Articles by Frank Housh

Album Review

Ayumi Tanaka, Thomas Morgan, Thomas Strønen: Windflower

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by Frank Housh
August 17, 2026

Ayumi Tanaka's Windflower uses Nordic jazz's musical vocabulary against an ancient Japanese landscape, creating depth and beauty by the space left empty. Tanaka is a Japanese pianist and composer for whom Norwegian jazz feels “very personal," explaining how it “made the air feel alive." She was determined to figure out how. She moved to Norway in 2011 and earned a master's degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. She augmented her studies by improvising “together with the ...

Album Review

Mick Goodrick: In Pas(s)ing

Read "In Pas(s)ing" reviewed by Frank Housh

by Frank Housh
July 9, 2026

In Pas(s)ing, originally released in 1979, was Mick Goodrick's first and last ECM Records recording as a leader. Indeed, aside from an appearance on Charlie Haden's recording of ECM's musical manifesto The Battle Of The Fallen (1983) by the Liberation Music Orchestra, Goodrick never again appeared on an ECM recording. In Pas(s)ing will be re-issued July 10, 2026 as part of ECM's Luminessence series.The album's title is a homonym, referring to the title song and “Pasing," the name of the street and district of Munich ...

Interview

Fred Hersch Talks About His Found Duo Album With ‘The Guitar Whisperer'

by Frank Housh
July 5, 2026

Mick Goodrick (1945-2022) is a legend among jazz guitarists as a teacher, author, and mentor to John Scofield, Bill Frisell, and many more. Known as “Mr. Goodchord," Goodrick was a leading theorist in voice leading for guitar and his 1987 book The Advancing Guitarist has been a fundamental text for a generation. It eschews exercises and method in favor of essays that create a conceptual system of the instrument. He could have had a busy performing career, but instead decided to write ...

Live Review

Dave King Trio At Buffalo’s Art Of Jazz

by Frank Housh
May 20, 2026

Dave King Trio Buffalo Akg Art Museum Art Of Jazz Buffalo, NY May 17, 2026 A sunny, 75° day greeted Buffalo jazz lovers as we queued up for the final of four “Art Of Jazz" concerts at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum. A near-capacity crowd heard Dave King Trio reduce six jazz standards into individual threads and weave them into a wild tapestry. The concert began with Ornette Coleman's “Lonely Woman." King built a ...

Live Review

Cécile McLorin Salvant At Buffalo’s Art Of Jazz

by Frank Housh
May 13, 2026

Cecile McLorin Salvant with Sullivan Fortner Buffalo Akg Art Museum Art Of Jazz Buffalo April 19, 2026 Thick, bright, layered pellets of snow, raised from Lake Erie's surface and chilled in a cold, early spring wind pelted the faces of Buffalo jazz lovers as we entered Buffalo Akg Art Museum's Lipsey Auditorium for the third of the four “Art Of Jazz" concerts on Sunday (April 19, 2026). That snow quickly melted on soil which, only a day earlier, had ...

Interview

Vadim Neselovskyi: The Beauty Of Music And The Scourge Of War

by Frank Housh
February 18, 2026

Ukrainian-born, Brooklyn-based pianist and composer Vadim Neselovskyi's art emerged from a fairly traditional path. He was classically trained at conservatories in his native Odessa and Germany, then received a scholarship to Berklee School of Music where he developed a distinct, sophisticated style that bridges jazz and classical music. His compositions have been performed by Randy Brecker, Antonio Sanchez, Julian Lage, and Gary Burton, classical saxophonist Daniel Gauthier, and symphony orchestras in the United States and Europe. His world was turned ...

Album Review

Edwin Corne: Spruce and Maple

Read "Spruce and Maple" reviewed by Frank Housh

by Frank Housh
February 8, 2026

Guitarist Edwin Corne 's Spruce And Maple features the American Songbook peppered with eastern harmonies, befitting an Australian-Chinese musician raised in Shanghai and based in New York City. Corne's jazz guitar trio recording continues an ensemble tradition that began with Jim Hall and continued through Barney Kessel, Joe Pass, and Pat Metheny. It is alive and well in Spruce And Maple. Corne is joined by fellow Juilliard graduates Luke Sellick (bass) and Charles Goold (drums) who achieve a rich, woody sound throughout. Corne ...

Live Review

Brandon Woody And UPENDO At The Buffalo AKG Museum’s Art Of Jazz Series

by Frank Housh
February 4, 2026

Brandon Woody And UPENDO Buffalo AKG Art Museum Auditorium Art Of Jazz Series Buffalo, NY February 1, 2026 The afternoon sun was fading on a cold Buffalo Sunday as a sold-out crowd made its way into the Buffalo AKG Art Museum's Auditorium for the first of four concerts in the 2026 Art Of Jazz series. The space emitted a relaxed, treehouse vibe as a group of rising young Baltimore musicians took the stage. On ...

Year in Review

Frank Housh's Favorite Jazz Albums Of 2025

by Frank Housh
January 19, 2026

2025 was a great year for jazz. Below are my reviews for the year, from established artists like Brad Mehldau, John Scofield, and Celine McLorin Salvant to rising talents like Christian Pabst and Jo-Yu Chen. The first two album reviews are of artists that did more than simply demonstrate superior artistry, they spoke powerfully about the world. I can think of no higher musical accomplishment. Honey From A Winter Stone Ambrose Akinmusire Nonesuch Records

Interview

Amaury Faye: A French Jazz Composer Returns To The Source

by Frank Housh
December 5, 2025

Amaury Faye was a child in Toulouse when he began his unlikely love affair with American jazz. A piano teacher exposed him to ragtime which led to Art Tatum, which led him to Ahmad Jamal and the great jazz trios. He released trio recordings in 2016, 2017, and 2018 and a solo album, Buran (L'Esprit du Piano, 2019) followed by Arise (Suite) (Hypnote Records, 2023). In her review of Amaury Faye: Arise (Suite), Jane Kozhevnikova wrote: “In Arise, ...