Jazz Articles

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Geri Allen: Flying Toward The Sound

by Mark F. Turner
May 2, 2010

One of modern jazz's foremost pianists, Geri Allen exhibits a musical profundity that is coupled by lyricism and soul. Whether leading a trio of esteemed peers--Charlie Haden and Paul Motian--at that landmark venue, Live at the Village Vanguard (DIW, 2000), or giving homage to the obscure jazz matriarch, pianist Mary Lou Williams, with Zodiac Suite: Revisited (Mary Music, 2006), Allen is a composer/musician constantly gravitating towards new endeavors. Such is the case with Flying Toward the Sound ...

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John Geggie / Frank Kimbrough / Jean Martin: Ottawa, Canada April 17, 2010

by John Kelman
May 2, 2010

John Geggie/Frank Kimbrough/Jean Martin Geggie Concert Series NAC Fourth Stage, Ottawa, Canada April 17, 2010

Over the past several years, amidst a variety of oddly-configured groups, Ottawa, Canada-based bassist John Geggie has brought a wealth of outstanding pianists to his annual Geggie Concert Series at the National Arts Centre's Fourth Stage. From Marilyn Crispell and Myra Melford to Craig Taborn and Bill Carrothers, Geggie has continued to pursue his “without a safety net" aesthetic, ...

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Ellen Rowe Quartet: Wishing Well

by Bruce Lindsay
May 2, 2010

Wishing Well is a beautifully crafted second album from the Ellen Rowe Quartet. Composer, arranger and pianist Rowe, a faculty member at the University of Michigan School of Music, formed the quartet in 2002, releasing her debut, Denali Pass (PKO Records), in 2005. Two albums in an eight-year history ensures that the band will never be labeled as prolific, but sometimes the best things are worth waiting for--and Wishing Well has certainly been worth the wait. The ...

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Transatlantic: Montreal, Canada, April 21, 2010

by John Kelman
May 2, 2010

TransatlanticMetropolisMontreal, CanadaApril 21, 2010 The idea of music being created over great distances, in piecemeal fashion by artists living in four separate locations around the globe, might seem inherently antithetical to the spirit of in-the-moment chemistry that defines most groups. But Transatlantic--a contemporary progressive rock super group featuring members of Spock's Beard (well, ex- member), Marillion, The Flower Kings and Dream Theater--released two strong albums in the early part of the decade, filled with ...

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Iron Kim Style: Iron Kim Style

by Nic Jones
May 2, 2010

It could be argued that the music Miles Davis was cutting about forty years ago still casts a shadow. Iron Kim Style stands in its shade, and for all of the original, offbeat stuff going on it's hard to shake the impression.

According to the slipcase, all the music was freely improvised, which might be a little misleading for anyone expecting the literal results of such a process. The music is largely kept within the limits set down by bass ...

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Tivoli Trio: Tivoli Trio

by Mark Corroto
May 2, 2010

Pianist Frank Carlberg's trio is named after the Tivoli amusement park he remembers from his youth in Helsinki, not the famous Tivoli Gardens amusement park in Copenhagen, Denmark, the second oldest amusement park in the world and a huge tourist attraction.

Carlberg's Tivoli is more of the roving carnivals or circus that might be associated with less family-friendly characters, tattooed carneys (before tattoos were cool) and alcoholic acrobats. But, then the show must go on, cotton candy pulled and ring ...

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Earl MacDonald: Re: Visions

by Edward Blanco
May 2, 2010

There are far too few big band albums being recorded these days, so it is with great appreciation that the music of professor Earl MacDonald finds its way to the studio for lovers of the genre to enjoy. Harnessing the talents of a 17-piece, world-class orchestra, MacDonald--a composer/arranger/pianist and director of Jazz Studies at the University of Connecticut--manages to produce a scintillating frame of big band orchestrations on Re: Visions. No stranger to the big band arena, MacDonald is an ...

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Curtis Clark: Taagi

by John Sharpe
May 1, 2010

Recorded live on successive nights in May, 2009 in Texas, Taagi provides a welcome bulletin on under-exposed pianist Curtis Clark. Though born in Chicago, Clark first made his mark in Los Angeles back in the 1970s under the influence of the late pianist/bandleader Horace Tapscott. Since then he has resided in Amsterdam, recording with many of the mainstays of the Dutch scene, until recently relocating to New England. An appearance with trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez on A Matter Of Blood (Furthermore, ...

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Tim Hagans: The Avatar Session: The Music of Tim Hagans

by John Kelman
May 1, 2010

He's been its musical director since 1996, but since 2005 trumpeter Tim Hagans' work with the Swedish Norbotten Big Band has run in a parallel stream to his more intimate, small ensemble work on the German Pirouet label, most recently on Alone Together (2008). As good as Worth the Wait (Fuzzy Music, 2008) was, The Avatar Sessions: The Music of Tim Hagans--focusing exclusively, as it does, on the trumpeter's music--is an even stronger follow-up.

Once again, ...

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Here's To The Ladies: Barbara Carroll, Gabriele Tranchina and Monica Mancini

by Nick Catalano
May 1, 2010

I've had a chance to listen to recent CDs that have come in from various chanteuses and the music has been truly rewarding.

Barbara Carroll is one of the true legends in jazz and her octogenarian years are being spent keeping an amazingly busy schedule. On Sunday afternoons she holds court at The Algonquin with Jay Leonhart and on week nights she has been appearing at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola with her trio and an occasional guest star. Out of the ...