Articles by Rico Cleffi

Conte Candoli/Max Roach: Jazz Structures

by Rico Cleffi
August 17, 2005

The inclusion of Max Roach's name on the cover of Jazz Structures is somewhat disingenuous. Upon opening the CD insert, we're informed that Max Roach appears on only four out of eighteen tracks. This information was conspicuously absent from the back cover, where a potential buyer would look to see if a disc's worth spending hard-earned cash on. Jazz Structures is a reissue of two of Howard Rumsey's “Light House All Stars discs. The first, 1957's Drummin' the ...

Paul Motian: I Have the Room Above Her & Motian in Tokio

by Rico Cleffi
August 14, 2005

Paul Motian I Have the Room Above Her ECM Records 2005

I Have the Room Above Her is an odd title choice, considering the title track is one of only two songs that drummer Paul Motian didn't write himself. Maybe Motian's too modest to go with one of his own titles, but judging by the strength of his original songs, he needn't be. (Incidentally, the aforementioned Kern-Hammerstein tune and Monk's “Dreamland are the weakest ...

Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber: Live 01: Not April in Paris

by Rico Cleffi
May 9, 2005

There are live albums where you just had to be there, and there are ones that take you there. This documentation of a 2001 Burnt Sugar performance is of the latter variety. It's nice to see somebody putting their money where their mouth is. Cultural critic Greg Tate isn't content to just judge other peoples' art. In Burnt Sugar he conducts a fine group of musicians. But to call this Tate's project would be unfair to these excellent ...

John O'Gallagher: Line of Sight & Rules of Invisibility, Vol. 2

by Rico Cleffi
May 1, 2005

John O'Gallagher Line of Sight Fresh Sound-New Talent

Comparison can be useful in a review. In the case of John O'Gallagher's Line of Sight, there was something familiar, composition-wise, I just couldn't put my finger on. My first point of reference was Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage so I listened to the two albums back to back. The fact that O'Gallagher's music can be played in the company of such classics says quite a lot. ...

Ahmed Abdullah's Dispersions of the Spirit of RA: Traveling the Spaceways

by Rico Cleffi
February 27, 2005

Travelling the Spaceways is the fruit of the labor of long-time Sun Ra trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah's Dispersions of the Spirit of Ra--a band formed after Abdullah was visited in a dream by his former band leader. His mission? To play Sun Ra's music. Abdullah surrounded himself with some fierce musicians and set out to do justice to some of Ra's vast catalog. The result does for Sun Ra's songs what the Mingus Big Band has done for that great composer's ...

Lou Grassi: Joining Two Worlds

by Rico Cleffi
February 11, 2005

Drummer Lou Grassi has appeared on over two dozen sessions in addition to serving up over a half dozen of his own CDs, many at the helm of his Po Band group which has featured such special guests as Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist and bandleader Marshall Allen, the legendary Danish saxophonist John Tchicai and Art Ensemble of Chicagoan Joseph Jarman. A fixture on the New York jazz scene as one of the most reliable drummers whose flexibility naturally criss-crosses the ...

Claudio Roditi: Three for One (341)

by Rico Cleffi
January 31, 2005

While listening to the first track on Three for One (341) by Claudio Roditi, Klaus Ignatzek, and Jean-Louis Rassinfosse, I stopped to check the credits to find out the name of the drummer who was playing so delicately. I quickly remembered that there was no drummer, but I thought I heard some slight brushwork, anyway. And that's one of the real strong points of this percussion-less trio: they utilize space in a way that stirs up the ephemeral, subtle sounds ...

Raoul Bj: Shadowglow

by Rico Cleffi
January 24, 2005

There are moments on Shadowglow where Raoul Björkenheim and Lukas Ligeti achieve such an intuitive balance that it's hard to tell who's playing what. Björkenheim is a percussive guitarist, Ligeti a melodic drummer who plays the kit (and a variety of other percussion instruments) with remarkable fluidity. Björkenheim is capable of making his guitar sound like a thumb piano, a gamelan, or a sandstorm. The two players are clearly listening, and the music breathes and swells accordingly. Noisy ...