Articles by Tom Greenland

Globe Unity: Sweden

by Tom Greenland
June 12, 2010

Jonas Kullhammar Quartet Från Och Med Herr Moserobie Music Production 2010 Correction Two Nights in April Ayler Records 2010 Swedish Azz Jazz På Svenska NotTwo Records 2010

By many accounts, Sweden officially caught the jazz bug in 1933 when Louis Armstrong stormed the ...

Eric Hofbauer: Eric Hofbauer: American Fear!

by Tom Greenland
June 9, 2010

With American Fear!, creative guitarist Eric Hofbauer once again exposes his funny bone, effectively demonstrating that jazz and humor are not mutually exclusive. Like American Vanity (Creative Nation, 2002), this is a solo guitar effort mixing unusual covers with quirky originals, all delivered with the Boston-based artist's extroverted minimalism. There are no disposable notes in this suite of vignettes, each track a meditation on the various ramifications of fear, whether from childhood ("Monsters Under the Bed"), adolescent ...

Pat Metheny: One Man's Band

by Tom Greenland
May 19, 2010

In plays such as Medea and Alcestis, the ancient Greek tragedian Euripides was roundly criticized, even parodied, for his use of an artificial plot device or deus ex machina ("god from the machine"), because it violated narrative logic and challenged the audience's suspension of disbelief. Guitarist Pat Metheny, never one to shy away from wrathful gods, has taken a bold step on his latest tour: eliminating his band in favor of a miraculous machine able to extend and expand his ...

Globe Unity: Portugal

by Tom Greenland
May 15, 2010

RED TrioRED TrioClean Feed2009 Gianni Lenoci, Carlos Zingaro, Marcello MagliocchiSerendipityAmirani2009 Rodrigo AmadoThe Abstract TruthEuropean Echoes2009 Although more associated in popular imagination with the longing, saudade-laden sound of fado, Portugal has long supported jazz, boasting Europe's oldest jazz club, Lisbon's Hot Clube de Portugal, important festivals and ...

Tom Harrell: Tom Harrell: Roman Nights

by Tom Greenland
May 9, 2010

Roman Nights, trumpeter Tom Harrell's third release with his hardworking quintet of saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, pianist Danny Grissett, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Johnathan Blake, is an all-original set that maintains the highest standards of composition, small-group arranging and improvisation. Harrell is a paragon of restraint, each note carefully chosen, each phrase finely balanced, seducing with the sheer magnetism of his melodies, while Escoffery lets loose torrents of ideas that topple over each other with brassy bluster.

On “Let the ...

Mark Turner: International Alliances

by Tom Greenland
April 3, 2010

Diego Barber Calima Sunnyside Records 2008 Mamasaal Quartet Mamasaal feat. Mark Turner SAZAS 2008

Saxophonist Mark Turner, a notable bandleader and distinctive voice in his own right, has been especially effective as a co-contributor on diverse projects. On Calimaand Mamasaal, he matches wits and skills with an international cast.

Globe Unity: Spain

by Tom Greenland
April 3, 2010

AfinkeEn la Cuerda Floja R3cords 2009 Santiago LatorreÓrbitaAccretions2009 Agusti FernandezUn Llamp Que No S'Acaba MaiPsi2009 The Spanish jazz scene got off to a slow start, most notably in the mid '60s with the launch of the San Sebastián festival, but has flowered considerably in the intervening ...

Two Talents, Two Tangents: Pete McCann & Sheryl Bailey

by Tom Greenland
April 3, 2010

Pete McCann Extra Mile 19/8 2009 Sheryl Bailey A New Promise MCG Jazz 2009

Pete McCann and Sheryl Bailey, two talented jazz guitarists with an affinity for rock, have each released recordings reflecting complementary tangents of 'mainstream' jazz, Bailey with a guitar-fronted big band, McCann with a new-fusion small group.

Larry Coryell: Making the Changes

by Tom Greenland
March 21, 2010

“This is all Coltrane, from his early/middle/late period, whatever that means!" laughs guitarist Larry Coryell. He is sitting backstage in the green room at Iridium in 2009, describing a chart he is about to try out with organist Joey DeFrancesco. “And then this part here is very much like 'All Blues,' like Miles," he says, humming the line: “Bah-deh-doo-deh, DAY-deh-doo-dee, doo-dah-doo-dah, duh--it's in that same chord, that same mode." Indicating the next section, he continues, “And then it goes, here, ...

David Berger Jazz Orchestra: Colorizing the Classics: David Berger's Tribute to Harry Warren

by Tom Greenland
March 5, 2010

Arranger/recomposer David Berger's music is likely to prompt mixed reactions for its mixing of traditional values with creative originality, somewhat akin to Ted Turner's colorizing of classic black and white films. Colorizing the Classics is a big-band follow-up to I Had the Craziest Dream (Such Sweet Thunder, 2008), an octet outing also championing the works of Harry Warren, an important but under-recognized composer of movie musicals. Digging through the Warren family archives, Berger discovered a trove of ...