Chris Kase

Music:

Member Since: 7/19/2007
Band Website: chriskase.com
Band Members: The personnel on the tunes you're listening to now:
DESCENT FROM THE FAVELA (from STARTING NOW :, 1994): Chris Kase – trumpet. Bob Mintzer – tenor sax. John Stetch – piano. Johannes Weidenmüller – bass. Adam Nussbaum – drums.
CRESCENT CITY HIGHLANDER (from TE ESPERO AQUÍ :, 1999): Chris Kase - trumpet. Albert Bover - piano. Alexis Cuadrado – bass. David Xirgu - drums.
JUNE TUNE (from A SONG WE ONCE KNEW :, 2000): Chris Kase and Kenny Wheeler - flugelhorn. Albert Bover - piano. Johannes Weidenmüeller - bass. Marc Miralta - drums.
NÚMERO TRES (from NINE EASY PIECES :, 2003): Chris Kase - flugelhorn. Daniel Pérez - guitar. John Stetch - piano. Johannes Weidenmüeller - bass. Ari Hoenig - drums.
Chris Kase CD's are now available in the US (and everywhere else) at CD BABY : and the iTunes Store.

Influences: Bob Sands Big Band playing my arrangement of Mark Time (composed by Kenny Wheeler) at the 2007 Móstoles Jazz Festival. Soloists are Rubén Andreu on piano, Israel Sandoval on guitar, myself on trumpet and Daniel García on drums:
Sounds Like: In his detailed liner notes trumpeter Chris Kase attempts to shed some light on the technical considerations behind the compositions on his latest release, Nine Easy Pieces. And it is true that there is a lot of meat in his writing; but what really makes this album succeed is the easygoing manner in which all participants navigate music that, while complex and considered at its core, sounds deceptively simple.
Lester Young once said, “Can you sing me a song?” and clearly Kase can. He has a warm and inviting tone on both trumpet and flugelhorn and his playing demonstrates a lyrical elegance that makes every solo, every motif eminently singable. Whether it be on the brooding “Dark Interval,” improvising around a brief 6/4 piano-bass motif, or on the more compositionally rich “Número tres,” Kase creates melodies which linger in the memory.
And speaking of rich compositions, Kase is another example of a contemporary writer who explores more extended compositional form, avoiding the tune-solo-tune format and, instead, creating a broader framework which still allows the group ample opportunity to stretch out. Remarkably, the group’s improvisations are so thoughtfully constructed that it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between the written and extemporized.-John Kelman, ALL ABOUT JAZZ
* * * * * To include Kenny Wheeler in a band in which the leader is also a trumpet player is to establish a level of perfection so high that it could deeply damage his own credibility. Chris Kase has created an encounter for his second Spanish release that is always collaborative, never antagonistic. <[em>A Song We Once Knew] is a disc in which the first measures establish an atmosphere -in this case, one of warm melancholy- that moves the listener spellbound toward its conclusion. Excellent. -Ángel Gómez Aparicio, MÁS JAZZ
<[em>Te espero aquí] is one of twenty essential compact discs to get oneself into Spanish jazz.-EL PAÍS, July 2004
* * * * Extraordinary 'business card' from trumpeter Chris Kase. The most attention-getting aspect of <[em>Te espero aquí] is the revelation of Kase as a composer with fresh ideas, lyricism, and harmonic and rhythmic inventiveness.-Jorge García, CUADERNOS DE JAZZ
* * * * [On Starting Now] Kase has surrounded himself with some of the best players on the contemporary scene, including saxophonist Bob Mintzer and drummer Adam Nussbaum. There's great potential and present mastery here and the jazz world at large ought to be paying more attention in the not too distant future.-Michael G. Nastos, ANN ARBOR NEWS
Aside from the joy of discovering Kase as an instrumentalist and composer whose tunes swing hard and eschew the cliches that predominate so much of today's 'retro-bop,' saxophonist Mintzer, normally associated with more commercial offerings, turns in a fully satisfying straight-ahead performance.-THE SARATOGIAN:

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Record Label: Nuba Records
Type of Label: Indie