Jazz Articles
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Adam O'Farrill: For These Streets
by John Sharpe
With For These Streets, trumpeter and composer Adam O'Farrill presents a sharply contoured, richly imagined statement for mid-sized band--his most complete vision to date. Drawing on an eclectic range of influences, from 1930s-era music, literature and film to the rhythms of contemporary urban life, O'Farrill leads a wily crew of his peers through a program that moves with narrative cohesion. Though not a suite in the formal sense, the album unfolds like one, the pieces linked by emotional throughlines and ...
Continue ReadingAdam O'Farrill: For These Streets
by Mark Corroto
Trumpeter and composer Adam O'Farrill distills a heady mix of inspirations into For These Streets, the debut release from his new octet. Drawing on music, literature and the ambiance of the 1930s, the album reflects his immersion in the era--Henry Miller's prose, Charlie Chaplin's City Lights, and the sonic worlds of Stravinsky, Ravel, Carlos Chávez and Kurt Weill. None of this background is necessary to appreciate the music, nor is it mentioned in the packaging. But knowing it adds a ...
Continue ReadingThe Hemphill Stringtet: The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill
by Troy Dostert
One of the most multifaceted saxophonists to come out of the 1970s-80s jazz avant-garde, Julius Hemphill exuded both fervid power and delicate sensitivity, always with an underpinning of swing to help anchor him within the jazz tradition. While his iconic releases like Dogon A.D. (Mbari, 1972) and Flat-Out Jump Suite (Black Saint, 1980) are rightly considered classics, exemplifying Hemphill's rich harmonic sensibility and improvisational prowess, sometimes forgotten are the wonderful duet releases he recorded with one of his go-to colleagues, ...
Continue ReadingThe Hemphill Stringtet: The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill
by Mark Corroto
Let us borrow a famous tagline from the dairy industry: Got Hemphill? If not, it is time to take a closer listen. Julius Hemphill (1938-1995) was a towering figure in the creative music scenes of both St. Louis, where he co-founded the Black Artists' Group (BAG), and New York's vibrant loft jazz scene of the 1970s and '80s. At a time when Miles Davis was going electric and fusion bands were battling for airtime against the neo- conservative ...
Continue ReadingThe Hemphill String Stringtet: The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill
by Glenn Astarita
The Hemphill Stringtet's debut album, Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill is a vibrant tribute to the late jazz composer and saxophonist Julius Hemphill (1938--1995). This string quartet, featuring violinists Curtis Stewart and Sam Bardfeld, violist Stephanie Griffin and cellist Tomeka Reid, reimagines Hemphill's compositions with a fresh chamber music perspective. Formed in 2022, the ensemble aims to amplify Hemphill's legacy as a pivotal Black American composer while infusing his blues-inflected jazz with improvisational flair rooted in African American traditions. ...
Continue ReadingMichael Attias: Quartet Music Vol I: LuMiSong & Vol II: Kardamon Fall
by John Sharpe
Saxophonist Michaël Attias has impressed on the NYC scene for over three decades. He has recorded with Paul Motian, Anthony Braxton and Taylor Ho Bynum, while artists like Eric Revis, Anthony Coleman and Kris Davis have covered his compositions. But despite such recognition, Attias's discography undeservedly languishes in single figures. His decision to issue two volumes of quartet music, Lumisong and Kardamon Fall, available separately or together in a single package, represents the next step in his evolution ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Barker: Bakunawa
by Fran Kursztejn
William Parker turned 73 last month, yet despite sharing his newest release with the 54-year-old Andrew Barker and 46-year-old Jon Irabagon, his playing has never been as buoyant as it is here. All three New York staples have played with one another in various duos and orchestral arrangements (Barker himself is an alumni of Parker's Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra), but Bakunawa marks the first time all three have been recorded together. In common fashion for Parker projects, ...
Continue ReadingDustin Carlson: Air Ceremony
by Dustin Carlson
Dream-time, work-time, play-time, ceremony-time, time counted and time uncountable... Time like a desert with sinuous lines unbroken; like a forest with trees that mark space, territory, barlines; or Time like an exit ramp, a cloverleaf highway interchange with its traffic, speed shifts, and the roar of engines... The time it takes a fern to grow, an egg to dry, a bullet to fire, a shoreline to erode ... or a body to touch the ground after a leap; or a ...
Continue ReadingNick Dunston: Colla Voce
by John Sharpe
One thing you can expect from a Nick Dunston leadership date is the unexpected. After Atlantic Extraction (OOYH, 2019), Spider Season (OOYH, 2022) and Skultura (Fun In Church, 2023), Colla Voce is something else again. Although an in-demand bassist in adventurous contemporary circles, as evidenced by stints with trumpeter Dave Douglas, guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, as a composer Dunston ranges even more widely. Assembled from sessions in Berlin and NYC, Dunston calls on a 13-strong ...
Continue ReadingNick Dunston: Colla Voce
by Mark Corroto
Composer and bassist Nick Dunston's Colla Voce -"with the voice" -is a chamber construction which he describes as an Afro-surrealist anti-opera that operates in the concept of an individual experience, as opposed to a collective one. By that he asks, “what if the blue that I see is not that same blue that you see?" His caveat is that each listener's experience may differ. Historical examples of this phenomenon are Igor Stravinsky's 1913 premiere of “The Rite of ...
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