5 slices of Dave Liebman
In preparation for One Hour With Liebman at New York Jazz Workshop on August 28th, we present a primer with 5 slices of NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman. Of course, we will start from where he made his initial splash, with Elvin Jones. What makes Liebman so important besides being a brilliant educator is that he was among the first generation alongside the late Steve Grossman and Michael Brecker to really synthesize John Coltrane’s innovations and expand on them. Besides his association with Miles Davis and his participation on the landmark On The Corner (Columbia, 1972) around this period with the band Lookout Farm, he began an association to that has lasted to the present day with pianist Richie Beirach. He co lead the powerhouse ensemble Pendulum that featured Beirach, Randy Brecker, Frank Tusa on bass and drummer Al Foster, and the tradition of take no prisoners acoustic jazz continued into the 80’s with Quest. Both ensembles are underrated within the narrative of the music that helped spawn the Young Lions movement.
Liebman has kept his finger on the pulse of creative improvised music, and had several releases on Whaling City Sound with his band Expansions. The reservation only intensive begins at 12 noon via Zoom and has a suggested donation of $20
I have been the staff writer for the New York Jazz Workshop School of Music blog in midtown Manhattan since 2014, and that has broadened my freelance writing skills considerably. In addition to writing artist bios, and articles of interest that pertain to the mission of the school, I have interviewed (in print on the site) legendary guitarist and NEA Jazz Master Pat Metheny, trumpeter Cuong Vu, and in 2015 embarked on producing a podcast for the school where I have achieved my dream and interviewed jazz giants such as Dave Liebman, Lenny White, rising talents like Thana Alexa, Logan Richardson, guitarist and bassist Brian Kastan, among others. I also work on SEO optimization for the blog. In 2015 I started my blog Jazz Views with CJ Shearn, and have written liner notes for 5 time Grammy winner and Oscar and Golden Globe nominee, Antonio Sanchez (for his latest recording “Channels of Energy”) and guitarist Gene Ess for his latest recording, scheduled to be released in November 2018.
My passion for jazz music is what drives me, which is an interest I’ve had since I can remember. I initially began writing about jazz at the age of 13 for my high school newspaper, and in my late teens contributed occasionally to jazzreview.com. In college I was member of the Harpur Jazz Project which brought jazz acts to campus. I’ve also contributed in the past to AllAboutJazz where I was mentored by John Kelman. I decided to focus on my passion for jazz music journalism after a job in the social services field as a caseworker went south, and as a person with a physical disability I work on going against the odds, living independently and having accomplished things people had said I’d never do.