Articles by Ken Waxman

Freedom of the City 2010

by Ken Waxman
June 19, 2010

"To Thine Self Be True" is lettered above the stage at Conway Hall where London's annual Freedom of the City (FOTC) festival took place May 2nd-3rd. Although related to the philosophy of the Humanist Society that built the edifice, the slogan can be applied to the 16 sets that made up the festival. Organized about a decade ago by saxophonist Evan Parker and percussionist Eddie Prevost to showcase the city's vibrant improvising scene, FOTC today welcomes players from ...

3ology: With Ron Miles

by Ken Waxman
June 5, 2010

This album is appropriately titled as, in many cases, the addition of another musician raises the level of an entire band's playing. So it is on this session, where Denver-based cornetist Ron Miles joins Colrado's 3ology combo. Evident from the one track on which Miles isn't featured, 3ology--brothers Doug and Tim Carmichael (alto sax and bass, respectively) with Jon Powers on drums--are the sort of jazz-jam band that exists most places in North America; groove-makers whose forté is performance, not ...

Three by Lieb: Relevance, Turnaround: The Music of Ornette Coleman, Lieb Plays Weill

by Ken Waxman
May 15, 2010

Dave Liebman/Evan Parker/Tony BiancoRelevance Red Toucan2009 Dave Liebman Group Turnaround: The Music of Ornette Coleman Jazzwerkstatt2010 Dave Liebman Trio Lieb Plays Weill Daybreak-Challenge2009 After more than three decades, saxophonist Dave Liebman is the epitome of the modern improviser whose recorded work is constantly first-class, but rarely as ...

Steve Lacy: The Holy La

by Ken Waxman
March 10, 2004

This fine trio CD takes its name from something held sacred by musicians: “la," the pitch to which all instruments are almost always tuned. During the course of these nine tracks, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy and his associates also prove that they can do just anything they want with any variations of “la" and the other degrees of the scale most famously celebrated by Rodgers and Hammerstein in the song “Do-Re-Mi." During a career that stretches back more ...

Ingebrigt H: Double Bass

by Ken Waxman
March 9, 2004

Double Bass is a showcase for the jazz and free music skills of Oslo-based Håker Flaten. With 40 CDs to his credit, he may be a Scandinavian version of Ron Carter: his breadth of experience includes jazz, improv, electronica and fusion, with leaders ranging from the cerebral American multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee to Finnish metal-jazz guitarist Raoul Björkenheim.

Almost from the first track Håker Flaten references the type of woody, subterranean plucks in his playing that go back ...

Sun Ra: Solo Piano Recital - Teatro La Fenice, Venezia

by Ken Waxman
March 9, 2004

This is the hippest solo piano CD you're ever going to hear that features old time standards like “Take the A Train," “St Louis Blues" and “Honeysuckle Rose." That's because the artist involved isn't some wannabe young lion aiming for mainstream cred or a palsied trad jazz survivor nostalgically re-creating the sounds of his youth. Instead, the hoary jazz standards are slotted in among certified Saturnian melodies and improvisations by a figure who during his time on earth seemed to ...