Articles by Mike Jurkovic
David Virelles: Creative Inspirations
by Mike Jurkovic
Though we can likely assume that any music brought to life by pianist David Virelles, with his uncanny ability to make even the most jagged improvisation sound like yesteryear's standard, bassist Reggie Workman, who at eighty-eight still plays like the young turk afire alongside John Coltrane at the Village Vanguard, and drummer Andrew Cyrille who, at eighty-six, still epitomizes free jazz drumming, to move about freely through space and time and go where it will. Creative Inspirations comes at you ...
Continue ReadingThe Kris Davis Trio: Lost In Geneva
by Mike Jurkovic
Lost in Geneva begins in that spatial, metro-rush way a lot of pianist/composer/provocateur Kris Davis' excursions into the city do. But it soon skews into its own glacial swath, like many of Davis' excursions into the city. Ergo, “The Subtext," a fierce workout by any means or description and its successor, “Congestion Pricing," a study in immediate subversiveness. But Lost in Geneva (the first release on the pianist's new imprint, 4166 Records) is not all about immediacy or ...
Continue ReadingWadada Leo Smith: Constellations and Hemispheres
by Mike Jurkovic
The listener is easily startled by Wadada Leo Smith. The man has an aura about him that emanates from some other place, some other time, when the rule of law was set in stone. A time not too long ago when collective aspiration held us all enthralled. And the man who carried that stone is none other than the trumpeter himself. Smith's presence also has a mythical essence that, in and of itself, is hardly breaking news. But ...
Continue ReadingFranklin Kiermyer: Scatter The Atoms That Remain
by Mike Jurkovic
Scatter The Atoms That Remain is a harrowing, yet affirming statement from drummer/composer Franklin Kiermyer. With a fine, fit, and hale conglomerate creating alongside him--drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses, pianists Aaron Parks and Davis Whitfield, trumpeter Keyon Harrold, saxophonists Isaiah Collier and the ever-present Linda Sikhakhane, vocalists Jeff Bhasker, Jasbir Jassi, Melanie Charles and the Temitope Momorebe Gospel Singers, percussionist Carlos Niño, guitar synthesist Nate Mercereaux, and bassists Geraud Portal and Otto Gardner--Scatter The Atoms That Remain carries the free jazz ...
Continue ReadingJoeykeysade: Orisun (Origin)
by Mike Jurkovic
On his smoothly cool debut Orisun (Origin), New York-based pianist/composer JoeyKeySade--pronounced “JOH-ee KEYS SHAH-deh"--certainly exhibits deft mastery and understanding of the myriad of musics between Broadway and West Africa. The problem presented, of course, is which style inevitably comes to the fore and dominates. What dominates the overall sound of Orisun (Origin) is an attractive, almost nostalgic late-70's/early-80's vibe recalling the lush, atmospheric ventures of Pat Metheny and a toned down Joe Zawinul--whom the pianist credits as a ...
Continue ReadingPatricia Brennan and Sylvie Courvoisier: Talamanti
by Mike Jurkovic
It is more than fair to say--right from the start of their kinship in early 2023, in the Sylvie Courvoisier 4 with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Dan Weiss--that there was something innate, and perhaps more importantly, intimate, between road-clearing pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and rascally vibraphonist Patricia Brennan. Talamanti proves that big time. Organically the sharply focused work of two fearless, free spirits, Talamanti, (the main language of indigenous, Aztec-era Mesoamericans) culminates or, dare one say, ...
Continue ReadingNicola Miller’s Living Things: Spit!
by Mike Jurkovic
On the street, they would say that maritime Nova Scotia's rogue saxophonist Nicola Miller's rhizome-like way with her quintet, Living Things, or her prog jazz as a concept, is “some crazy sh*#!." But it need be said nicer at a global concern like All About Jazz. For as gentlemen and even gentler ladies, we are sworn to public service and to call a spade a spade. So Spit! is a spade. Hands down. Why? Well, the crickety landslide ...
Continue ReadingHenry Threadgill Vijay Iyer Dafnis Prieto: Fifteen
by Mike Jurkovic
Fifteen is the wildly ecstatic new music from saxophonist Henry Threadgill (who at times seems quite unhinged) and the equally motivated MacArthur Fellowship winners, pianist Vijay Iyer and a souped-up Dafnis Prieto on his respective percussive instrument. A lot of good stuff happens here, from the lead-off quarrel “Trio Piece," wherein Threadgill's flute leads forward his groove- insistent partners, until the freewheeling closer, “On The Way," a freethinker's guide to wonder, powered by a full-on, full trio, rush.
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman: Synesthesia
by Mike Jurkovic
Like past gatherings of tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman, pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker, and drummer Bobby Kapp, inscribed to memory on the highly touted Ineffable Joy (ESP, 2019) and Heptagon (Leo Records, 2017), Synesthesia erupts into consciousness with a punch and flurry. Feverish by design, “First Color Heard" stays true to its title and to the heart of each participant. Rambling, rumbling, reaching for the stars, Perelman exhorts his fellow travelers, and “First Color Heard" fills the airspace ...
Continue ReadingLeft Wall Balcony
by Mike Jurkovic
Pinwheel Pete on cowbell was a philharmonic all his own His tones like a fishwife's virgin murmurs rush the front rows then the left wall balcony w/a wave of clarion richness only Pete conjures in concert On stage his song and dance his lavaliere dreams of disrepair become bop become blues Holds the groove through all ...
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