Jazz Articles

like 266

Nicolas Meier: Journey

by Bruce Lindsay
March 3, 2010

Swiss-born, UK-based guitarist Nicolas Meier dedicates Journey to his wife Songul, for sharing “this beautiful life journey" with him. Thematically, the eight tunes can readily be viewed as representing such a journey--but it is equally successful in evoking a single day's walk through a beautiful and mysterious landscape, with Meier's band members as fellow travelers. Meier's production achieves a fine sound quality, enabling all of the instruments to show their individual voices, while his playing is uniformly ...

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Take Five With Ian Carey

by AAJ Staff
March 3, 2010

Meet Ian Carey: Ian Carey was born in upstate New York, where he was introduced to jazz by a performance by the great Slam Stewart at his elementary school. After studying classical trumpet at the University of Nevada, Ian headed to New York City, where he studied with legends like Andrew Cyrille and Reggie Workman. He also performed with Eddie Bert and Ravi Coltrane, and at venues including The Blue Note and Smalls. He led a quartet for four years ...

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Michael Janisch: Purpose Built

by J Hunter
March 3, 2010

At a glance, Purpose Built, bassist Michael Janisch's debut as a leader, looks like a big-band session. The roster on the back of the CD case is not just stocked with notables, it's a long list of notables. As such, it would make sense to imagine this group arranged on risers, pinning the studio's needles as they achieve full song. However, the key to this disc is in its title. Rather than put all his talented eggs in one basket, ...

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Orrin Evans: Faith In Action

by Mark Corroto
March 3, 2010

Orrin Evans, a Philadelphia jazz pianist with superior blues/bebop prowess, displays his strengths on Faith In Action, a tribute record to saxophonist Bobby Watson.

Back in the 1980s, fueled by the corporate marketing machines, there was a resurgence of classic, mainstream jazz. As the Marsalis family benefitted from this traditionalist resurgence, other players forged their own paths. Such was the story of Watson who, like trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, was an Art Blakey alum, but who eschewed conservatism for ...

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Komeda Project: Requiem

by Stuart Broomer
March 3, 2010

Krzysztof Komeda is a figure of immense significance in Polish jazz, in effect the musician who both gave it its original authentic voice and marked its place in the world. In the 15 years before his death in 1969, Komeda was active as bandleader and film composer, scoring films by Roman Polanski like Two Men and a Wardrobe and Rosemary's Baby. Clearly influenced by Miles Davis, Bill Evans and John Coltrane, he found a profound affinity between modal jazz and ...

like 435

Allison Miller: Boom Tic Boom

by Lyn Horton
March 3, 2010

Opening with a set of cymbal crashes amid a tight-knit kit rumble that segues into the rhythmic pulse, drummer Allison Miller begins her second album with “Cheyenne," one of four original compositions written for this group. Joining Miller in her trio are Myra Melford (piano) and Todd Sickafoose (bass). Violinist Jenny Scheinman does a sprightly guest spot for Miller's “CFS (Candy Flavored Sidewalks)." The leader's music is infectious. Its multiple chorus structure brings with it an orientation ...

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Andrea Centazzo: Guitars

by Elliott Simon
March 3, 2010

Live improvisation is ephemeral yet creative, a fleeting sonic moment in time that is lost as quickly as sound dissipates through space. Paradoxically, a recording of that same performance is eternally uninspired, each playing being identical to the one before it. For three decades, percussionist/electronicist Andrea Centazzo has been among the most successful at blurring that dialectic. Centazzo blurs lots of things though and in the process he has amassed a daunting archive of releases, many on ...

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

by John Kelman
March 2, 2010

Though he's led larger ensembles, drummer Paul Motian seems to be most comfortable--or, at the very least, most interested--in working within the particular confines and freedoms of the trio. Whether it's his quarter century old group with guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Joe Lovano, or the early saxophone/bass/drums trio of Dance (ECM, 1978) and Le Voyage (ECM, 1979), Motian has spent much of his career as a leader exploring a format less intimate than the duo, perhaps, but still small ...

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Youn Sun Nah: Seoul to Soul

by Ian Patterson
March 2, 2010

Since she moved to Paris in 1995, Korean jazz singer Youn Sun Nah has won over French and Korean audiences alike with her rather special voice; dramatic, sensuous and bluesy, it is a tantalizing cross between Bjork and Melody Gardot. Hers is a jazz soul.For years, she led the Youn Sun Nah 5Tet and has recorded a half-dozen CDs. The most recent, Voyage (ACT, 2009), sees her backed by some of Europe's finest jazz musicians, including Ulf Wakenius, ...

like 299

North Mississippi Allstars at Highline Ballroom

by David Miller
March 2, 2010

North Mississippi AllstarsHighline BallroomNew York, NYFebruary 26, 2010As expected, in the best way possible. When my friend (a North Mississippi Allstars virgin) asked what we were in for as the Allstars took the Highline Ballroom stage on a snowy Friday evening in New York, I told her some specifics: drummer Cody Dickinson also plays the washboard; bassist Chris Chew is the most demonstrative of the bunch and brings some funky mojo to each show; and ...