Jazz Articles

like 649

Tord Gustavsen Ensemble: Restored, Returned

by John Kelman
February 11, 2010

With three albums mining a seemingly narrow area--and proving just how broad that territory really--Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen changes gears with Restored, Returned. Abandoning the longstanding trio that, with Changing Places (ECM, 2003), The Ground (ECM, 2005), and Being There (ECM, 2007), brought him greater international acclaim, Restored's quintet remains relatively introspective in tone. Still, with singer Kristin Asbjørnsen and saxophonist Tore Brunborg--whose recent Lucid Grey (DRAVLE, 2009) received its own share of well-deserved attention--Gustavsen's palette is expanded, allowing him ...

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Tierra Negra & Muriel Anderson: New World Flamenco

by Jerry D'Souza
February 11, 2010

Flamenco music came out of Andalucía in Southern Spain to spread its vibrant and majestic rhythm across the world. Time brought in changes, as the music absorbed different styles and approaches. Flamenco Nuevo, as the name suggests, is an approach that wraps in modern sounds into an ancient genre. Two of its protagonists, Raughi Ebert and Leo Henrichs, have carved a niche for themselves, blending pop and folk music into the earthy beat of flamenco.

Ebert and Henrichs met Muriel ...

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Marketing Solutions and Reaching a Larger Audience

by Chuck Anderson
February 11, 2010

No matter what your involvement is in music, marketing needs to be a way of life. This is true more for the musician seeking to make a living in music but it generally applies to anyone with goals other than pure aesthetics. What is marketing? Marketing is the entire range of activities that involve increasing your exposure in the market that you have chosen. This exposure then needs to lead to sales. These sales might be for ...

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Fred Anderson: 21st Century Chase

by John Sharpe
February 10, 2010

There are few more thrilling sounds in jazz than the twin tenors of Fred Anderson and Kidd Jordan in aerobatic flight. Though they play together in person on at least an annual basis, including headline appearances at the Vision Festival in 2005 and 2008, this is the first time they have appeared together on disc since the classic Two Days in April (Eremite, 1999). Anderson came up with the title in homage to a storied encounter between Dexter Gordon and ...

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Skinny Vinny: The Answer to Everything

by Gordon Marshall
February 10, 2010

Andrew Eisenberg is the percussionist for the Boston, Mass. duo Skinny Vinny--and a conceptual mastermind. Equally adept with hammer, saw, trash can, pots and pans, or what have you, he can make you think, or muse, by knocking together a table, or banging a stick against a window. An early piece, a big white room with a steel door, was titled “The Answer to Everything." The answer was enclosed within the room. But the door was locked...

Skinny Vinny, from ...

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But Beautiful

by David Rickert
February 10, 2010

But Beautiful Geoff Dyer Softcover; 240 pages ISBN 9780312429478 Picador 2009 (1991)

There is nothing beautiful about the stories in Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful. Dyer has fashioned portraits of several key jazz players, all of whose stories show how pursuing the jazz muse can isolate and alienate. Many of the musicians have trouble finding kindred spirits who can understand their passion and drive, and thus spend lonely days and nights ...

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Anne Drummond: Like Water

by Dan Bilawsky
February 10, 2010

Listening to vibraphonist Stefon Harris's outstanding African Tarantella (Blue Note, 2006), flautist Anne Drummond's work can often fly under the radar. Her importance on these recordings, however, can't be overstated: she often provides the textural glue that makes the group gel, and the only reason her fine flute work might not be more obvious is because of the lack of solo space she is given. Like Water, her debut as a leader, emphasizes the gentler side of Brazilian jazz. While ...

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Subway Moon

by Jakob Baekgaard
February 10, 2010

Subway Moon Roy Nathanson Soft cover; 134 pages ISBN 978-3-00-025376-8 Buddy's Knife 2009

Poetry, like music, is about movement. Both art forms move from one note, or word, to another, trying to catch the essence of the moment. Saxophonist and composer Roy Nathanson has long worked with both words and music, sometimes uniting the two as he did on Sotto Voce (Aum Fidelity, 2006). Subway Moon, however, represents the first ...

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Circulasione Totale Orchestra: Bandwidth

by John Kelman
February 10, 2010

With a group as sonically dense as Circulasione Totale Orchestra (CTO), a single disc can be daunting enough. With Bandwidth, the 25 year-old free-blowing group delivers nearly three hours of relentless collective interplay; three continuous pieces divided into four segments each across three CDs. It's not for the faint-at-heart; even free improv fans may find it a challenge to sit through the entire set, recorded live in Molde, Moers, and Zürich, in one sitting. But there are few groups today ...

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Take Five With Zack Albetta

by AAJ Staff
February 10, 2010

Meet Zack Albetta: Since coming to Kansas City in 2003, Zack has been active throughout the Midwest as a performer, composer/arranger, educator, author, adjudicator and clinician. His performance credits to date include Angela Hagenbach, The Kansas City Symphony, The Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Stan Kessler, The 18th & Vine Big Band, Mark Lowrey, Shay Estes, and Trio ALL. Zack has several recordings to his credit with Kansas-City-based artists Shay Estes, Trio ALL, Ron Gutierrez, and Clint Ashlock's New Jazz Order ...