Jazz Articles
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Sebastien Ammann's Color Wheel: Resilience
by Jerome Wilson
Pianist Sebastien Ammann is originally from Switzerland but has been part of the New York City jazz scene since 2008, collaborating with musicians such as Kris Davis, Tony Malaby, Ohad Talmor and George Schuller. His current main focus is on his quintet, Color Wheel, whose second album is a kaleidoscope of fresh sounds and interesting musical combinations. Ammann's compositions often have spiky surfaces carved out by saxophonist Michael Attias and trombonist Samuel Blaser which are then made palpable ...
read moreSebastien Ammann's Color Wheel: Resilience
by Mike Jurkovic
Stark, abstract inquiries are fashioned, some resolved, some left hanging, in the jarring and resolute music of Swiss-pianist Sebastien Ammann's Color Wheel. With an uncanny ability to command the moment, Ammann and his equally inspired matesMichael Attias on saxophone, bassistNoah Garabedian, trombonist Samuel Blaser and drummerNathan Ellman-Belltake the moment and throw in a ton of turbulence and false leads and still close the deal. Quite nicely too. For the nine Ammann-imagined tracks on Resilience, Color Wheel's cart-wheeling follow-up to its ...
read moreJakob Buchanan: A Language of My Own
by Jakob Baekgaard
In his novel, In Search of Lost Time, the French author Marcel Proust (1871-1922) famously wrote about a madeleine cake dipped in a cup of tea that was able to trigger a string of memories. For the Danish trumpeter, Jakob Buchanan, it was the return to his childhood home, Rosenhill, which brought back a series of memories that metamorphosed into the music on A Language of My Own. It all started in 2016 when Buchanan and his ...
read moreShawn Lovato: Cycles of Animation
by Friedrich Kunzmann
For his debut album, Cycles of Animation, New York bassist Shawn Lovato has gathered an impressive, equally forward-thinking cast of musicians, comprised of guitarist Brad Shepik, saxophone virtuoso Loren Stillman, Argentinian pianist Santiago Leibson and drum stick juggler Chris Carroll. The innovative guitarist Shepik has been going at it in various formations, experimenting with a vast array of different music for a couple of decades now, most recently performing and recording with the humble Rumbler Quartet, featuring Ben Monder on ...
read moreShawn Lovato: Cycles of Animation
by Troy Dostert
The title of bassist Shawn Lovato's debut record, Cycles of Animation, is wholly appropriate, as Lovato's compositions are filled with incessant motion. With a good deal of rhythmic dynamism and a fluid, loosely-structured sound, the album is a convincing statement from Lovato and a sign of even better things to come. Lovato has a fine group of colleagues, including guitarist Brad Shepik, altoist Loren Stillman, pianist Santiago Leibson and drummer Chris Carroll, so he has all the resources ...
read moreChris Speed: Platinum on Tap
by Geannine Reid
Saxophonist Chris Speed releases an album in a chord-less trio format entitled, Platinum on Tap on Skirl Records, a label dedicated to Brooklyn based creative music, now with over thirty-one releases. Speed is known for skirting the boundaries between: jazz, rock, electronic, classical and improvised music and the music on this project is in alignment with that visionary concept. Speed, revered for his compositions and commendable technical faculties within in small, medium-size and large ensemble, joins forces with bassist Chris ...
read moreKate Gentile: Mannequins
by Hrayr Attarian
With the stimulating Mannequins, the New York based drummer Kate Gentile has created a cohesive and engaging album. On this first release under her own name, Gentile superbly balances emotive passion and intellectual acumen. Her intricate compositions are simultaneously fully realized and vibrantly supple and pliant as to allow for independent spontaneous expressions. The band's angular and crisp refrains build and intensely expectant ambience on the haunting Trapezoidal Nirvana." Pianist Matt Mitchell plays a crisp and resonant cascade ...
read moreAnna Webber's Simple Trio with Matt Mitchell & John Hollenbeck: Binary
by John Sharpe
If there were a prize for avoiding the obvious, then Brooklyn-based Canadian saxophonist and flautist Anna Webber would be a prime contender. In an effort to take the road less travelled, Webber has used internet-sourced inspiration, including a random binary digit generator, a website that turns words into drumbeats, and even her own IP address, to develop the 11 compositions on Binary, the sophomore outing from her Simple Trio. In a line up unchanged since their eponymous ...
read moreAnna Webber's Simple Trio with Matt Mitchell & John Hollenbeck: Binary
by Dave Wayne
One of a growing number of genre-crushing young artists working at the fringes of modern jazz and so-called new music," Canadian-born saxophonist and composer Anna Webber has staked out some truly distinctive musical terrain with her all-star Simple Trio. If you're not familiar with Ms. Webber (who's worked with Dan Weiss, Jen Shyu, Ohad Talmor and classical composer John Luther Adams to name a few), you will certainly recognize her Simple Trio-mates: John Hollenbeck and Matt Mitchell. Kindred spirits in ...
read moreAnna Webber's Simple Trio with Matt Mitchell & John Hollenbeck: Binary
by Karl Ackermann
Canadian native, now a Brooklyn resident, Anna Webber, has a broad, international music education having studied at McGill University in Montreal, Manhattan School of Music and the Jazz Institute of Berlin. In the latter two cases she has received Master's degrees to accompany the substantial number of grants and awards that speak to her compositional ability. She has recorded three previous albums as a leader and with Binary, the saxophonist/flautist/composer returns with her Simple Trio" of pianist Matt Mitchell and ...
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