Articles by Warren Allen
Fred Hersch Trio: New York, NY, July 19, 2011
by Warren Allen
Fred Hersch TrioThe Village VanguardNew York, NYJuly 19, 2011 It's reassuring to see that, within the highly fragmented and divided genre of jazz, a player like Fred Hersch flourishes and pushes the music forward as a modern form. He plays it like it doesn't need an explanation, which is to say he plays jazz at its very best. He eschews easy definitions--playing in a variety of contexts from solo piano, to a variety of trio ...
Continue ReadingJames Farm at the Jazz Standard
by Warren Allen
James FarmJazz StandardNew York, NYJune 17, 2011 Pianist Aaron Parks snapped the cover photo for the debut album of James Farm (Nonesuch, 2011) on his iPhone, in a moment when the image of a barn reflected in water struck him a certain way. The image is a lovely, spontaneous recorded instant of digital information, yet it's indistinguishable from paint and canvas. That mix of spontaneity, speed and art is a fine metaphor for the ...
Continue ReadingPeter Brotzmann: Vision Festival 16, June 8, 2011
by Warren Allen
Peter Brötzmann QuartetAbrons Art Center Main StageNew York, NYJune 8, 2011 On a hot June night in downtown NYC, the Vision Festival welcomed German tenor saxophonist Peter Brötzmann to the main stage of the Abrons Art Center. Famously nicknamed “Machine Gun" early on in his career by Don Cherry, for his unrelenting sound, and then cutting a legendary free jazz blasterpiece of the same name (FMP 1968), Brötzmann has been a fearless explorer of ...
Continue ReadingTed Daniel and Tomasz Stanko: Vision Festival 16, June 7, 2011
by Warren Allen
Ted Daniel's International Brass Membrane Society Salute to King OliverAbrons Art Center Main StageNew York, NYJune 7, 2011 Tuesday night at lower Manhattan's Abrons Art Center saw the Festival of New Trumpet team up with the hosting Vision Fest for a night of great music from musicians of all ages, who are looking to take the horn of Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown and Don Cherry in fresh directions. But rarely did past and present ...
Continue ReadingLee Konitz: New York, NY June 5, 2011
by Warren Allen
Lee Konitz / Bill Frisell / Gary Peacock / Joey BaronThe Blue NoteNew York, NYJune 5, 2011 Descriptions of alto saxophonist Lee Konitz often place a little too much weight on his role as a musician of yesteryear. Certainly, Konitz's contributions as one of the first cool players in the bands of Miles Davis and Lennie Tristano are part of jazz history, and he is one of the few self-made sounds from an era when ...
Continue ReadingBill Carrothers Trio: A Night at the Village Vanguard
by Warren Allen
Bill Carrothers Trio A Night At The Village Vanguard Pirouet Records 2011 Pianist Bill Carrothers could not have picked a better venue to cut a trio recording in. Whether it's the inimitable acoustics of the Village Vanguard, or simply the sheer number of essential records cut there over the decades shaping listeners' ears, recordings made at the Greenwich Village cathedral with the red awning somehow sound an extra bit more like jazz. That ineffable ...
Continue ReadingPaul Motian: New York, NY, May 20 2011
by Warren Allen
Paul Motian Quartet “Tribute to the MJQ"Village VanguardNew York, NYMay 20, 2011 The boundary between past and present in jazz has, over the years, become a source of overwrought debate. The rise of “Tribute" shows at New York City's big name clubs gives ammunition to those who say that jazz today looks too much to its past at the expense of its future. But good musicians make good music, regardless of how it's advertised, ...
Continue ReadingColin Vallon Trio: New York, NY, May 20, 2011
by Warren Allen
Colin Vallon TrioRubin Museum of ArtNew York, NYMay 20, 2011 New York City's Rubin Museum houses a large collection of fine art from the Himalayans, much of it with religious symbolism. In partnership with the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the museum has also become a home for a series of new jazz performances on Fridays by innovative artists both young and old. As part of this series, Swiss pianist Colin Vallon brought his ...
Continue ReadingBastian Weinhold: River Styx
by Warren Allen
Drummer Bastian Weinhold recorded River Styx in one day in Brooklyn. It's the young drummer's self-funded debut, though he has already developed a name for himself alongside players such as saxophonists Seamus Blake and Dave Liebman, and the results are exceptional, as Weinhold brings together a series of his own endlessly intriguing charts with a quintet of great young players, including bassist Linda Oh and tenor saxophonist Adam Larson. High caliber quintets of sax-guitar-keys-bass-drums seem to be ...
Continue ReadingCaym: The Book Of Angels Vol. 17
by Warren Allen
CaymThe Book of Angels Vol .17Tzadik2011 Brazilian master percussionist Cyro Baptista first encountered composer John Zorn back in the early 1980s. Baptista, who has since gone on to work with everyone from singer Paul Simon to cellist Yo Yo Ma, at the time was only recently arrived in New York from Brazil. He and Zorn evidently recognized some common artistic craziness/genius between themselves, and since then Baptista's wide array of traditional ...
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