From concert and album reviews to feature articles, Third Coast Percussion is in the news.
We are fortunate to have garnered critical acclaim and recognition for so many of our performances and projects. See for yourself what the buzz is all about by reading what the press has to say! Browse reviews, articles, and much more below.
NPR Classical: “Perspectives” review
December 8, 2022, by Tom Huizenga
Third Coast PercussionPerspectives For Those Who Like: Jlin, Bang on a Can, banging on cansThe Story: These four Grammy-winning gents from Chicago, who pound on anything from vibraphones to steel pipes, found a surprisingly simpatico collaborator in Jlin, whose suite Perspective is this album's centerpiece. The electronic music artist and Gary, Ind. native has transformed the hyperbeat footwork style of music and dance from the clubs and house parties of Chicago into a realm wholly her own. She crafted a 30-minute suite for Third Coast Percussion, which the band transcribed to its unconventional arsenal of instruments.The Music: At upwards of 160 beats per minute, Jlin's suite is far more than just a toe tapper. Metal bowls filled with water give the third section, "Derivative," a woozy swagger. Elsewhere, the album offers more traditional fare from some familiar names. Danny Elfman's Percussion Quartet weaves colorful threads in a transparent way, while a laid-back arrangement of Philip Glass' Metamorphosis No. 1…
Shepard Express: [“Archetypes” is] appealing music with a universal context, played at the highest level
January 12, 2023, by Brendan Fox
The Sharon Lynne Wilson Center is an attractive arts venue that on Friday hosted an attractive program. Guitarist Sergio Assad and his daughter, pianist/singer Clarice Assad, joined Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion to play through their new collaborative album Archetypes. Each piece was a portrait of a type of a character across human cultures, like a sage or a jester. Sergio and Clarice composed the bulk of these pieces, with four authored by members of the percussion quartet. I was familiar with Third Coast Percussion as a well-respected entity in the contemporary music scene, but at this event I saw an ensemble earnestly trying to shatter conventions of a “classical” music concert. The pieces were not listed in the program booklet, so they could be breezily introduced from the stage. And the music itself bore traces of contemporary art music, but also crossed over into cinematic styles. Highlights abounded over these 12…
The Whole Note: “Perspectives” review
December 12, 2022, by Andrew Timar
Perspectives takes listeners on a stylistically wide-ranging, musically rewarding, journey. The opening four-movement Percussion Quartet by prolific film composer Danny Elfman effectively juxtaposes the warm wooden sound of the marimba with the sharp sounds of pitched metal pipes and tubular bells, the work very effectively rendered by Chicago’s Third Coast Percussion. Philip Glass’ Metamorphosis No.1, originally for piano solo is here arranged for TCP. Beginning darkly with repeated low marimba eight-note chords, the arrangement blooms to include electronic organ, vibraphone, tubular bells, decorated with glockenspiel and crotales sparkles. A wistful major key melodica melody floats over the bubbling percussion along the way. Rubix is a playful three-movement collaboration between TCP and flutists Nathalie Joachim and Allison Loggins-Hull, collectively known as Flutronix. Rubix imaginatively overlaps the short sonic envelopes of keyboard percussion with the sustained melodies of the duo flutes. Electronic music producer Jlin’s impressive seven-part Perspective highlights TCP’s conceptual, arranging…
Take Effect: “Perspectives” review
November 15, 2022, by Take Effect
The Grammy Award winning outfit Third Coast Percussion bring us a set of world premiere recordings of works either penned for the quartet or arranged by the Chicago luminaries. “Percussion Quartet”, by Danny Elfman, opens the listen with playful and mesmerizing vibes that are complemented by serene moments as well as busy bursts of the cinematic song craft that Elfman is known for, and it even recruits African balofon, Indonesian gamelan, and Shostakovich nods. Phillip Glass’ “Metamorphosis No. 1” follows with a calm spirit that showcases intimacy between the marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, and melodica, which is a far cry from the solo piano of the original, while Jlin’s “Perspective” flows across 7 movements of dreamy, adventurous songwriting that was originally composed as electronic tracks. Flutronix & Third Coast Percussion collaborate for the record ending “Rubix”, where the duo flutes from Flutronix add much charm and allure to the very precise…
Lincoln Journal Star: Third Coast Percussion Impresses at Kimball Hall on Wednesday
, by L. Kent Wolgamott
Third Coast Percussion had an impressive Lincoln debut at Kimball Hall on Wednesday, presenting a program of contemporary classical pieces played on a vast array of instruments, from marimbas and water-filled bowls to chimes, drums and shakers. The first event in the Lied Center for Performing Arts’ Danny Elfman Week, the 75-minute concert was highlighted by a performance of Eflman’s Percussion Quartet. Written for Third Coast, the piece took full advantage of the range of instruments, bringing in hand drums and cymbals on the warm, gentle second movement before delivering the rhythm of the third “dance” movement on the way to the exuberant conclusion. The program was drawn from the Chicago-based quartet’s new album “Perspective” and concluded with five of the seven movements of it’s title cut, a piece written for the ensemble by electronic dance music composer JLin, who sent them computer created tracks to transform in their distinctive…
Third Coast Review: An Evening of Amazonian Beauty with Third Coast Percussion
September 22, 2022, by Kathy D. Hey
Philip Glass is considered one of the greatest living composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. His spare and layered compositions can be interpreted in many ways other than as written, and that is the beauty of his music. Third Coast Percussion brings even more layers to Glass’ Aguas de Amazonia-Waters of the Amazon suite. The quartet consists of Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore, all percussionists who call Chicago home. Each of these musicians brought an exquisite sense of joy to their performance of a concert of Philip Glass music. Third Coast Review has covered TCP extensively in the past but this performance was done in conjunction with a department of the Field Museum. A presentation and discussion with scientists from the Field’s Keller Science Action Center took place before the music. These scientists have been studying the Amazon River, which, while mainly in Brazil, flows through many countries in…
Chicago Classical Review: Third Coast Percussion’s respun Glass makes a captivating Amazon journey
September 14, 2022, by Lawrence A. Johnson
Third Coast Percussion opened its 15th season Tuesday night, not at a concert hall, but at the Field Museum. With the main work on the agenda being Philip Glass’s Aguas da Amazonia (Waters of the Amazon), the museum provided a wholly apt venue. In addition to the fine acoustic of the James Simpson Theatre proving a receptive space for the group’s kaleidoscopic brilliance, the Field Museum made an ideal philosophical partner for this environmentally minded work. Charles Katzenmeyer, the museum’s vice president of institutional advancement, explained in an introductory speech that the Field has devoted a great deal of time and resources to studying the Amazon and working to protect and preserve it for future generations. As the audience filed in, photos by museum personnel were projected on an overhead screen of Amazonian inhabitants, creatures and flora and fauna. The origins of this music date to a Glass piano work…
Textura: “Perspectives” review
August 11, 2022, by Textura
The performances on Perspectives by Grammy Award-winning Third Coast Percussion (Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore) are dynamic, but it's the programme that recommends the recording most. While the group's re-imagining of Philip Glass's solo piano setting Metamorphosis No. 1 is memorable, the other works are powerful too. Danny Elfman engages with his four-movement Percussion Quartet, flute duo Flutronix collaborates with the Chicago-based quartet for the three-movement Rubix, and electronic musician and composer Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) adds a funky dance music dimension to the album through her seven-part Perspective. The four works speak to Third Coast Percussion's open-minded sensibility and the daring with which it's expanding the percussion repertoire. Adding to the project's appeal, all are world premiere recordings. Though some might identify Elfman as the one-time frontman for Oingo Boingo, even more recognize him now for his work as the composer of film soundtracks for Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and others. In titling…
Classical Candor: “Perspectives” review
, by John J. Puccio
To say there isn’t an abundance of purely classical percussion recordings around might be an understatement. Perhaps it seems odd, given that every classical orchestra has a percussion section, that the percussion should not have as much day in the sun as the violin and the piano have enjoyed. Maybe it’s because percussive instruments don’t make as persuasively plush, mellifluous sounds as violins and pianos. I mean, you can’t really wax too very lyrical on a drum. Anyway, such paucity of percussive recordings makes this new album from Third Coast Percussion all the more appealing. The players are quite good, and the four selections they chose for the program are all world-premiere recordings. ... So, the first selection on the program is the Percussion Quartet by American composer Danny Elfman (b. 1953). Although Elfman is primarily known these days as a film composer (Batman, Darkman, Spider-Man, Men in Black, and the like), he has also…
WRTI 90.1: “Perspectives” review
, by John T. K. Scherch
Maybe music that is entirely comprised of percussion isn’t what one would consider “classical music” (feel free to write me about my own expansive definition of the term), but whatever you want to call it, Third Coast Percussion’s newest record is a great listen, featuring music from more familiar names like Danny Elfman and Philip Glass to electronic musician Jlin and Flutronix, who are flutists and composers Allison Loggins-Hull and Nathalie Joachim, both of whose work I would recommend as well. Also recommended: Augusta Read Thomas: Bell Illuminations (Various artists/Wyastone) Click here to read the original article.
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