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Mike Reed: Flesh & Bone
by Troy Collins
Years in the making, Flesh & Bone was inspired by a racist incident Chicago-based drummer Mike Reed experienced in 2009. While on a European tour, Reed and his band, People, Places & Things, were caught in a neo-Nazi rally in the Czech Republic. Reed's ensemble--half black, half white--had been deliberately deceived into boarding a train bound for the small town of Prerov, where an anti-Gypsy protest was in the process of erupting into a full-blown skinhead riot. Fortunately, for Reed ...
read moreMike Reed's People, Places and Things: A New Kind of Dance
by Glenn Astarita
You can always count on drummer, bandleader Mike Reed to jar your neural network on a per-album basis. Indeed, he's a propulsive force; an acute progressive jazz visionary, and a luminary in Chicago's forward-moving improvisational dynamic, while also hosting and promoting jazz/improvisation festivals in the Windy City. Otherwise, his People Places & Things unit strikes again on a A New Kind of Dance, featuring guest artists, pianist Matthew Shipp and trumpeter Marquis Hill lending their respective goods on several tracks. ...
read moreMike Reed's People, Places and Things: A New Kind of Dance
by Hrayr Attarian
As a drummer, promoter and composer Mike Reed is a standard bearer for Chicago's creative music scene. His club Constellation is a hot bed for improvisation and innovation that often defy narrow genre-isms. His unique musicianship, meanwhile, is on display on his many recordings particularly ones with his groups; People, Places and Things and Loose Assembly. The intriguing A New Kind of Dance is his tenth album as a leader and the sixth with People Places and Things. ...
read moreNicole Mitchell/Tomeka Reid/Mike Reed: Artifacts
by Hrayr Attarian
Flutist Nicole Mitchell, cellist Tomeka Reid and drummer Mike Reed are three of the most prominent members of the third generation of Association for Advancement of Creative Music (AACM). Each one is a consummate musician; equally adept at composing and improvising. Each one of them has forged their boldly unique artistic path with an instantly recognizable soundTheir collaborative album Artifacts is a compelling and exquisite work that augments their innovative individual styles with a superb almost telepathic camaraderie. ...
read moreTomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: After All is Said
by Troy Collins
Tomas Fujiwara is one of the busiest drummers in New York City, with memberships in cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum's Sextet, baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton's Ideal Bread and the cooperative trio Thumbscrew, featuring acclaimed guitarist Mary Halvorson and veteran bassist Michael Formanek, among other projects. Formed in 2008, Fujiwara's flagship ensemble, The Hook Up, is one of the Downtown scene's most consistently creative and engaging acts.After All is Said is the band's third recording for 482 Music, following The ...
read moreTomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: After All Is Said
by Glenn Astarita
Drummer Tomas Fujiwara's The Hook Up features artists who are among the more prominent representatives of new directions in jazz and improvisation. Here, the leader acts as an instigator and propulsive factor via his rhythmically shaped works, comprised of rolling, tumbling and splintered movements, etched with budding thematic developments. Guitarist Mary Halvorson's distinctive phraseology comes to the forefront amid her liquefying and bent notes, eliciting otherworldly backdrops in parallel with her dynamic soloing sprees with the hornists. The ...
read moreStirrup: Sewn
by Troy Collins
The collective trio Stirrup is a salient example of the genre-defying cooperative spirit that defines Chicago's creative improvised music scene. Accustomed to collaborating with a wide variety of artists, these three musicians seamlessly incorporate an array of influences and approaches on Sewn, their debut recording as a trio.Drawing upon the folksy lyricism that underpins their ensemble work as the rhythm section of the Horse's Ha (a band that also features vocalist Janet Bean of Freakwater and Eleventh Dream ...
read moreStirrup: Sewn
by Mark Corroto
It's apparent why Ken Vandermark invited cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm to join the now defunct Vandermark 5 a decade ago. His versatility allows him to play a full spectrum of music from chamber jazz to stadium rock. One minute he's Pablo Casals, the next Jimi Hendrix. His adventures have taken him from Peter Brotzmann's Tentet to Dave Rempis' Ballister, to Chicago's Fast Citizens, and his own Valentine Trio, Seval, ADA Trio, and The Boxhead Ensemble. Stirrup is a trio ...
read moreSeval: 2
by Eyal Hareuveni
The second release of the Swedish-American quintet Seval is as surprising as its debut, I Know You (482 Music, 2011). The eight songs, all penned by American cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, are still framed within a lyrical, acoustic- chamber setting. But now the quintet sounds as a working band comprised of equal partners, benefiting from few years of mutual experiences and many gigs around Europe, not as a one-off project led by the dominant Holm. The shared experiences ...
read moreTomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up: The Air is Different
by John Sharpe
Drummer Tomas Fujiwara inhabits the fertile Brooklyn scene alongside guitarist Mary Halvorson, a frequent collaborator who is part of his band, The Hook Up; alongside cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, both are also featured on collective The Thirteenth Assembly's outstanding Station Direct (Important, 2011). So it's not surprising that similarly smart multifaceted compositions, delivered through tight but sufficiently loose arrangements that allow space for left field solos, are high on the agenda on the band's sophomore effort. With only the bass ...
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