DownBeat Magazine – 4 Stars
DownBeat Feb 2015 – 4 Stars Shangri La features a bassless trio consisting of tenor, guitar and drums. While one may at first think of the Paul Motian Trio with Joe Lovano and Bill Frisell, the music of Dann Zinn’s group sometimes sounds closer to that of world-music group Oregon, although played with more fire. The versatility of guitarist Chris Robinson, who sounds equally at home getting an acoustic folk sound as he does sounding rockish, is a key to … Read More
Zen of Zinn
The Zen of Zinn: Tenor Sax Jazz Great Teaches Kids What It Takes by Andrew Gilbert, Oakland Magazine, January-February 2012 Photography by: Lenny Gonzalez Like the old violinist giving a curbside recital in Manhattan, Dann Zinn knows how you get to Carnegie Hall. He can also give you directions to Zellerbach Hall, Herbst Theater, or even the Village Vanguard, venues accessed by the same exacting route. As a jazz educator who has mentored dozens of young musicians distinguishing themselves as … Read More
The Jazz Writer
The Jazz Writer- Woodrow Wilkins Trios aren’t supposed to sound like ensembles. Perhaps Dann Zinn didn’t get that memo. Shangri La (2014) only has three musicians, each playing multiple instruments, coming together with a sound bigger than the size of the group implies. Zinn plays tenor saxophone, processed sax and wood flute. With him are Peter Erskine, drums, hand drums, tambourine and shakers; and Chris Robinson, guitar, baritone guitar, guitar loops and ukulele. “Daydreams” lulls you into a false sense … Read More
Shangri La – Dan Bilawsky
Dann Zinn: Shangri La (2014) By Dan Bilawsky Published: October 6, 2014 Maybe we’ve had it all wrong about Shangri-La. Instead of viewing it as a fictional utopian locale, as laid out by author James Hilton in his famed Lost Horizon (Macmillan, 1933), it can be alternately viewed as a wide-open musical state of being waiting to be explored. That’s what saxophonist Dann Zinn seems to go for on this aptly-titled release. For this project, Zinn put together a flexible … Read More
Shangri La – Midwest Record
MIDWEST RECORD CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher Volume 38/Number 330 September 26, 2014 Copyright 2014 Midwest Record DANN ZINN/Shangri La: This trio date is the bastard child of what would happen if ECM crashed into Adventure Music and made chamberish trio jazz with an edge that you can’t always put your finger on because it hops around profusely and proficiently. This smart, well traveled sax man leads a trio of Peter Erskine and Chris Robinson, and it’s a game raiser … Read More