Jazz Articles
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William Parker / Hamid Drake / Cooper-Moore: Heart Trio
by John Sharpe
By largely leaving behind their main instruments, three stalwarts of the New York avant jazz scene tap into something timeless and elemental on Heart Trio. Instead of his customary bass, William Parker wields an array of flutes, double reeds, and the doson ngoni, a six-stringed hunter's harp from West Africa allegedly the ancestor of the banjo. His long-time partner Chicago drummer Hamid Drake remains at his kit, which he supplements with a frame drum, while erstwhile pianist Cooper-Moore, another habitué ...
Continue ReadingDarius Jones: Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye)
by Jerome Wilson
As Darius Jones' new album shows, even the most harrowing music can serve as a form of healing, The alto saxophonist has released a trio album that draws from his attempts to deal with personal mental trauma via a daunting musical journey that begins in screams and ends with serenity. This album is the seventh volume in Jones' nine-volume Man'ish Boy series of releases. Working in a trio format with Gerald Cleaver on drums and Chris Lightcap on ...
Continue ReadingMendoza - Hoff - Revels: Echolocation
by Glenn Astarita
In the ever-evolving landscape of contemporary jazz, Echolocation emerges as a bold exploration of sonic frontiers. Crafted through the collaborative virtuosity of Ava Mendoza on guitar and Devin Hoff on bass, this project embarks on a musical journey which delves deep into the avant-garde jazz realm, blending experimental rock, electric jazz, and the limitless creativity of neo-psychedelia. The album commences with “Dyscalculia," a track which weaves the raw energy of metal with the intricate layers of free jazz, ...
Continue ReadingMendoza / Hoff / Revels: Echolocation
by Troy Dostert
Among today's leading guitarists fusing the power of rock and avant-garde jazz--a list that has to include Nels Cline, Marc Ribot, Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook--Ava Mendoza may be the one with the strongest link to the punk tradition. All the evidence one needs is on Echolocation, a project by Revels, her close collaboration with bassist Devin Hoff, on which the pair are joined by saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and drummer Ches Smith. With eight deviously crafted songs expertly navigating ...
Continue ReadingWilliam Parker: Mayan Space Station
by Mark Corroto
The immediate impact of the recording Mayan Space Station is that of a sheer out-and-out physicality presented by this music. While it is obvious the musicians—guitarist Ava Mendoza, bassist William Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver—are engaged in the nonautomatic operation of their respective musical instruments, their Herculean efforts are conspicuous. While rarely recognized, credit must be given to engineer Jim Clouse who recorded, mixed and mastered this session to center the listening experience on the band's energy. ...
Continue ReadingEri Yamamoto Trio & Choral Chameleon: Goshu Ondo Suite
by Glenn Astarita
Modern jazz combined with choral vocals has not been in vogue during the genre's varied history. Some notable recordings such as drummer Max Roach's It's Time (Impulse, 1962) and trumpeter Donald Byrd's melding of jazz with spiritual vocals on A New Perspective (Blue Note, 1964) were prolific outings of this ilk. And on Byrd's album, the piece titled “Cristo Redentor" received a fair amount of jazz radio play for decades. But New York-based pianist Eri Yamamoto's new venture, featuring a ...
Continue ReadingDavid S. Ware Quartet: Théâtre Garonne, 2008
by Mark Corroto
In 2008, when this live concert was recorded, saxophonist David S. Ware was ill, but concert goers would have no idea of this fact. He has been suffering, since 1999 from kidney failure and eventually had a kidney transplant in 2009. Ware and the latest configuration of his quartet traveled to Toulouse, France, just a few weeks after recording the studio album Shakti (AUM Fidelity, 2008) in Brooklyn. By the same token, listeners of that release had no idea of ...
Continue ReadingWhit Dickey/Tao Quartets: Peace Planet & Box of Light
by Don Phipps
Shimmering contrasts and flights of fancy await the listener of these fine sets of free playing put together by primary composer and drummer extraordinaire Whit Dickey. Available as a double album, Dickey's Tao Quartets' Peace Planet & Box of Light is really two separate albums. One, (Peace Planet ), features a quartet of Dickey, Matthew Shipp on piano, Rob Brown on alto saxophone, and William Parker on bass. The other, (Box of Light ), replaces Shipp's piano with Steve Swell's ...
Continue ReadingWilliam Parker/In Order to Survive: Live/Shapeshifter
by Don Phipps
Another stellar effort from the genius known as William Parker, Live/Shapeshifter uses the immense talents of his “In Order To Survive" group -which consists of long time collaborators Cooper-Moore on piano, Hamid Drake on drums, and Rob Brown on alto sax--to craft a statement of free-wheeling dynamism at play. One of the top composers and bass players to ever take up the art form known as jazz, Parker offers up a double album's worth of material, all of it recorded ...
Continue ReadingDaniel Carter / William Parker / Matthew Shipp: Seraphic Light [Live At Tufts University]
![Read "Seraphic Light [Live At Tufts University]" reviewed by Mark Corroto](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/05387448c9d6fbd80ce60f933835b5f2.jpg)
by Mark Corroto
Do you remember the film The Thomas Crowne Affair? The original--not the 1999 remake--starred Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, and contained the 1968 Academy Award-winning song “Windmills of Your Mind" by Dusty Springfield. I bring that up because this live performance by Daniel Carter, William Parker, and Matthew Shipp brings to mind the lyrics: “Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel / Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel / As the images ...
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