Articles by Renato Wardle

Catching Up With e.s.t.'s Dan Berglund and Magnus Ostrom

by Renato Wardle
May 9, 2012

The tragic death of pianist Esbjörn Svensson in the summer of 2008 brought to a close the 12-year run of one of the most prolific and brilliant piano trios in recent years. The enigmatically hypnotic tapestries that the Esbjörn Svensson Trio (which came to be known as e.s.t.) wove simultaneously eschewed and venerated the jazz tradition. This magnificent juxtaposition resulted in a unique musical world dealing as much with the piano trio lineage of Keith Jarrett as with the intoxicating ...

Jeff Ballard: A Life In Music

by Renato Wardle
October 19, 2006

For some jazz musicians, it seems as though they explode onto the scene virtually from the first day they pick up their instrument, and then proceed to land a huge name gig and the rest is history (or they are, after their 15 minutes). Other musicians spend a lifetime building and honing their craft. One gig leads to the next, one experience preparing them for the following one. Such is the case for master drummer Jeff Ballard.Ballard's gigs ...

Rashanim: Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 5: Masada Rock

by Renato Wardle
April 13, 2006

John Zorn's groundbreaking Masada outfits have been successfully expanding their own unique realm of klezmer-infused jazz and improvisational music for more than ten years. To celebrate, Zorn's own Tzadik label has released five tenth anniversary CDs featuring an array of musical cohorts performing their own arrangements of selections from his Masada songbook. Masada Rock documents Rashanim, perhaps the most explosive group of the new Jewish Renaissance, exploring ten unknown songs from the original Masada songbook. Running the gamut from surfer-tinged ...

Esbjorn Svensson: Viaticum

by Renato Wardle
April 9, 2006

The Esbjörn Svensson Trio, a self-proclaimed “pop group that plays jazz," exists in between the musical realms of the ECM juggernaut Bobo Stenson Trio and art rockers Radiohead. Viaticum represents a culmination of years of relentless cooperative musical discovery for the group, which has been together since 1993. This music, possessed of a cinematic quality, unfolds in a decidedly un-jazzy way. Rather than resorting to traditional jazz forms that merely serve as a jumping-off point for blowing, the ...

Michael Musillami Trio: Dachau

by Renato Wardle
February 5, 2006

The cult of youth has poisoned the world of music. Pop culture would have “instant artists shine momentarily, and then disappear quietly into the “where are they now category before they lose their baby teeth. In spite of this, seasoned musicians continue to move forward, breaking boundaries and defying the international fetishism of youth.

Michael Musillami is one such visionary musician. On Dachau, his veteran trio, augmented on several tracks to a quartet, quintet or sextet, fuses a ...

Stanton Moore: Living Outside the Box

by Renato Wardle
October 17, 2005

These days, it seems as if everyone is obsessed with the phrase, “thinking outside the box. Aside from being the most over-used phrase in marketing, it also happens to be the most misused phrase. Typically, it is applied to the antithesis of the idea, like a fastfood chain. When in comes to music, in these days of prefab-prepackaged-made-to-order American-Idol music (i.e. as “inside the box as possible), things are more homogenized than ever. Coming from New Orleans, with ...

Billy Childs Ensemble: Lyric: Jazz-Chamber Music Vol. 1

by Renato Wardle
October 11, 2005

Since its birth, the world of jazz has been at odds with the realm of classical music. Owing to the presupposition that these two musical worlds are possessed of an incongruent aesthetic, a fusion between them may seem impossible. However, Lyric shows that music is music. With the first installment of his new Jazz-Chamber Music series, pianist Billy Childs fuses elements of jazz and classical music into a convincing, seamless whole.

The merging of jazz and classical music ...

Bobo Stenson/Anders Jormin/Paul Motian: Goodbye

by Renato Wardle
September 18, 2005

Somewhere bewteen the worlds of twentieth century classical music, the music of Ornette Coleman, minimalism, and Scandinavian folk music exists the world of the Bobo Stenson Trio. Since the early '70s, pianist Bobo Stenson has been a vital member of several groundbreaking ECM groups, including those with Charles Lloyd and Tomasz Stanko, as well as the Jan Garbarek/Bobo Stenson quartet. However, it has been with his own trio that he has most completely established his own voice. On Goodbye, his ...

Don Cherry: Symphony For Improvisors

by Renato Wardle
August 23, 2005

Don Cherry Symphony For Improvisers Blue Note 2005 (1966)

By September of 1966, the so-called “free jazz" movement was in full swing. It had been nearly six years since Ornette Coleman's highly controversial landmark residency at the Five Spot. Cecil Taylor had recently been pushing the limits of jazz with records such as Unit Structures and Conquistador. Albert Ayler's watershed, Spiritual Unity, had already shown just how completely the bounderies of jazz ...

Bill Frisell: East/West

by Renato Wardle
August 22, 2005

Jazz musicians are relentlessly struggling to find a unique sound on their particular instruments. However, only a very few can lay claim to discovering their own voice, let alone engendering an entire genre. Bill Frisell is one such artist. His style of jazz exists at the crossroads between the disparate idioms of jazz, blues, and country. While many artists endeavor to be on the “cutting edge of jazz, Bill Frisell has withdrawn even further into his own realm. His latest ...