Tom Christensen
201-370-3772
Since his arrival in New York in 1989, Tom Christensen’s saxophone voice has set him apart. All Music Guide says, “Christensen possesses the goods to be a major force within the global modern jazz arena.” Jazz composers from Toshiko Akiyoshi to David Liebman to Rufus Reid have found fuel for their musical visions in Tom’s dynamic solos. His mastery of double reeds, flutes and clarinets led the Detroit Free Press to describe his work as “fresh, intelligent”music that “honors post-bop improvisation without falling into clichés associated with bebop, modal jazz or the superficial exotica of world music.” Jazz masters from Joe Lovano and Paquito D’Rivera to David Sanchez and Don Sebesky have featured Tom on recordings, and he’s performed and toured with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, to name just a few. Most recently, Tom can be heard on Rufus Reid’s Grammy nominated CD Quiet Pride, David Liebman’s A Tribute to Wayne Shorter, and on Ryan Truesdell’s Grammy nominated The Gil Evans Project: Lines of Color. As bandleader and composer, Tomwon a composition grant from Chamber Music America for an extended work based on the poetry of Frank O’Hara. Tom featured the piece on his third solo project, New York School(Playscape), a CD All About Jazzlisted as one its Top Ten Jazz Albums of 2005. Tom’s latest collaborations include Spin Cycle with drummer Scott Neumann, and The Kailash Trio featuring Tim Sund and Tomas Ulrich. He performs regularly in clubs around New York City and in Broadway’s pit orchestras. Tom is also the co-founder of Sound Footing Records, and he teaches jazz at New York’s prestigious Fieldston School.
About Tom’s latest CD “New York School
"Horn multi-instrumentalist Tom Christensen's third release in six years is
a pleasure from start to finish because it manages to simultaneously embrace
thought and emotion, interweaving the two in constantly evolving, often
unpredictable ways. Some of the starkest and most penetrating moments come
through on 'In Memory of My Feelings,' which pairs bass clarinets and
soprano saxophone with deep, ringing, ritualistic percussion, communicating
a sense of melancholy loss matched with a seemingly paradoxical feeling of
rebirth. One of the best records of 2005."
Nils Jacobson, AllAboutJazz.com
Multireedist Tom Christensen likes the New York School of Art and its house
poet, Frank O'Hara, so much that he conceived his new recording as a
tribute. But this quartet has none of O'Hara's talkiness of the sort of
form-adverse music that painters like Jackson Pollock tended to inspire.
It's smart, finely tailored postbop with an emphasis on craftsmanship over
flash - just the sort of session that guitarist Michael Musillami would pick
for his label, Playscape, which has come to specialize in this sort of
no-nonsense modern jazz.
Aaron Steinberg, Jazz Times August 2005
About “Paths”
A remarkably varied, original, and arresting work.
The Boston Globe
The impetus behind this outing resides within the leader's spacious arrangements and acute penchant for detail. Otherwise, he can seemingly knock walls down, evidenced by his work on some of the upbeat numbers. By the end of the day, it becomes outwardly apparent that Christensen possesses the goods to be a major force within the global modern jazz arena.
All Music Guide
About “Gualala”
Mr. Christensen has put together a good, playful, modern-sounding record in his new ''Gualala'' (Naxos). Among its best ideas are the double-woodwind front line, which he shares with Charles Pillow; the open-ended structures of the music; and the rhythm section, pairing the rustle of Satoshi Takeishi's ancient-sounding frame drums and hand percussion with the no-nonsense drive of the bassist Ben Allis
The New York Times
Tom Christensen has pulled off something of a miracle here-creating a fresh, intelligent context for his oboe and English Horn that honors post-bop improvisation without falling into clichés associated with bebop, modal jazz or the superficial exotica of world music.
The Detroit Free Press
Discography
As A Leader
Gualala (NaxosJazz, 2000)
Paths (Playscape-Recordings, 2002)
New York School (Playscape-Recordings, 2005)
with Spin Cycle
Spin Cycle (Sound Footing Records, 2016)
with Ryan Truesdell and The Gil Evans Project
Live at the Jazz Standard (Artist Share, 2014)
with The Kailash Trio
Americana (Nabel, 2003)
Kailash (Nabel, 2007)
with The Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra
Monopoly Game (BMG, 1998)
Tribute to Duke Ellington (BMG, 1999) Grammy Nominated
Hiroshima: Rising from the abyss (BMG, 2001)
Last Live at the Blue Note (Warner Bros Japan, 2004)
In Shanghai (After Beat, 2011)
with Rufus Reid
Quiet Pride (Motema, 2014)
with Joe Lovano
Celebrating Sinatra (Blue Note, 1997) Grammy Nominated
Viva Caruso (Blue note, 2002)
with Cheap Trick
Sgt. Pepper Live (Big 3 Records 2009)
with Don Sebesky
I remember Bill (BMG, 1998)
A Joyful Noise (BMG, 1999) Grammy Winner
with Paquito D’Rivera
Portraits of Cuba (Chesky, 1996) Grammy Winner
with John Pizzarelli
Our Love Is Here To Stay (RCA, 1997)
with David Sanchez
Obsession (Columbia, 1998) Grammy Nominated
with Pete McGuinness
First Flight (Summit, 2007) Grammy Nominated
Strength In Numbers (Summit, 2014)
with Michael Musillami
Spirits (Playscape-Recordings, 2004)
Dachau (Playscape-Recordings, 2005)
with John Hollenbeck
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble (Omnitone, 2005)
with David Liebman and The David Liebman Big Band
The Seasons Reflected (Blacksaint, 2003)
A Tribute to Wayne Shorter (Summit, 2014)