Articles by Wilbur MacKenzie
JG Thirlwell: Manorexia: The Mesopelagic Waters
by Wilbur MacKenzie
Since the early '80s, Jim Gordon Thirlwell has operated under a variety of permutations of the name Foetus (including Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, Foetus Interruptus and most recently, just Foetus). Thirlwell has expressed his intention to “condense the entire history of recorded music into one piece," and elements of serialism, funk, minimalism, '50s exotica and jazz often add colorful inflection to his creative foundation of post-punk experimentalism. Manorexia was initially conceived as a solo project, emphasizing a type of ...
Continue ReadingJoelle Leandre: Last Seen Headed (Live at Sons D’Hiver); Trace & Duo (Heidelberg Loppem) 2007
by Wilbur MacKenzie
Joëlle Léandre/François Houle/Raymond StridLast Seen Headed (Live at Sons D'Hiver) Ayler2010 Joëlle Léandre/Maguelone Vidal/Raymond BoniTraceRed Toucan2009 Anthony Braxton/Joëlle LéandreDuo (Heidelberg Loppem) 2007 Leo2009 Bassist Joëlle Léandre is a quintessential representative of the connection between free improvisation and European classical music. The early stages of her career ...
Continue ReadingFaruq Z. Bey
by Wilbur MacKenzie
Throughout the history of jazz, Detroit has produced world-class jazz artists, iconic individualists and ubiquitous sidemen alike. Many have moved to New York or other cities to pursue their career. A handful of great artists remained in Detroit, keeping the creative energy alive there (and consequently Detroit continues to produce incredible talent). One artist who has remained in Detroit over the decades, overcoming social and personal disaster to continue his creative pursuits, is saxophonist and composer Faruq Z. Bey.
Continue ReadingJohn King: 10 Mysteries
by Wilbur MacKenzie
The point where composition and improvisation meet is often a quite perforated boundary. For a composer looking to engage performers as both interpreters of composed music and also as improvisers, the question of notation becomes of great importance. Composers have long looked to implement systems that determine certain aspects of a performer's behavior but leave other issues up to chance. This leads to a different gray area: the often equally ambiguous boundary between improvisation and indeterminacy. This distinction usually has ...
Continue ReadingVinny Golia: The San Diego Session; Mythology; Duets & Großes Messer
by Wilbur MacKenzie
Vinny Golia/Bertram TuretzkyThe San Diego SessionKadima Collective2009 Vinny Golia/Peter KowaldMythologyKadima Collective2009 Brad Dutz/Vinny GoliaDuetsself-published2009 Golia/Smith/WalterGroßes MesserugEXPLODE2009 Vinny Golia is a virtuoso at being a multi-instrumentalist. These four discs, presenting two duos with bassists, one with a drummer and ...
Continue ReadingMiles Okazaki: Generations
by Wilbur MacKenzie
Generations, Miles Okazaki's second CD, displays the ornate structural latticework and solid foundation of a highly skilled conceptual architect. As a guitarist his tone is taut and balanced across the full range of the instrument, full of rhythmic and melodic nuance. Okazaki also shows thoughtfulness and creativity as a composer and bandleader, assembling a close-knit group of skilled colleagues and providing a conceptual and thematic framework that elicits exquisite contributions from all the players. This music resides at the crossroads ...
Continue ReadingJoe Morris: Today on Earth; Colorfield; The Necessary and the Possible; Fine Objects
by Wilbur MacKenzie
Joe MorrisToday on EarthAUM Fidelity2009 Joe MorrisColorfieldESP-Disk2009 Joe Morris/Simon H. Fell/Alex WardThe Necessary and the PossibleRecord Label #3Year Joe MorrisFine ObjectsNot Two2009 With four new releases, Joe Morris continues to expand his prodigious output with varied work, refining ...
Continue ReadingAndrew D'Angelo: Gay Disco
by Wilbur MacKenzie
In the time between the debut recording by reedman Andrew D'Angelo's trio with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Jim Black and the release of the group's follow-up, some dramatic and widely talked about circumstances have befallen the saxophonist. D'Angelo's battle with a malignant brain tumor proved to be an inspiring and transformative process, as the rumbling intensity and nervous energy of the debut has maintained its edge while giving way to a more harmonious disharmony. The most ...
Continue ReadingMikkel Ploug / Sissel Vera Pettersen / Joachim Badenhorst: Equilibrium
by Wilbur MacKenzie
Equilibrium is three-way partnership between Danish guitarist Mikkel Ploug, Belgian saxophonist and clarinetist Joachim Badenhorst and Norwegian vocalist and saxophonist Sissel Vera Pettersen. The trio's charming and ruminative mixture borrows elements of contemporary chamber music, jazz and various indigenous vocal traditions ranging from Inuit throat singing to West African griots and incorporates a variety of extended instrumental techniques and electronic processing. The trio revels in the sonorities it produces and each texture that arises exists in its ...
Continue ReadingTyshawn Sorey: Koan, The Winding Shell & Labyrinth
by Wilbur MacKenzie
Tyshawn SoreyKoan482 Music2009 Jesse ElderThe Winding ShellOff2009 Jacam ManricksLabyrinthManricks Music2009 For decades, the trend has been for drummers in jazz to move away from timekeeping and towards a multi-faceted element of the ensemble's texture. This trend is particularly present on Tyshawn Sorey's new record Koan. The ...
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