Jazz Articles

like 380

Jakob Dinesen: Dino

by Jakob Baekgaard
November 29, 2009

While it's certainly not appropriate to judge a musician's sound by his appearance, it says something of the relaxed nature of Danish saxophonist Jakob Dinesen that he, one time at a gig, chose to perform with bare feet. It's such joyful eccentricity that sets Dinesen apart from other saxophonists on the Danish scene and makes him tower above the talented mass of Coltrane imitators.

Dinesen's approach to the horn is certainly modernistic, but his use of open form and space ...

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Andre Mehmari / Gabriele Mirabassi: Miramari

by Raul d'Gama Rose
November 29, 2009

Miramari is a musical whirlpool that bubbles with rhythmic ripples and swirls in a manner conveying a gentle disturbance that gathers in intensity at times. It is in this mysteriously liquid realm that Brazilian pianist Andre Mehmari and Italian clarinetist Gabriel Mirabassi concoct their sublime music, mixing disparate metaphors with idiomatic phrases and images. Somehow, by a supreme plan unbeknownst to any but these two alchemists, a magical moving sonic picture forms. It beckons the listener to also watch as ...

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Fred Anderson: 21st Century Chase

by Jerry D'Souza
November 29, 2009

Fred Anderson 21st Century Chase Delmark Records 2009

Saxophonist Fred Anderson turned 80 on March 22, 2009 and celebrated the occasion with a concert at The Velvet Lounge in Chicago. He called in fellow tenor player Kidd Jordan, bassist/cellist Harrison Bankhead, guitarist Jeff Parker and drummer Chad Taylor to join him. What transpired was a hot, steamy barrage of music, ignited by two senior citizens of improvised music, which has been released on DVD ...

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Ahleuchatistas: Of The Body Prone

by Troy Collins
November 29, 2009

Of The Body Prone is the fifth album from the six year-old Asheville, North Carolina-based power trio Ahleuchatistas. Guitarist Shane Perlowin, bassist Derek Poteat, and new drummer Ryan Oslance fuel progressive rock structures, free improvisation and avant-garde experimentation with a brash punk rock attitude on their most expansive record to date.

Invoking the lysergic Spaghetti Western drama of Ennio Morricone, the meticulous formalism of King Crimson, the spiky angularity of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, and the aural violence ...

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Take Five With John Armato

by AAJ Staff
November 29, 2009

Meet John Armato:For 25 years John Armato has played jazz and commercial music in Kansas City, New York City, and now, Northern California.From concerts and shows to night clubs and private parties, from recording sessions and Russian tours to polka festivals and police circuses, from river boats and churches to--of course--weddings and bar mitzvahs, he's been there and played that.Known for his taste and sensitivity on ballads as well as his strong sense of ...

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Monsters of Folk: Monsters of Folk

by Doug Collette
November 29, 2009

Monsters of Folk are a modern super group of sorts, its principles all highly-visible figures of alternative rock. Jim James (nee Yim Yames) is the titular leader of Southern eclectics My Morning Jacket. M Ward is the contemporary archetype of singer/songwriter, who in addition to performing appropriately solo, also does regular tours as part of a duo dubbed She and Him (with actress Zooey Deschanel). The peripatetic Conor Oberst now leads his own Mystic Valley Band, when not collaborating elsewhere. ...

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Moraine: Manifest DeNsity

by John Kelman
November 29, 2009

The place where chamber music meets the intensity and attitude of rock music has been explored, in recent years, by groups including Canada's Bell Orchestre and US-based Clogs. Add to that list Moraine, a Seattle-based quintet that, with its unorthodox line-up of violin, cello, electric guitar, bass, and drums, has plenty of attitude--and energy. This ain't your father's Ekseption, turning classical repertoire into high octane, progressive rock; this is original music touching on wealth of markers including, with guitarist Dennis ...

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Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble: In C Remixed

by John Kelman
November 29, 2009

It's not only one of minimalism's early classics, but Terry Riley's seminal “In C," composed in 1964, could also be described as an early foundation for the modern concept of remix. 53 musical fragments--as brief as three notes and as long as 18--are performed by an ensemble of no fixed size; the only instructions being to begin with the first and end with the last fragment. How many times each one is repeated by each player, where they place the ...

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John Mayer: Battle Studies

by David Miller
November 29, 2009

John Mayer Battle Studies Columbia Records 2009 Twenty-somethings all over are humming along and nodding their heads. It's almost impossible not to. Guitarist John Mayer's Battle Studies has come out and they've found someone who understands their generation's thought process. This new generation thinks differently than those past. With globalization has come a greater range of options, as well as a greater sense of freedom to pursue ...

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NYNDK / Steffen Schleiermacher: Two-Way Jazz-Classical Traffic

by Chris May
November 28, 2009

The interface between jazz and classical music is long, diverse, sometimes overblown and sometimes rewarding. Here are three albums in the rewarding category. The fall 2009 release of NYNDK's The Hunting Of The Snark, putting into a jazz context compositions by Charles Ives, Arne Nordham, Edvard Grieg, George Perle, Carl Neilsen and Per Norgard, is complemented by two less recent discs trafficking in the reverse direction: pianist Steffen Schleiermacher's Czech Avant-Garde Piano Music 1918-1938 and John Cage: Complete Piano Music ...