Jazz Articles

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Samo Salamon Trio feat. Michel Godard & Roberto Dani: Live!

by Jakob Baekgaard
December 29, 2009

The music of Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon encompasses a wide-ranging vision that leaves room for both subdued balladry and intense rock-outs. Still, even though there's certainly eclecticism at work in the musical poetics of this musician, who takes in influences as diverse as the gritty melodies of John Scofield and the reverb-drenched innovations of Bill Frisell, Salamon has achieved his own sound, one that combines a distinctively European folk feeling with the major streams of modern jazz guitar.

In spite ...

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Marco Benevento & Friends: Live In NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency

by Chris May
December 29, 2009

Marco Benevento & Friends Live In NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency The Royal Potato Family 2009

In January 2008, coinciding with the release of his monumental gumbo of retro-modern jazz, rock, pop and funk, Invisible Baby (Hyena, 2008), pianist Marco Benevento took over New York's then brand new Greenwich Village music venue, Sullivan Hall, for a series of five Thursday night gigs. Each night featured a different roster of musicians: some were ...

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Anthony Braxton / Joelle Leandre: Duo (Heidelberg Loppem) 2007

by Glenn Astarita
December 29, 2009

Two masters of improvisation and innovation realign for a series of three duet pieces, spanning two discs, captured live at the Heidelberg Cafe in Belgium. Pulling out the proverbial stops as contrasts abound, Anthony Braxton switch-hits on reeds while bassist Joëlle Léandre delivers contrapuntal responses amid the duo's role-reversal undertakings.

It would normally equate to a challenge, specifically in these rather adventurous improv settings, but it's a continual and rather swerving plot, defined by Braxton and Léandre's serrated ...

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European Jazz Expo in Cagliari, Sardinia

by Olga Zhuravleva
December 29, 2009

European Jazz ExpoCagliari, Sardinia November 20-22, 2009

The hot summer slowdown is finished for Sardinia. Quietness and sophisticated melancholy embraced the island and made it a perfect place for jazz.

From November 20th to 22 the Sardinian capital Cagliari hosted the annual jazz festival, known for the last five years as the European Jazz Expo. The event has an impressive history with guests like Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock and B.B. ...

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Youn Sun Nah: Voyage

by Ian Patterson
December 28, 2009

Although her UK debut at London's Vortex was in May 2009, South Korean singer Youn Sun Nah has been a figure on the French jazz scene since the mid '90s when she moved there to study jazz and French chanson.Voyage, her sixth release sees her deftly accompanied by some of the top names in European jazz.

One phrase into “Dancing With You" and it's clear that here is a remarkable voice. Sun Nah possesses the sensuousness of Melody Gardot, the ...

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John Medeski: Strong as Ever with MMW

by R.J. DeLuke
December 28, 2009

The Medeski, Martin & Wood band, one that has amassed followers like a snowball rolling down a mountain of wet snow since its emergence on the scene over 18 years ago, is one of those exceptional organizations that doesn't stick to playing what might be expected by its audiences. They don't play it safe, instead choosing to explore sounds, grooves, genres as the spirit moves them. And 2009 saw the spirit moving them a great deal.

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Greg Reitan: Antibes

by Raul d'Gama Rose
December 28, 2009

Greg Reitan began the year with Some Other Time (Sunnyside, 2009), a spectacularly graceful record. He ends the year with another that equals--if not surpasses--the maturity of that album. Antibes is a work of exacting pianism and expansive grandeur. The record also dispels the notion that Reitan's music is an amalgam of his influences (Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett), for Reitan is a singular pianist with a technique becoming of a virtuoso of the highest order. His ...

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Donny McCaslin Group at The Jazz Standard, Dec. 16, NYC

by Ernest Barteldes
December 28, 2009

Donny McCaslin Group Jazz Standard New York, New York December 16, 2009

The music from Donny McCaslin's recent album Declaration was the basis of this evening's first set, which was part of the saxophonist's two-day stand at the Manhattan jazz club, where he appeared with his nine-piece ensemble (Ben Monder: guitar; Hans Glawischnig: bass; John Clarke: French horn; Marshall Gilkes: trombone; Ed Simon:piano; Alex “Sasha" Sipiagin: trumpet; Marcus Rojas: tuba; Adam Cruz: ...

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Bobby Broom: Plays for Monk

by Chris M. Slawecki
December 28, 2009

"In many ways, Monk personifies all that attracted and continues to satisfy me in my love affair with jazz music," said Bobby Broom upon releasing Plays for Monk. “The way that he, the musician, fit into the jazz landscape while at the same time standing out and apart from it; the controlled but unpredictable creative freedom he spoke with as an improviser, and the variety of feelings he could conjure up; how, as a composer, his tunes were a clear ...

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Ike Sturm: JazzMass

by Woodrow Wilkins
December 28, 2009

There are people who believe jazz, like the blues, is unholy or “devil's music." However, the spirituality of many jazz artists comes through in their writing, and bassist/composer/arranger Ike Sturm is one of them. Sturm is musical director for the jazz ministry at Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan. The institution has a tradition of weekly jazz services that memorialize such icons as Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. The church commissioned Sturm to compose a ...