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RECENT QUOTES:

“"Epitaph" turns out to be a perfect title since it defines Mingus as an original synthesis of the past, present and future of music -- reaching out to the radical avant-garde with wandering dissonances worthy of Charles Ives; looking back to gospel, Jelly Roll Morton, Vernon Duke, bebop, Mingus's own greatest hits ("Better Get It In Your Soul"), and above all, Ellington. The screaming sonorities in the brass recall Stan Kenton and hardly anyone else in jazz, and Mingus took Ellington's use of plunger-mutes to new vistas of wild expression. There are solo opportunities for strangers to jazz like the oboe and bassoon (the latter wielded brilliantly by Michael Rabinowitz in "Wolverine Blues").”

Richard S. Ginell of Variety Music

"If you appreciate jazz but don't know what a bassoon is, this album will blow you away. I am a profeessional bassoonist...Oregon Symphony and Bassoon Brothers Quartet...and Michael is one of the most amazing bassoonists I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. His arrangements are terrific and if you are a jazz enthusiast, you will truly enjoy this recording. It deserves six stars !"

 Robert W Naglee- Customer Review of Bassoon on Fire, Amazon.com

"Michael Rabinowitz merits a place in jazz history. He's evolved into an astonishingly forceful presence."

Neil Tesser - Critic's Choice, Chicago Reader

Rabinowitz plays this music with confidence and authority...his phrasing is remarkably fluid and rhythmically on traget"

Cadence Magazine

"Michael Rabinowitz merits a place in jazz history...he's evolved into an astonishingly forceful presence"

Neil Tesser - Critic's Choice, Chicago Reader

"Other guys have tried jazz bassoon"Shank said of Rabinowitz,"but he really knows how to play."

Bud Shank

"...Ten soloists.battling huge sounds on every side, were adept, and four in particular shone:the trumpeters Soloff and Brecker; Michael Rabinowitz, who played five lyrical choruses of the blues on his bassoon, and Jerome Richardson..."

Whitney Balliett, New Yorker

"He's a hero"

Gunther Schuller

"Mingus would have enjoyed working with this superb band, especially the evening's best soloists; Watson, Marsalis, Walrath, Abercrombie, Hicks, Rosenberg and bassoonist Michael Rabinowitz."

The Washington Post

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L.A. JAZZ SCENE

CD REVIEW

BASSOON IN THE WILD

OCEAN EYES
(self-produced)

By Jim Santella

June 2004

The vibraphone, acoustic bass and light drum foundation give this delicate ensemble a distinctive touch that resembles the Modern Jazz Quartet. Here, however, the group's lead voice is a deep, perky instrument that usually remains in the background: the bassoon. Michael Rabinowitz places this unique instrument, one usually found only in an orchestra context, into a modern jazz setting, quick and fluid, he marries bassoon melodies with the vibraphone's distinctive harmonic timbres for a mellow outing. The quartet swings too. Vibraphonist Diana Herold, bassist Joe Fonda and Drummer Grisha Alexiev support Rabinowitz with a natural approach. "FMB" in particular , places the quartet in a charged straight- ahead alliance with swing. The leader's bassoon punctuates with machine-gun like intensity. Elsewhere, as his ballad "For Meryl," Rabinowitz shines with a vocal-like presence. "Ocean Eyes" moves with a lilting, bolero rhythm through exotic worlds. The bassoon just can't help being exotic. The leader's composition, however, takes the listener, suite-like, on tour of various places. Rabinowitz, 48, has worked in New York with avant- garde ensembles and with several larger mainstream jazz orchestras. With his quartet, he's tuned into straight- ahead jazz. The bassoon is , by nature, mellow and smooth. In Michael Rabinowitz's hands, however, the instrument serves up improvised adventures with interest.

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR

CONCERT REVIEW
Smooth bassoonist stands out

MIKE RABINOWITZ
* Where: The Jazz Kitchen.
* When: Saturday night.
* Bottom line: The bassoon makes a rare, expert appearance on a local jazz bandstand.

By Jay Harvey
jay.harvey@indystar.com

January 25, 2004

It was hard to get past the novelty of it all -- a jazz quintet led by a bassoonist -- but it's to the credit of Mike Rabinowitz that he had so much to say musically that any sideshow aura of his performance was quickly dispelled.
A New Jersey resident who has been developing his bassoon specialty in jazz for more than 20 years -- mainly in the New York metropolitan area -- Rabinowitz made his public Indianapolis debut Saturday night at the Jazz Kitchen.
In the first set with some eminently compatible local musicians, Rabinowitz played with urgency and abandon, qualities not as readily associated with the bassoon as the tenderness and poignancy that he also exhibited.
The set's climactic number, a tribute to John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" titled "Watch Your Step," found the leader facing off in a fierce exchange with bassist Frank Smith, but also demonstrating the instrument's nimbleness and smoothness in the fleet theme. His rapport with flugelhornist Mark Buselli in another original, "Supertonic Mania," was uncanny, given the short time of their acquaintance. Buselli teaches jazz at Butler University.
Rabinowitz clearly was energized by the spirit of his bandmates, who also included pianist Gary Walters and drummer Kenny Phelps. The congeniality of the quintet was evident from the start in a punchy, exuberant rendition of Miles Davis' "Half Nelson." Of course, a bassoon is hardly in a position to lord it over other jazz instruments, so it behooves a player of the thoughtful, somewhat melancholy instrument to be a good colleague.

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ONLINE REVIEW OF "PLAY"

- 2004

One Final Note
By Jay Collins

For an instrument usually reserved for the buttoned-up environs of the "Symphony Center", the bassoon, in fact, fits jazz and improvised music settings quite well. While other reedists have dabbled, few have been bold enough to make this unwieldy instrument their main axe. Michael Rabinowitz, though, is happy to rise to the challenge, making Drimala Records' duet series an ideal setting for the bassoonist to soar, especially in the company of a worthy associate like pianist Michael Jefry Stevens. Throughout this intimate and thoughtful session, the duo covers terrain that evokes grand classicism, jazz, and attuned improv, rich on reflection and spirit, with room for playfulness that at times evokes a celebratory feeling between old friends.

As for this one-day session, the pieces were improvised on the spot, though it is quite easy to assume that the majority of these experiences took some shape of written form beforehand. Interestingly enough, the titles given to the pieces are quite apt, painting pictures of organic, sparse interactions, touched by the beauty of nature. The album's opener, "Sibling Rivalry", focuses on the individuals for a terse, spirited discussion where Stevens and Rabinowitz finish each other's sentences. Similarly, the active "Play" presents the duo at their most percussive, while "Meadow" and the cooperative "Sea Song" are as close as the partners are to locking horns, with Rabinowitz pushing out some steam on the former.

The duo also sparkles during the reflective pieces like "Memory Lane", perhaps a harkening back to years of playing together and the paths they've traveled. Such sincerity also carries over to the quiet after the storm, heard in the stark lines and extended bassoon dialogue of "Aftermath", or the floating "The Graceful Bear". Further, "Reflections" is a focused solo showcase for Rabinowitz that fosters both slowly evolving and lively thoughts.

While the presence of Rabinowitz on record is a treat, the same can be said for Stevens. Throughout the record, the pianist demonstrates a command of his instrument, not only in a technical sense, but also for the warmth and feeling he coaxes from this stringed, wooden box. His classical notions are explored in particular depth on the floating waves of "Cloud Drift" and the captivating "Whispering Wind", the latter of which bursts with a rich splendor that drives right to the core of Stevens' sense of emotion. As a final word, the pair drifts away on "Rivulets", commencing with dense, melancholic chord structures that serve as the vessel for Rabinowitz's equally passionate and solemn departing lines.

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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Leisure & Arts, Monday August 21,2000

The Elephant Man of Jazz
By Elin Schoen Brochman

When people think about bassoon, says Michael Rabinowitz, who has spent a good part of his life doing just that, they usually recall the voice of the grandfather in Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf", the opening solo of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" and , if hey really know their double- reed repertoire, the 37 bassoon conconcertos Vivaldi composed while teaching in a women's music school where bassoons were the instrument of choice.

They do not usually think of Charles Mingus.

Yet when the composer, conductor and jazz historian Gunther Schuller was assembling an orchestra for the debut of Mingus's symphony "Epitaph" in 1989 he thought of Mr. Rabinowitz, who will be playing the bassoon with the Charles Mingus Orchestra "Mingus Maximus" on Saturday, Aug. 26 at the Damrosch Park Bandshell in New York City. (Beginning in late September, he'll also join the Mingus Orchestra every Friday at Meer's City Hall.)

Mr. Schuller, a long time "apostle of the third stream-that is the melding of jazz and classical traditions-says that for years whenever he needed a bassoonist for a jazz performance, "I always had to get players from the philharmonic. I chose those who liked jazz at least, but they didn't really fit in when Stan Getz was playing." Mr. Rabinowitz does, having pioneered playing jazz on the bassoon so that it is now becoming recognized as a jazz instrument. "He's a hero," Mr. Schuller says.

He's a hard working hero, performing on Father's Day for instance, with his quartet Bassoon in the Wild, at the 50th anniversary party Dr. Clifford and Thelma Joseph in the social hall of Temple Shalom in Cedar Grove NJ The gig came about Mr. Rabinowitz explained when I was playing a Bar Mitzvah party up in Franklin Lakes and the Joseph's son, who happens to play the bassoon was the caterer. So he came up and asked if we'd do his parent's party."
The quartet jump-starts the celebration with "Indian Waltz," composed by Mr. Rabinowitz, segueing into "Manha de Carnival" from the film "Black Orpheus."

Then it's time to break for the kiddush prayer. The rabbi thanks "all the friends who came from New Hampshire...the Cameroons...New Jersey... as Mr. Rabinowitz jumps from the stage and strolls through the crowd of guest helping themselves to vegetable terrine and tortilla wrapped lox. He sizes up the appearance of his musicians and, satisfied, makes his way back to the stage.

He picks up his bassoon."How about...?"he says, and hums a few bars of... "Night and Day'!" says the vibraphone player, Diana Herold, joining in followed by her husband, the drummer Grisha Alexiev, and Joe Fonda, playing the bass. "Take the A-train comes next. then "My Funny Valentine." Mr. .Rabinowitz , never still, plays to the crowd and to his musicians, his bassoon conversing eloquently, his sociability shining through in his music-making.

The group came together a year and a half ago as "The Michael Rabinowitz Quartet," but "Bassoon in the Wild" says more-captures, in fact, the way Mr. Rabinowitz sees himself," I'm the elephant man of jazz, he likes to say, because bassoons are still pretty scarce on the jazz scene.

A few weeks before the 50 anniversary gig, Mr. Rabinowitz took a lunch break from his day job as account executive for Guarantee Records Management( a document storage and retrieval company) at Le Figaro Cafe in Greenwich Village, where he feels very much at home. He met his wife while performing here in 1986. " The friend she was with said, 'Oh, look-a guy playing an oboe!'" he recalls. "That invariably happens wherever I play, Someone always thinks the bassoon is an oboe." And Mr. Rabinowitz is always eager to set the record straight. He loves" talking bassoon", an instrument he first picked up when he was a junior in high school at the suggestion of his music teacher, who sensed he needed "something to inspire me" and who also had an opening for a bassoonist in the marching band.

At that point. Mr. Rabinowitz already played piano, clarinet and saxophone. Growing up in Bethany, Conn., the second of six children of Harold Rabinowitz, an artist, poet and inventor, and his wife, Kiki, an artist and violinist, he was used to spontaneous family performances. "But I also had this need to improvise," he says. "I think that musicians hardly ever change and become improvisers. I think it's within you all along."

That improvising was not in the bassoon tradition never bothered Mr. Rabinowitz. He was quick to realize the instrument's jazz potential. First, there it's intriguing voice, dubbed "medieval" by Frank Zappa, who once quipped, "I don't know why Americans are so enamoured of baseball; to me, it's the bassoon." There's it's three-and-a-half octave range, "in the higher registers," says Mr. Rabinowitz, "it's known as vox humana; it can really wail." And there's it's emotional range from melancholy to funny. " You know in a cartoon when the bear falls down and hits his head against the tree-buh-dup-b'dup-thats the bassoon! Mr. Rabinowitz explains. "And this comical quality can be used effectively in jazz."

His instincts were confirmed while studying at The Neighborhood Music School in New Haven with carol Rupert, who was married to Paul McCandless and who "saw that double-reed instruments could play jazz because her husband was doing it." Mr. Rabinowitz went on to practice seven hours a day for four years at State University of New York at Purchase, satisfying the conservatory requirements. "But I also went crazy improvising with any guitarist who could play two or three chords. I was playing in stairwells, coffee shops, behind theater performances, for dance classes, improvising. And it starting clicking, making the bassoon work in jazz, And it wasn't easy. There were people who are skeptical. There are still skeptics out there."

But they are fewer and fewer. Mr. Rabinowitz is quick to share the credit for this with other bassoonists" in the wild," such as Paul Hanson, with whom he first" exchanged ideas on the bassoon" five years ago in Rotterdam at the annual International Double Reed Society Festival. "I had never met another bassoonist who could really kick ass. play, with the strength and confidence and expertise that I had," Mr. Rabinowitz recalls. "We played at each other till we were blue in the face. And we've been meeting at festivals and doing collaborative things, including a recording, which hasn't been produced yet."

But Mr. Rabinowitz four CDs-"Bassoon on Fire"(Cat's Paw Recordings), "Gabrielle's Balloon" (Jazz focus), "Rabinowitz in Utopia" and "Bassoon in Orbit"(the last two are available by contacting jazzgarden@compuserve.com)-are helping to spread the gospel. "It's starting to happen," he says. "I'm 44 years old and I've been doing this 25 years and I see the impact slowly but surely. And it's exciting!"

The 50th anniversary gig brought a sure sign of progress. Not one person all evening asked if the bassoon was an oboe.

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FRICK ART MUSEUM

Appearing at the Frick Art Museum The Frick Art & Historical Center

Sunday, January 23, 2000 4:00 p.m.

BASSOON IN THE WILD QUARTET
with Michael Rabinowitz- Jazz Bassoon

For over twenty years Michael Rabinowitz has been on the cutting edge as a versatile bassoonist. His broad musical experience makes him as comfortable with Bach and Mozart as he is with Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.

Michael's recording with Ira Sullivan and Red Rodney, and in particular, Charles Mingus's Epitaph, have received acclaimed reviews and garnered much attention around the world.

He has performed at New York's Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis and Joe Lovano, at Wolf Trap in Washington, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow; and jazz festivals in Chicago, Tri-city, Greenwich Village, the Hollywood Bowl, Montreal, JVC, and Duke University. Jazz clubs include Chicago's Green Mill, and New York's Birdland, Kavehaz, and others. Michael has toured across the United States and in Europe.

Michael Rabinowitz can be heard on three recent CD releases:
"Bassoon On Fire," on Cats Paw Records (1995); "Gabrielle's Balloon," on Jazz Focus label (1996); and "Rabinowitz in Utopia," on the Scrapes Series (1998), recorded in Amsterdam.

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