leonellismusic

Donal Fox and David Murray in SessionRecorded March 24, 1993, Studio B, WGBH-TV, Boston, courtesy WGBH Educational FoundationRecording Engineer: Tom PughProducer: Calvin A. Lindsay, Jr.Donal Fox, pianoDavid Murray, bass clarinet"Vamping With T.T." by Donal FoxCD available on Evidence Music, Inc. (ECD 22131)Executive Producer: Jerry GordonLiner Notes: Amiri Barakawww.evidencemusic.comReviews:"Pianist Fox has an uncanny way of drawing out the best from Murray on tenor sax and bass clarinet. . . . Fox thinks quickly, moves readily between chordal and free frames of reference, and has a sharp improvisational intelligence that might be as rooted in Scriabin as in Tatum. . . . the most apt partnership since Murray's duets with Randy Weston . . . "-- Norman Weinstein, Boston Phoenix"Scintillating set of duos ranging from a poignant version of the Monk title track to some free jazz vamping and experiments with ostinatos, arranged piano and minimalism."-- Denver Post

Donal Fox and David Murray in SessionRecorded March 24, 1993, Studio B, WGBH-TV, Boston, courtesy WGBH Educational FoundationRecording Engineer: Tom PughProducer: Calvin A. Lindsay, Jr.Donal Fox, pianoDavid Murray, Tenor Saxophone"Ugly Beauty" by Thelonious MonkCD available on Evidence Music, Inc. (ECD 22131)Executive Producer: Jerry GordonLiner Notes: Amiri Barakawww.evidencemusic.comReviews:"Pianist Fox has an uncanny way of drawing out the best from Murray on tenor sax and bass clarinet. . . . Fox thinks quickly, moves readily between chordal and free frames of reference, and has a sharp improvisational intelligence that might be as rooted in Scriabin as in Tatum. . . . the most apt partnership since Murray's duets with Randy Weston . . . "-- Norman Weinstein, Boston Phoenix"Donal Fox, has an extensive classical background, which contributes a formal breadth to his duo with the ubiquitous tenorman David Murray on Ugly Beauty.--Art Lange, Pulse! Magazine

Variations on Prokofiev's Toccata, Op. 11 by Donal FoxDonal Fox, pianoInterpretations seriesMerkin Concert Hall, New YorkNovember 16, 2000Leonellis Music (BMI)www.leonellismusic.comNew World Recordswww.newworldrecords.orgReviews:"After intermission came three takes on existing classical works. In his Prokofiev transformation, Donal departed from the original as early as the fifth bar. Prokofiev starts with four measures of pounding 16th-note Ds, alternating between the pianist's hands. At bar 5, the right hand starts playing C and E for two measures, but Donal kept it going twice as long. But then the whole beginning is pianissimo in Prokofiev, and a lot louder as Donal asserts it, so of course he's not playing the piece as it's written. Instead, he uses parts of it as a point of departure for what I take to be improvisation. . . his version brought the concert to an exuberant and thundering conclusion. -- Greg Sandow© 2001 NewMusicBox

Donal Fox Quartet Live at the Blue Note Jazz Club, New York City, July 31, 2007. Donal Fox, piano, Warren Wolf, vibraphone, George Mraz, double bass, Yoron Israel, drums. "Peace" by Horace Silver, Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project

Donal Fox: Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project with Donal Fox, piano, Stefon Harris, vibraphone, John Lockwood, bass, Terri Lyne Carrington, drums. Blue Note/Regattabar Jazz Club, June 2006

Donal Fox rehearsing, for the first music performance in the new Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater, with his Mashups in Blue Project, Donal Fox, piano, John Lockwood, bass, Yoron Israel, drums, Friday, February 2, 2007. ICA Architects: Diller Scofidio + Renfro of New York (Lincoln Center)

Donal Fox at the Boston Symphony Orchestra's (BSO) Ozawa Concert Hall for sound check and rehearsal for his Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project performance at the 2008 Tanglewood Jazz Festival; Donal Fox: Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project with Donal Fox, piano, Christian Scott, trumpet, Warren Wolf, vibraphone, John Lockwood, bass, Terri Lyne Carrington, drums; Tanglewood Jazz Festival, Ozawa Concert Hall, Saturday, August 31, 2008. Donal Fox Quartet Live: Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project CD, selected in AllAboutJazz for The 10 Best New Jazz Releases for 2008, is available at www.cdbaby.com, Amazon.com, and other various online stores.

Donal Fox Quartet Live at the Blue Note Jazz Club, New York City, July 31, 2007. Donal Fox, piano, Warren Wolf, vibraphone, George Mraz, double bass, Yoron Israel, drums. The Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project

Donal Fox's jazz plays upon many traditions "Fox's band has the Modern Jazz Quartet's poise and John Coltrane Quartet's power" Composer/pianist Donal Fox has forged a unique amalgam of jazz, Latin American, and classical music. Past projects have focused on Johann Sebastian Bach, but the centerpiece of Saturday night's Regattabar performance was a jazz suite incorporating the music of Domenico Scarlatti . Fox was accompanied by vibraphonist Stefon Harris, bassist John Lockwood , and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. This instrumentation inevitably brings the Modern Jazz Quartet to mind, but Fox's band married that group's cool poise with the power and momentum of the John Coltrane Quartet. The opening number was based on an Astor Piazzolla tango. Rather than presenting the usual string of solos, piano and vibraphone engaged in a fluid, improvisatory dialogue. Lockwood and Carrington's bass and drums provided active but essentially supportive background for the friendly jousting of Fox and Harris. The second number was Fox's ``Inventions in Blue," which drew from Bach's Two-Part Invention No. 4 in D Minor. It began as a rapid, African-sounding vamp, spelled by lyrical piano chords that floated over the pulsating rhythm. Harris's swinging, bluesy solo was bouyed by Lockwood's walking bass and Carrington's urgent ride cymbal. By Kevin Lowenthal, Globe Correspondent June 2006 © Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company