Jazz Articles
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Sean Ono Lennon: Asterisms
by Ludovico Granvassu
Among the eagerly-awaited new releases is Sean Ono Lennon's Asterisms (Tzadik Records, 2024). When I first saw the project at The Stone in early October 2022 I was immediately struck by the enormous potential of the band and their music. Asterisms hovers over many genres and defies them all as its own thing, in a post-Bitches Brew kind of way. Plus, the band is an all-star avant-minded assemblage featuring Yuka Honda (electronics), Michael Leonhart (trumpet), Joao Nogueira (Wurlitzer), ...
Continue ReadingWillie Morris: Attentive Listening
by David A. Orthmann
Attentive Listening, Willie Morris 's second Posi-Tone release in as many years, documents the continuing evolution of a jazz master in the making. Like last year's Conversation Starter, the tenor saxophonist/composer thrives in the stimulating company of alto saxophonist/alto flutist Patrick Cornelius and pianist Jon Davis. Bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Rudy Royston round out a rhythm section that fuels the record's impressive reach. Early on, Morris' “Water Fountain Of Youth" and “The Imitation Game" are up-tempo ...
Continue ReadingMina Cho: Beat Mirage
by Jack Bowers
Korean-born, Boston-based pianist Mina Cho's Beat Mirage represents a marriage between western contemporary jazz and traditional Korean rhythms and percussive modulations. The question that arises is this: on what basis should such a hybrid be evaluated? While it isn't strictly jazz, neither is it entirely Korean and thus devoid of such jazz components as interplay and improvisation. The album's title, Cho writes, “encapsulates a broad spectrum of how beats are perceived." The concept of “grace beat," Cho ...
Continue ReadingLauren White: Making It Up As We Go Along
by Nicholas F. Mondello
With this, her fifth album, Los Angeles-based Renaissance lady, Lauren White offers eleven intriguing selections across a range of styles and sources, backed up by some of the city's best. While shrewdly avoiding the tried, true and over-recorded, White uses her subtle skills with taste and maturity. Interestingly, the album plays sequentially as if it were a performance. That is one of its attractions. Launching things, Steely Dan's “I'm Not the Same Without You" is a coy ...
Continue ReadingCiara Moser, Evita Polidoro, Otis Sandsjö, Roni Kaspi & More
by Ludovico Granvassu
In this set bookended by deep grooves and avant-funk, we focus on a number of emerging artists and their search for a personal synthesis of the many influences that have shaped their path.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Ari Joshua feat. John Medeski, Billy Martin “Elephant Walk" Elephant Walk--Single (Music Factory) 0:16 Host talks 4:04 The Sextones “The Other Side" Love Can't Be Borrowed (Record Kicks) 4:54 Host ...
Continue ReadingCarles Benavent: Sevillona
by Mike Jacobs
"Sevillona" from Carles Benavent is not only a great showcase for the flamenco-jazz bassist's signature style but also displays the uncommon aural synergy of this bass / guitar / drums / hang quartet. Like tapas for the ears. ...
Continue ReadingYes! Trio: Spring Sings
by Mike Jurkovic
With over twenty albums as leaders between them and two previous trio recordings including the widely acclaimed Groove Du Jour (jazz&people, 2019) the Yes! Trio--drummer Ali Jackson, bassist Omer Avital, and pianist Aaron Goldberg--light it up bright on Spring Sings!. An old school trio session, Spring Sings! is a jumpy (in a non-anxiety ridden way), spiky (ditto) and punchy (not punch drunk) affair that gets the ball rolling from the start with Jackson's most Ahmad Jamal-like title track. ...
Continue ReadingZoot Horn Rollo: Mask #4
by Mike Jacobs
Guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo's (Bill Harkleroad) attempted follow-up to 2000's We Saw A Bozo Under The Sea was unfortunately aborted before its completion but that makes the four tracks (or “Masks") that did survive all the more piquant little delicacies. “Mask #4" revels as much in its NOLA-tinged groove as it does its unmistakable Beefheart genetic markers. ...
Continue ReadingFire!: Testament
by Chris May
Recorded and then played back at reduced speed, even a seemingly simple two-note bird call reveals elaborate complexity and detail. It is worth hanging on to that thought when approaching the deceptively straightforward Testament. On a cursory listening, most of the album--an amalgam of Mats Gustafsson's slow-and-deliberate long-held low-end baritone notes and Johan Berthling and Andreas Werlin's matching bass ostinatos and drum patterns--sounds primordial. The recipe goes reductio ad absurdum on track two, “The Dark Inside Of A ...
Continue ReadingJazz Before the Oscars: Part 2
by Ludovico Granvassu
There has always been plenty of interplay between jazz and movies: jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway or Harry Connick, Jr. turned actors; or actors like Jeff Goldblum or Cybill Shepherd turned jazz musicians; jazz soundtracks for movie; or movies about jazz musicians...However, in anticipation of Oscars Night, here we are focusing on songs inspired by or dedicated to movie stars.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" ...
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