Year : 2018
Style : Instrumental Rock , Jazz Rock
Country : United States
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 160 mb
Bio:
The Alex Skolnick Trio is an American jazz rock music trio comprising the guitarist Alex Skolnick, Matt Zebroski on drums, and Nathan Peck on bass. Previously, John Davis played bass for the group. The Trio is known for its inventive jazz take on hard rock and heavy metal "standards". Alex Skolnick himself is a member of thrash metal band Testament.The Alex Skolnick Trio was born in 2001. A former heavy metal guitar hero with the San Francisco based group Testament, Alex had decided to leave the Bay Area, move to New York, soak up the jazz scene and go back to school to earn his music degree from New School University.It was here that he met a young drum prodigy named Matt ‘Zebar’ Zebroski who, as it turned out, had been a Testament fan as a youth in Pittsburgh.The two began rehearsing regularly with a bassist, practicing standards and reviewing homework assignments. Around this time, Alex had a dream in which he heard a beautiful melody played as bossa nova and upon waking up, realized it was ‘No One Like You’ by the 80’s hard rock band The Scorpions. When he brought the idea to the other guys, there was a certain absurdity to the idea.Could a tune that was originally performed with distorted guitars, electric bass and a drum set the size of a spaceship translate to archtop guitar, upright bass and a drum kit small enough to carry on the New York Subway System? With a chuckle, they thought they’d give it a try and quickly realized they’d hit upon a magic formula. This tune felt as natural as any jazz standard, except that the melody was engrained in their souls from years of listening. Within a few weeks, the trio had versions of Kiss, Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, the Who and more, as well as original compositions and were covering a wide range of musical styles: swing, funk, latin and occasional moments of sheer metal/avant garde intensity.Their debut recording “Goodbye To Romance: Standards For A New Generation (Skol Productions) was released in March 2002. Less than a month later, an entire column was devoted to the album in Billboard (Jazz Notes; April, 2002). Within a year, Goodbye To Romance had been awarded 4 ½ stars by Downbeat (March, 2003) , was featured in magazines such as Jazziz (March and April, 2003), The Village Voice (February 26th, 2003) and more, had reached #26 on the JazzWeek radio charts (August, 2002) and was listed as a ‘Top Seller’ on the on-line retail site CDBaby. Alex and the Trio performed at such notable music industry conferences as CMJ (New York, NY, 2002) and at SXSW (Austin, TX, 2003) and toured throughout the country to packed houses in such places as Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Texas, New York City and the Rochester International Jazz Festival. They’ve appeared live on XM Sattelitte Radio, Fox Morning News, Brother Wease, and many other radio stations including WNEW (New York), WCPN (Cleveland) and WGMC (Rochester).In Sep 2003, bassist Nathan Peck was brought in to replace the departing John Davis, who had left to form an indy rock band. Nathan grew up with Matt in Pittsburgh and has played bass for such notable jazz musicians as Maynard Ferguson and Maria Maldaur. The new trio line up clicked immediately and soon embarked upon the Guitarevolution tour, sharing the bill with ex-Megadeth guitarists Marty Freidman and Chris Poland in a series of West Coast dates, winning over the primarily rock and metal fans in the audience. The next few months were spent honing the tunes for the next trio release, expected in Spring ’04. While this album will contain 50% original compositions, it will also continue the concept of the first album, with arrangements of music by Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Pink Floyd and more, most of which have been thoroughly road tested by the boys. 2004 promises to be an exciting year for the trio.
Album:
ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO, the jazz ensemble led by TESTAMENT guitarist Alex Skolnick, will release its new album, "Conundrum", on September 7 via Palmetto/MRI.If you've attempted to keep up with the news cycle in recent years, then the "Conundrum" title should be a no-brainer. "It represents the sense of confusion many of us are feeling in the midst of the strangest sociopolitical upheavals of our lifetimes," says Skolnick, the guitarist and composer who helped define thrash metal as a founding member of TESTAMENT, before establishing himself on the international jazz scene. "This album captures many styles in an effort to channel that angst into art and inspire others to do likewise."Ironically, given its globally pertinent message, "Conundrum" is in many ways Skolnick's most intimate record yet. It is the trio's first new studio album since 2011's "Veritas", and it features original music almost exclusively, with six compositions by Skolnick, one apiece by bassist Nathan Peck and drummer Matt Zebroski, and a gorgeous interpretation of Erik Satie's "Gymnopédie No. 1".Far removed from the musical tunnel vision of "guitar" or "shred" albums, "Conundrum" reflects Skolnick's wide-ranging knowledge as a player and, even more important, as a listener. "What would I want to hear, regardless of the instrument and regardless of technique?" he asks. "That's the type of music I try to create as an improviser and composer."The multi-layer, multi-section songs that resulted are, in a word, sweeping — and include plenty for guitar heads to dig into after all. Skolnick's "Unbound", part of which originated on piano, kicks off "Conundrum" with springy slapped harmonics. Beautiful chordal work follows, as well as soloing that lays out the guitarist's m.o. as a lead player: to tell a story by varying his attack, tone, intensity and harmonic approach with masterful control.Born in 1968 and raised in the Bay Area, Skolnick was still a teenager when he made heavy-metal history on TESTAMENT's essential debut, "The Legacy". The band remained a major touring act in heavy music. Most recently TESTAMENT has been hitting arenas and amphitheaters as part of SLAYER's blockbuster final world tour.Skolnick immersed himself in jazz at Manhattan's venerable New School. It was there that he dug even deeper into recordings by Miles, Trane, Wes, Jim Hall, Scofield, Metheny and more; studied with jazz greats like saxophonist George Garzone and bassist Reggie Workman; and formed his trio, which debuted on record in 2002 with "Goodbye To Romance: Standards For A New Generation".And while TESTAMENT continues to thrive, it's the trio and its repertoire that Skolnick can see growing old with. "These days I still love playing screaming, loud guitar and heavy metal, though I don't think I'm going to be one of these guys who's past social-security age and in a rock band and touring," he says. "But I can see myself doing these songs with the trio for many years to come."
Line Up:
Alex Skolnick – guitar (2001–present) (TESTAMENT)
Nathan Peck – upright bass (2003–present)
Matt Zebroski – drums/percussion (2001–present)
Past members:
John Davis – upright bass (2001–2003)
Tracklist:
01. Unbound
02. Django Tango
03. Conundrum
04. Gymnopédie, No. 1
05. Culture Shock
06. Dodge The Bambula
07. Key Of Sea
08. A Question Of Moral Ambiguity
09. Protect The Dream
Download links for all albums only on our blog here: http://goodmetalandhar.do.am/
