photo by Peter Gannushkin
One of the most talented and accomplished musicians of his generation, bassist and composer Eric Revis (1967) has, over the past 15 years, become an important voice in jazz. As Branford Marsalis states: “Eric’s sound is the sound of doom; big, thick, percussive.” Scores of musicians across various disciplines agree, Revis having performed and recorded with people like Betty Carter, Branford Marsalis, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Peter Brötzmann and Tarbaby, the trio he tri-leads with Orrin Evans and Nasheet Waits.
In August 2009 Revis asked Ken Vandermark (reeds), Jason Moran (piano) and Nasheet Waits (drums) to join him for two nights at the Jazz Gallery in New York.
Two years later this quartet, called Eric Revis’ 11:11, recorded Parallax, consisting of compositions of Revis, Vandermark and others, and some collective improvisations and bass solo’s.
The cd was released on Clean Feed late 2012.
“Four incredible musicians on the scene today joining forces under the direction of Eric Revis to create a cinematic and powerful document of free jazz. (…) with Parallax, Revis has entered the realm of significant composer. This session is simply outstanding and should not be missed by any jazz fan; you don’t get a set of musicians together like this in today’s modern scene. Don’t miss out. Parallax is one of the best records of the year.” (Stephan Moore)
“his own projects have been consistently meaty, masterful and stylistically multi-faceted. Parallax is a bold, star-infused quartet date that deserves to be heard above all the year-end list-making hoopla surrounding its release.” (Britt Robson)
Eric Revis has another forthcoming Clean Feed release: City of Asylum with Kris Davis (piano) and Andrew Cyrille (drums).
After playing with Cyrille at the Village Vanguard in October 2011, Revis decided to ask him for a recording, adding the young pianist Kris Davis, whose playing he had been admiring for a while. He thought it would be an interesting meeting of minds – which it proved to be. Their first meeting as a trio took place at a studio in New York, to record ‘City of Asylum’. A two night run at the Jazz Gallery followed later that year.
Eric Revis also is the leader of a trio with Darius Jones (sax) and Gerald Cleaver (drums).