Articles by John Dworkin

Pronto: All Is Golden

by John Dworkin
April 2, 2009

There's a new game in the music world: Six degrees of Wilco. Current Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen's band Pronto is the latest degree in a wide network of Wilco connections. All Is Golden is Pronto's debut and Jorgensen composed and sings all the material. The musical influences are varied: power pop; retro '70s funk; Chicago Transit Authority pop/jazz horns; and songwriter Americana like The Band or Randy Newman. The dilemma of deciding whether to be a jack of all trades ...

Brian Patneaude: Riverview

by John Dworkin
March 2, 2009

Saxophonist Brian Patneaude, guitarist Mike Moreno, organist Jesse Chandler, and drummer Danny Whelchel are all relatively young, open-minded musicians. While having distinct approaches, they share a modern sense of rhythm and phrasing, often blurring barlines, playing motivically, and possessing the ability to follow their ideas where they seem to go naturally. There's a fluidity of execution which gives the illusion of ease that only the best improvisers can create. These loosely related approaches give Patneaude's fine and understated Riverview a ...

Martin Bisi: Sirens Of The Apocalypse

by John Dworkin
February 26, 2009

Experimental indie artist Martin Bisi's Sirens Of The Apocalypse, including extensive artwork and an embedded video, is akin to a pop/punk reflection of Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film, Moulin Rouge. It's kitschy, self-serious, goofy, theatrically carnivalesque, and generally in-your-face. And like Luhrmann's film, it will likely elicit polarized opinions. Some will be so wildly annoyed they'll stop listening halfway through, while others will exclaim “brilliant!"

While Sirens is Bisi's sixth effort as a solo artist, his main gig is as a ...

Samo Salamon & Aljosa Jeric Quartet: Mamasaal feat. Mark Turner

by John Dworkin
February 19, 2009

Mamasaal is a recording led by guitarist Samo Salamon and drummer Aljosa Jeric featuring the relentlessly creative saxophonist Mark Turner. Salamon and Jeric both hail from the newly post-socialist country of Slovenia. Having been recently formed after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, maybe there is something to the idea of jazz being a truly “democratic" art form.

The tunes are all originals: six from Salamon and four from Jeric. Rhythmically and harmonically they're strictly modern: no blues, bebop, or ...

Jesse Lewis: Atticus

by John Dworkin
January 7, 2009

The cover art of Jesse Lewis' Atticus is a simple yet striking image: a leaf with its veins replaced by digital circuitry cupped in a pair of hands. The leaf as precious motherboard. The interpretations of the image on its own could vary, but how it relates to Lewis's recording is relatively clear. How nature fits with technology (or doesn't) can be a slippery debate in the music world and is a hot button issue in the jazz world particularly. ...

Pillars and Tongues: Protection

by John Dworkin
November 20, 2008

Pillars and Tongues Protection Contraphonic 2008

After listening through Pillars And Tongues' Protection, the listener may be left with the feeling of having attended a new style, post-religion Mass with liturgical forms composed by Tom Waits, John Fahey and Arvo Part. Old rituals are transformed and making art replaces the act of prayer. In fact, Protection was performed at South Union Arts (Gethsemane Baptist)--an old church in Chicago converted into an art ...

Jason Crigler: The Music Of Jason Crigler

by John Dworkin
November 2, 2008

Jason CriglerThe Music of Jason CriglerRudy Records2008

Guitarist/singer/songwriter Jason Crigler's The Music Of Jason Crigler, nearly a decade in the making, opens with the words: “I think at first she might be dead." The irony is that four years earlier, after Crigler suffered a massive brain hemorrhage, doctors said he may not make it through the night and that if he did there wouldn't be much left of him. Crigler made it ...

Never Enough Hope: The Gift Economy

by John Dworkin
October 19, 2008

Tobin Summerfield's Chicago ensemble Never Enough Hope is a modern musician's Noah's ark. The players come in pairs: two trumpets, two alto saxophones, two tenor saxophones, two lower range saxophones, two violins, two mid-range strings, two basses, two guitars, two vibraphones and two drum kits. The resemblance in instrumentation to a traditional jazz big band is this group's only similarity to that sonic world.The Gift Economy is a showcase for Summerfield's compositions. His music has the idiosyncrasy and ...

Frank Rosaly: Little Hell Volume 1 - Apathy of a Cow

by John Dworkin
September 12, 2008

Frank Rosaly Little Hell Volume 1 - Apathy of a Cow Contraphonic 2008

When looked at in its entirety, Chicago record label Contraphonic's Little Hell project can be seen in multiple lights: social activism, historical record, artist collective, creative electroacoustic improvisation, and/or dislocated sound art installation. Multi-instrumentalist Frank Rosaly's contribution, Apathy Of A Cow, represents the sound aspects and is the first of a series. For decades Chicago has had ...

Rebecca Martin: The Growing Season

by John Dworkin
August 5, 2008

It's been four years since Rebecca Martin last led a record date. In the interim she's given birth to her son Charlie, recorded on a Paul Motian project, and founded a citizen organization dedicated to local projects and government. Luckily for us, she's also taken the time to harvest a fresh batch of beautiful, original songs to enjoy on her CD The Growing Season. It's a strong continuation of her songwriting and fits squarely into her wider creative continuity.