Articles by Dean Nardi
Matthieu Chazarenc Evokes Bel Canto, Singing and Celebration
by Dean Nardi
The music has its source in Matthieu Chazarenc's natal southwest of France. The Paris-based drummer has offered his unique blend of jazz, classical and multi-rhythmic versatility on Canto III (Bonsai Music, 2024), linked to his first two albums as a leader--Canto II (Cristal Records, 2021) and Canto I (Jazz Family, 2018). “I like to be able to work over time," he said. “Things take time to build." The colorful jazz emanates from the fruits of encounters with his ...
Continue ReadingMichala Østergaard-Nielsen: The Poetic Vibrations of Drumming
by Dean Nardi
Michala Østergaard-Nielsen is a jazz drummer from Denmark, a country with a rich tradition of women playing drums. Once during a lesson with Gerald Cleaver, she was told you could either play drums upon sound or upon a pattern. “That really opened the doors for me to not think just the technical things, but listen to it as a sound," she said, looking back on what she gained from these lessons. Østergaard-Nielsen had classical training on the piano ...
Continue ReadingJamie Baum: These Are Her Times
by Dean Nardi
Jamie Baum is a world-class composer as well as flutist, who smoothly balances woodwinds with horns, guitar, bass, piano and drums so that they are equals. Her compositions can remind you of a Gil Evans arrangement with several decades of development added to create a thoroughly modern milieu. She mixes high-energy with ballads and Western foundations with South Asian colors; the music so charged it practically has a visible aura around the score. You can hear it on Bridges (Sunnyside, ...
Continue ReadingJulian Shore: Sharing Secrets Under The Rose
by Dean Nardi
Piano trios walk the thin line between exhibitionism and intimacy, and you can look no further than Bill Evans whose tones vibrated ever so slightly with the distant thrill of zeal. Despite insistent attempts to overlook its worthiness in contemporary jazz, the piano trio is alive and well, in good hands with pianists such as Kris Davis, whose Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic Records, 2024) with Robert Hurst and Johnathan Blake sends shivers up and down the spine. The Sunna Gunnlaug ...
Continue ReadingTracy Yang Embraces Her Multi-Cultural Background in Composition
by Dean Nardi
Tracy Yang is intimately familiar with the significance placed on identity in music. However, this awareness has not stopped the Taiwanese American composer from embracing all of her musical gifts, regardless of style. It is a choice that in just a handful of years has led Yang to a number of awards and recognition for her work, including the Charlie Parker Jazz Composition prize in 2021, the Benny Golson Award while attending the Berklee College in Boston and Golden Melody ...
Continue ReadingLucian Ban: Following Bartók's Trail Through the Transylvanian Villages
by Dean Nardi
It is hard to re-invent where jazz can go. Players can eschew all the conventional methods they want, but a wheel is still a wheel. This is a reason why pianist Lucian Ban's efforts to bring to light the Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist Bela Bartók's works as a field collector of folk music in 21st-century terms are so important and riveting. Ban expands on these recordings, which were stored on notebooks and wax cylinders, with ancillary writings and photos ...
Continue ReadingSean Imboden: Communal Heart
by Dean Nardi
Sean Imboden's Large Ensemble Has a Communal Heart Sean Imboden was bitten by the big band bug early on. It is understandable. Both his parents were musicians, and his father taught him to play clarinet when he was in sixth grade. As a teenager, besides playing in middle school and high school bands, he sometimes sat in on gigs with his father's ensemble. After college, he moved to New York City and became involved with the touring Broadway show circuit, ...
Continue ReadingFievel Is Glauque: For Ma Clément Anything Goes But Be Careful
by Dean Nardi
This interview is with Ma Clément, who is the vocalist half of the Fievel Is Glauque compositional duo, in partnership with Zach Phillips. The tandem typically eschews digital correspondence, opting to meet in either Brussels or New York when the muse is calling. Assuredly, they would appreciate the muse even more if it would purchase air fare. All About Jazz corresponded with Clément in French, so the text is a translation from both the interviewer and her. It is not ...
Continue ReadingFievel Is Glauque: Zach Phillips Believes Harmony Does Not End With Writing
by Dean Nardi
Fievel Is Glauque is an integration between multi-instrumentalist Zach Phillips and vocalist Ma Clément along with a mutable cast of eminent musicians. Their latest album is the homophone-titled Rong Weicknes (Fat Possum, 2024), which may or may not also be an oxymoron. Linguistics aside, this fantabulous collection of songs may well be the most resolute version of the ensemble yet. The music continually offers listeners a melody then counters with improvised sounds that briefly dabble with the festive ...
Continue ReadingDave Monsch: Struttin' at the Winedale
by Dean Nardi
Dallas-based saxophonist and flautist Dave Monsch wants his debut album to catch listeners' attention. “I don't feel that it is a predictable album," he stated through an email exchange with AAJ. “There are so many different types of songs and styles, I would hope that something will grab them, if not all of it." Struttin' at the Winedale is a collection of eight original compositions that display Monsch's capacity for pushing the boundaries of jazz within an ensemble ...
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