Jazz Articles

Raw Materials: Overneath

by Mark Corroto
February 15, 2018

Let's just say I'm not buying it. The liner notes to Raw Materials by the collective Overneath claim, that except for one piece, all the music on the recording was spontaneously improvised. Can't be, the music is too uncluttered. This quintet is a combination of longtime Northwest collaborators , Dave Leslie, Mike Curtis, and Dave Storrs, and a couple of new voices, Chris Johnedis and Hezekiah. Each musician performs with varying instruments, and all take up various percussion ...

Thomas, Storrs & Sarpolas: Time Share

by Jim Santella
March 18, 2006

Spontaneity is what gives jazz its unique voice. This jam session from three veterans (and one younger artist) results in a lovely program where melody works in confluence with harmony and rhythm, in spite of the improvisational nature of the work. With this acoustic and fresh project, the quartet shares its appreciation for shared musical beauty.

Rob Thomas' violin and Dick Sarpola's acoustic bass mesh together, delivering lyrical qualities as if from a lullaby. They share their adventures ...

Rich Halley Trio: Mountains And Plains

by John Kelman
December 18, 2005

Over the years, Oregon-based saxophonist Rich Halley has travelled in the same musical circles as intrepid woodwind multi-instrumentalist and Left Coast guru Vinny Golia. And while he's even released a couple of albums on Golia's Nine Winds label with Golia in tow as performer and/or producer, Halley's recent recorded output on Louie Records has focused exclusively on his working trio featuring bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Dave Storrs. Mountains and Plains is the trio's fourth release, documenting not only the ...

House Band: Swingd

by Dan McClenaghan
December 15, 2005

The House Band plays a slippery sound--understated, often amorphous, full of spontaneouly fluid momentums, like sounds created by a gently-gusting breeze interacting with...Interacting with what? It's hard to pin down. Interludes with the two drummers suggest the appealing chaos of a windchime, a disorder that forms itself into subtle patterns and loose structures, guided by a higher force.That force on Swingd is the House Band, an ensemble formerly known as the House Band of the Universe--a ...

Rich Halley: Mountains And Plains

by Mark Corroto
October 18, 2005

This latest release comes from saxophonist Rich Halley's working trio. The term “working trio" denotes several things in jazz. First, it literally designates Halley, bassist Clyde Reed, and drummer Dave Storrs as a band you might catch live in their native Northwest. Second, it implies that the members of this trio share a common approach and musical language. Third, it suggests this will be a quality recording.

That designation is correct on all three counts.

Just ...

Rich Halley Trio: Mountains and Plains

by Jim Santella
October 17, 2005

With their creative ideas flowing naturally, these three musicians open the windows and doors to cast relaxed impressions. The intensity tucked inside their performance ensures, however, that no part of their program becomes too relaxed. A vibrant quality pervades the session, giving life blood throughout.

Saxophonist Rich Halley communicates with a whispered tone that moans softly like the wind one moment and roars violently like falling rocks the next. The key is spontaneity. He steers his trio through ...

House Band of the Universe: Cycle Two

by Dan McClenaghan
December 17, 2004

Cycle Two is all “spontaneously composed," and you sit and listen to it and get the feeling these guys have somehow established a kind of musical conduit to the cosmos. Well, it is the House Band of the Universe. It's one of the more difficult, if not impossible, sounds to categorize. With a seeming suspension of time (oddly since there are two drummers involved) the music drifts and wanders, taking what feels like a preordained path of least resistance. The ...

House Band of the Universe: Cycle Maintenance

by Dan McClenaghan
September 25, 2004

First things first, though it's probably irrelevant, but is House Band of the Universe a great name for a music-making ensemble or what?Now for the relevance: the sounds herein--it might be a suite, though it isn't labeled as such--seem as though they contain some sort of elusive grand significance, just out of reach. Or maybe the opposite is true; maybe there's no meaning at all beyond the joy and wonder of making spontaneous sounds. Not that it matters...

Klobas/Storrs/Hundemer: An Hour of Now

by Dan McClenaghan
July 25, 2003

When a jazz fan hears “trio outing," he might think bass and drums teamed up with a lead instrument: a piano, guitar or sax. But An Hour of Now, the third outing by Mike Klobas, Dave Storrs, and Page Hundemer, continues in a drums/drums/bass format. Two drummers and a bassist? A hard sell, isn't it? Who doesn't, in perusing the jazz CD reviews, check out the disc's instrumentation for an idea of the sounds to be encountered? But ...

The Tone Sharks: Four/Five/Three

by Dan McClenaghan
July 25, 2003

The Tone Sha rks are evolving. Intention, their last outing on drummer Dave Storrs' Louie Records, was a low key, meditative affair, a quartet take on Zen-like improvisation. On Four/Five/ Three the group has taken the evolutionary leap from four to seven players and added an undercurrent of constrained raucousness to their sound. Four/Five/Three adds a second drummer, a bassist and a trombonist/vocalist to the original drums/bass/guitar/alto sax combination. Listening to the rollicking opener, "Earth(the)," you get the ...