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Dom Minasi: Me Myself and I
by Hrayr Attarian
Those familiar with guitarist Dom Minasi and his adventurous releases may be surprised by the more “straightforward" Me, Myself and I. On this solo outing Minasi is heard on two acoustic guitars contributing both the cadence as well as the melodies. The two parts were then overdubbed in the studio. The nine mellifluous originals that Minasi interprets here with sensitivity and intelligence were written between 1976 and 1995. The haunting “The Color of Her Eyes is Gray" is ...
read moreDom Minasi: Eight Hands One Mind
by Hrayr Attarian
Restlessly innovative, guitarist Dom Minasi is a stalwart of the creative music scene. A brilliant improviser and composer, Minasi deftly utilizes his inventive ideas as launching points for his equally exciting extemporizations. On the unique Eight Hands One Mind, Minasi joins three other intrepid guitarists for a fiery and poignant tribute to another trailblazer, the late guitarist Bern Nix. The others in the group are the master of prepared guitar Hans Tammen, the virtuoso Harvey Valdes and the ...
read moreDom Minasi: Remembering Cecil
by Hrayr Attarian
Innovative pianist Cecil Taylor, who passed away on April 5th 2018, was a transformative force in the world of improvisational music. His signature percussive pianism was imbued with dynamic poetry and he, together with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, is credited with starting the free jazz movement. Taylor has also been a source of inspiration for fellow New Yorker, guitarist Dom Minasi. Minasi who is equally idiosyncratic, and similarly pushes artistic boundaries, pays tribute to Taylor on the emotive and vibrant Remembering ...
read moreDom Minasi: Remembering Cecil
by Dan McClenaghan
Guitarist Dom Minasi counts the late pianist Cecil Taylor (1929-2018) as one of his idols. Taylor was among the true pioneers of free jazz, with free-flying ensemble recordings like Unit Structures (Blue Note, 1966), Conquistador (Blue Note, 1967), and scores of solo piano outings, notably including Silent Tongues (Freedom, 1974), and For Olim (Soul Note, 1986). For many free jazz fans, it was the solo sets that showcased Taylor's true genius, so it is fitting that Minasi goes solo for ...
read moreDom Minasi & Jack DeSalvo: Soldani Dieci Anni
by Mark Sullivan
Guitarist Dom Minasi is known as an experimentalist and free player, so there is much in this set of acoustic duets with fellow guitarist Jack DeSalvo that will confound expectations. Opener “The Indelible Delible" is a free improvisation with the expected outside playing and flurries of notes--but there is also some delicate textural playing. Then Minasi's “Angela" announces a complete change of mood. It's a beautiful bossa, with DeSalvo taking the lead on classical guitar, followed by Minasi's acoustic flat-top ...
read moreMatt Lavelle and John Pietaro: Harmolodic Monk
by Dan Bilawsky
Every time it looks like all the gold has been mined from Thelonious Monk's music, somebody comes along to prove otherwise. Harmolodic Monk finds multi-instrumentalist Matt Lavelle and percussionist John Pietaro applying saxophone icon(oclast) Ornette Coleman's freeing philosophical ideal(s) to Monk's oft-performed music. To some, the resultant performances may seem far more complex than the originals, complete with mind-expanding abstractions, reductions, and alterations. To others, this music may be very simple to grasp. In truth, both viewpoints ...
read morePatrick Hall: Time Remembered: The Music Of Bill Evans
by John Ephland
The unconventional inside a conventional skin. That's what we have here with trombonist Pat Hall's offering Time Remembered: The Music of Bill Evans. Playing it from the bottom up, so to speak, Hall's approach to the Evans corpus (along with two standards associated with the late pianist, Rodgers and Hart's “Spring Is Here" and Earl Zindars' “Elsa") is also unconventional due the presence of organist Greg “Organ Monk" Lewis laying down the chordal framework. Along with guitarist Martin Sewell and ...
read moreMatt Lavelle and John Pietaro: Harmolodic Monk
by Florence Wetzel
In multi-instrumentalist Matt Lavelle's insightful blog, “That Fat Eb Feels Mahogany to Me," he discusses a challenge shared by many jazz musicians: “With people doing more and more repertoire projects to get work and for sheer love of that artist, I have been thinking about ways to explore the relationships between the kings without doing a straight cop. Playing obscure tunes is one thing, but there must be a way to look at their work from a new perspective."
read moreDom Minasi Septet: The Bird, the Girl and the Donkey II
by Eyal Hareuveni
Following the successful realization of the powerful, free jazz collective headed by Dom Minasi on The Bird, The Girl And The Donkey (Re:konstruKt, 2010), the guitarist decided to expand his collective from a quintet to a septet. He kept the same attitude: intense, muscular and fiery playing from the first second till the last, but with varied dynamics and more power. The title of the second volume, The Bird, the Girl and the Donkey II--a live recording ...
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