Jazz Articles
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The Headhunters: The Stunt Man
by Doug Collette
With the half-century anniversaries of Herbie Hancock's work with the Headhunters having passed in roughly the last year--Head Hunters (Columbia, 1973) and Thrust (Columbia, 1974)--it is appropriate the current configuration of the group has continued regular activity. In fact, under the fitting tutelage of drummer Mike Clark and percussionist Bill Summers, the band has issued two albums of new material in this span of time. Speakers in the House (Ropeadope, 2022) is an album of dashing panache and ...
Continue ReadingLakecia Benjamin: Phoenix Reimagined (Live)
by Mike Jurkovic
The certifiable beauty of Phoenix Reimagined (Live) is that it all happens in very very real time as Lakecia Benjamin comes fiercely into her immediate own and then, in a tear of a performance that blisters the paint on the wall, surpasses herself. It is a momentous achievement. One that we rarely get to hear up close, personal and live. Benjamin cuts through the malaise of an empire falling, burning down the ministry of b.s. as she wields ...
Continue ReadingThembi Dunjana: God Bless iKapa. God Bless Mzantsi.
by Dan Bilawsky
In January of 2024, Ropeadope announced a partnership and co-directed initiative with City of Gold Arts dubbed AfricArise--a new imprint intent on promoting music from the titular continent, with a specific focus on South African artists. Showcasing musicians at once rooted in their heritage and boldly branching out into today's knowns and unknowns, the label quickly established its vision. April saw its inaugural releases, with two singular saxophonist-led albums--Steve Dyer's Enhlizweni: song stories from my heartland (AfricArise, 2024) and McCoy ...
Continue ReadingSued / Nandayapa / Bergmann / Saunders: Mad Dream
by Katchie Cartwright
Mad Dream is the fourth release by Sued Nandayapa Bergmann Saunders, a far-flung ensemble with geographic roots in North, South and Central America, plus Europe. Natalio Sued, an Argentinian saxophonist, Andrew Bergmann, a bassist from Massachusetts and Gustavo Nandayapa, a Mexican drummer, met in Holland, while studying at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Bruce Saunders, a New York, Boston and Austin-based guitarist who teaches at Berklee College of Music and University of Texas at Austin, joined up with Bergmann in Texas, where ...
Continue ReadingEmilio Reyna: Los Niños Perdidos
by Richard J Salvucci
If one were to use this recording for a blindfold test, it would be interesting to see what emerged. Pianist (composer?) has an affinity for minor harmonies and repeated figures. Somewhere, deep in the background, there are echoes of Maiden Voyage (Blue Note, 1965). Band is all good players, post-bop, for sure. So, what if the pianist turned out to be one Emilio Reyna, resident in the City of Mexico (as it is presently labeled), himself Mexican, as ...
Continue ReadingRami Atassi: Dancing Together
by Gareth Thompson
The Chicago-based guitarist Rami Atassi went on a south American journey with his wife to explore Mexico and Colombia. Amid the daily background music, he heard different styles and rhythmic foundations than those he was used to and took percussion lessons locally. All this later began seeping into his solo work. A Syrian-American, Atassi founded the Cosmic Dance Band in 2022, blending sounds of the Middle East with jazz harmony and modern sonics. This group and its combined ...
Continue ReadingJacques Schwarz-Bart: The Harlem Suite
by John Chacona
Tenor saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart has lived in Paris, Senegal, and Switzerland as well as his native island of Guadeloupe, but his 18 years in Harlem were crucial to his life and career. It was there that he found himself at an inflection point in the dynamic music scene of the late '90s, playing with such transformative visionaries as Roy Hargrove, D'Angelo and Meshell Ndegeocello. With The Harlem Suite, Schwarz-Bart nods affectionately to that time and those figures while ...
Continue ReadingThe Pacific Jazz Group: Pacific Jazz Group
by Jack Bowers
West Coast jazz from the mid-twentieth century makes a comeback on this earnest album by the Pacific Jazz Group, whose music owes its genesis to the Pacific Jazz label, which recorded many of the Coast's best and brightest stars during that historic and bounteous era. The idea was set in motion by pianist Dred Scott, one of the music's and the label's ardent fans, who assembled a group built to some extent along the lines of the legendary Gerry Mulligan/Chet ...
Continue ReadingDuncan Eagles: Narrations
by Neil Duggan
Duncan Eagles, perhaps best known as the tenor saxophonist in Partikel, is also in high demand as a sideman to high fliers including Zara McFarlane, Shabaka Hutchings, Janek Gwizdala, Gary Husband and Ola Onabule. Recorded with minimal editing and featuring seven original compositions, Narrations, is his second album as leader, following on from Citizen (Ropeadope, 2019). He explores a wide range of musical styles and states: “This is a collection of individual pieces that stand together which is how the ...
Continue ReadingAdam Larson: Listen With Your Eyes
by Dan Bilawsky
Listen with your eyes. Open your ears and look. What tenor saxophonist Adam Larson has to offer here is something truly extraordinary. With horn in hand he takes us on a journey, an unforgettable trip through his wiring that's as daring as it is direct, as complex as it is approachable, and as dynamic as can be. To see and hear is to believe.Serving as Larson's debut for Ropeadope and his fifth record to date, Listen With Your ...
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