Jazz Articles

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Stockholm Jazz Festival 2010

by James Pearse
June 17, 2010

Stockholm Jazz Festival 2010 Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden June 10-12, 2010

The central island of Skeppsholmen was, once again, the ideal location for the Stockholm Jazz Festival (SJF). Running since the early 1980s, the event has attracted some of the biggest names in not only jazz but also pop, rock, soul and hip hop, with previous guests including Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, B.B. King, Mary J. Blige, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, Steely Dan and Patti Smith. ...

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Frank Sinatra: Sinatra/Jobim: The Complete Reprise Recordings

by Ernest Barteldes
June 17, 2010

In 1967, singer Frank Sinatra and singer/guitarist Antonio Carlos Jobim recorded their much-celebrated Francis Albert Sinatra/Antonio Carlos Jobim (originally released on Warner/Reprise), a collection of Jobim compositions alongside a handful of American standards. Though not a top ten record at the time, it was well-received enough to justify a follow-up, so two years later the two reunited for another series of sessions for an album that would have been titled Sinatra/Jobim., which was eventually pulled from the shelves and was, ...

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hatOLOGY Reissue Bonanza Continues

by Mark Corroto
June 17, 2010

Begun in 1975, Hat Hut Records was to become the model for adventurous, independent, new music labels such as Okka Disk, AUM Fidelity and Clean Feed. From the start, founder Werner X. Uehlinger sought out challenging and innovative musicians and music that might have been too risky for major labels to produce. This very small Swiss label sustained musicians such as reed players Joe McPhee and Anthony Braxton and pianists Matthew Shipp, Misha Mengelberg and Horace Tapscott. In 2010, Uehlinger's ...

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Terje Rypdal: Crime Scene

by Karl Ackermann
June 17, 2010

Norwegian guitarist and ECM principal, Terje Rypdal has defied narrow and expedient labels throughout his long career. Originally a rocker, he joined Jan Garbarek's quartet (and ECM) in 1969. In the course of his career, he has composed a number of symphonies, two operas, a violin concerto and many modern works that, as often as not, elude genre definitions. Rypdal's quantity and quality of jazz and free jazz compositions may skew his profile toward jazz, but his versatility and the ...

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Speak: Speak

by John Barron
June 17, 2010

The Seattle-based quintet Speak explores a multitude of musical moods with their eponymous recording debut. An exemplary model of genre-defying music, the disc features original compositions that delve into odd-metered progressive rock grooves and spontaneous bursts of improvised sound that are at times explosive.

The opening cut “Amalgam in the Middle" makes anthemic pronouncements with an extended section for Aaron Otheim's intensity building piano solo, garnering strength from the free-flowing interplay of bassist Luke Bergman and drummer Chris Icasiano. Trumpeter ...

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Marilyn Crispell / David Rothenberg: One Dark Night I Left My Silent House

by John Kelman
June 16, 2010

There are those who decry pianist Marilyn Crispell's move towards sparer, introspective free improvisation with Nothing ever was, anyway. Music of Annette Peacock (1997)--the beginning of a now nearly 15-year association with the German ECM label. For those who prefer their spontaneity impressionistic rather than expressionistic, however, it has yielded a relatively small but impressive discography, ranging from trio dates such as the deconstructive Storyteller (2004) to unerringly beautiful solo sets like Vignettes (2008). One Dark Night I Left My ...

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Jason Moran: Ten

by William Carey
June 16, 2010

Jason MoranTenBlue Note Records2010

Ten celebrates the ten year life of the Bandwagon, pianist Jason Moran's trio with bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits. The piano trio is a mainstay in the jazz tradition, and here the Bandwagon does a characteristically great job of being firmly in that tradition while also blazing a new trail.

“Blue Blocks" starts with a descending motif, planing chords in a gravitational freefall, the hint of ...

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Eric Boeren 4tet: Song For Tracy The Turtle

by Mark Corroto
June 16, 2010

When Eric Boeren's 4tet isn't playing the music of Ornette Coleman, they are playing the music of Ornette Coleman. That is to say, with a Dutch swing.

The leader and cornetist began playing covers in the early 1990s, releasing several quartet recordings of Coleman's music with Cross Breeding (BVHaast, 1997), Joy Of A Toy (BVHaast, 2001), and Soft Nose (BVHaast, 2001).

And while this album Song For Tracey The Turtle only refers to two Coleman tracks ...

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The Music of Simon & Garfunkel Celebrated at Central Park Summerstage, June 8, 2010

by Ernest Barteldes
June 16, 2010

The Music of Simon & Garfunkel Central Park Summerstage New York, NY June 8, 2010

On a balmy spring night in Central Park, Art Garfunkel took to the stage after a brief introduction by Mayor Mike Bloomberg. He gave a brief speech where he mentioned that he never felt the songs he recorded with partner Paul Simon were the “definitive" versions of those songs, but just the “original" ones, and ...

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Satoko Fujii ma-do: Desert Ship

by John Sharpe
June 16, 2010

Desert Ship represents the second outing by Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii's ma-do quartet, following on from the acclaimed Heat Wave (Not Two, 2008). Like its predecessor, this well-recorded studio session presents an eclectic set of nine original compositions in a 57-minute program.

Already with a discography numbering over 60 entries, Fujii has provided a catalog as diverse as it is prolific, ranging from solo to big band by way of everything in between. Her near-constant musical companion, trumpeter and husband ...