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Matana Roberts At Black Box
by Ian Patterson
Matana Roberts Black Box Belfast, N. Ireland August 28, 2024 Billed as “Matana Roberts + Guest," this Moving On Music gig turned out to be a solo performance by the Chicago-born, New York-based reeds player and sound experimentalist. No explanation was given as to why the “plus one" failed to show, but it is not as if there are no great improvising musicians in these parts. Still, nobody was complaining, as the chance to see ...
Continue ReadingGiovanni Guidi: A New Day
by Mark Corroto
There is some positive momentum surrounding Italian pianist Giovanni Guidi, especially with the trio he established with American bassist Thomas Morgan and Portuguese drummer João Lobo. Guidi's trio produced two excellent releases for ECM, City Of Broken Dreams (2013) and This Is The Day (2015). Their brand of music--let's call it the Bill Evans trio with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian, reconstructed to fit within Manfred Eicher's vision--prefers a stark sound but with its emotion displayed on their sleeves.
Continue ReadingBill Warfield, Elias Haslanger, Paul Carlon, Natalie Jacob and more
by Benjamin Boddie
Today's Music--Right Now!... Fantastic music by Bill Warfield, Elias Haslanger, Paul Carlon, Natalie Jacob, Michael Wolfe, Ben Wolfe, Zachary Bartholomew, Antonio Farao, Bria Skonberg, Monika Herzig, Cornelia Nilsson, Monika Herzig, Alexis Cole, Alvin Queen, Brian Ho, Louis Hayes, Zaccai Curtis, Markus Howell, Conrad Herwig, Ken Peplowski and more. Playlist Bill Warfield “Nusia's Poem" from Chesapeake (Planet Arts Network) 00:00 Elias Haslanger “History Book" from Elias Haslanger Meets Mike Sailors (Bandstands Presents) 06:35 Paul Carlon “Isabel The Liberator" from ...
Continue ReadingBill Banfield: Take Time To Listen
by Nicholas F. Mondello
A prolific composer, educator, author and guitarist, Bill Banfield's Take Time to Listen is a bravura in-concert solo performance, comprised of 16 pop and rock classics, and thoughtful Banfield originals. The session is a display of virtuosity, taste and improvisational ability. “This Time," the opener, is an extended rhapsody over a droning ostinato. Banfield's expositions spin and devour one in an enjoyable aural web. The first standard on the session is “Summertime." Banfield's take here is darker ...
Continue ReadingAnat Cohen, Delfeayo Marsalis, John Surman and more
by Hobart Taylor
New Music from clarinetist Anat Cohen, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, saxophonist John Surman and Argentina's Los Carlitos quartet. Playlist Naomi Moon Siegel “Sabotage" from Shattering the Glass Sanctuary (Slow and Steady) 0:00 Emmet Cohen “Time on my Hands “ from Vibe Provider (Mack Avenue) 5:06 April Aloisio and Joanie Pallatto featuring Bradley Parker-Sparrow “True" from April & Joanie Sing! (Southport) 9:26 Host Speaks 14:20 John Beasley and Frankfurt Radio Big Band “Medieval Overture" from Returning to Forever (Candid) 15:27 ...
Continue ReadingLakecia Benjamin, Bobby Naughton, and Raymond Scott
by Jerome Wilson
This show features some reimaginings, Lakecia Benjamin reworking her own music, and two contemporary groups revisiting Raymond Scott's novelty pieces. The program also contains work by Bobby Naughton, Josh Berman, and Lena Bloch, among others. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Ken Peplowski “Prisoner of Love" from Live at Mezzrow (Cellar Music) 00:54 New York Trio “How High The ...
Continue ReadingRob Parton's Ensemble 9+: Relentless
by Jack Bowers
Rob Parton, who once led the Chicago area's marvelous JazzTech big band, has since moved on to other pursuits, namely mentoring the next generation of jazz trumpeters at the stellar University of North Texas Jazz Lab in Denton. Having released eleven widely acclaimed albums with the JazzTech band, Parton has pared the lineup to nine (plus) on Relentless, enlisting the skills and talents of colleagues at UNT and drawing on the large talent pool of first-call musicians in the Dallas-Fort ...
Continue ReadingWayne Shorter: The Final Mission
by Chris May
Every good story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Depending on how one figures it, Wayne Shorter's recording history has upwards of half a dozen important chapters. They tell a tale of superheroes, of monsters and demons and, ultimately, of the sight of a new dawn. Just three of the chapters cover the story's beginning, middle and end. The first concerns Shorter's own-name Blue Note albums of the middle to late 1960s; the middle one his years with ...
Continue ReadingJohn Fedchock: Justifiably J.J.
by Dan McClenaghan
J.J. Johnson saved his instrument from possible obscurity. Rarely used as a front-line instrument pre-Johnson, the trombone might have faded away when bebop came along. Bebop--all those rapid-fire notes from trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. At that time, the trombone was considered too cumbersome to navigate the chord changes and the rhythmic fury of the new music. J.J. Johnson proved otherwise, starting with several recording dates for Prestige and Savoy Records from 1946 to 1949.
Continue ReadingKen Peplowski: Unheard Bird
by Jack Bowers
Even when the recording (in this case, two) is a classic--as, for example, Charlie Parker's memorable Bird with Strings (Mercury Records, 1950)--some songs that deserve better are necessarily left on the cutting-room floor. Some may see that as disappointing, while others--like reed specialist Ken Peplowski--embrace it as an opportunity. On Unheard Bird, Peplowski--with strings and a core quartet--presents a series of fourteen generally likable themes, most of which were destined for Parker's album but were somehow passed over, and three ...
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