Moondoc, who made strong recouping strides at the cusp of the new millennium, only to see the gleam of his relative celebrity flicker and wane once again. The story is still shaking out on Henry Grimes. With luck, the bassist's rejuvenated cachet will last ...

Roy Campbell Quartet: It's Krunch Time

by Bernie Koenig
April 18, 2002

Roy Campbell is one of the top trumpet players around today. Khan Jamal is currently my favourite vibes player--and I say this as a vibraphonist. Until I heard Jamal--whose playing goes back to the Douglas Loft Sessions--my favourite vibraphonist was Walt Dickerson. Jamal can play out but he can really cook as well. Wilber Morris is one hell of a bassist. Guillermo E. Brown Brown is unknown to me, but as drums are my main instrument I also look forward ...

Roy Campbell Quartet: It's Krunch Time

by AAJ Staff
August 1, 2001

Leave your preconceptions at the door when you hit play on this one. Roy Campbell, an incendiary free jazz trumpeter? Sometimes. Wilber Morris, an adventurous, abstract bassist? Sometimes. Guillermo E. Brown, a steaming powerhouse drummer? Sometimes. It's Krunch Time is an exceptionally accessible record, given the broad talent and free jazz experience of the musicians. It challenges the stereotypes that have been imposed on these players, and it showcases the flexibility of the relative newcomer, vibraphonist Kahn Jamal.

Some of ...

Roy Campbell's Pyramid Trio: Ethnic Stew And Brew

by Mark Corroto
April 1, 2001

Trumpeter Roy Campbell’s music reminds one of the art of saxophonist Albert Ayler. Like Ayler, Campbell’s approach is to swallow all musical concepts, converting ‘world-music’ into one-music. His playing can emanate pure improvisation, like in the quartet Other Dimensions In Music, and the trumpeter can also maintain that improvisational touch in the large band of William Parker, known as The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra. Campbell’s trumpet comes with the lyricism of Freddie Hubbard, the freedom of Albert Ayler, and ...

Roy Campbell's Pyramid Trio: Ethnic Stew and Brew

by Derek Taylor
April 1, 2001

Saxophone trios rounded out by bass and drums are a regularity in creative improvised music. Strangely, trios led by trumpet are a comparatively rare occurrence. The reasons behind the disparity are debatable but may have something to do with the perceived difficulties in timbre and range sometimes attached to brass instruments. Where the adroit brass player can often effectively out lap his reed counterpart is in the area of tonal and textural variation. Roy Campbell is especially adept in this ...