-
Gene Harris Quartet: Another Night In London
Pianist Eric Reed once described Gene Harris (1933-2000) thusly, "Gene Harris = Power!" Harris often described himself as "a blues pianist with chops." And what chops those were. In his nearly 50- year career, Harris never veered from his soulful, blues-oriented approach to making music. If Bill Evans could be considered a master of the jazz ballad, then Harris was his counterpart in the sturdy 12-bar jazz mainstay. If music can smile, Gene Harris' would beam...
-
New York Art Quartet: Old Stuff
Despite their involvement in the seminal 1964 October Revolution in Jazz concert series and a few high profile gigs in Europe the following year, the short-lived New York Art Quartet remains under-sung but legendary, with only two official studio recordings to its name--the self-titled 1964 ESP debut and Mohawk (Fontana, 1965). For years the only other commercially available document of the group was an unauthorized release of live radio broadcasts made in Hilversum, Netherlands in 1965, issued as Roswell Rudd by the America label. Featuring the same touring line-up as the Hilversum session, Old Stuff helps reinforce the quartet's place in history as a cutting-edge ensemble...
-
Prana Trio: The Singing Image of Fire
One of the great fallacies of modern education is that it chooses to ignore much of the past--especially when it comes to cultures alien to the one that is subscribed to. This cultural insularity has prevented the enjoyment of some centuries-old art that is particularly poignant in today's turbulent and finite times...
-
Torben Waldorff: American Rock Beauty
It's interesting to watch musicians approach the comfort zone. Some see it as something sacrosanct, a precious relic to be protected and preserved like antique china; others treat it like the family handball, never hesitating to pick it up and hurl it against the wall with all possible force. Danish guitarist Torben Waldorff takes a third route on American Rock Beauty, slipping inside the comfort zone and expanding it from within...
-
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Infernal Machines
A little more than a decade ago, Maria Schneider served notice that big band jazz was no longer the domain of our grandparents. She has gone on to own the genre and now, Brooklyn resident and star Schneider pupil, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society takes it to an exceptional place with his debut, Infernal Machines. What is exceptional is how true to the pure nature of jazz this collection is; full of innovation, creativity, and bold, daring departures from the commonplace...
-
Ryan Keberle: Heavy Dreaming
Brass band-oriented projects seemed to be all the rage in 2009. Dave Douglas, leaning on the work of Lester Bowie and the heritage of the Crescent City, garnered great critical acclaim and artistic success with his Brass Ecstasy project. Saxophonist David Binney created a mysterious and intriguing blend between a guest brass section and his core quartet on Third Occasion (Mythology Record, 2009). Trombonist Ryan Keberle is now hot on their heels with Heavy Dreaming, featuring his Double Quartet--piano, drums, bass and trombone, augmented with a brass quartet. While each of these three individualists presents vastly different music with their groups, their use of brass ensembles binds them. It might even be convenient to assume that Keberle is jumping on the bandwagon with this album, but he actually beat Douglas and Binney to the punch...
-
Jorrit Dijkstra: Pillow Circles
An international summit meeting, Pillow Circles joins four American jazz musicians with four Dutch improvisers. Similar in feel to his Flatlands Collective, this effort finds Dutch expatriate and multi-instrumentalist Jorrit Dijkstra paying homage to a handful of artists who have inspired him, with each piece dedicated to an individual...
-
Ralph Lalama Quartet: The Audience
Dexter Gordon achieved a post-bebop tenor saxophone sound that was Somewhere between the sleepy, vibrato-less tone of Lester Young and the falling-off- the-edge wail of John Coltrane. Yonkers native Ralph Lalama comes It is out of this tradition. On his fifth recording as a leader and his first release since 2008's successful Energy Fields (Mighty Quinn), Lalama elbows his way to the center with his virile, muscular tenor tone...
-
David S. Ware: Saturnian
There is always a tinge of soul-baring in solo performance on a single line instrument like the saxophone, when stripped of the musical support customarily handled by an ensemble. David S. Ware's story only accentuates that feeling. Rushed into print as a limited edition release of 1500, Saturnian documents Ware's first public showing since his kidney transplant, at an October 2009 solo appearance. Though more often sighted at the helm of a quartet, with a restyled foursome onboard for his critically lauded Shakti (Aum Fidelity, 2009), this is nonetheless Ware's second solo disc, after Live in the Netherlands (Splasch, 2001), and he shows himself no stranger to lone performance, alluding to the precedent of his solitary practice regime in the liners...
-
Katrin Scherer: The Bliss
Saxophonist/flautist Katrin Scherer brings an impressive presence in her roles as composer and musician on The Bliss. Her writing underpins an ease, not only in assimilating different styles into an artful whole, but in transposing and setting up panels of sound to give the band an organic structure to manipulate and develop...
-
Ehud Asherie: Modern Life
A dichotomy exists within the musical mind of pianist Ehud Asherie. The youthful pianist is clearly an old soul in many ways. His choice of material--including tunes from George Gershwin, Billy Strayhorn and Jerome Kern--combined with his knowledge of stride piano and fondness for the jazz masters of the early twentieth century are a throwback. However, Asherie also shows a thoroughly modern concept with some of his choices and stylistic preferences. These two sides converge on Modern Life. While he went with a quintet on Lockout (Posi-Tone, 2007) and Swing Set (Posi-Tone, 2008) featured a trio, he split the difference for Modern Life and goes with a quartet...
-
Bill Mays: Mays at the Movies
Bill Mays has spent much of his career as a first-call studio pianist in Hollywood, accompanying singers like Sarah Vaughan and Al Jarreau, and playing on movie soundtracks. Moreover, his most recent CDs have involved his innovative third-stream group, The Inventions Trio, with trumpeter Marvin Stamm and cellist Alisa Horn. As a result, Mays's profile may be a bit lower than some who spend more time in the jazz performance spotlight. But he's also one of the most intelligent, fluent, and interesting players around. Mays never mucks with a tune just for the sake of putting a personal stamp on it--there's always the sense that thoughtful creative choices have been made...
-
Ullmann-Swell 4: News? No News!
It is difficult to decide, when listening to The Ullmann-Swell 4 disc News? No News! whether the choicest parts are composed or purely improvised. With such talent heard here in this mini-supergroup of saxophonist/bass clarinetist Gebhard Ullmann, trombonist Steve Swell, bassist Hilliard Greene, and drummer Barry Altschul, maybe the extreme pleasure that results is allowing that tug-of-war to play itself out...
-
Edward Ratliff: Those Moments Before
The cover of Those Moments Before features a poster of Marlene Dietrich advertising Josef von Sternberg's 1931 film Dishonored. While this album--New York-based multi-instrumentalist Edward Ratliff's third as a leader--isn't a soundtrack like the earlier Barcelona in 48 Hours (Strudelmedia, 2004) was, this date unfolds with the same degree of wild eclecticism and globe-trotting impetuousness as a proverbial soundtrack album...
-
Thomas Lorenzo: Spanish Breeze
Guitarist Thomas Lorenzo moved to Barcelona, Spain in 2003 and has since produced four solo albums, including the very charming Spanish Breeze. The son of Spanish immigrants, who fled Franco's Spain and settled in Lorenzo's birth place of Australia, Lorenzo never really forgot his Spanish ancestry, learning to weave traditional Spanish music within the Australian rock and pop music he often performed...
|
