Search - Hans Glawischnig :: Panorama

A Modern musician must have the panoramic ability to play all of the infinite inventions and dimensions of music, from jazz and classical, to Afro-Latin, and beyond. The Austrian-American bassist Hans Glawischnig, an exceptional artist whose work as a sideman includes stints with David Sanchez, James Moody, Maynard Ferguson and Stefon Harris, showcases his all-embracing musical worldview on his Sunnyside debut, Panorama.

Joined by a stellar cast featuring Miguel Zenon and David Binney on alto sax, tenor saxophonist Rich Perry, guitarist Ben Monder, pianist Luis Perdomo, and drummers Johnathan Blake, Antonio Sanchez and Marcus Gilmore, and special guest Chick Corea, Glawischnig displays his all-seeing, sonic citizenship on eight tracks. Blessed with a strong and sure sound, expressed through a thorough study of the jazz bass tradition from Jimmy Blanton to Scott La Faro, Glawischnig lets his swinging strings do the talking without neglecting his responsibility to the rhythm section. As liner note writer Bob Blumenthal wrote of the leader and his cohorts, Not merely multicultural, their music might best be viewed as omni-cultural, with jazz as the primary foundation fed by other root systems and an increasing number of branches. Glawischnig is a key player in this arena and, on the evidence of the present music, a composer, instrumentalist and leader of impressive conviction, eloquence and maturity.

Glawischnig studied violin at age six and settled on bass violin at 15. He studied at the Jazz Department of the Academy of Music in Graz with Wayne Darling. He won a scholarship at Berklee School of Music, studied with Bruce Gertz, recorded with teachers Hal Crook, Phil Wilson, and Greg Hopkins, and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1992. He left for New York that same year, and earned his M.A. from the Manhattan School of Music in 1994. The saxophonist Bobby Watson hired him in his group Horizon, and his career as a sought-after-sideman was in full throttle, as evidenced by his work with Paquito D Rivera, Dave Samuels, Rachel Z, Phil Woods, Claudia Acuna, and Bobby Sanabria. Of the twenty-five CD s on which he has appeared, the most prominent include David Sanchez s Melaza and Travesia (Sony/Columbia 2000, 2001), Ray Barretto s Contact! (Blue Note, 1997) with New World Spirit, and Homage to Art, (Sunnyside, 2003), Carolyn Leonhart s New 8th Day (Sunnyside, 2005), and James Moody s Homage (Savoy Jazz 2004). In 2001, he released his first CD as a leader, Common Ground (Fresh Sound/New Talent).

This brings us to Panorama, a sterling and satisfying documentation of Hans Glawischnig s unbounded evolution. The earlier album was based on lead sheets with a lot of room to stretch, says. This music [on Panorama] is more involved compositionally, with a greater variety of moods and colors. I can hear rhythms intrinsically now without thinking about them, so now I can create my own grooves. And I ve played with all of these musicians, either together as sidemen or in their own groups, and now can write with their sounds in mind.