Jazz Articles

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Andrew Cyrille: Tell Us Only the Beautiful Things; Opus de Life & The Dark Tree

by Clifford Allen
April 3, 2010

Walt DickersonTell Us Only the Beautiful ThingsWhynot-Candid1975 (2009) Profound Sound TrioOpus De LifePorter2009 Horace TapscottThe Dark TreeHat Hut1991 (2009) Percussionist Andrew Cyrille was one of the few drummers who could have propelled the particularly high-energy music of the Cecil Taylor Unit during its dense zenith of ...

like 277

Paul Motian / Chris Potter / Jason Moran: Lost In A Dream

by Mark Corroto
April 3, 2010

Drummer Paul Motian makes another stellar recording with his newest trio of pianist Jason Moran and saxophonist Chris Potter. Soon to be eighty, the drummer--who doesn't venture out of Manhattan these days--displays full command over musical expression and emotion on this live recording.

It's impossible to listen to Motian's trio work at New York's Village Vanguard without reflecting on his employer in the early 1960s, Bill Evans. Motian sat at the drum chair for those grail-like dates with ...

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Evan Parker: House Full of Floors and SET

by Gordon Marshall
April 3, 2010

House Full of FloorsTzadik2009 SETPsi2009 Not to be missed in Evan Parker's colossal recorded output is the great deal of fun at play in it. House Full of Floors is a case in point. Credited to the “Cylinder Trio," the group, along with Aleks Kolkowski, who chanced upon them with the object during sessions, have fun with a ...

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Gershwin Two-fer: Bohuslan Big Band & Scottish National Jazz Orchestra

by Donald Elfman
April 3, 2010

Bohuslan Big BandGeorge Gershwin's Porgy & Bess (feat. Lew Soloff & Adam Nussbaum)Self-published2009 Scottish National Jazz OrchestraRhapsody in Blue LiveSpartacus2009 It's still no surprise that George Gershwin, one of America's first 'serious' composers to be influenced by jazz, would continue himself to influence countless jazz musicians. The pieces he composed have proven themselves to ...

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Brubeck: The Quintessence (1948-1959) ; Take Five; QSF Plays Brubeck; 1975: The Duets & Jazz at Oberlin

by Andrew Velez
April 3, 2010

Dave Brubeck/Paul DesmondThe Quintessence (1948-1959)Fremeaux & Associes.2009 Sachal Studios OrchestraTake FiveSachal Music2009 Quartet San FranciscoQSF Plays BrubeckViolinJazz2009 Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond1975: The DuetsA&M-Verve2009 Dave Brubeck QuartetJazz at Oberlin Fantasy/OJC-Concord2009 Hail, Brubeck! Most recently David ...

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Saxophone and drum duets: Cyrillic; Through The Fire; Bad Luck

by John Sharpe
April 3, 2010

Dave Rempis/Frank Rosaly Cyrillic 482 Music 2009 Famoudou Don Moye/Eliel Sherman Storey Through The Fire AECO Records 2008 Chris Icasiano/Neil Welch Bad Luck Belle Records 2009

There's something primal about the combination of saxophone and drums, harking back to the earliest sounds of ...

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Cuong Vu / Chris Speed: From The Pacific Northwest To The Atlantic Northeast And Beyond

by Robert Iannapollo
April 3, 2010

Myra Melford's Be Bread The Whole Tree Gone Firehouse 12 2010 Jakob Anderskov Agnostic Revelations ILK 2010 Lovedale Coziness Kills ILK 2009 Saxophonist/clarinetist Chris Speed and trumpeter Cuong Vu have a lot in common. Both hail from the Pacific Northwest and attended school in Boston. Over ...

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Fred Anderson: Birthday Live 2000 and 21st Century Chase

by Jeff Stockton
April 3, 2010

Fred Anderson Trio Birthday Live 2000 Asian Improv 2009 Fred Anderson 21st Century Chase Delmark 2009

Of all the players who have come through Fred Anderson's training ground in Chicago, none has been more closely identified with him than drummer Hamid Drake. But as demand for Drake's services has ...

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Free Jazz Saxophone: Daniel Carter/ Paul Flaherty and Sabir Mateen

by Jeff Stockton
April 3, 2010

Daniel Carter / Paul Flaherty / Randall Colbourne A Flash in the Sky Glass Museum 2010 Sabir Mateen Urdla XXX Rogueart 2010

Daniel Carter and Paul Flaherty are two of the most ruggedly individualistic players in the free jazz genre. They live modestly and they aren't very well known. ...

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Thomas Lehn: Backchats and Somethingtobesaid

by Clifford Allen
April 3, 2010

Speak Easy Backchats Creative Sources 2009 John Butcher Somethingtobesaid Weight of Wax 2009 Electronic instruments have been part of improvised music for over 40 years and the availability of digital tools as part of the sound palette is something that can clearly be beneficial. Electronic improvisation and sound art generally refer, at this stage, ...