Here you will find quotes, interviews/articles, radio shows and videos about James. For reviews of specific recordings please visit those individual projects in the Recordings section.
Quotes about James
Various Interviews, Radio Shows and Videos
"James Falzone is a tremendously likable, alert, no-nonsense improvising clarinetist from Chicago. Mr. Falzone’s music is thoughtful and often quiescent, but he can play hard to the breaking point. He likes history, but he’s not only repping for one tradition."
~ Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
"The finest improvising clarinetist in Chicago who is also one of the top genre-crossing reedmen in the country."
~Neil Tesser, Examiner.com
"Chicago clarinetist and composer James Falzone is a gem in a robust jazz mine, merging dynamic improv chops with classical compositions and a reverence for musical traditions."
~Scott Morrow, Alarm Magazine
"James Falzone is razor-sharp . . . with the possible exception of John Carter, no precedents for his work spring readily to mind, although it's clear that he could hold his own in more "correct" settings; technically correct as he is though, his prowess is no obstacle to personal expression."
~Nic Jones, All About Jazz
"An exquisite treat to hear Falzone re-score "Stompin' at the Savoy," "Memories of You," Six Appeal," and other Goodman repertoire in a sort of 21st century, post-Jimmy Giuffre version of small group swing. It was just lovely is all."
~ Patrick Jarenwattananon, National Public Radio's A Blog Supreme - 10 Great Moments from the 2009 Chicago Jazz Festival
"Falzone is a remarkable, in-the-moment improviser - able, as few virtuosi can, to listen as intently as he sings."
~Larry Kart, Author of Jazz in Search of Itself, Yale University Press
"The only way to sum up the style of Chicago clarinetist and composer James Falzone is to say that it can’t be done. Falzone is an inveterate genre-crosser, and though he squawks and swoops with some of the city’s best free improvisers, it’s his fluency in classical and ethnic European cultures that set him apart. . . . an already important Chicago voice."
~Matthew Lurie, Time Out Chicago
"Falzone is one of the city’s most focused and inquisitive clarinetists, and his compositions favor a rigor and precision that’s rare."
~Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
"Composing yearning lyrical lines filled with dramatic turns of phrase and dynamic shifts in mood, Falzone's writing style blends the angular rhythmic punch of Henry Threadgill with the folksy, subdued lyrical quality of Jimmy Giuffre and the esoteric mysticism of Olivier Messiaen."
~Troy Collins, Cadence Magazine
"Falzone treated the listeners to an interconnected set of contemplative Arabic and Turkish-flavored music, complete with fluent improvisations from all members. Of particular interest was Falzone's idiomatic use of microtonality."
~Elena Talley, The Clarinet, December 2008 (reporting on the 2008 International Clarinet Festival in Kansas City, MO)
Various Articles, Interviews, Radio Shows and Videos
Articles/Interviews
~ Feature story on James' work at Columbia College Chicago
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Feature story at ALARM Press
~ Extensive audio interview at The Jazz Session
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Feature article in DownBeat Magazine. Download here (just scroll down and look on right side-bar)
~ Interview from the Chattanooga, TN Free Press regarding Allos Musica Trio performance there in October 2011
~ Feature article from the Chattanooga Pulse regarding Allos Musica Trio performance there in October 2011
~ An interview with James via the Chicago Jazz Institute here
Radio Shows
~ James and his group KLANG on Chicago Public Radio's 848 show in a preview of their appearance at the 2009 Chicago Jazz Festival here
~ James on WNUR discussing influences on KLANG's 2009 release Tea Music here
~ James and his Allos Musica Trio on Chicago Public Radio's 848 in support of Lamentations
~ James on WNUR discussing influences for KLANG's 2011 release Other Doors
Videos
KLANG from a 2009 performance at Strobe Studio in Chicago
Vox Arcana from a July 2009 performance at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, S.C.
Allos Musica Trio from an April 2011 performance at Strobe Studios in Chicago