Jazz Articles

Luca Aquino: Lunaria 2

by Nicholas F. Mondello
May 14, 2024

Over the decades, Italian trumpeter Luca Aquino has delivered intelligent and thought-provoking music which, if one allows immersion in it, yields a treasure trove of beauty. He is a soulfully introspective artist whose lush playing and textural compositions channel, and at times rival, that of players such as Chet Baker, Tomasz Stanko, Roy Hargrove (with whom he has recorded), Miles Davis and Chris Botti. Aquino's Lunaria 2 offers 15 tracks of highly-textured and stimulating music. The elegaic “Amman" ...

Dave Burrell: Harlem Rhapsody

by Mark Corroto
June 11, 2023

It would be an error to characterize pianist Dave Burrell as a witness to history. Avant-garde jazz history that is. The octogenarian was heard in the 1960s groups of Marion Brown, Pharoah Sanders, Noah Howard, Archie Shepp, Sonny Sharrock, Sunny Murray, and Grachan Moncur III, while also exchanging ideas in New York with Albert Ayler, Sam Rivers, and Tony Williams. Burrell is not just a witness; he is the embodiment of jazz history. In the 1990s, together with David Murray, ...

Maria Pia De Vito & Huw Warren: Dialektos

by Chris May
September 25, 2008

Italian jazz, world and classical singer Maria Pia De Vito has a penchant for British pianists. Before hooking up with Huw Warren, in the late 1990s/early 2000s she made three albums with John Taylor, including her breakthrough set Phone (Egea, 1998).

For his part, Warren has an affinity with singers. A long-time accompanist and musical director for June Tabor, his other collaborations include the sublime Duw A Wyr (God Only Knows) (Babel, 2005), a collection of Welsh-language hymns ...