Articles by James Taylor
Chicago Underground Duo: Hyperglyph
by James Taylor
International Anthem is a fitting home for the first Chicago Underground Duo album after an 11-year hiatus. The Chicago-based and buzzworthy label has carried the torch for avant-garde sounds in the city since 2014, and trumpeter and composer Rob Mazurek and drummer Chad Taylor are no strangers to the label's catalog, performing together on multiple IARC releases. International Anthem is in many ways the progeny of a jazz and post-rock influenced sound pioneered by Chicago vets Tortoise (another recent addition ...
Continue ReadingThe Circling Sun: Orbits
by James Taylor
The Circling Sun plays spiritual jazz with reverence and a sense of reverie. Formed in Tāmaki Makaurau (the Māori name for Auckland, New Zealand), the seven- member ensemble crafts rich tapestries that stretch to the stars with feet planted firmly on the dancefloor. Their sophomore full-length album, Orbits, finds the collective coming into its own, expanding the sonic spaceways they first explored on Spirits (Soundway Records, 2023). Finn Scholes' vibraphone is a tone setter for much of the ...
Continue ReadingCecil Taylor: Flashing Spirits
by James Taylor
There is a gift that keeps on giving nature to jazz music. Whether unearthing previously unknown archival recordings or niche labels getting long overdue vinyl re-pressings, fans of the genre have no shortage of new-to-us releases hitting the market every year. Such is the case with Flashing Spirits, the latest release documenting the prolific partnership of pianist Cecil Taylor and drummer Tony Oxley. Captured live at the 1988 Outside in Festival in Crawley, England, the performance consists of ...
Continue ReadingJames Yorkston: Yorkston / Jaycock / Langendorf
by James Taylor
Yorkston Jaycock Langendorf is the latest trio outing from Scottish folk songwriter James Yorkston. A unique pairing that blends elements of Nordic folk, American primitive guitar, swirling saxophones, moody ambience, and a fair amount of free improvisation, the trio engages in surprising levels of interplay, despite recording their parts remotely. Each composition began with Scottish songwriter James Yorkston improvising on the nyckelharpa. The keyed fiddle's origins date back to the 11th century, and its bowed performance and distinctive ...
Continue ReadingOcote Soul Sounds: The Ocote Way
by James Taylor
Ocote Soul Sound is the brainchild of two incredibly accomplished musicians, who continue to operate just under the radar;one more project to occupy the diminishingly available time of guitarist Adrian Quesada and flautist Martin Perna. With roots in the otherworldly grooves of label mates and benefactors Thievery Corporation, Ocote Soul Sounds' Coconut Rock (ESL, 2009), builds on the band's “Chicanos in Outer Space" groove by adding a cinematic quality reminiscent of David Axelrod, Weather Report and other fusion era powerhouses.
Continue ReadingBen Neill: Starting a Dub War
by James Taylor
To say that Ben Neill plays the trumpet--the instrument of such jazz legends as Miles Davis and Clifford Brown--is an epic understatement. “I think electronica is like a new form of jazz--it's an instrumental form of music that plays out in popular culture but has musical ideas that go beyond the expectations of pop music," says Neill, a student of the electro-acoustic innovations of Robert Moog and minimalist aesthetic of LaMonte Young. Neill specifically plays the mutantrumpet, a self-designed instrument ...
Continue ReadingGrupo Fantasma: Sonidos Gold
by James Taylor
When you've got Prince's seal of approval, little else matters. Austinites Grupo Fantasma have long been the Purple One's band du jour, logging a two-month residency at his Las Vegas nightclub 3121, a Golden Globes after party performance that saw the band joined by Prince, Talib Kweli, Will.i.am, Mary J. Blige, and Marc Anthony, as well as other performances alongside the icon in London, Miami and the Capital City itself. Sonidos Gold is the best document of ...
Continue ReadingOcote Soul Sounds: The Alchemist Manifesto
by James Taylor
Ocote Soul Sounds was born of strange conditions--a failed biodiesel-fueled road trip that lead to jam sessions in Austin, TX, that in turn lead to the cross country trade of mp3s and song ideas, that gave birth to a surprising debut, last years' independently released Electric Tides. Masterminded by two of the freshest voices in new music today, Ocote Soul Sounds is in top form on The Alchemist Manifesto, a worldly mix of sounds found “at the intersection of the ...
Continue ReadingSpring Heel Jack: Songs and Themes
by James Taylor
Songs and Themes is a visionary fusion of jazz, electronica and chamber music. With its eighth contribution to the Thirsty Ear Records catalog, the production team of Ashley Wales and multi-instrumentalist John Coxon has truly outdone itself. Songs and Themes is ambient and atmospheric while still maintaining a link to the avant-garde. Songs and Themes is as much trumpeter Roy Campbell's record as it is Coxon and Wales.' Beginning with “Church Music," which marries the psychedlia of ...
Continue ReadingJacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: Lil Tae Rides Again
by James Taylor
Jacob Free Jazz Odyssey's Lil Tae Rides Again unfolds more like an eclectic indie-rock album than the jam band romps they've been known to fashion. A marriage of instrumental post-rock-infused jazz in the vein of Tortoise's brilliant TNT (Thrill Jockey, 1998) and hyperactive avant-funk and digital illbient a la DJ Spooky, Lil Tae is the ultimate in accomplishments, a near perfect reinvention of direction and sound. And perhaps that has more to do with the way this ...
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