Jazz Drummer: “Four on the Floor”, Interview by Jon McCaslin
I've been following Steve Langone via social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and from his YouTube channel for some time now and I've always been very impressed with the content he consistently offers. Steve is the author of three important self-published drum books: Advanced Rhythmic Concepts for the Modern Drummer, Volumes 1-3. He was also very kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about his books. Steve Langone - The Four on the Floor Interview "Advanced Rhythmic Concepts for The Modern Drummer" March 2020 Full Interview: Four on the Floor
Jazz Times: Chuck Berg, Nando Michelin, "Art Double Time"
Fleshing out Michelin's outlines are bassist Fernando Huergo, drummer Steve Langone, and percussionist Sergio Faluotico, whose nuanced energies accent with taste and disciplined abandon, as heard in "Joan Miro" and "Picasso in Blue," Michelin is a compelling soloist. –
Jazz Times, By Bill Milkowski: The New World Jazz Composers Octet
Saxophonist and Berklee educator Daniel Ian Smith leads this Boston-based group of composers and fellow educators who have also amassed an impressive list of sideman credits. A wide-ranging program that covers Latin jazz (Richard Grudzinski’s “Meta Mambo”), Third Stream (Ted Pease’s Stravinsky-inspired “Spring Rounds”), funk (Matthew Nicholl’s Brecker Brothers-ish “Without a Paddle”), samba (Nicholl’s lively “Komla’s Saudade”), bebop (Ken Schaphorst’s blazing “Bats”) and New Orleans street beats (Pease’s “And Now for Something Completely Different”), this collection is tied together by free-form interludes from the band members: percussionist Ernesto Diaz, baritone saxophonist Smith, drummer Steve Langone and pianist Tim Ray. Refined ideas, outstanding playing.
Bob Blumenthal, "Liner notes for "Finders Keepers".
To the great wide jazz world, the name of drummer Steve Langone may be a new one, in which case the combustible, clearly conceived music on this disc will be a revelation. For those who have been listening in the Boston area for the past decade, the results will not be so surprising. Langone is the kind of musician whose talent is noticed when heard in any of the numerous ensembles with which he has performed, and whose range is just as obvious once you notice that he is one of the most active drummers in a variety of contexts. This is his debut as a leader, and it both summarizes the skills that have made him so successful and prophesizes an even brighter future…” -
Downbeat Magazine: Ted Panken, Branford Marsalis, blind folded About Paul Gaugin from Art
A great piece.The entire compositional structure is Wayne Shorter-like,...Bergonzi has such a fat sound 5 stars. I don't know the composer [Nando Michelin] but I want to check out this record.
DownBeat Magazine, by Michael Jackson
Benny Sharoni’s Quartet Delivers Exhilirating Grooves: Israeli tenor saxophonist Benny Sharoni wasn’t born in Alabama or the Bronx—he’s from Yemeni/Chilean parentage—but he’s truly steeped in American jazz (Brazilian music too). Influenced by the usual stateside suspects—the rugged contours of Joe Henderson blended with significant doses of John Coltrane’s urgent passion, George Coleman’s manly fluency and techy tinges of Steve Grossman—yet Sharoni still sounds like himself.
Not a household name, Boston-based Sharoni appeared at the lively, if suburban, Fitzgerald’s nightclub in Berwyn, Illinois, on April 9, where he performed two sets with a top-notch quartet featuring stellar Toronto pianist Dave Restivo, charismatic drummer Steve Langone and thick-toned bassist John Sims (filling in for regular bassist Todd Baker). These sidemen established a thumping, exhilarating pocket from the get-go...
Downbeat Magazine: The New World Jazz Composers Octet Transitions Big & Phat Jazz Productions ★★★★½
The octet demonstrates a highly charged Latin bent featuring traps and conga on mambo, bolero, boogaloo, ballad. Ensembles unfold with relaxed confidence and solos with polished conviction. Tim Ray’s every piano statement—from tossed off interludes to well-framed solos—smacks of aware genius. Ken Cervenka’s candid brass work burnishes bolero and ballad. Daniel Ian Smith’s alto and bari declaim telling choruses; Dino Govoni’s tenor sparkles. Improvised solo interludes conceptually space and mirror the tracks: Smith’s raw skitterings and Ray’s furtive curlicues presage and pique a bouncy Matthew Nicholl samba; Steve Langone’s traps and Ernesto Diaz’s congas rally with Smith for puckish whimsy.
Bob Blumenthal: Review
"Langone is the kind of musician whose talent is noticed when heard in any of the numerous ensembles with which he has performed, and whose range is just as obvious once you notice that he is one of the most active drummers in a variety of contexts."
Jazz Times, By Javier Quinones: Jinga Quintet, A Day Gone By Fresh Sound World Jazz
The Jinga Quintet's A Day Gone By (Fresh Sound World Jazz) is as tastefully intriguing and slyly hot as Japanese dried fish and red pepper otsumami. On "Africa's Cry," freewheeling, 6/8, Afro-Cuban bass bends by Fernando Huergo precede discordant mournful passages straight from an Africanized jazz version of Maxim Gorky's Chelkash. In it, unison discordances, with emotive alto moaning from Miguel Zenon, countered by Avishai E. Cohen's pussycatting trumpet zoological cries and flights, end up as sonic vestiges at the coda's tail end. Luis Perdomo exerts bracing pianistic chops through the entire recording, and his Pascoal-izing performance on "Hermeto" is chordal-licking good. At first, "Loud Pictures" is carried surreptitiously by Steve Langone's drumming, as he often does so swingingly well elsewhere on the record. Then, a heated montuno passage features him overtly as he parlays tempo finesse, with self-possessed abandon, in an off-kilter pocket. Cole Porter's "Night and Day" in a reengineered 7/4 rumba? Yes, and the harmonically advanced blowing-from the always-surprising Cohen-joined to Zenon's sonically mature edginess on alto, is one of many prime lessons afforded by this masterful Latin reinterpretation of the jazz canon.
The Butterfly Chronicles: Boston-based pianist Kevin Harris possesses a spare style and a gentle touch. Backed by loose, playful drumming from Steve Langone and Kendall Eddy’s deliberate bass, Harris tiptoes and pirouettes across a relaxed set of ballads and lightly soulful grooves.
Jazz Times, By Bill Milkowski
Rebecca Cline and Hilary Noble -Enclave, Diaspora
Pianist Rebecca Cline and tenor saxophonist Hilary Noble join electric bassist Fernando Huergo and drummer Steve Langone on this fresh collection of Afro-Cuban originals. Noble wails intensely on the opener “Crossroads,” then switches to flute and djembe on the intricate, chops-busting “Rue de Buci.” Cline’s Fender Rhodes adds funk to “A-Frayed” while “Iya Modupué” is an excursion into modal improvisation. They travel to Brazil on the sprightly “Chorinho Pra Lemanja,” to Cuba on the entrancing “Moab” and further out on the time-shifting “Mars Bars.”
The New Stablemates, By Jim Stinnett
Sounds like GREAT, straight-ahead jazz to me. In the style of Horace Silver, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, this is an outstanding take on one of the hippest periods of jazz - late '60s.The bass player is outstanding! He has a powerful sound and a freight train like groove. His creative style is fresh and invigorating. I hear him as a combination of Niels, PC, Gomez, and Bob Magnuson.
Nice tasteful drumming - Joe Chambersish. His creativeness is not overbearing. Excellent accompanist. Very musical.
Both horn players are top-notch. These guys have strong groove, beautiful sound, lyricism, and taste. They have bountiful chops yet listen intently and play as part of the group. Bravo! The absences of the piano allows for more textural space - a real treat for my ears.
This is a contemporary portrait of the great jazz of the past. Reminds me of: "Stick Up" - Bobby Hutcherson, "Out Of The Afternoon," - Roy Hanes, "Inner Spaces" - Chick, Woody Shaw - "??"Nice job guys. I love it!