Jazz Articles
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The Branford Marsalis Quartet: The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul
by Mike Jurkovic
It was back in 2012 when the last quartet-only recording Four MFs Playin' Tunes (Marsalis Music) was released. So give more room on the floor to the evil toys dancing their pants off to the pure, wild, free-styling surge of “Dance of the Evil Toys," the killer, lead-off track to the Branford Marsalis Quartet's first full release in seven years, The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul. After touring with Sting, and in support of {[Kurt Elling}} ...
Continue ReadingThe Branford Marsalis Quartet: The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul
by Doug Collette
Anyone who's seen the Branford Marsalis Quartet in concert is well aware of what high-flying improvisations the group can embark upon. But the foursome's abandoned approach hardly precludes due emphasis on structure---how better to highlight it than leave it behind?--which is also why this band makes studio albums as trenchant as The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul. Yet the irony in this duality is that strong material is the foundation for concise, purposeful musicianship, whether within ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: Music IS
by Ian Patterson
Widely touted as Bill Frisell's second solo recording, and his first since the darkly introspective Ghost Town (Nonesuch, 2000), Music IS is, in fact, the guitarist's third, with the oddly overlooked Silent Comedy seemingly having slipped by most folk. That outing, on John Zorn's Tzadik label, was unique in Frisell's discography for being freely improvised, whereas Music IS revisits and reworks classic Frisell compositions, all the way back to his first ECM recordings as leader in 1983/4. This set of ...
Continue ReadingKurt Elling: The Questions
by Dan Bilawsky
How does one grapple with existence and its juxtaposition against the present state of affairs? That's the question that hangs heaviest over The Questions. While vocalist Kurt Elling didn't come into this production with a theme in mind, he discovered a through line in the act of wrestling with difficulties and dreams in this age of marked unreason and unrest. With these ten songs he explores that topic to the fullest, coloring the music with his signature blend of authority ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: Music IS
by John Kelman
The tradition of solo jazz guitar recordings is a long one, with guitarists like Johnny Smith, Al Viola, George Van Eps, Lenny Breau and Joe Pass demonstrating just how far a mere six (in some cases, seven) strings could be taken on their own as far back as the 1950s. Subsequent guitar soloists like John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner went even further by, at times, taking advantage of the recording studio's facility to overdub layers of guitar to create even ...
Continue ReadingSomi: Petite Afrique
by Dan Bilawsky
Somi's debut on the Okeh imprint--The Lagos Music Salon (Okeh, 2014)--pulled no punches. It tackled tough topics within an African framework, bringing hard truths to bear in soulful fashion. This follow-up is equally impactful, but it shifts focus stateside, eyeing the titular Harlem neighborhood that Somi calls home now. In addressing life along 116th Street, Somi opens eyes to the cultural ideals and struggles associated with the working class immigrants that reside there while also touching on ...
Continue ReadingKurt Elling: The Beautiful Day
by Dan Bilawsky
Forget the standard old tidings of good cheer, the same old set of swinging Christmas standards, and the sugary holiday treats that lack vitality and real sustenance. Kurt Elling certainly paid little mind to them when he was putting together this gem of a program. Instead of taking the road more traveled when it comes to holiday trips, Elling takes back roads and detours. And as with most of his projects, that makes all the difference. For his ...
Continue ReadingNils Petter Molvær: Buoyancy
by Karl Ackermann
More than thirty years ago, Norwegian trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær had left his mark as an exceptional improviser with his ECM Records debut on Masquarelo's Bande à Part (1985). Those beginnings--in the company of Nordic jazz legends--led Molvær to an ongoing process of nurturing his musical sensibilities across electronic grooves, club beats, jazz, and more genre-defying styles. Molvær's new quartet offers Buoyancy, a natural progression from 2014's Switch (Okeh). Geir Sundstöl on guitars and banjo and Erland Dahlen ...
Continue ReadingThe Branford Marsalis Quartet with Special Guest Kurt Elling: Upward Spiral
by Dan Bilawsky
To one extent or another, jazz has always maintained a discriminatory dividing line between vocalists and instrumentalists. Instead of being viewed as equals--artists on par with all the rest, possessing the same good sense, skill, and stake in an artistic outcome--vocalists have often been unfairly stigmatized and interned in a separate category. But all of that has slowly been changing, due in no small part to a large and continually growing crop of vocalists who are consistently raising the bar. ...
Continue ReadingBill Frisell: When You Wish Upon a Star
by Ian Patterson
There's something undeniably powerful about the music of one's youth, whether it be the theme tune to a much loved children's TV show, the pop music of our teens or the soundtracks to the classic films that signpost the passing of the years. When You Wish Upon a Star pays tribute to well-known film and television theme tunes from the 1950s to the 1970s and represents the latest foray from Frisell, following his John Lennon tribute All We Are Saying... ...
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