Mike Formanek

Bob Mintzer, mostly on tenor but also playing a bit of bass clarinet (on "A Method to the Madness") and EWI, pays tribute to the late, great electric bassist Jaco Pastorius on this CD. Mintzer had worked with Pastorius in his "Word of Mouth" Orchestra. Surprisingly, Mintzer only plays one Pastorius tune ("Three Views of a Secret") and instead performs seven originals inspired by feelings he had about his experiences with the bassist. With either Jeff Andrews and/or Michael Formanek on bass, former Pastorius associate Peter Erskine on drums and keyboardist Joey Calderazzo, the music is never less than excellent, and Jaco would have enjoyed it.

You can often judge musicians by the company they keep. Float the Edge, the latest album from pianist-composer Angelica Sanchez, features her alongside two of the most sought-after rhythm-section musicians on the scene: veteran bassist Michael Formanek and rising-star Tyshawn Sorey, both acclaimed leader-composers in their own right. To be released via Clean Feed Records on March 25, 2017, Float the Edge sees this earthy, expansive trio perform Sanchez’s compositions, as well as several free improvisations. “A lot of what we do as a trio and what each of us does living a life in this music is take things to the edge, taking the risk to jump off without really knowing where you’re going to land,” the pianist says. “When it works, you feel like you’re floating it’s beautiful.”

Recorded Nov 13th & 20th 2016 at the Duderstadt Center @ University of Michigan Deadbird is released March 1, 2017.

We invite you to listen to Cuneiform Records: The Albums of 2020 and explore the wide spectrum of music we recently released over the year. Each track by each artist is unique; we invite you to sample all. And then, if you've not already done so, we encourage you to listen the full albums by the artists who most appeal to you.

The First Decade by The Bob Mintzer Big Band is a collection from the leader's seven critically acclaimed big band albums on the DMP label. Bob Mintzer's unique writing and arranging for the big band led CD Review to call his band "the best big band ever".