My feature article on drummer-composer-bandleader Gerald Cleaver ran in the November 2013 issue of JazzTimes — the link to the online excerpt is here. I also wrote a concluding section that didn’t make it into the magazine and wanted to share it for posterity. See below. — [Gerald] Cleaver debuted as a leader in 2001 with the moody Adjust,
This review appears in the November 2013 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Mario Pavone Arc Trio (Playscape) By David R. Adler Recorded live at Cornelia Street Café in February 2013, Arc Trio finds veteran bassist Mario Pavone in turbulent waters with Craig Taborn on piano and Gerald Cleaver on drums. These aren’t some random sidemen: Taborn and Cleaver
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in The New York City Jazz Record, July 2013: David Ake, Bridges (Posi-Tone) Terence Blanchard, Magnetic (Blue Note) Gerald Cleaver’s Black Host, Life in the Sugar Candle Mines (Northern Spy) Michel Gentile/Daniel Kelly/Rob Garcia, Works (Connection Works) Steven Lugerner, For We Have Heard (NoBusiness) Peter Madsen with Alfred Vogel, Soul of the Underground
This review appears in the March 2011 issue of The New York City Jazz Record: — Gerald Cleaver’s Uncle June Be It As I See It (Fresh Sound New Talent) By David R. Adler It’s scarcely an exaggeration to say that drummer Gerald Cleaver can play everything: from the down-the-middle postbop of Jeremy Pelt to the free-blowing fury of Charles