Jazz Articles

like 190

Wayne Brasel: If You Would Dance

by Dan Bilawsky
May 13, 2010

Guitarist Wayne Brasel's music reflects the West Coast lifestyle--or at least the stereotype that most people have of sunny California living. His clear, cleanly articulated guitar lines speak of gentle evenings by the water, and he has assembled a great cast of musicians to help shape these languorous compositions. Brasel and Peter Erskine have been acquainted since the drummer's days with Stan Kenton, and they've periodically worked together in different settings in the ensuing years. Through Erskine, Brasel was able ...

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Ryan McGuire: Metal Reasoning

by Gordon Marshall
May 13, 2010

Bassist Ryan McGuire, a master of classical composition, uses this skill as a strategist in the metal underground. His band Ehnahre is quite unlike any other in that field, baffling committed rock fans with its advanced theory and unstructured time signatures.

In another way, he throws off jazz and improvisation aficionados with his part in the trio The Epicureans. From subtle and silent, to outright savage, this band shake the concept of sound to its foundations, forcing a ...

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Irene Schweizer / Dewan Motihar / Barney Wilen / Manfred Schoof: Jazz Meets India

by John Kelman
May 13, 2010

Years before John McLaughlin began a deep investigation into the music of India that resonates to this day, there was Jazz Meets India. It wasn't the first time that Indian music had crept into popular western culture--The Beatles and John Coltrane, amongst others, had already seen to that--but this 1967 MPS date was an early experimental meshing of linear Eastern modality with free jazz improv. There have been plenty of failed cross-cultural experiments, but thanks to Promising Music's ongoing MPS ...

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Lissy Walker: Life Is Sweet

by Bruce Lindsay
May 13, 2010

Life Is Sweet is the debut from Berkeley, California-based vocalist Lissy Walker. In an increasingly crowded pool of female jazz singers it's important to stand out from the norm: two things about Life Is Sweet ensure that Walker can do that. Firstly, there is Walker's song selection--a tasteful and unusual mix of standards and more left-field but high quality tunes. Secondly, there's her voice--a subtle but unmistakable hint of country music gives it a distinctive and emotive quality. At times, ...

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Finland's April Jazz Festival 2010

by Anthony Shaw
May 13, 2010

April Jazz Festival Espoo/Tapiola, Finland April 28-May 2, 2010

The wind in these northern climes can hit heavy, even during the sunny days of late April. This year an east wind drove down from the Arctic Ocean and any opportunity to get into the sun needed to be taken--but it's a sign of the progression of the season that out of the shadows, the sun resolutely warmed the body and the soul. The same is typically ...

like 241

Mississippi Heat: Let's Live it Up!

by John Barron
May 13, 2010

Formed in 1991, Mississippi Heat has become one of the more popular modern blues bands out of Chicago. Led by harmonica great Pierre Lacocque, this high-energy ensemble has released nine recordings with a rotating cast of top-notch talent. On Let's Live it Up!, the group delivers a rocking set with the help of earthy vocalist Inetta Visor and guitar greats John Primer and Carl Weathersby. The bulk of the disc's material is written by Lacocque and covers all ...

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Bernt Rosengren: I'm Flying

by Chris Mosey
May 13, 2010

Once one of the young lions of the Swedish modern jazz movement, saxophonist Bernt Rosengren is now, at the age of 73, one of its elder statesmen. With I'm Flying, which he and his fellow musicians financed themselves, he has won--for the fifth time--Sweden's annual Golden Record (Gyllene Skivan) award. Rosengren, a shy, diffident man who shuns publicity, remains by and large unknown outside the Nordic Area; with his tiny record company and its Swedish distributor, Plugged Music, yet to ...

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Catherine Russell: Inside This Heart Of Mine

by Marcia Hillman
May 13, 2010

Singer Catherine Russell covers a lot of jazz territory on her new CD--performing material from vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, New Orleans, Delta blues, the Swing Era and the Django-esque '30s. Accompanying her on this journey is a full battery of musicians that replicate the sounds of each of the styles covered: musical director Matt Munisteri (guitar and banjo), Mark Shane (piano), Lee Hudson (bass), Brian Grice (drums), Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet), John Allred (trombone) and Dan Block (saxophone and clarinet) complete ...

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Frank Vignola: 100 Years Of Django

by Martin Longley
May 13, 2010

In this centenary year of Django Reinhardt's birth, it's inevitable that homages will be uppermost in the minds of the guitarist's disciples. Frank Vignola has no desire to resist this temptation, given that so much of his very fiber is directly descended from the Reinhardt legacy. But aside from the unavoidable “Nuages," Vignola sidesteps down a less over-trodden path. A core trio of Vignola, rhythm guitarist Vinny Raniolo and bassman Gary Mazzaroppi, is augmented by guest accordionist ...

like 182

Ken Peplowski: Noir Blue

by Martin Longley
May 13, 2010

In his liner notes, saxophonist/clarinetist Ken Peplowski reveals that after hitting fifty, he had no desire to make albums that are going through the motions of record company requirements. Not that such bodies are lately in a position to demand anything. He now intends to make recordings when the inspiration is strong and when the circumstances align in an encouraging fashion. A major part of this disc's genesis seems to be the rapport that Peplowski shares with pianist Shelly Berg. ...