Jazz Articles

like 583

Cosa Brava: Ragged Atlas

by John Kelman
May 3, 2010

Probably the most curious reaction guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Fred Frith's Cosa Brava, when it debuted at the 2008 International Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville, was that it was “too melodic." Detractors of that show will likely be equally nonplussed by the group's overdue debut disc, Ragged Atlas, but it'll be their loss, as Frith's first “rock band" in far too many years may possess a decidedly lyrical bent, but is no less profound for it. Cosa Brava finds the perfect nexus between ...

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Fred Frith: Mapping the Further Reaches

by Nic Jones
May 3, 2010

Multi-instrumentalist/composer Fred Frith occupies a unique niche. As a charter member of Henry Cow, a band for which improvisation was always an integral part of musical expression, he was partly responsible for some of the most radical music ever to have emerged from beneath the rock umbrella.So much so, in fact, that the discontinuities between that band's albums will always be more pronounced than their continuity. Any notion of music in a state of flux that ...

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Sarah Manning: Dandelion Clock

by John Barron
May 3, 2010

In the midst of the college-bred blandness of saxophonists posturing for position on the jazz stage with technique to spare and a full store of generic ideas, stand a few risk takers who don't seem to be the least bit concerned with tired jam session worthiness. Such an artist is alto saxophonist Sarah Manning whose third release as a leader, Dandelion Clock, is a contemplative set of compositional depth and flexible ensemble interplay. Manning, a Brooklyn resident who ...

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Dedicated to Tone: Acoustic Image's Rick Jones

by Jack Huntley
May 3, 2010

As the archetypical guitarist/inventor, the late Les Paul commented more than once about musicians being the consummate tinkerers. Whether it's electric guitar pickups or mic-ed acoustic instruments, so much of one's tone is dependent on someone else's circuitry and may explain why stringed instrument musicians in particular are so curious about customizing technology. A case in point is the founder and President of Acoustic Image amplifiers, Dr. Rick Jones. Jones has accumulated a loyal following by building amps that reflect ...

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Dave Holland Quintet at Birdland, April 20, 2010

by David Miller
May 3, 2010

Dave Holland QuintetBirdlandNew York, NYApril 20, 2010The Dave Holland Quintet (DHQ) is one of those rarest of things in jazz--a working group. These days, due to a number of factors (cough$$cough), jazz musicians are spread very thin in terms of the number of projects they participate in. They jump fluidly from project to project, sideman gig to leader, studio to club. Frequently they don't even have time to rehearse before a gig with musicians whom ...

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Sylvie Courvoisier – Mark Feldman Quartet: To Fly To Steal

by Nic Jones
May 3, 2010

Between the membership of this quartet (Mark Feldman, Sylvie Courvoisier, Thomas Morgan, and Gerry Hemingway) embodies the twenty-first century improvising musician. All four members have recorded before and in a variety of situations of wide diversity. They bring all of the experience this implies to a program that stakes out its own territory, and from start to end, has set out a potent collective manifesto.

Drummer Gerry Hemingway has worked with Anthony Braxton's quartet in the past and it's clear ...

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Take Five with Tom Lagana

by AAJ Staff
May 3, 2010

Meet Tom Lagana:Tom Lagana graduated from Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music in 1992 and began his career as a musician in the Walt Disney Jazz Band.Upon returning to Maryland, jazz legend Charlie Byrd took an interest in Lagana after hearing him play in a local coffeehouse saying, “Tom Lagana is one of the most promising jazz guitarists in the area" and invited Lagana to sit in with Byrd on several occasions. Later that same year ...

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Tim Hagans: The Avatar Sessions: The Music of Tim Hagans

by Dan Bilawsky
May 3, 2010

Over the past three-and-a-half decades, trumpeter Tim Hagans has worked with the most accomplished big bands in the world. Time spent with Stan Kenton, Thad Jones, Maria Schneider and Bob Mintzer has often placed him at the epicenter of large group creativity. These associations, along with many others, have helped him flesh out his own unique compositional style. The Avatar Session is a showcase for this writing, which encompasses everything from lush, hazy ballads and bebop tributes to funky, riff ...

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Jon Gold: Brazil Confidential

by Jerry D'Souza
May 3, 2010

Jon Gold is a fluid and lyrical pianist with a deft approach, who lets his ideas flow with facile ease. His artistry is not surprising, given that his early influences were classical composers like Ravel, as well as jazz pianists Oscar Peterson and McCoy Tyner. He was entranced enough by Tyner to learn almost all of his solos note-for-note, but it is in Brazilian music that Gold finds his muse, the first link to that genre coming when he heard ...

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Ray Charles: Genius + Soul = Jazz

by C. Michael Bailey
May 2, 2010

Ray Charles Genius + Soul = Jazz Concord Music 2010

Ray Charles spent the 1950s and 1960s transforming the atomic American musics of gospel, the blues, R&B and country into what has been tagged “soul." Should jazz have been immune to his considerable charms? No, of course not. During the early 1960s, Charles was making his transition from Atlantic Records to ABC Records. This transition was surrounded by the releases of The Genius Sings ...