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Mitchel Forman
Shortly after graduating from MSM Mitchel began touring and recording with Gerry Mulligan, playing in both his big band and quartet. Work with Stan Getz followed. In 1980 his solo career began with a piano performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. This recording became Mitchel's first album, "Live at Newport".
The next few years brought new challenges to MITCHEL FORMAN with work on the road with Phil Woods, Carla Bley, Mel Torme, and Astrud Gilberto. He also recorded two solo piano albums for Soul Note and toured in Europe regularly.
FORMAN spent the early 80's as one of the most sought after studio musicians in New York, working with a multitude of gifted artists (see discography) not the least of whom was guitarist John McLaughlin.
MITCHEL joined MacLaughlin's Mahavishnu and spent a year and a half on the road with McLaughlin, recording and contributing to two of the band's benchmark recordings - the seminal "Mahavishnu" and "Adventures in Radioland".
MITCHEL FORMAN then joined legendary ex-Weather Report saxophonist Wayne Shorter, touring, recording and contributing to Shorter's "Phantom Navigator".
With all this world-class experience under his belt FORMAN naturally progressed to leading his own band and recorded his group debut for Windham Hill, "Train of Thought". At the same time he continued to work with other luminaries like guitarist John Scofield ("Blue Matter"), Mike Stern ("Upside Downside") Janis Siegal, Dave Samuels, Diane Schuur, Gary Burton (Reunion GRP), Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter, Simon Phillips, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Evans, and Ricki Lee Jones.
MITCHEL FORMAN continues to record and play under his own name and has recently started his own record label, "Marsis Jazz". His most recent releases have been "Perspectives" "Mr. Clean" and "Patience", both on his own label. He also co-leads the band Metro with guitarist ,Chuck Loeb. Metro's six albums, the debut "Metro" the follow-up "Tree People" (Lipstick), "Metrocafe", "Metrolive", "Express"and "Grapevine" have all met with critical acclaim. The quartet with Wolgang Haffner on drums and Mel Brown on bass tours annually in Europe.
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Simon Vitale
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Ann Hampton Callaway: Finding Beauty. Originals. Volume 1
by Richard J Salvucci
"This is my most personal record," Callaway says. “Throughout my career, I've loved singing the great jazz classics and selections from the Great American Songbook, but I've always snuck my original songs on various projects. The pandemic made me think, 'I don't know if I'll live through this, but if I do, what's at the top of my bucket list?' And I realized that I wanted to tell my story and share the deepest part of me. What better way ...
read moreJeff Richman: XYZ
by Jim Worsley
XYZ could perhaps reference any number of things. Sparing us that rabbit hole, in this case it references boundaries pushed to their fullest extent with some exceptional new music from fusion guitarist Jeff Richman. Richman's previous release, Sizzle (Nefer Records 2017) was/is a record that lives up to its name. There is something to be said about not putting out a record every eighteen months, twenty-four months, or any other calendar-driven period. It would seem that Richman threw away the ...
read moreDino Betti van der Noot: Here Comes Springtime
by AAJ Staff
There are some musicians whose instrument is the orchestra. They hear multiple voices, textures, harmonic designs. And if they are jazz composers, they hear the sweet and pungent tension between the orchestra and the improvising soloist. If, moreover, they are composers interested in more than self-gratification, they hear, as they write, particular players so that the ultimate scores reflect a range of individual personalities, each of them telling their own stories as well as that of the composer.
read moreDino Betti van der Noot: A Chance For A Dance
by Neil Tesser
"I love the rhythm—one of the reasons I love jazz is the rhythm—but I have spent some years to free myself from the rhythm." Dino Betti van der Noot sits over breakfast rolls at the Rosetta Hotel in Perugia, Italy. “I experimented with different time signatures and finally found out that the simplest ones are perfect, as long as you make use of them as, oh, railways, rail tracks." In other words, the time-feel must be a guide, a phisical, ...
read moreTriTone Asylum: The Hideaway Sessions
by Richard J Salvucci
Mellow is as mellow does, and Tritone Asylum (an interesting name for an updated “fusion" band) certainly opens that way, with a pleasantly relaxed feeling on “Grasshopper." But do not get too comfortable. Do you remember the first time you heard “Chameleon" with Harvey Mason wailing away? Your reaction may have been puzzled; many were, because the recording “broke the mold." That did not sound familiar, as if Herbie Hancock had started channeling Sly Stone. “Schizophrenic," composed and arranged by ...
read moreLyle Mays: Eberhard
by Mario Calvitti
La prematura scomparsa di Lyle Mays nel febbraio 2020 ha privato il mondo di uno straordinario musicista, troppo poco considerato al di fuori dell'importantissimo contributo da lui dato all'interno del Pat Metheny Group, dove ha rappresentato l'ideale complemento del chitarrista dal 1977 al 2010 prima di decidere di abbandonare definitivamente la scena musicale per dedicarsi professionalmente al mondo del software, un altro dei suoi numerosi interessi. Se i periodi trascorsi a fianco di Pat Metheny ne hanno ...
read moreLyle Mays: Eberhard
by John Kelman
When pianist, keyboardist, synthesist and composer Lyle Mays passed away at the far too young age of 66 following a long battle with a recurring (but, to this day, undisclosed) illness in February 2020, it was a major loss for his fans. It was an especially deep body blow to those who'd followed his decades-long work as performer and compositional collaborator with Pat Metheny in the guitarist's critically and commercially acclaimed Pat Metheny Group. Mays had been largely ...
read moreGuitarist Jeff Richman Releases "Like That" Feat. Vinnie Colaiuta, Larry Goldings, Mitchel Forman, Will Kennedy, Et Al.
Source:
Michael Bloom Media Relations
Like That (August 17 release/Nefer Records) is guitarist Jeff Richman's 15th solo release and delivers 10 hard-hitting, playful compositions with catchy melodies and a refreshingly modern sound. Richman continues to shine in his ability to write music with creative intricacy and sophistication, articulating his individual point of view. This time around, his guitar tone is deeper, more resonant, robust, and alive. Richman's style of playing complex changes fluidly over these infectious grooves will satisfy over many listenings. Like a musical ...
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XYZ
From: XYZBy Mitchel Forman
The 54 Blues
From: The Hideaway SessionsBy Mitchel Forman
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Mitchel Forman
Instrument: Keyboards
Born: January 24, 1956
