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Jamie Baum Septet+: What Times Are These
by Katchie Cartwright
Reading Marge Piercy's poem “To Be of Use" (track two onWhat Times Are These), Jamie Baum could be speaking of herself, one of those “who jump into work head first without dallying in the shadows, who swim off with sure strokes," knowing that “the thing worth doing has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident." What Times Are These is a satisfying form of this sort. Confined to her New York apartment during the Covid-19 lockdown, Baum responded ...
read moreFrank Carlberg Large Ensemble: Elegy for Thelonious
by Jerome Wilson
Pianist Frank Carlberg has been exploring the music of Thelonious Monk for some time, most specifically on his large group album, Monk Dreams, Hallucinations, and Nightmares, (Sunnyside, 2017). This new album has Carlberg returning to the large ensemble format for more Monk investigations, but this time approaching the work in a more splintered and abstract fashion. He does not simply interpret familiar Monk tunes. He writes compositions and arrangements which stitch Monk riffs and ideas into new fabrics, ...
read moreFrank Carlberg Large Ensemble: Elegy for Thelonious
by Mark Corroto
There was a sardonic saying circulating a few years ago that observed, “It's Frank Sinatra's world, we just live in it." While that was a backhanded compliment, tailoring it to the subject of this large ensemble recording, we would call it a commendation. Pianist, composer, and conductor Frank Carlberg is telling us, “It's Thelonious Monk's world, and (thank god) we live in it." Carlberg has been a disciple of Monk for decades, recording his music in a piano trio format ...
read moreElan Mehler: Trouble In Mind
by John Chacona
There's a scene in Michael Cimino's 1978 film The Deer Hunter where five friends celebrate a successful hunt at the bar owned by their older companion. The mood is celebratory, but as John (George Dzundza), the bar's owner, sits down at the piano to play Chopin's G-Minor Nocturne, the room grows quiet. Three of the younger men are shipping out to Vietnam, and while they don't know what the future holds, the music hints at the cataclysm to come.
read moreYuhan Su: Liberated Gesture
by Hrayr Attarian
A remarkable feature of vibraphonist Yuhan Su's captivating fourth release as a leader, LIberated Gesture, is its cohesiveness and narrative quality. Even though only three tracks are part of a suite, common motifs and logical transitions interconnect all ten. This and the sublime balance between the emotional and the cerebral endows the work with its enchanting impressionism. Pianist Matt Mitchell sets an expectant mood on “Naked Swimmer" with his percussive and sparse chords. Mitchell, together with drummer Dan ...
read moreEthan Philion: Gnosis
by John Chacona
When it comes to making memorable entrances, Ethan Philion is on a par with Seinfeld's Kramer. The jny: Chicago bassist burst into the scene with Meditations on Mingus (Sunnyside Records, 2022), an audacious debut recording on which he arranged familiar selections and deep cuts from the towering jazz bassist Charles Mingus. On Gnosis, the forces are smaller and perhaps so is the ambition of Philion's concept. Yet from the very first notes of “The Boot," which begins with a shriek ...
read moreGregory Lewis: Organ Monk Going Home
by Jack Bowers
Imagine Thelonious Monk playing not piano but organ. Not easy to visualize, but that is the concept Gregory Lewis wishes to present on Organ Monk Going Home, the “home" in this instance exemplifying not a physical space where one goes to rest and refresh the soul but a metaphorical creation of the mind whose images are wide and dimensions unlimited. Lewis has spent much of his career reshaping Monk's unorthodox pianistic ideas for the organ, a pursuit ...
read moreJennifer Wharton's Bonegasm: Grit & Grace
by Jack Bowers
Asked to name the traits women most need to succeed in today's business world, Forbes magazine in a 2019 article underlined two of them as “grit and grace." One woman who took the advice to heart is bass trombonist Jennifer Wharton. She came late to jazz but has since made it her domain of choice, founding the trombone-centric septet Bonegasm and recording three albums under its name, the most recent of which, Grit & Grace, endorses Forbes' position by using ...
read moreJennifer Wharton's Bonegasm: Grit & Grace
by Dan Bilawsky
Blessed be the 'bone of invention and intention that is Jennifer Wharton. A mere six years ago, the noted bass trombonist had the idea to form a slide-centric septet and commission new music to bring her oft-neglected and ballasting instrument to the fore. Driven to act on that concept, Wharton thought things through, put a plan in motion and willed Bonegasm into existence. That aptly-titled band recorded its eponymous debut in 2018, released that revelation of a record in 2019, ...
read moreChristian Artmann: The Middle of Life
by Troy Dostert
As he continues to do his part in maintaining the relevance of the flute in contemporary jazz, Christian Artmann also provides plenty of food for thought in his wide-ranging, thoughtfully constructed compositions. There is a contemplative dimension to his vision, evident on Our Story (Sunnyside, 2018), which explored the interdependency of human relationships through the lens of his Buddhist faith; and it is also present on his latest release, which involves taking stock of this moment in the planet's fragile ...
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