Jazz Articles
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Phillip Golub / Lesley Mok: Dream Brigade
by John Sharpe
Pianist Phillip Golub and drummer Lesley Mok explore the porous boundaries between form and freedom on their exploratory debut as Dream Brigade, blending spontaneous composition with intuitive interplay in a wide-ranging program of six spontaneous inventions and two dives into the Great American Songbook. An in-demand side person, Mok can be heard in the blue chip ensembles of pianist Myra Melford and reedist Anna Webber, as well as leading the group The Living Collection. Golub's resume includes principals ...
Continue ReadingGiacomo Merega: Opus Dichotomous
by Mark Corroto
The title adopted by Giacomo Merega and Joe Morris' duo release Opus Dichotomous might be a false flag. This recording is anything but an exercise in contrasts. Merega's electric bass and Morris' guitar travel congruously throughout the nine tracks to deliver these improvised gems. Perhaps the dichotomy the title refers to is that of botany where a plant's dichotomous branching emanates from a common stem. Merega and Morris can be heard, along with drummer Jason Nazary, in the ...
Continue ReadingEyal Maoz & Eugene Chadbourne: The Coincidence Masters
by Glenn Astarita
Imagine a musical universe where the avant-garde meets the absurd, where experimental jazz collides with the wild and wacky. Enter Eyal Maoz and Eugene Chadbourne, two sonic explorers who have teamed up to create a truly out-of-this-world album. It is like watching a cosmic collision between a supernova and a black hole, except instead of gravitational waves, you are treated to a cacophony of sounds that may leave you scratching your head in bewildered delight. Maoz, ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Cyrille, Elliot Sharp, Richard Teitelbaum: Evocation
by Howard Mandel
Evocation is what all writing about music must be about and may be the mission of music itself. To create an impression, to summon a memory or tender a suggestion of presence using materials that are not substantially those of the endeavor's subject--isn't that the fundamental purpose of any art? Not to be pretentious or obscure the thing itself: It must be said that master drummer Andrew Cyrille, guitarist-reedist Elliott Sharp and Richard Teitelbaum, the pioneering electronic music ...
Continue ReadingEli Wallace: Pieces & Interludes
by Karl Ackermann
At his most experimental, pianist & composer Eli Wallace has sufficient preparations to obscure almost all the natural sounds of the piano. That has often been the case across a portfolio of half-a-dozen leader or co-leader releases, but Wallace's solo album Pieces & Interludes is a singular enigma. The California native, now Brooklyn-based, Wallace has a varied musical background which encompasses jazz, rock, and classical music. He studied under Jason Moran and Jerry Bergonzi at the New England ...
Continue ReadingMyra Melford, Zeena Parkins and Miya Masaoka: MZM
by Troy Dostert
Three world-class musicians whose long paths had yet to intersect, pianist Myra Melford, electronics wizard Zeena Parkins and kotoist Miya Masaoka finally team up for MZM. It's a potent, concentrated set of fully-improvised pieces that highlight the trio's ability to craft something wholly new while retaining each of their unique musical personalities. The album was first released by Infrequent Seams in 2017, but it's getting a reboot here. Most of the ten tracks range from three to six ...
Continue ReadingElliott Sharp: Port Bou
by Mark Sullivan
Composer/multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp chose a dramatic subject for Port Bou: the last minutes in the life of philosopher Walter Benjamin at Port-Bou (a town in Catalonia, Spain) as he was fleeing Nazi-occupied France. This is a man preparing to commit suicide, so the music is appropriately intense. I'm reminded of Laurie Anderson's performance piece about Difficult Music. Some will find this music hard to listen to, not because of the noisy avant-garde content (there's only a little), but due to ...
Continue ReadingSteve Buscemi/Elliott Sharp: Rub Out The Word
by Mark Corroto
Is it significant that Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) and William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) were born just one year apart? Maybe. Sinatra began as a teen idol, before developing into American's bon vivant and arbiter of cool, and finally a cranky old man. On the other hand, the writer Burroughs was born a cranky old man, and perpetuated that image throughout his life. We loved him for his irascibility. It tempered his truths, by giving a reader a passage into his junky ...
Continue ReadingSteve Buscemi/Elliott Sharp: Rub Out The Word
by Mark Sullivan
You don't have to follow Beat literature to have some familiarity with writer William S. Burroughs, especially in his spoken word role. Performance artist Laurie Anderson collaborated with him several times, notably on You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With (Giorno Poetry Systems, 1981) and Mister Heartbreak (Warner Bros., 1984). Bill Laswell's Material featured Burroughs reciting passages from his book The Western Lands to musical accompaniment on the album Seven Souls (Virgin Records, 1989). Actor ...
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