Jazz Articles

like 435

Graham Dechter: Right on Time

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
November 26, 2009

Memo to all those folks who insist that “real" jazz is dead, or at least on life support: do check out the leader/producing debut of 23-year-old guitarist Graham Dechter. His Right on Time supplies irrefutable evidence that the tradition is not only alive, but flourishing, because of young artists like Dechter who are both able and eager to carry the torch.

The first thing you notice is Dechter's warm, round tone; what registers next are his great time, ...

like 170

Mark Guest: (Why We're) Happy Together

by Jack Huntley
November 26, 2009

Guitarist Mark Guest's (Why We're) Happy Together seems built upon a simple premise: deliver solid, hip playing with a tight ensemble feel and see where it leads. If that is near to Guest's motive, he fully lived up to the creed. The album covers a fair amount of harmonic territory, but always lays down a genuine swing.

Guest's striking original, “This Tune Needs a Title," opens the disc with Guest's joyful and harmonically interesting style. While dipping in and out ...

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Joelle Leandre / Maguelone Vidal / Raymond Boni: trace

by Jerry D'Souza
November 26, 2009

Improvised music is created on the spur of the moment, the players looking for the common thread from which they can go in different directions as they spin their story. The logic of continuity is integral, even if they build it in pieces that may at first seem incongruent. Bassist/vocalist Joëlle Léandre, saxophonist/vocalist Maguelone Vidal and guitarist Raymond Boni blend their instruments and imaginations, delving into the unusual and fathoming the unexpected. The end result is fascinating.

Léandre ...

like 366

Minamo: Kuroi Kawa - Black River

by Raul d'Gama Rose
November 25, 2009

Minamo, the fiercely creative duo comprising violinist Carla Kihlstedt and pianist Satoko Fujii, has done it again. This time, the duo comes together on Kuroi Kawa - Black River, a magnificent two-CD presentation: the first, a studio set of eighteen short improvised studies of sublime ingenuity; the second, a live performance recorded at the 2008 Vancouver International Festival, featuring longer improvisations first heard on their self-titled 2008 debut, but now completely recast and newly interpreted. Minamo's musical creations echoes with ...

like 247

Vladislav Delay, Eyebrow, and Iain Ballamy's Food at Union Chapel, London

by John Eyles
November 25, 2009

Vladislav Delay, Eyebrow and Food Union Chapel London, UK November 12, 2009

This triple bill was a very 21st century affair. It could have been subtitled “Humans and Machines," so prevalent was the use of electronics throughout the evening of improvised music. Vladislav Delay was at the center of the bill, and delays themselves were also central to it, defining the sound of all the music. However, this was not a battle between ...

like 329

Yitzhak Yedid: Since My Soul Loved

by Eyal Hareuveni
November 25, 2009

Israeli, Australia-based composer and pianist Yitzhak Yedid dedicates his new composition Since My Soul Loved to the intertwined concept of love and happiness. “Regardless of all other events, as soon as we find love, we will find happiness," he is quoted in the liner notes. And Yedid is indeed an optimistic musician, who dedicates his art to crystallize a new musical language that encompasses different musical languages and neighboring cultures-- modern contemporary music, religious Jewish music, from Sephardic and Ashkenazi ...

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Stefano Bollani / Jesper Bodilsen / Morten Lund: Stone In The Water

by Mark Corroto
November 25, 2009

There is a conversational thread that runs throughout the trio recording by Italian pianist Stefano Bollani and his Danish trio with bassist Jesper Bodilsen and drummer Morten Lund. Since that colloquia is produced by ECM's Manfred Eicher, the tone is hushed, but the exchange is discerning and intelligent.

Bollani's previous disc for ECM was Piano Solo (2007), and he also can be found working with Enrico Rava on a number of the trumpeter's discs, also for ECM, including ...

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Joey Berkley & Funkasaurus Rex: More 'n Four / Etched in Stone

by Woodrow Wilkins
November 25, 2009

Some jazz musicians have a knack for variety. There are those who specialize in a specific genre, but there are others who prefer to come at the listener from different directions. Saxophonist Joey Berkley is among the latter. Berkley hails from Toronto but has made his home in New York City. In NYC, he has worked a variety of venues including The Apollo Theatre, Birdland and Radio City Music Hall. He works as a sideman, but also leads ...

like 380

Steve Smith and Vital Information: Vitalive!

by John Kelman
November 25, 2009

Recorded on tour in 1988 and originally released in 1991, Vitalive! is, in the words of drummer Steve Smith, “the most 'jazz' version of Vital Information to date." It would be easy to argue with Smith, even though he's the group's leader, that VI has always been a jazz band, as evidenced by Come On In (Tone Center, 2004) and Vitalization (Hudson Music, 2007), the latter featuring Vinnie Valentin's more mainstream tone replacing longstanding fusion whiz Frank Gambale. But it's ...

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Mario Adnet and Philippe Baden Powell: Afro Samba Jazz, The Music of Baden Powell

by Edward Blanco
November 25, 2009

Afrosambajazz: The Music of Baden Powell celebrates the most influential Brazilian guitarist of all time and his collaboration with songwriter Vinicius de Moraes. Baden Powell's son Philippe, an acclaimed pianist in his own right, has joined forces with Brazilian guitarist Mario Adnet on this fine tribute to Baden--and the influence that legendary Brazilian songwriter and arranger Moacir Santos had on him. Inspired by the first Os Afro Sambas albums of 1966 and beyond, Philippe and Adnet interpret Baden's explorations of ...