Jazz Articles
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Lux Quartet: Tomorrowland
by Jerome Wilson
Lux Quartet is a new combination of four musicians who are all part of the more progressive branch of the jazz world, pianist Myra Melford: drummer Allison Miller, saxophonist Dayna Stephens and bassist Scott Colley. All four members contribute compositions to the band on this album which show off different facets of what the band is capable of. Melford brings in three pieces. “Intricate Drift" has the sax and piano navigate a swirling, angular melody while the bass ...
Continue ReadingFrank Ambrosetti & Strings: Sweet Caress
by Dan McClenaghan
Swiss flugelhornist/trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti teamed with pianist/arranger Alan Broadbent in 2022 for the exquisite Nora (Enja Records), a top-shelf orchestral jazz album with a core group of mainstream all-stars. Listening back to the history of the 'jazz with strings' sub-genre--the shot across the bow, Charlie Parker With Strings (Verve, 1950), followed in short order by Chet Baker with Strings (Columbia, 1953), Clifford Brown with Strings (Verve, 1955)--Nora could be considered a leap forward in terms of the richness of the ...
Continue ReadingPetros Klampanis: Tora Collective
by John Chacona
Some ideas work better on paper than on record. Take the attempts to fuse jazz and Greek popular music. There is, to be sure, a certain logic to the notion. Both traditions share an emphasis on virtuosic improvisation and a foundation in dance rhythms. Rebetika, the mournful songs of heartache, alienation and drug use brought to Greece in the population exchanges of a century ago, is, with some reason, called “the Greek blues."
Continue ReadingFranco Ambrosetti: Nora
by Dan McClenaghan
Franco Ambrosetti's album is called simply Nora. Short and sweet, four letters, two syllables. But it could easily have been called “Franco Ambrosetti with Strings," as the Swiss flugelhornist & trumpeter follows the orchestral path of alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and his groundbreaking Charlie Parker With Strings (Verve, 1950), trumpeter Chet Baker's Chet Baker with Strings (Columbia, 1953) or trumpeter Clifford Brown's Clifford Brown with String (Verve, 1955). Those early forays into orchestral jazz set the template of ...
Continue ReadingPasquale Stafano: Sparks
by Mike Jurkovic
Funny how it seems to be that we're forever catching up to jazz no matter how astute or socially notified we believe ourselves to be. Case in point is Sparks, pianist Pasquale Stafano's stylistic and creative balancing act. Released in the pre-omicron haze of September 2021, Sparks delivers more and more as one surrenders and pays closer and closer attention to its warm textures, rising dramas, and festive dances. Actively articulate, Stafano's eight striking, shape-shifting compositions reveal an ...
Continue ReadingPasquale Stafano: Sparks
by Ian Patterson
Italian pianist Pasquale Stafano is perhaps best known for the Nuevo Tango Ensemble which he co-founded in 1999 with bandoneonist Gianni Iorio, with whom he has also released a couple of fine duo albums, namely the tango-inspired Nocturno (Enja Records, 2017) and Mediterranean Tales (Enja Records, 2020). The centenary of Astor Piazzolla's birth might have seemed like an opportune moment for another tango project, but instead Stafano has launched a new trio, with double bassist Giorgio Vendola and drummer & ...
Continue ReadingJacques Schwarz-Bart: Sone Ka-la 2: Odyssey
by Dan McClenaghan
The French-Jewish-Guadeloupean saxophonist Jacques Schwarz-Bart--a background and name like that has world music written all over it--presented his Sone Ka-La (Emarcy) in 2007, after stints with D'Angelo's Voodoo touring band, Roy Hargrove's Crisol and Rh Factor, Erykah Badu, Meshell Ndegeocello, all influences that helped him craft a hybridization of Afro-Caribbean rhythms and melodies inspired by Gwoka traditions of his native island of Guadeloupe. Gwoka is a music born on the western Atlantic Island in response, in part, to the miseries ...
Continue ReadingGuy Mintus Trio: A Gershwin Playground
by Troy Dostert
"Go big or go home" might as well be Guy Mintus' mantra. The Israeli pianist has a forceful presence on his instrument, and he seemingly brings every ounce of talent and creativity he possesses to every record he releases. His debut trio album, A Home In Between (Self-Produced, 2017), was a terrific amalgam of styles, showcasing Mintus' distinctive blend of bop, classical and global folk idioms. On A Gershwin Playground, he brings his fearsome technique and chameleon-like stylistic approach to ...
Continue ReadingGianni Iorio & Pasquale Stafano: Mediterranean Tales
by Ian Patterson
When it comes to the bandoneon it's impossible not to think of Astor Piazzolla, the great virtuoso and father of nuevo tango, whose influence and legacy is still very much felt. Since the late 1990s bandoneonist Gianni Iorio and pianist Pasquale Stafano's Nuevo Tango Ensemble has found inspiration in Piazzola's jazz- inflected tango, releasing a handful of handsome recordings. Their excellent duo outing, Nocturno (Enja Records, 2017), likewise mined Piazzola's songbook, along with those of those of Carlos Gardel, Oswaldo ...
Continue ReadingMatthias Bublath: Eight Cylinder Bigband
by Edward Blanco
German pianist and Hammond B3 organist Matthias Bublath realizes a long-held passion of recording his own big-band and so, after eleven albums to date, Eight Cylinder Bigband finally comes to the fore in splashy audacious fashion, encompassing a musical spectrum which ranges from blues, gospel and soul/funk to Afro-Caribbean flavors documented on twelve swinging compositions. The music is designed around the Hammond organ, Bublath's preferred instrument, but leaves quite a lot of space to feature solos from various players.
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