Articles by Victor Verney
Kurtis Adams: Collage
by Victor Verney
Saxophonist Kurtis Adams could scarcely have chosen a more apt title for this release, an eclectic-minded assemblage drawn from a wide variety of musical genres, including classical.The opening “Blue Fox," has a distinctly West Coast “Cool School" feel, a style to which Adams has rendered homage elsewhere. Here, Adams gives a sense of what Gerry Mulligan might have sounded like had he played tenor.The following “The Ocean" immediately makes a dramatic shift to Chopin, indicative of ...
Continue ReadingThe Jim Hall Quartet: Live at Birdland
by Victor Verney
Guitarist Jim Hall, now in his eighth decade, continues to be a vigorous performer, fresh-minded arranger and creative composer. He's been around so long, and done so much, that it's humbling to try writing something fresh about him: there is little to say that hasn't already been said, and in many cases quite eloquently. A Google search turns up a lengthy list of well-chosen adjectives: subtle, fluid, daring, poetic, empathetic, graceful, economical, experimental, intuitive, inquisitive. Many reviewers ...
Continue ReadingDamani Phillips: The Reckoning
by Victor Verney
Damani PhillipsThe ReckoningSelf Produced2012“Reckoning" is a complex word with many shades of meaning, an apt choice for reedman Damani Phillips' latest CD. As a noun, it signifies (among other things) an objective appraisal built with concrete facts. Used as a verb, the word denotes an educated guess based upon imaginative speculation. In any case, it suggests calculation underpinned by trust--whether in others, oneself, or a Higher Power. All these ...
Continue ReadingHendrik Meurkens: Harmonica Virtuoso
by Victor Verney
Although at first Hendrik Meurkens' primary instrument was the vibraphone, he has garnered an international reputation as a jazz harmonica player since picking up that difficult-to-master instrument. Born in Germany, Meurkens came to the U.S. to study at Boston's Berklee School of Music. After returning to Europe for a time, he decided to go live in Brazil to immerse himself in that county's brand of jazz, which he had heard and grown to love. Living in Rio de Janeiro (and ...
Continue ReadingDamani Phillips: The String Theory
by Victor Verney
Damani PhillipsThe String TheorySelf Produced2010 The idea of adding strings to a jazz combo has long been a divisive issue among the music's aficionados. It's often disparaged by many purists as a commercial sell-out, similar to the “fusion" concept of marrying jazz with rock. One self-proclaimed hard bop hardliner, Ken Blanchard, has blogged that “strings can make the most obscure bop tenor palatable to a larger audience by packaging him in ...
Continue ReadingClaudio Roditi: A Brazilian in Iowa
by Victor Verney
Watching trumpeter Claudio Roditi lead some unfamiliar sidemen through an afternoon rehearsal prior to an evening performance provided a good look at something not readily apparent at concerts. While the audience at that night's show in Ottumwa, Iowa saw Roditi's talents as a player and improviser (and even singer) displayed, most concertgoers could only have a vague idea of Roditi's abilities as a bandleader. As one observer witnessed, participants in a Roditi-led rehearsal are likely to learn a thing or ...
Continue ReadingEmil Viklicky: Emil Viklicky 60
by Victor Verney
Emil Viklicky Emil Viklicky 60 Multisonic 2009
Imagine Barack Obama introducing, say, keyboard player Herbie Hancock for a live concert at the White House on the occasion of Hancock's 60th birthday (a milestone, incidentally, that Hancock reached on April 12, 2000). Pianist Emil Viklicky's latest CD was created under somewhat analogous circumstances. The analogy is admittedly a bit strained, and not just because Czech president Vaclav Klaus doesn't wield the sheer power ...
Continue ReadingEmil Viklicky Trio: Ballads And More
by Victor Verney
Emil Viklicky Trio Ballads And More Arta 2008
Pianist Kenny Barron, on several occasions, has said that in his view the ballad is what separates the wheat from the chaff with musicians. “As far as I'm concerned," he maintains, “if you can't play a ballad, forget about it!" Numerous jazz luminaries, as if in recognition of this fact, devoted an entire album to the form, including saxophonists Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Stanley ...
Continue ReadingGeorge Mraz & Iva Bittova: Moravian Gems
by Victor Verney
George Mraz & Iva Bittova Moravian Gems CubeMetier 2007
The United States is a large country and anything but culturally homogenous. Americans routinely make geographical distinctions among themselves, politically (red state vs. blue state), religiously (Southern Baptist vs. New England Baptist), and of course, musically. All three of America's indigenous musical art forms draw such lines: Southern rock is considered a distinct subgenre of rock'n'roll; Chicago blues is distinguished from its elder ...
Continue ReadingAuntie Occident & The Free Radicals: Brothers, Let Us Prey
by Victor Verney
Music has galvanized activists during some of modern history's most revolutionary moments, from gospel chants doubling as hidden messages for runaway slaves to Joan Baez's rendition of “We Shall Overcome" during the March on Washington. Today, these are the style of torch songs performed by Auntie Occident & the Free Radicals, a jazz vocal quintet out of Berkeley, California.Employing sophisticated jazz arrangements and lush five-part harmonies on a broad range of material from across the musical spectrum, they ...
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