Jazz Articles

like 281

Orlando le Fleming: From Brooklyn With Love

by Bruce Lindsay
July 4, 2010

British-born bassist Orlando le Fleming moved to New York in 2003 and has established himself as a sideman to a host of top-flight musicians including Billy Cobham, Jimmy Cobb and David Sanchez. From Brooklyn With Love is le Fleming's debut as leader--a live album of his original compositions, recorded at Freddy's Backroom in Brooklyn in late-November 2009. The album opens with the crystal clear guitar chords of Lage Lund on “False Dilemma." Lund's playing throughout the album ...

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Contact: Dave Liebman / John Abercrombie / Marc Copland / Drew Gress / Billy Hart: Five on One

by Troy Collins
July 4, 2010

Five on One features five of the most renowned artists in modern jazz working together as a cooperative ensemble under the name Contact. Saxophonist Dave Liebman, guitarist John Abercrombie, pianist Marc Copland, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Billy Hart transcend the aesthetic limitations of many similar all-star gatherings with their complementary sensibilities, garnered over the years in various configurations.

Although this is the first time all five musicians have worked together, their paths have crossed many times before, ...

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FIMAV 2010

by Kurt Gottschalk
July 3, 2010

Festival International Musique Actuelle VictoriavilleVictoriaville, Quebec, CanadaMay 20-23, 2010

After taking a year off for financial regrouping, Quebec's Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville returned May 20- 23 for its 26th edition, presenting not just a tighter festival but one with tighter bands. The various elements known to FIMAV goers were present--the improv and proggish variations that are always there--but the highlights tended to be fully conceived performances with less then the norm by way of improvisation. ...

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Ran Blake / Christine Correa: Out of the Shadows

by Raul d'Gama Rose
July 3, 2010

The spectacular second coupling of pianist Ran Blake and vocalist Christine Correa, Out of the Shadows is one of the most extraordinary albums of 2010. Both are wonderful storytellers in their own right. Music appears to flow and gush and foam through Blake's body, breaking in waves from his hands and fingertips as they flutter and fly and splash across the keyboard of the piano. As this happens, each note and phrase and metaphor tells a story like a film ...

like 249

Franck Amsallem: Amsallem Sings

by Bruce Lindsay
July 3, 2010

Thirty years into a career which has seen Algerian-born Frank Amsallem playing piano with musicians as diverse as Joshua Redman, Gary Peacock and Danny Gatton, Amsallem Sings is his debut recording as a vocalist. It's a solo album--Amsallem accompanies himself on piano, without the support of any other players, so that the album stands or falls by his performance alone. The album oozes charm, the selection of vocal standards is given a fresh and very personal perspective and the result ...

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Wally Schnalle’s Debut at the Douglas Beach House in Half Moon Bay California

by Bill Leikam
July 3, 2010

Wally Schnalle Quartet Douglas Beach House Half Moon Bay, California June 13, 2010 Wally Schnalle and his quartet made its debut at the Douglas Beach House and once underway, everyone in the house knew that a hard hitting jazz-fusion band had arrived. In an appearance celebrating the release of his newest album Out of the Pan (Retlaw, 2010) drummer Schnalle (who also composed, arranged and produced the CD) was joined by Jeff Massanari on ...

like 258

Mindi Abair: In Hi-Fi Stereo

by Jeff Winbush
July 3, 2010

As soul music has vanished from urban radio, driven out by the predominance of rap, hip-hop and Auto Tune, it's become harder to find real soul made with real instruments, either on record or on the airwaves.

A Mindi Abair album is not the go-to place that comes to mind for a showcase of old school soul and bluesy funk. Abair has carved out a niche as a capable, if not always inspired, smooth jazz saxophonist, cut from the cloth ...

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Where the Dark and the Light Folks Meet

by Daniel Kassell
July 3, 2010

Where the Dark and the Light Folks Meet Randall Sandke Hardcover; 288 pages ISBN: 0-8108-6652-8 Scarecrow Press 2010In Where the Dark and the Light Folks Meet, musician and author Randall Sandke tackles the stubborn and controversial question of whether jazz is the product of an insulated African-American environment, shut off from the rest of society by strictures of segregation and discrimination; or whether it is more properly understood ...

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Steve Tibbetts: Natural Causes

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
July 3, 2010

First things first: this is a mellow record. A very mellow record. Not Ben Webster mellow, or Antonio Carlos Jobim mellow, or Morton Feldman mellow, but rather, a record of music depicting a kind of quietism: profoundly passive contemplation. And it's not clear that quietism is a direction all jazz fans will want to go.

Now the project is an interesting one, and there is no lack of skill or care in its execution. Guitarist Tibbetts plays his ...

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Take Five With Dave Chisholm

by AAJ Staff
July 3, 2010

Dave Chisholm is a trumpet player and composer who currently lives in Salt Lake City. He is moving to Rochester, NY in the fall of 2010 to pursue his DMA at the Eastman School of Music. He has his bachelor and masters degrees from the University of Utah. Dave's first album, Radioactive, is coming out June of 2010 and features five of his new big band compositions. It is inspired largely by comic books. Dave is also a ...