Album Review
Rich Halley 4: A Distant Land
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Rich Halley's music has, from the very beginning, exuded a steroid-like vibe. The sounds he makes may be able to move the Earth. It may incite a landslide. His tenor sax is as brawny as Sonny Rollins' sound, or Dexter Gordon's. And when he brings powerhouse trombonist reformist Michael Vlatkovich into the fold--a group tagged as the Rich Halley 4--the level of seismic output rises a few notches. A Distant Land, the group's eighth recording, stays in ...
Continue ReadingBenny Green: Renovation
by Pierre Giroux
There are pianists who play solo because they have something to prove, and then there are pianists like Benny Green, who have nothing to prove and regard the absence of a rhythm section as an invitation. On Renovation, his first live solo recording, Green seems to be enjoying himself. Most of these 13 performances were recorded before an audience at Dizzy's Club in New York City and have the immediacy of an artist thinking out loud, taking a musical idea ...
Continue ReadingFranklin Kiermyer: Scatter The Atoms That Remain
by Mike Jurkovic
Scatter The Atoms That Remain is a harrowing, yet affirming statement from drummer/composer Franklin Kiermyer. With a fine, fit, and hale conglomerate creating alongside him--drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, pianists Aaron Parks and Davis Whitfield, trumpeter Keyon Harrold, saxophonists Isaiah Collier and the ever-present Linda Sikhakhane, vocalists Jeff Bhasker, Jasbir Jassi, Melanie Charles and the Temitope Momorebe Gospel Singers, percussionist Carlos Niño, guitar synthesist Nate Mercereaux, and bassists Geraud Portal and Otto Gardner--Scatter The Atoms That Remain carries the free jazz ...
Continue ReadingKevin Sun: Kevin Sun, I.
by Dan McClenaghan
New York-based saxophonist Kevin Sun went deep into the concept of memory in his The Sustain of Memory (2020) and The Depths of Memory (2023), both on his Endectopmorph Records. The first half of his 2026 project, Kevin Sun, I goes deep into...Kevin Sun? Sun takes his inspiration from seemingly everywhere: video games, sitting on hold waiting for service from the IRS phone system (track 6, “Hold Music"), John Coltrane ( track 1, “Go In"), Ryuichi Sakamoto, heavy ...
Continue ReadingTommy Muellner: Solitary Moon
by Mark Corroto
Today's hipster jazz musicians do not play standards. Perhaps “poseur" is a better description for artists who deliberately eschew classic compositions. Yet standards and familiar songs serve an important purpose in jazz: they provide a shared musical language, a lingua franca through which musicians communicate and listeners can measure the quality of an interpretation. Maybe, just maybe, the poseurs avoid standards because they don't want to be found out. Chicago pianist Tommy Muellner is no poseur. In fact, ...
Continue ReadingPeter Sprague: Guinnevere
by Jim Trageser
Peter Sprague, the San Diego-based guitarist who has gigged with everyone from Chick Corea to Hubert Laws, Charles McPherson to Dianne Reeves, seems to be accelerating his recording output of late. He is averaging more than two albums a year as leader the past half-decade, plus guest appearances on numerous others. And all of this is on top of his work running his own studio and small record label, SBE ("Striving to Break Even") plus a busy performance schedule.
Continue ReadingRachael Calladine Quintet: Soho Elegy
by Neil Duggan
Singer Rachael Calladine returns with Soho Elegy, a release that marks a significant step forward from her previous album, The Game (33 Jazz, 2025), which drew primarily on jazz standards. Here, Calladine turns the spotlight towards original material, with a collection of songs written by her long-standing collaborators, pianist Dr. Adrian York and guitarist Pat McCarthy, alongside two compositions of her own. Calladine is joined by her regular rhythm section of bassist Andy Tytherleigh and drummer Simon Potts, while James McMillan ...
Continue ReadingRaphael Meleteas: Someone Else
by Maciej Stasiowski
It is September already, and the days arrive tinted by the fallen leaves' reds and yellows. Somehow, we are thrown back to late August, finally granted enough time to enjoy a cool drink and listen to the record, just like people used to in the pre-accelerationist era. On Raphael Meleteas's very brief debut LP, musical arrangements become moods, and these turn to tangible locations--a kaleidoscope of seasonal atmospheres captured in song. Someone Else was put together as ...
Continue ReadingMitch Woods: A Night in New Orleans
by Jim Trageser
One of the most charmingly energetic pianists working on the blues side of the aisle, Mitch Woods' playing seamlessly takes in everything from boogie woogie to jump blues to New Orleans R&B, with broad streaks of jazz stride thrown in. On his latest release, Woods eschews his usual backing band, The Rocket 88s, for a solo show at Snug Harbor in New Orleans. His spirited performance harkens back to the great pianists who could hold a room all ...
Continue ReadingJoeykeysade: Orisun (Origin)
by Mike Jurkovic
On his smoothly cool debut Orisun (Origin), New York-based pianist/composer JoeyKeySade--pronounced “JOH-ee KEYS SHAH-deh"--certainly exhibits deft mastery and understanding of the myriad of musics between Broadway and West Africa. The problem presented, of course, is which style inevitably comes to the fore and dominates. What dominates the overall sound of Orisun (Origin) is an attractive, almost nostalgic late-70's/early-80's vibe recalling the lush, atmospheric ventures of Pat Metheny and a toned down Joe Zawinul--whom the pianist credits as a ...
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