Articles by Matthew Aquiline
B.J. Jansen: Common Ground
by Matthew Aquiline
Cincinnati-born baritone saxophonist B.J. Jansen's tenth album is titled Common Ground for good reason: his sextet consists of NEA Jazz Master trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, drummer Ralph Peterson, trumpeter Duane Eubanks, pianist Zaccai Curtis, and bassist Dezron Douglas--all of whom revel in improvisation. His group's shared affinity for jazz in the straight-ahead vein compelled Jansen to employ a “hands-off" tactic as leader, prompting the end product's great diversity of playing and style. The album has its post- bop pieces, hard bop ...
read moreWindisch: Drama
by Matthew Aquiline
Drama is a fitting title for pianist/composer Julius Windisch's debut album for QFTF; the musical atmosphere is mercurial enough to parallel a theatrical odyssey through some unknown frontier. Armed with his eponymously named quintet, Windisch's compositions permeate with vigor, collectively exhibiting just one case of the raw talent found within the legion of young composers in jazz today. On the opening title track, Windisch juxtaposes the percussiveness of a single, repeated piano chord with the dynamic pull of ...
read moreMatthew Shipp & Mat Walerian Duo/The Uppercut: Live At Okuden
by Matthew Aquiline
Forming a duo in jazz can amount to a daunting task. There's simply no hiding; with arrangements so sparse, possibility is boundless and subtleties are fully exposed. This formless atmosphere requires able musicians who can immerse themselves in their instruments and in turn, feed off each other to eventually flourish on a singular wavelength. The innovators of the jazz duo--Anthony Braxton and Max Roach, Bill Evans and Jim Hall, Dave Holland and Sam Rivers--reaped these artistic benefits and effectively solidified ...
read moreToxic: Mat Walerian/Matthew Shipp/William Parker: This Is Beautiful Because We Are Beautiful People
by Matthew Aquiline
Polish multi-instrumentalist Mat Walerian is on the verge of reserving his seat in the pantheon of groundbreaking hornmen who recorded for the late Bernard Stollman's storied ESP-Disk' label. Not as frenetic as Frank Wright, nor as strident as Sonny Simmons, Walerian instead boasts a singular approach that binds Eastern influence and blues sensibility with fluent, legato phrasing, often reminiscent of Marion Brown's lyrical finesse. His first two live recordings for ESP--The Uppercut: Live at Okuden (2015) with Matthew Shipp and ...
read moreWoodlander: Calvins Toboggan
by Matthew Aquiline
Woodlander is an intriguing jazz combo out of Europe dedicated to breathing life into the original compositions of its founder, Swiss pianist Luzius Schuler. A trio marked by its sparseness, Woodlander is rounded off with trumpeter Mats Spillmann and drummer Jonas Ruther, both of whom recently collaborated with Schuler on Lucerne Jazz Orchestra's Oaktree (QFTF) (Schuler and Ruther performed; Spillmann contributed a composition). Given the existing connections between these musicians, the persisting synergy that drives Calvins Toboggan should come as ...
read moreMatt Holman: The Tenth Muse
by Matthew Aquiline
New York City-based trumpeter and composer Matt Holman cut his teeth performing and recording with distinguished musicians such as Fred Hersch, John Hollenbeck, and Darcy James Argue's Secret Society before displaying his personal aesthetic of atmospheric chamber jazz with his debut album When Flooded in 2013. More recently, Holman found inspiration scouring the annals of history, extracting celebrated relics potent and stimulating enough to constitute the groundwork of his sophomore follow-up--2,500- year-old-plus relics to be precise. “What kind ...
read moreLucerne Jazz Orchestra: Oaktree
by Matthew Aquiline
Since its inception in 2007, the Lucerne Jazz Orchestra has established itself as one of Europe's most innovative ensembles operating within the contemporary big band idiom. Currently consisting of a vocalist (Karin Meier) and 17 musicians under the musical direction of David Grottschreiber, the group has consistently collaborated with fellow trailblazers and featured works by young composers dispersed throughout Europe, all in an attempt to revise and progress the very musical language from which it originated. Oaktree, the group's sixth ...
read moreXavi Reija: Reflections
by Matthew Aquiline
Deviating from his reputation within the realm of boundary-pushing progressive rock/jazz fusion, Catalan drummer and composer Xavi Reija removed the presence of electrified instruments that dominated previous works for an acoustic album that explores the jazz piano trio format. Reflections, his eighth recording as a leader, synthesizes Reija's dynamic authority behind the kit with the lyrical proficiency of bassist Pau Lligadas and the great pianist Nitai Hershkovits (best known for his work with bassist Avishai Cohen). What results is a ...
read moreVince Tampio: Live at PafA
by Matthew Aquiline
The long-standing practice of incorporating non-Western instruments within a jazz setting is further evolved on up-and-coming trumpeter and composer Vince Tampio's self-produced album Live at PafA. More specifically, the Philadelphia/New York-based musician culled various percussion instruments from Eastern Europe alongside an Indian tanpura for a performance of five original compositions recorded live at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Besides enhancing the pervading atmosphere of alluring exoticism, the nontraditional instrumentation maintains a spacious environment that proves ideal for a ...
read moreNiculin Janett Quartet (feat. Rich Perry): No Parking Any Time
by Matthew Aquiline
Zurich-based alto saxophonist and composer Niculin Janett, in the naming of his quartet's debut album, encapsulated the essence of his music with an otherwise vexatious phrase that regularly victimizes most city dwellers: No Parking Any Time. Although irritating for motorists, an ordinance prohibiting parking in terms of music, especially jazz, would seemingly stimulate perpetual movement and growth. Uniting under this theme of motion, Janett's quartet slices the brake lines and speeds ahead, depositing an inspired set of meandering music along ...
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