Jazz Articles
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Daniel Casares: From a Cabin in the Woods
by Daniel Casares
The Autonomous Region of Galicia, Spain has been slowly nurturing a strong jazz scene in recent decades. The extremely accomplished Abe Rábade (piano) and Paco Charlín (bass) crossed the Atlantic Ocean over two decades ago to study at the prestigious Berklee College Of Music in Boston. Upon their return to Galicia they established the “Seminario Permanente de Jazz" in the city of Pontevedra, a seminal institution in the popularization of jazz in the region. Through their network of relationships with ...
Continue ReadingAye! Mirjam Hassig: Coralland
by Bruce Lindsay
Coralland is the debut album from Ayé! Mirjam Hässig, a quartet led by the young Swiss vocalist and composer Mirjam Hässig. An intense, atmospheric and often haunting recording, it combines original music with original lyrics or with lyrics drawn from classic poetry. The quartet's instrumental mix is unusual: electronic effects, harp and ukulele join a more traditional bass and drums rhythm section to give the music a distinctive sound that is well-matched to Hässig's emotive vocals. Hässig wrote ...
Continue ReadingJulius Windisch Quartet: Chaos
by Vitalijus Gailius
Berlin-based pianist and composer Julius Windisch may not be a household name but he is not a newcomer either. He is a member of the psychedelic electro / jazz / improvisational duo Caesarean Moons, and in 2017 released his debut album, Drama (QFTF), recorded with his quintet. He has also been playing with other musicians on various projects, which often cross jazz boundaries. Windisch's quartet retains no members from the 2017 quintet. Moreover, tenor sax has been ...
Continue ReadingHILA PUNTUR: Plastic Polaroid
by Geno Thackara
Aren't Polaroids largely plastic already? What other kind is there? Does this title signify that the work is fixed like a photograph or malleable like, well, plastic itself? Is it a quickly captured snapshot, or a work craftily molded into shape? When approaching Hila Puntur, all of the above are somewhat true. It's best to leave the questions and be ready to go in any direction at any moment. The group's strange blend of quasi-avant-pop-jazz is nothing if not unpredictable. ...
Continue ReadingKristinn Kristinsson: Module
by Mark Sullivan
Icelandic guitarist Kristinn Kristinsson--now a Basil, Switzerland resident--is a member of several bands. He was heard most recently on Monoglot's Wrong Turns And Dead Ends (Hout Records, 2017), but this is his debut as a solo artist (he also created the album cover art). He means “solo" literally: the entire program is performed on a single electric guitar, with a minimum of electronic effects. The minimalist pattern-repetition (sometimes reminiscent of composer Philip Glass) present in some of his ...
Continue ReadingMONOGLOT: Wrong Turns And Dead Ends
by Mark Sullivan
MONOGLOT is still the Swiss/German/Icelandic jazz/rock quintet based in Basel, Switzerland that they were on their first, self-titled album MONOGLOT (Self Produced, 2014). But there have been some changes. The first is new bassist Florian Keller. More significantly, the composing is now split between guitarist Kristinn Kristinsson (who wrote everything on the first album) and saxophonists Sebastian von Keler and Fabian Willmann. I don't know if that is the reason, but the group has a more unified sound this time ...
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