Jazz Articles
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Eleonora Strino: I Got Strings
by Ian Patterson
There comes a before-and-after moment in any jazz musician's career with their first album as a leader. For Neapolitan guitarist Elenora Strino, I Got Strings marks a transition of sorts, from band member on the projects of pianist Dado Moroni and saxophonist Emanuele Cisi, to headline grabber in her own right. In fairness, Strino has led her own trios since 2016, but it usually takes the solid currency of one's own album to make the wider world sit up and ...
read moreFilippo Vignato/Hank Roberts: Ghost Dance
by Ian Patterson
Usually the watering hole comes after a gig, but there would have been enough wine to float a ship at this concert by cellist Hank Roberts and trombonist Filippo Vignato, held as it was in the Vigne di Zamò Winery in North-Eastern Italy. The interplay between the veteran American and the younger Italian on these nine originals is so finely tuned, so intuitive, as to suggest total sobriety, at least at the time of the recording. Ghost Dance is their ...
read moreFabio Giachino: At The Edges Of The Horizon
by Don Phipps
The set of invigorating and hard-driving straight-ahead jazz tunes on Italian pianist and composer Fabio Giachino's At The Edges Of The Horizon offers non-stop interplay and flowing syncopation. There's a certain funky richness to the music, and Giachino's bandmates make the most of the flow of the music, highlighting the rhythmic variations with technical virtuosity. Giachino's own piano style is lyrical and only slightly abstract. He covers the keys easily, like a deer racing through the woods, and ...
read moreAntonio Sanchez: Bad Hombre
by Dan Bilawsky
Antonio Sanchez's drum score for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) served as a game-changer in the film industry, completely upending notions of what a soundtrack can and can't be. But more importantly, it altered our collective viewpoint on what the art of solo drumming is capable of expressing. Pulling sound from nothing more than skins and cymbals, Sanchez managed to produce and reflect serious emotional content. So is it any surprise that the next phase of his evolutionary ...
read moreOregon: Lantern
by John Kelman
Despite having to replace percussionists a couple of times since its inception in 1970, Oregon's otherwise consistent lineup of reed/woodwind multi-instrumentalist Paul McCandless, guitarist/pianist/primary composer Ralph Towner and double bassist Glen Moore remained unchanged for forty-five years--surely some kind of record in the jazz world. And with current drummer/percussionist Mark Walker joining the group for 1997's Northwest Passage (Intuition), Oregon has, over the last two decades, enjoyed its longest-standing lineup. Until 2015, that is, when it was announced, ...
read moreEnrico Pieranunzi: New Spring - Live At The Village Vanguard
by Budd Kopman
Pianist Enrico Pieranunzi's latest offering, New Spring --Live At The Village Vanguard ties together, in different ways, two previous CAM Jazz releases. The most recent is the studio album Proximity featuring saxophonist Donny McCaslin (who also plays in the live album) in a bass-less quartet. The earlier album is Live At The Village Vanguard with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Marc Johnson, and is one of Motian's last recordings before his death. Thus, New Spring, recorded over two ...
read moreEnrico Pieranunzi: Proximity
by Budd Kopman
Enrico Pieranunzi is the senior statesman of mainstream jazz piano in Italy. His recording career goes back to 1975, with more than forty albums on such labels as Soul Note, Enja, Egea and currently CAM Jazz. His music is romantic, lyrical mainstream using lush arrangements and harmonies. The current group could be termed his “American" quartet, with saxophonist Donny McCaslin (on tenor and soprano saxophones), stylistically wide-ranging trumpeter Ralph Alessi (on trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn) and bassist Matt Penman bringing ...
read moreKenny Wheeler/John Taylor: On The Way To Two
by Budd Kopman
Trumpeter/flugelhornist Kenny Wheeler's death in September, 2014 led to the posthumous release on ECM of the beautiful and moving Songs For Quintet. However, since 2004, Wheeler recorded on CAM Jazz label, many times with the pianist who seems to be everywhere, John Taylor, starting with the duo-recording Where Do We Go From Here?. 2005 found Wheeler recording two albums with Taylor, a quartet record, What Now? and a second duo record 2005 Other People. It turns ...
read moreTom Hewson Trio: Treehouse
by Bruce Lindsay
Treehouse, album number two from the young British pianist Tom Hewson, finds him working in a trio (which is also known as Treehouse) alongside two more of the brightest young players on the UK jazz scene--bassist Calum Gourlay and vibes player Lewis Wright. It's a lyrical and engaging collection--mostly of Hewson's own compositions--with the relatively rare pairing of piano and vibes giving the music an added frisson of interest. Hewson's debut, Slightly Peculiar (Self Produced, 2012), was a ...
read moreFulvio Sigurta: The Oldest Living Thing
by Bruce Lindsay
The Oldest Living Thing is trumpeter and composer Sigurta's sixth album as leader or co-leader, his fourth for the Cam Jazz label. He's also recorded with pianist Francesco Turrisi and as a member of Nostalgia 77. For this album he's joined by acoustic guitarist Federico Casagrande (who shares writing duties) and Steve Swallow on electric bass. Sigurta and Casagrande form an empathic partnership and prove to be complementary in their writing styles. Both men leave plenty of space ...
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