Jazz Articles

Dawn Thomson: Happenstance

by Jack Bowers
August 1, 1999

This is the second disc I’ve reviewed by Dawn Thomson, a guitarist/vocalist from Canada who relocated to New York City about six years ago, and I could probably stop right here and repeat the other one verbatim. In other words, not much has changed. She is still, as we pointed out then, “a capable mainstream guitarist in the Wes Montgomery/Kenny Burrell tradition” who presumably aspires to be a singer as well. The problem was, and is, that Thomson’s voice “is ...

Jon Ballantyne: Known/Unknown

by AAJ Staff
June 1, 1999

Jon Ballantyne is thick. You hear great rumbles of piano, fingers darting to hit distant notes, somehow laid-back and intense at the same time. It’s an edgy sound, similar to some but copying none. It’s hard to describe, but the album title does it as well as anything.

“No Blues” is the title, but Jon’s version barely mentions the theme. His fingers walk up the keyboard, waves of sound march in patterns, and a two-finger twiddle is enhanced by slamming ...

Dawn Thomson: Happenstance

by AAJ Staff
May 1, 1999

Front cover shows Dawn Thomson, guitar at the ready, out in the country somewhere. The back cover has Dawn (guitar still at the ready) near a store in The Big City, sitting down as a stranger walks by. This album, mostly originals, marks her five-year anniversary in New York and the happenstance of her being there. If she has anxiety, you can’t hear it; this music is peaceful and so is her album.

The notes come somberly, with a soft ...