Jazz Articles

like 437

Vinny Golia: The San Diego Session; Mythology; Duets & Großes Messer

by Wilbur MacKenzie
February 28, 2010

Vinny Golia/Bertram TuretzkyThe San Diego SessionKadima Collective2009 Vinny Golia/Peter KowaldMythologyKadima Collective2009 Brad Dutz/Vinny GoliaDuetsself-published2009 Golia/Smith/WalterGroßes MesserugEXPLODE2009 Vinny Golia is a virtuoso at being a multi-instrumentalist. These four discs, presenting two duos with bassists, one with a drummer and ...

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Hot and Cool: 40 Years of Jazz at NEC

by Marcia Hillman
February 28, 2010

New England Conservatory (NEC) is celebrating the 40th anniversary of being America's first fully-accredited Jazz Studies Program at a music conservatory. The merriment kicked off in NEC's home of Boston with a week of events in October 2009, culminating in a performance by the Wayne Shorter Quartet accompanied by the school's Philharmonia, a merger between jazz and classical music--two forms that cohabit at NEC. The party continues this month with eight days of concerts at various New York City venues, ...

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Hadley Caliman

by Thomas Conrad
February 27, 2010

If you have followed jazz long enough, you probably know the name Hadley Caliman. He was around in the '60s and '70s, on albums by people like Gerald Wilson, Don Ellis, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson and Bobby Hutcherson. He made four records of his own for Mainstream and Catalyst, collectors' items now. Rock fans of a certain age also might remember Caliman. He played on two Santana albums 38 years ago: Caravanserai and Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles Live!.

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Time and Anthony Braxton

by Kurt Gottschalk
February 27, 2010

Time and Anthony Braxton Stuart Broomer Softcover; 146 pages ISBN: 1551281449 Mercury Press 2009

The Anthony Braxton aesthetic is a lot to comprehend--the man has written pieces to be performed by orchestras on different planets, so it's understandable if the vision is a little daunting. And it's also understandable that the two primary works on the man's music should find ways to constrain their efforts: Graham Lock, in 1988's Forces ...

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Nuscope Recordings

by Marc Medwin
February 27, 2010

"At this point, I prefer space and beauty over noise and volume," says Nuscope Recordings producer and frontman Russell Summers. It's a bold statement, considering that much of what is called free improvisation is modeled on the “fire music" of the '60s. “Don't get me wrong," Russell is quick to add, “There was a time in which that type of improvisation had a deep influence on my developing musical tastes. It's just not the aesthetic I prefer now and it's ...

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Ralph Bowen: Due Reverence

by Mark F. Turner
February 27, 2010

Thanks to an American Idol culture and any number of other circumstances, the jazz universe is filled with extremely bright, if lesser known stars, who are just as talented as their more noted constellations. Such is the case with saxophonist Ralph Bowen, a truly bad-ass player who has appeared on over 60 recordings as a sideman and leader. Due Reverence, his second release on Posi-Tone, is prime example of his continued voice as a musician and leader. ...

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Salvatore Bonafede Trio: Sicilian Opening

by Dan McClenaghan
February 27, 2010

Hailing originally from Sicily, pianist Salvatore Bonafede earned a scholarship to Boston's Berklee School of Music in 1986. A 1989 move to New York saw him playing with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Dewey Redman, Joshua Redman, Lew Tabackin and Joe Lovano. Bonafede moved back to Sicily in 1994, where he has worked with many jazz luminaries, including Joe Lovano's 12-Piece Orchestra. The résumé reveals a musician conversant in a variety of ensemble configurations, but Bonafede pares things down to a ...

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Take Five With Yvonnick Prene

by AAJ Staff
February 27, 2010

Meet Yvonnick Prene:Yvonnick is a freelance chromatic harmonica player based in New York. Since 2007 Yvonnick has obtained a Master degree in music from Sorbonne Paris IV University, recorded and performed around the world with internationally acclaimed artist such as Alexandre Tassel, Laurent de Wilde, Manu Katche, Romain Pilon, Art Hirahara, Dan Aran, Itai Kriss, Bianca Wu, Guilaume Naturel, Laurent Cugny, Aiden Carrol, Eden Ladin, Yaron Herman, Pierre Olivier Govin, Jerome Regard, Daniel Romeo, Anne Paceo, Scott Tixier... ...

like 280

Flux: Peninsulator

by Ian Patterson
February 27, 2010

Any band setting out to make a debut recording these days has a potentially inexhaustible number of influences from which to draw upon. Consequently, it is increasingly difficult to sound unlike anybody else. Flux, whose members attend Copenhagen's Rhythmic Music Conservatory, has produced a recording with echoes of progressive rock, classical chamber music and post-modern jazz influences ranging from Pat Metheny to Jaga Jazzist. To a large extent it succeeds in sounding original.

The opener, “Albino African Endangered Rhino," kicks ...

like 201

David Haney Trio: Blue Flint Girl

by Lyn Horton
February 27, 2010

Pianist David Haney pulls together a trio with two bassists--Michael Bisio and Adam Lane--on Blue Flint Girl. Not only does this unusual instrumentation peak curiosity, but it also leads to an uncommon sound. The beauty of recording for CIMP is that the music grows like a flower. The seeds are planted before the music starts and then it just goes. The water pours from the imaginations of the musicians. In the liner notes, Haney describes Blue Flint Girl as the ...