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Micah Thomas: Reveal
by Mike Jurkovic
A drop mic, double plus good treatise by three very ballsy players--pianist Micah Thomas, bassist Dean Torrey, and drummer Kayvon Gordon--Reveal wastes no time stating its case, taking centerstage, and holding that promised land's glories tight. Recorded in one seven-hour session, Thomas's second far-flung outing as a Blue Note leader and his third overall (the self-produced and eloquent Tide, 2019) deceptively chases the history of the piano trio then surpasses it altogether on the opening dynamo Little Doctor (Take 2)." ...
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by Angelo Leonardi
«Micah Thomas ha uno stile unico --ha detto Fred Hersch-e tutti gli strumenti necessari per dare un contributo importante al mondo del pianoforte jazz». Per Aaron Parks «è uno dei musicisti più eccitanti della sua generazione». Non sono parole di circostanza. Dopo il debutto a suo nome con l'album Tide, inciso nel 2020 a soli 22 anni e il Piano Solo del 2022 anche la stampa specializzata ha espresso superlativi giudizi sul giovane pianista di Columbus già membro stabile ...
read moreZoh Amba: Bhakti
by Mark Corroto
It may be an overused metaphor, but saxophonist Zoh Amba does indeed stand on the shoulders of giants. Proof of that phrase is Bhakti, a tour de force of passionate free jazz. The twentysomething artist draws on traditions born of the 1960s from artists such as Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, and Peter Brötzmann. Her music, like that of her mentor David Murray's early career explorations, sustains the customs of the 1960's firebrands for a new generation.
read moreBilly Drummond and Freedom of Ideas: Valse Sinistre
by Jack Bowers
As one of the world's foremost jazz drummers, Billy Drummond manages to keep busy--so much so that Valse Sinistre, recorded in November 2021, is his first album as leader in more than twenty-five years, following the critically acclaimed Dubai from 1996. This time around, Drummond is at the helm of his Freedom of Ideas quartet: Micah Thomas on piano; Dezron Douglas on bass; and Dayna Stephens on saxophones. Even though he is the nominal leader, Drummond doesn't ...
read moreImmanuel Wilkins: The 7th Hand
by Mike Jurkovic
That we are free to think saxophone firebrand Immanuel Wilkins' 2020 Blue Note debut Omega served as a sign of hope amid a particularly hopeless year puts an awful lot of weight on the shoulders of a 25-year-old and, beyond doubt, colors the fate of The 7th Hand. Humbly and characteristically, Wilkins and company meet the challenge head-on. Searching for nothingness in a culture of excess, Lift," the seventh and closing exhortation to empathy that guides The 7th ...
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by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo l'acclamato debutto di Omega Immanuel Wilkins disegna un altro avvincente affresco, confermando l'intento a elaborare nuovi percorsi musicali inglobando la tradizione. Con lui ritroviamo i giovani partner del suo quartetto (Micah Thomas al pianoforte, Daryl Johns al contrabbasso e Kweku Sumbry alla batteria) più la bravissima flautista Elena Pinderhughes (già con Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah e Ambrose Akinmusire) e l'ensemble di percussioni Farafina Kan. Mentre conferma il magistrale eloquio strumentale con lunghi, intensi ...
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by Paul Rauch
At the moment Omega, the debut solo album of young alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, was released on Blue Note in May 2020, America was ablaze with the fight for justice following the murder by police of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The sessions for the album were recorded prior to the event that propelled the Black Lives Matter movement, and spread to the streets in demand for racial justice like no other time in American history. Yet the album is an ...
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