Jazz Articles
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Hillai Govreen: Every Other Now
by Kyle Simpler
Many musicians are content to write and perform songs, while others continuously explore deeper territory. Clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer Hillai Govreen belongs firmly to the latter camp. At heart, she is a storyteller, and with Every Other Now, her debut solo release, she creates music that invites not only listening but also imagination. Govreen first drew notice with Allusions (Starr Street, 2021), a duo with pianist Nitsan Kolko, where her sensitivity and command of dialogue came to the ...
Continue ReadingChris McCarthy: Add a Zero
by Paul Rauch
Chris McCarthy is a wonderfully lyrical pianist, and an unexpected joy to hear. “Unexpected" you might ask? Allow an explanation. He is imaginative, highly skilled and has gained a reputation of excellence on the New York scene. His accompaniment and solo strides on his acclaimed duo release, Life's a Gig (Fresh Sounds, 2024), with vocalist Vanisha Gould make her deep dive into old soul magic seem grounded, adorned with subtle and spacious harmony that keeps the music buoyant and free ...
Continue ReadingMatthias Van den Brande: Fields of Color
by Artur Moral
A non-harmonic quartet raises unexpected questions Can an essentially orthodox musical effort accurately reflect the most unconventional art? Is a concept album more attractive than others, simply by being one? Can a written review meaningfully convey insights about a score inspired by the creations of painter Mark Rothko, whose canvases, in turn, were conceived to express the intense sensations that poetry and classical music, particularly Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, stirred in him? Indeed, we face a disc that provokes a multitude ...
Continue ReadingHans Luchs: The Spell is Broken
by Artur Moral
The third record by NYC-based guitarist Hans Luchs arrives six years after his praiseworthy--but largely overlooked--sophomore release, Until Next Time (Self Produced, 2018). As with that album, the Chicagoan embraces the well-known motto of “less is more," distilling his guitar expertise and writing talent into less than forty minutes across eight new original compositions. Luchs stands as the antithesis of what we might call a jazz guitar hero and rejects any instrumental prominence as a leader. His approach ...
Continue ReadingAlbert Vila: Reality Is Nuance
by Richard J Salvucci
Notwithstanding a sojourn at the Manhattan School of Music, Albert Vila is better known in European jazz circles than in the U.S.A.. A native of Barcelona, Vila does his touring in Europe but the appeal of his playing is much broader. If there ever was a jazz guitarist “deserving of wider recognition" in US circles, it is Vila. Despite his profoundly Iberian touch (listening to him is a bit like listening to the renowned classical guitarist Narciso Yepes) his current ...
Continue ReadingMike De Souza: Chrysalis
by Neil Duggan
For many musicians, the silver-lining of enforced isolation during the pandemic was the time to write and refine new compositions. The event enabled guitarist Mike De Souza to explore concepts for the six tracks that make up his second album, Chrysalis. This follows on from his debut, Slow Burn (Self-produced, 2019). Added impetus came from forming a new quintet, adding two new members to his existing trio. The music on the album is a rock/jazz hybrid that melds ...
Continue ReadingAlbert Vila: Reality Is Nuance
by La-Faithia White
Reality Is Nuance features nine tracks from jazz guitarist Albert Vila and his trio. The trio is completed by bassist Doug Weiss, who has performed with jazz legends such as singers Joe Williams and Lizz Wright, and drummer Rudy Royston, who has performed with the late great Les McCann, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and The Mingus Big Band to name just a few. Vila is from Barcelona, Spain where he began his musical studies. He has traveled around the world gaining ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis Quintet: In Concert At The Olympia, Paris 1957
by Ian Patterson
Another live Miles Davis recording. Well, once the studio outtakes have dried up, this is the only seam left to mine. Happily, with advances in sound technology, old radio broadcasts are increasingly being dusted down and treated to a little digital TLC. Since 1983, Fresh Sounds Records has been a leading light in reissues and archival releases (see Fresh Sound Records and the Legacy of Recorded Jazz), in addition to producing many hundreds of contemporary artists. This one from Jordi ...
Continue ReadingKarl-Henrik Ousbäck: Confluence
by C. Andrew Hovan
Drummers do not always get the respect they deserve and yet, in a jazz context, their contributions are an integral part in the overall success of the music. Aside from genre leaders such as Tony Williams, Elvin Jones, and Art Blakey, relatively few drummer-led sessions have entered into the upper echelon of recorded jazz history. However, those who cast a wider net will probably remember that drummers Art Taylor, Bill English, Grady Tate, Joe Chambers, and Roy Brooks ...
Continue ReadingKarl Berger, Max Johnson, Billy Mintz: Sketches
by Mike Jurkovic
An exquisitely palatable sense of dance permeates the gregarious music bassist Max Johnson brings to the fore on Sketches, the second of two heady 2022 releases. Whereas the first, Orbit of Sound (Unbroken Sounds), teams him up with the rule-elusive sax and flute of Anna Weber and drummer Michael Sarin, Sketches presents a slightly more straight ahead approach with pianist and vibraphonist Karl Berger and drummer Billy Mintz. But straight ahead is not quite fair, or descriptive enough ...
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