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Bill Carrothers: Red Planet

By Mike Jurkovic
April 2, 2018
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Since the '80s, Michigan pianist

Bill Carrothers

piano
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Carrothers has inventively and tirelessly fashioned himself an enviable discography, which includes 2008's Home Row (Pirouet Records, 2008) with

Gary Peacock

bass, acoustic
1935 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Gary Peacock and

Bill Stewart

drums
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Stewart and 2010's tribute to revered trumpeter

" data-original-title="" title="">Clifford Brown Joy Spring (Pirouet Records, 2010 ). A critical fave on the touring circuit, he's highlighted gigs the world over, with Birdland, Europe's Rising Star Tour, and the Montreal Jazz Fest among many highlights. His post-bop style has shared the stage with the likes of saxophonist

Dewey Redman

saxophone, tenor
b.1931

" data-original-title="" title="">Dewey Redman, trombonist

Curtis Fuller

trombone
1934 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Curtis Fuller, and harmonica man

Toots Thielemans

harmonica
1922 - 2016

" data-original-title="" title="">Toots Thielemans.

Yet for all practical purposes, Carrothers is far from a household name in jazz households. Hopefully the extended themes, blurred overtones, and crisp, warm playing of Red Planet, on the Twin Cities-based Shifting Paradigm Records, brings his affinity for the masters and his ability to adapt the best of the modern into a stronger focus. Recorded with Minneapolis lynchpins—guitarist

Dean Magraw

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Dean Magraw, bassist

Chris Bates

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Chris Bates and drummer Jay Epstein—Red Planet sizzles and swings.

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane's "Living Space" shifts wondrously from intense guitar workout to an out-and-out hard bop revelry. The opening "Ann R Chi Suite" sounds and feels like it can morph into anything at the drop of a dime and usually does. And that's the tricky thing about the whole of Red Planet: just when you think it might go off the rails following

Monk

" data-original-title="" title="">Monk on two tracks and then

Sammy Cahn

composer / conductor
1913 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Sammy Cahn, and on another the quartet's own lanky compositions, it all heads together remarkably for many compelling listens.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Ann R Chi Suite; Big Nick; Come Dance With Me; Unseen Rain; Living Space; Music Is a Weapon of Hope and Healing; La Luna; Freedom for the Broken; Reflections; Think of One.

Personnel

Bill Carrothers

piano

Bill Carrothers: piano; Dean Magraw: guitar; Chris Bates: bass; Jay Epstein: drums

Album information

Title: Red Planet | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Shifting Paradigm Records

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