PRESS REVIEWS JAZZ Journal International by Mark Gilbert THE BIG PICTURE ADAM HOLZMAN & BRAVE NEW WORLD Holzman's generally hard-hitting, metallic, harmonically rich and thematically ingenious brand of fusion is well-known from his previous dates as leader, including Overdrive and Manifesto, and from his tenure as MD of the Miles Davis band, 1985-89, into which he brought a particular and distinctive texture and voicing. To date his writing has been characterised by a smooth integration of go-go beats, rap and so on into a credible jazz context, where improvisation and interaction are not compromised. Here he makes something of a departure, adopting a somewhat cooler, less dense and marginally more abstract approach. However, still at the heart of his style is imaginative and precise orchestration of an array of electric instruments and saxophone over rock-solid back beats. Soloists may generally get only a small look-in, through the windows for improvisation which are part of the overall structure, but that is the way the music is designed to be, and on that basis it is consistently successful. This is grown-up fusion, with BIOGRAPHY "I think for what we´re doing – instrumental music or jazz-rock – it´s gotta be live for it to have the exciting edge...Music that is focused on players and soloists is always going to come across better when it has that live feeling on it." A.H. Adam is simply one of the most innovative musicians alive. He is a perennial poll-winner in the Fusion category for Pulse! magazine's year-end Top Ten listings. "Keyboard" magazine named him one of the top 10 players in the world, "Down Beat" lauded his "killer groove" and compared him to Jan Hammer - and even the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" have praised Adam's live shows. Born on February 15, 1958 in New York City, Adam is the son of Elektra Records founder, Jac Holzman . Adam grew up in California and started classical piano lessons at age 12, but his main influences were "The Doors", Leon Russell and Dr. John. He started getting into progressive rock and jazz-rock during the late 70s, which in turn led to a growing interest in jazz. "First I was influenced by group like "Emerson, Lake & Palmer" or "Yes". When I heard Chick Corea, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Billy Cobham I got completely turned on to jazz." he says today. "But I only started getting serious about jazz harmonies when I was in my late 20s. Even today there are still some gaps in my jazz knowledge. But I do not consider my musical role to be a keeper of jazz traditions. I try to make entertaining music today, influenced by rock, jazz-rock, funk and a lot of other styles and ideas." One of his first big jobs was a new recording of the opera "Carmina Burana" by composer Carl Orff, led by Ray Manzarek of the "Doors" and produced by Philipp Glass. He then played with various groups including the group "Fents", which Adam co-founded before coming to the attention of singer Randy Hall. Miles Davis first hired Adam for some keyboard work for "Tutu " and then as second keyboarder for the live tour that followed. While Miles Davis hired and fired musicians at an enormous rate during these years, Adam Holzman actually stayed for almost 5 years. "I must have done something right", Holzman says today."I was so nervous in the beginning - I didn't think I would survive the first tour." He must have done a lot of things right, since Miles later promoted him to "musical director", when Robert Irving left the band in 1988. After one more year Adam moved on - to work with Michel Petrucciani, who asked him in 1989 to join him for a cooperation to which he also contributed several compositions. "I couldn't resist the challenge, because it gave me a chance to expand in several ways - both as a writer and as a player, since the live shows were much less structured than Miles shows." During the early 90s, Adam also worked for Chaka Khan, Robben Ford, the band "Kelvynator" and many others. At this time he was also preparing his solo career, which started with "In A Loud Way ", when it was released in the USA in the fall of 1993. Parallel to this he also founded a steady live band, which was originally called "Mona Lisa Overdrive" (inspired by William Gibson's novel). Because of copyright reasons, the name was later changed to it's current name "Brave New World ". The first lineup of the band included bassman Steve Logan and drummer Van
Transcript
PRESS REVIEWS
JAZZ JournalInternationalby Mark Gilbert
THE BIG PICTUREADAM HOLZMAN& BRAVE NEW WORLD
Holzman's generallyhard-hitting, metallic,harmonically rich andthematically ingenious brand offusion is well-known from hisprevious dates as leader,including Overdrive andManifesto, and from his tenureas MD of the Miles Davis band,1985-89, into which he broughta particular and distinctivetexture and voicing.
To date his writing has beencharacterised by a smoothintegration of go-go beats, rapand so on into a credible jazzcontext, where improvisationand interaction are notcompromised.
Here he makes something of adeparture, adopting asomewhat cooler, less denseand marginally more abstractapproach. However, still at theheart of his style is imaginativeand precise orchestration of anarray of electric instrumentsand saxophone over rock-solidback beats. Soloists maygenerally get only a smalllook-in, through the windowsfor improvisation which are partof the overall structure, butthat is the way the music isdesigned to be, and on thatbasis it is consistentlysuccessful.
This is grown-up fusion, with
BIOGRAPHY
"I think for what we´re doing – instrumental music or jazz-rock – it´sgotta be live for it to have the exciting edge...Music that is focused onplayers and soloists is always going to come across better when it hasthat live feeling on it." A.H.
Adam is simply one of the most innovative musicians alive. He is a perennialpoll-winner in the Fusion category for Pulse! magazine's year-end Top Tenlistings. "Keyboard" magazine named him one of the top 10 players in theworld, "Down Beat" lauded his "killer groove" and compared him to Jan Hammer- and even the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" have praisedAdam's live shows.
Born on February 15, 1958 in New York City, Adam is the son of Elektra Recordsfounder, Jac Holzman. Adam grew up in California and started classical pianolessons at age 12, but his main influences were "The Doors", Leon Russell andDr. John. He started getting into progressive rock and jazz-rock during the late70s, which in turn led to a growing interest in jazz.
"First I was influenced by group like "Emerson, Lake & Palmer" or "Yes". When Iheard Chick Corea, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Billy Cobham I gotcompletely turned on to jazz." he says today. "But I only started getting seriousabout jazz harmonies when I was in my late 20s. Even today there are still somegaps in my jazz knowledge. But I do not consider my musical role to be akeeper of jazz traditions. I try to make entertaining music today, influenced byrock, jazz-rock, funk and a lot of other styles and ideas."
One of his first big jobs was a new recording of the opera "Carmina Burana" bycomposer Carl Orff, led by Ray Manzarek of the "Doors" and produced by PhilippGlass. He then played with various groups including the group "Fents", whichAdam co-founded before coming to the attention of singer Randy Hall.
Miles Davis first hired Adam for some keyboard work for "Tutu" and then assecond keyboarder for the live tour that followed. While Miles Davis hired andfired musicians at an enormous rate during these years, Adam Holzman actuallystayed for almost 5 years. "I must have done something right", Holzman saystoday."I was so nervous in the beginning - I didn't think I would survive the firsttour." He must have done a lot of things right, since Miles later promoted him to"musical director", when Robert Irving left the band in 1988.
After one more year Adam moved on - to work with Michel Petrucciani, whoasked him in 1989 to join him for a cooperation to which he also contributedseveral compositions.
"I couldn't resist the challenge, because it gave me a chance to expand inseveral ways - both as a writer and as a player, since the live shows were muchless structured than Miles shows."
During the early 90s, Adam also worked for Chaka Khan, Robben Ford, the band"Kelvynator" and many others. At this time he was also preparing his solocareer, which started with "In A Loud Way", when it was released in the USA inthe fall of 1993.
Parallel to this he also founded a steady live band, which was originally called"Mona Lisa Overdrive" (inspired by William Gibson's novel). Because of copyrightreasons, the name was later changed to it's current name "Brave New World".The first lineup of the band included bassman Steve Logan and drummer Van
the freneticism of its 1970spre-cursors cooled off and amore sophisticated vocabularybrought to bear. Those forwhom the jazz solo is suprememight try The Hot Zone, whereHolzman and Heick burn atlength like Hancock andShorter.
FUSEMAG.comby David Dorkin
ADAM HOLZMANThe Big Picture
Keyboardist Adam Holzman'sgroup, Brave New World, is apowerful downtown , fusionband. Mitch Stein on guitar (ofthe Hermanators), Freddy CashJr. on bass, Juju House ondrums and Aaron Heick on sax.The band comes out funky andheavy on the opener "IronCurtain" and follow it up withthe soulful "Mad Cow Disease."The introspective "SecondWorld", is an example of someof the band's quieter momentsfollowed by more fusion-funk.The overall mix is of excellentquality as expected fromHolzrnan and all of themembers groove hard and solowith passion (Holzman andStein in particular).
Romaine.
Read entire article in German (pdf file)
During 1994 the band changed before a tour of Germany and Poland. Itincluded Aaron Heick (Sax, ex-Chaka Khan Band), Freddy Cash (Bass, formerlywith "Arrested Development" and Mark Ledford) , Juju House (drums, ex "ChakaKhan Band" and "Arrested Development", drummer on the legendary recording"Slave To The Rhythm" of Grace Jones) and guitarist Mitch Stein, who performedfor Tania Maria, David Sanborn and Chaka Khan (among others).
In 1995 Adam appeared in the US with Brave New World and continuedoccasionally performing with Michel Petrucciani - but was also a member ofWayne Shorters group, which toured worldwide in fall of 1995. While WayneShorter got very mixed reviews on this tour, many reviewers lauded Adam asone of the outstanding musicians in the backing band.
From 1997-2000, Adam recorded and toured with the late, great sax player,Grover Washington. Over the past several years of the new millenium, he hascontinued working with his own band, Brave New World, releasing Jazz RocketScience in 2005 and 4 live cd recordings as part of the "Alive" series. Adam hasalso been producing new Miles Davis projects for Sony and continues to play sidegigs with Droid and the Jane Getter band.
As a hobby, Adam also draws cartoons and you can check out his cool and highlysuccessful "create a custom comic" service at bigfuncomics.com. He is married toguitarist Jane Getter and they have a son, Russell, who was born in 1994.
Adam also has a cool little website, Jazz-Rock.com.
ADAM HOLZMAN DISCOGRAPHYkeyboardist, composer, producer
Miles Davis "Tutu" Warner Brothers
Miles Davis "Live Around the World" Warner Brothers (also produced)
Miles Davis "The Complete Miles in Montreux" Sony/Montreux Sounds(20 CD set) (also wrote liner notes)
Miles Davis "Live in Munich" Pioneer DVD (also wrote liner notes)
Miles Davis Tribute "Endless Miles" N2K Encoded Music
Miles Davis "The Cellar Door Sessions" (produced w/ Bob Belden) Sony
Grover Washington Jr. "Soulful Strut" Columbia
Grover Washington Jr. "Breath of Heaven" Columbia
Grover Washington Jr. "Prime Cuts" Columbia
Wallace Roney "No Room For Argument" Stretch Records
Wallace Roney "Prototype" HighNote Records
Wallace Roney "Mystikal" HighNote Records
Adam Holzman & Brave New World "Jazz Rocket Science" (also produced)Nagel Heyer Records
Adam Holzman & Brave New World "The Big Picture" (also produced)Escapade Music
Adam Holzman "In A Loud Way" Blue Note/Manhattan
Adam Holzman "Overdrive" (also produced) Lipstick Records
Adam Holzman Band "Manifesto" (also produced) Lipstick Records
Adam Holzman & Brave New World "Rebellion" (also produced) Big Fun Records
Michel Petrucciani "Music" Blue Note
Michel Petrucciani "Playground" (also arranged) Blue Note
Michel Petrucciani "Live" Blue Note
Steps Ahead "Vibe" (co-produced with Mike Manieri) NYC Records
Lenny White "Present Tense" Hip Bop Records
Anton Fig "Figments" Planula Reords
Mahavishnu Project “Return To The Emerald Beyond” Cunieform Records
Ray Wilson "Change" Inside/Out Records
Jimi Hendrix Tribute "Live in Stuttgart" DVD
"The Faculty" soundtrack album Sony (produced by Kevin Shirley)
Steve Louw "Blues to Black" Sony/South Africa (produced by Kevin Shirley)
Supa Group "Supa Group" Sanctuary Records (produced by Kevin Shirley)
Sponge "Sponge" Sony (produced by Kevin Shirley)
Jane Getter "Jane" (also produced) Lipstick Records
Jane Getter "See Jane Run" (also co-produced) Alternity Records
Jason Miles "Miles To Miles" Narada Jazz / EMI
Cesare Dell’Anna “My Miles” 11/8 Records
Holly Cole "Strawberry Fields" (produced) Part of Capitol Records BeatlesTribute
Teo Macero Project Teo Records
Charles Fambrough "Keeper of the Spirit" Audioquest
Bob Belden Ensemble "When Doves Cry - Music of Prince" Capitol
Bob Belden Ensemble "Straight to your Heart - Music of Sting" Capitol
Bob Belden Ensemble "Puccini's Turandot" Toshiba/EMI
Northsound new age CDs:
"Big Cats" Northsound (produced & composed)
"Creatures of the Night" Northsound (produced & composed)
