CD Reviews:
Latitude 2012 (Jan, Feb, Mar) edition of Cadence Magazine, U.S.
By "Slims Spins" p148
“One of the best newly issued hard bop recordings from current players I’ve heard in quite some time. Manins sounds incredible throughout, but is particularly exceptional on the 20-minute plus version of Monk’s Well You Needn’t. It starts out slow but heats up quickly and never fades energy wise and if this is what was playing in any local bar anywhere in the world, I’d grab a seat and take it in. I grew up on Hard Bop and all the issues/reissues available from that classic ‘60s period make me less inclined to turn to current recordings that at best just recreate that scene. Manins et al. aren’t merely recreating—they’re creating new music by taking Hard Bop elements to new places. This is one recording Iíll be as likely to reach for as much as I would a Jazz Messengers side. These guys from down under deserve a spot up top.”
Latitude by Norman Meehan
Jazz is a pretty elusive property; there seem to be as many definitions as there are musicians...... Roger is still a young man (by the standards of jazz musicians) but his virtuosity, seriousness of intent and fidelity to the values that have animated jazz for 100 years are evident at every turn on this recording. Captured live in concert at Auckland University’s Monday Night Jazz Series in 2009, the album features Australian alto saxophonist Bernie McGann... Read full review
Latitude by John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald
This begins with the sort of rush you get when you lift the lid off a simmering pot and are scalded by steam. It was a sizzling opening to the concert, at which these two discs were recorded. For 50 years Sydney's jazz scene has benefited from a flood of outstanding New Zealand musicians, including tenor saxophonist Roger Manins.... full review
Roger Manins TRIO by Nigel Patterson
“Trio” is the latest album by Auckland-based Saxophonist/composer Roger Manins. Released on Rattle Records the album showcases Manins in a trio setting alongside Wellington musicians Mostyn Cole (double bass) and Reuben Bradley (drums).
The Trio interplay is exceptional; their use of dynamics, timbre and tempo give amazing contour to the somewhat minimal compositions. Everyone is given the space to offer their input on the themes and this in turn lends itself to some stunning moments of creativity and virtuosity.
full review
Roger Manins' Hip Flask,
Jazzgroove Records
'Ten-fingered exercise makes for a dazzling album'
reviewed by Peter Wockner, November 16, 2006
Read full review
Dream Wheel: Live at the Sound Lounge with Florian Ross & the
Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra
Birdland Records (2007)
By John Kelman
Read review
live reviews:
Roger Manins' Hip Flask at Jazzgroove
Excelsior Hotel 22 June 2004
"Some rasping and hoarse edges were employed by Roger Manins on his tenor saxophone, and they brought some blissful screams from the audience, but he too seemed intent on proving just how bluesy and groovy you could be without calling on all the raunchy devices at your disposal all the time. Manins’s sound is rich, big, dark, yet fine; fluent, beautifully modulated."
Read full review
posts:
Rog, it always amazes me. This thing that great musicians have. Great writers too I guess...like thomas Pynchon (his book V. particularly..you would love it. nyc. 1960. jazz. alcohol. junkies on the street). anyway. this thing that you can play the way you do, the things that you just can do on your instrument, and for you, it's just like... yeah, cool, glad you like it man. But it's so much more than that really. So much more, deeper, than simply liking it, or even 'loving' it. I put on Silo last night for Patti to hear.. on my decent stereo in the living room with small but classic older KEF speakers.. turned it up to nice full level. She was like.."THIS is Roger playing??" I said yep it is.
And I could see it dawn on her that this sound coming to her was something rare and beautiful, and yea, wow, we sort of actually know who it is playing it. Some kind of weird magic really. I was cooking while it was playing and every once in awhile I would hear something that would stop me dead and I would ask her if she just heard That, and she did also.... like at some point when I wasn't thinking and in my brain I must have been imagining I was listening to one of those amazing timeless Coltrane solos. I've listened to a fair amount of jazz music over the last 25 years or so and I haven't heard anyone play a horn better than you brother. Now maybe I realy have to find myself a pocket trumpet... because trying to play a saxophone after listening to how you play it would just be
crazy. Also.. I do think that pocket trumpets are about the coolest little things ever made. I had one a couple years ago but sold it because I wasn't playing it at all, and mostly, because I needed to give the ex money I didn't have. I am trying to find the $300 I could find a decent one for now.
Ever hear of Pocket Rocket?? English custom horns?? beautiful things.
I wish I could turn some More people on to your music. Can you post Silo on your facebook page? or do you not like to do that?
watchin the snow fall.
rg
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