Articles by Mark Corroto
Alessandro Bosetti's Music of Language
by Mark Corroto
The Milan-born, Marsailles resident Alessandro Bosetti may have started as a saxophonist and member of the influential free improvisation group Phosphor, but he has morphed into a composer and sound artist. Working solo, or with Kenta Nagai and Tony Buck in Trophies, he concentrated on the musicality of language and individual voices. His investigations drill down into the near-atomic level of speech, quite often utilizing fragments of verbal communication as repetitive building blocks. He also might repeat a word, a ...
read moreDan Weiss: Even Odds
by Mark Corroto
Drummer and composer Dan Weiss turns his experiments and percussion exercises into compositions on this trio recording Even Odds. In other words, he composes, not on a piano, but with his drum kit for the twenty tracks heard here. That fact may not be groundbreaking except that Weiss recorded those tracks and sent the music to alto saxophonist Miguel Zénon and pianist Matt Mitchell to contemplate before gathering in the studio to improvise in this overdubbed recording. Weiss' ...
read moreLouie Belogenis: Outer, Inner, Secret
by Mark Corroto
Let's not call the music by the trio Terton dangerous. Because, although no one could be injured while creating it or listening to Outer, Inner, Secret, the path is precarious and unpredictable. Well, that is, if one is not a true believer. Let me explain. Terton in Buddhism refers to a person, in this case, persons, who discover and reveal ancient teachings at a spiritually efficacious time. For our purposes, the ideas or principles are passed on through sound via ...
read moreFriends & Neighbors: Circles
by Mark Corroto
Let's talk about Bird. Bird, not as in the sobriquet given to Charlie Parker but the actions of a bird, such as a parrot. Many a musician mechanically repeats the music of their musical heroes. For example, after Parker, we hear Phil Woods and Sonny Stitt recycling bebop. The Miles Davis' quintet of the 1960s begat the so-called young lions of the 1980s and 90s repeating the discoveries of post-bop jazz. So, when a Scandinavian quintet chooses a band name ...
read moreMatthew Shipp: New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz
by Mark Corroto
Jazz fans are much like baseball geeks; they collect facts and statistics. The baseball fan will know a player's numbers such as on base percentage, at bats, home runs and stolen bases, whereas the jazz fan, maybe better said the jazz fanatic, will note recording dates and lineups, titles, releases and recording engineers. The baseball fan will utilize those statistics to predict what a player will do in a clutch situation as in the bottom of the ninth with two ...
read moreGiuseppe Doronzo: Futuro Ancestrale
by Mark Corroto
A mesmerizing approach to an improvising trio yields Futuro Ancestrale, which was recorded during a performance at Amsterdam's Bimhuis in June of 2022. This trio brings together Italian baritone saxophonist Giuseppe Doronzo, guitarist Andy Moor and American drummer Frank Rosaly. Doronzo (Aterraterr and AVA Trio) and Rosaly (Rempis Percussion Quartet and ¡Todos de Pie!) have relocated to jny:Amsterdam and both can be heard in the small orchestra All Ellington. They have found the creative scene in Amsterdam to be very ...
read moreThe Jazz Detective Strikes Again
by Mark Corroto
Producer Zev Feldman, like Joe DiMaggio, has done it again. In May of 1941, DiMaggio began a major league baseball hitting streak. People followed his exploits game after game and hit after hit. DiMaggio's amazing record of 56 consecutive games still stands to this day. Same can be said of Feldman. His detective work, finding rare archival jazz recordings (mostly concert dates) in dusty archives, continues a streak that includes music from Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Albert Ayler, Eric Dolphy, ...
read moreIvo Perelman / Chad Fowler / Reggie Workman / Andrew Cyrille: Embracing the Unknown
by Mark Corroto
Let's explore the title of saxophonist Ivo Perelman's latest release, Embracing the Unknown. His quartet with fellow saxophonist Chad Fowler, plus jazz legends Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille embrace, or welcome, adopt, and maybe better stated, champion the unknown. This exercise in instant composing guides listeners through the mysterious, the new, the novel, the undiscovered, i.e. the unknown. But then again, doesn't every Ivo Perelman recording embrace the unknown? With his one hundred plus (and counting) discography, the ...
read moreBobby Selvaggio 11: Stories, dreams, inspirations: for my boy
by Mark Corroto
There is something special about the people of Northeastern Ohio. They take great pride in what is called “The Land." Cleveland sports fans may be the most loyal, whether they turn out for baseball's opening day in a snowstorm or cheer for an imagined Super Bowl game which has yet to materialize. They even root for stars such as native son LeBron James, who now plays basketball in Los Angeles. The same can be said of Cleveland's jazz musicians. From ...
read moreJohn Lurie: Painting With John
by Mark Corroto
Once a week, since 2021 the HBO series Painting With John gave viewers a glimpse into the world of John Lurie. If you just happened upon the television show without any prior knowledge of the man, you begin to realize the program was not at all like the kitschy PBS series The Joy Of Painting with Bob Ross. Although you might imagine Lurie entertaining the idea of adding some happy little trees, Painting With John, just like his 1990's TV ...
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