Articles by Paul Rauch
Ravi Coltrane Quartet: Live at Jazz Alley in Seattle
by Paul Rauch
Ravi Coltrane Quartet Jazz Alley Seattle, WA August 21, 2025 I suppose there are still those who attend Ravi Coltrane sets out of curiosity, or some attempt to somehow access the Coltrane legacy in real time. It's true that the son of John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane has not been one to record in great frequency, and that he has spent a lot of touring currency on performing the music of his mother, music he ...
Continue ReadingMike Clark: Standard Deviations
by Paul Rauch
Bringing new life to jazz standards is a longtime tradition in jazz, whether it be on the bandstand or in the studio. With their latest Sunnyside recording, Standard Deviations, the iconic drummer Mike Clark and Los Angeles-based tenor saxophonist Michael Zilber venture there once again, following Mike Drop, their 2021 Sunnyside release. The result is a swinging session of jazz pearls in quartet mode, with pianist Joe Davis and bassist Alex Claffey joining in the fun. Clark, for ...
Continue ReadingChris McCarthy: Add a Zero
by Paul Rauch
Chris McCarthy is a wonderfully lyrical pianist, and an unexpected joy to hear. “Unexpected" you might ask? Allow an explanation. He is imaginative, highly skilled and has gained a reputation of excellence on the New York scene. His accompaniment and solo strides on his acclaimed duo release, Life's a Gig (Fresh Sounds, 2024), with vocalist Vanisha Gould make her deep dive into old soul magic seem grounded, adorned with subtle and spacious harmony that keeps the music buoyant and free ...
Continue ReadingHal Galper: Adventures In The Zone
by Paul Rauch
This article was first published on All About Jazz on October 20, 2020. The career of Hal Galper has earned the pianist acclaim as both a performer and educator. Perhaps most importantly, it has drawn attention to his contributions to the music as a true innovator. While other pianists of his era gained more recognition, Galper sought out a career path where acclaim would be genuine among his peers and his audience, and not measured by the value ...
Continue ReadingDawn Clement: Delight
by Paul Rauch
Pianist / vocalist / composer Dawn Clement has appeared on plenty of recordings, both as a sideperson and leader, but she has perhaps never quite accomplished what she has here with Delight, on the Origin Records label. There are balances achieved with this record that fans of the long-time Seattle, now Denver-based Clement can eagerly wrap their collective arms around. Her intrepid curiosity and virtuosity have been a given in the jazz world for many years, playing with ...
Continue ReadingXavier Lecouturier: I Remember Why Now
by Paul Rauch
Wisdom is in part gathered by the realization that one can only be honest with oneself. There are no lies, only distractions and suppositions that put vision and truth at bay. The wisdom and truth that produces great music is not only arrived at by immersion into the art itself, but the immersion and subsequent understanding of other experiences from which inspiration is drawn. Drummer / composer Xavier Lecouturier in his second solo album, explores the realization that there has ...
Continue ReadingNick Biello: New America
by Paul Rauch
Upon listening to alto saxophone virtuoso Nick Biello, a quote attributed to Charles Mingus may come to mind: “If Charlie Parker was a gunslinger, there'd be a whole lot of dead copycats." “Slow down," you might say, “Biello is not Bird, not even close--nobody is." But the quote relates to Biello in that he is far from a Parker or Cannonball Adderley copycat, but he sure as heck is a gunslinger. Throughout New America, this becomes a known to the ...
Continue ReadingMichael Dease: City Life: Music of Gregg Hill
by Paul Rauch
Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill is on a remarkable roll, authoring an impressive run of compositions represented on eight albums released on the Origin Records label. Each has featured a bandleader associated with the top shelf staff at Rodney Whitaker's jazz program at Michigan State University. City Life (2025) is the third under the leadership of trombone great Michael Dease. The two-disc release includes 19 compositions from Hill, and features a cast of some of the most powerful voices in jazz ...
Continue ReadingThe Bad Plus at Jazz Alley
by Paul Rauch
The Bad Plus Jazz Alley Seattle, Washington May 13, 2025 The Bad Plus is a band, and a successful brand in the music world. They have a litany of successful recording and performance credits to their history, achieving amazing success while employing an approach to jazz that is perhaps odd and certainly uncompromising. Beginning in 2000 as a piano trio, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King teamed with pianist Ethan Iverson, largely ...
Continue ReadingGary Bartz Quintet at Jazz Alley
by Paul Rauch
Gary Bartz Quintet Jazz Alley Seattle, WA April 29, 2025 As an alto saxophonist, NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz has merged freedom and form in historic fashion, in the process acquiring an understanding of the art of improvisation, or what Bartz refers to as “informal composition," in a unique and enlightened way. His vital expressionism has traveled from hard bop to Latin, to fusion in a seamless progression that has enabled a boundless ...
Continue Reading
