2002-(New
Quintet)2002-(New
Quintet)
1990-1998
1989-1990
(Special Detail)
1985
(Outerbridge Crossing)
"Intensely focused but loose and down to earth, the quintet often suggests a chamber group with the spirit of street band." Fernando Gonzales, Boston Globe
The
quintet's newest formation performed and recorded on October 30th of 2002 at
Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, Portugal. The new personnel included
Frank Gratkowski (Germany) on reeds, Wolter Wierbos (Netherlands) on trombone,
Amit Sen (Sweden) on cello and Kermit Driscoll (US) on acoustic and electric bass.
Editing and production of the multitrack recording took quite awhile and was finally released in 2005 on Between the Lines. The recording is entitled Double Blues Crossing and recently reviewed in Downbeat magazine (read review) and also OneFinalNote and AllAboutJazz (by John Eyles) AAJ NYC(Kurt Gottschalk). Listen to Real Player excerpts from Artist Direct or stream or download mp3 excerpts from this site.
"The music ranges from swinging post-bop to sound explorations and always holds one's interest due to the highly expressive sounds of the musicians." Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
"Joining Hemingway is an excellent band that includes reed player Frank Gratkowski, trombonist Wolter Wierbos, cellist Amit Sen and bassist Kermit Driscoll. That they execute the formally eccentric compositions with such a combination of meticulousness and palpable enthusiasm says a lot about the quality of Hemingway's leadership. The solo work is fine (Wierbos is stunning), but the compositions are the star of the show. Hemingway is going where few jazz musicians have gone before, and he's doing it with rare intelligence and musical sophistication. In fact, this album is so good, I'm inspired to dust off the most hackneyed two-word phrase in the critic's lexicon: "highly recommended." Seldom has its use been more apt." Chris Kelsey, CounterCurrents - JazzTimes
The 1990's quintet, whose
personnel remained intact for over eight years, gave it's final performances
in July of 1998 at the Nicklesdorf Konfrontation and Clusone Jazz festivals.
In October of 1999 GM Recordings released the long awaited cd compiled from our '96
tour entitled "Waltzes, Two-Steps and Other Matters of the Heart"
(see reviews below). In March of 2001, I performed repertoire of the quintet
with different personnel primarily based in Sweden, including Per "Texas"
Johansson on clarinets, Amit Sen on cello and Palle Danielsson on bass. Wolter
Wierbos who was part of the original personnel filled out the group.This
quintet was part of a larger ensemble project done under the auspices of the
organization NYA Perspektiv.
Excerpts of reviews of "Waltzes, Two-Steps and other Matters of the Heart":
"This finely attuned fivesome under the percussionist's leadership developed a powerful group empathy without submerging individual qualities. At their best, the band eschews conventional fireworks for a deft ensemble cohesion and interaction." Pulse! by Art Lange
"Hemingway aptly balances improvisational guile with superb script, resulting in a haunting collection of freewheeling third-stream songs." JazzTimes by John Murph
"These
five musicians have left a fine legacy of recorded material to document fully
their incredible artistry. This recording is just one more example of their
brilliant contributions to creative music." Cadence by Frank Rubilino
Two observations on our performance at the Berliner Jazzfest '96:
"The highlights? For one, the quintet of the American percussionist Gerry Hemingway. Unpretentious allround musicians, who deal with willfully playful, intelligent compositions in such an intensive way, that one never gets enough of it. No festival needs more innovations as presented by musicians like them. " Frankfurter Rundschau (Nov. 8, 1996)
"Here we heard music that got its inspiration and sound both from the experience with comtemporary avant-garde as well as the reflection from the traditions of folklore. This concert belonged to the most impressive ones given at the festival."Süddeutsche Zeitung (Nov. 7, 1996)
.....and another from our performance at the Tampere Jazz Happening '96 in Finland:
"Tampere's
Jazz Happening's best act was the last act, Gerry Hemingway 's American-Dutch
Quintet .....Hemingway showed a very creative and original approach to composition.
He combined subtle tonal characters and complex musical structures with the
swinging confidence of a streetband." Jukka Haaru, Helsingen
Sanomat/Finland (11/96)