Jazz Articles

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SLW: Fifteen point nine grams

by John Eyles
November 18, 2009

Recorded live in France in July 2007, this is the second release from SLW, the follow-up to its debut, SLW (Formed, 2008), recorded live in October 2006. The quartet, with its line-up of Burkhard Beins, Lucio Capece, Rhodri Davies and Toshimaru Nakamura, merits the title “super group"; however outmoded and gauche that phrase may seem, it does describe the conglomeration of improvising talent on display here.

SLW is short for “sounds like water," and its debut lived up to that ...

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Eldar Djangirov: Virtue

by Bruce Lindsay
November 18, 2009

Virtue is Eldar's fourth album--his sixth, if his early independent releases are included--something of an achievement for a musician who was only 22 years old at the time of the album's release. The album further affirms the Kyrgyzstan-born, New York-based musician's deserved reputation for technical ability. Across the 11 tracks Eldar shows speed and virtuosity--on one or two ballads there are also welcome signs of a developing awareness of the impact of space and silence. Throughout the ...

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European Jazz Jamboree 2009

by AAJ Staff
November 18, 2009

European Jazz JamboreeBerlin, GermanySeptember 18-24, 200920 years after the Berlin Wall came down, the global appreciation of Germany's jazz is arguably finally getting its due, with no small help from the European Jazz Jamboree (EJJ). In its sophomore year, EJJ has quickly garnered attention throughout Europe, and now the States, too, is (and/or should be) taking notice. Founded and run by entrepreneur Ulli Blobel (who a few years ago also started Jazzwerkstatt, a most distinctive jazz record ...

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Svend Asmussen: Rhythm Is Our Business

by Chris Mosey
November 18, 2009

Once, as they were jamming, Duke Ellington's drummer Sam Woodyard called out to Danish violinist Svend Asmussen, “Man, you play your ass off," to which The Fiddling Viking replied, with that charmingly naïvely innocent wit so typical of his homeland, “From now on then my name is only Mussen." There is just one Svend Asmussen and today, at the age of 93, he is a Danish national treasure, but let's assume, as the above anecdote implies, that ...

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Wayne Shorter Quartet with NEC Philharmonia, Boston

by Timothy J. O'Keefe
November 18, 2009

Wayne Shorter Quartet with NEC PhilharmoniaJordan Hall, New England ConservatoryBoston, MassachusettsOctober 24, 2009 Crushing waves, pound against jagged stone. Water breaks into spotted foam, falling, rising, then pounding again. The sounds splash and spray, captivating a stunned and silent audience. The Wayne Shorter Quartet took the stage for the final performance of the New England Conservatory's 40th anniversary celebration of jazz studies. For its second set, the Quartet was accompanied by the ...

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Mark Kramer: Jazz Greetings

by Victor L. Schermer
November 18, 2009

It's easy to be jaded by the endless production of Christmas and New Year holiday recordings by jazz artists attempting to cash in on the shopping impulses of this time of year. It's also unfortunate that much of what is produced is simply spruced-up, dispensable noise.

Pianist Mark Kramer's “Jazz Greetings" is a rare exception. While Kramer does have a predilection towards popular themes, he is a fine jazz musician, and this album is a tasteful collection of ...

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Roni Ben-Hur: Fortuna

by J Hunter
November 17, 2009

The most famous lyric from Charlie Chaplin's bittersweet song “Smile" is, “Smile, though your heart is aching/Smile, even though it's breaking." Roni Ben-Hur knows that methodology, and how: Smile (Motema, 2008), Ben-Hur's benefit disc with fellow guitarist Gene Bertoncini, was originally conceived as a duet with Ben-Hur's longtime bassist Earl May, who died before recording began. Another Ben-Hur sideman, pianist Ronnie Mathews, was battling cancer during the Fortuna sessions, and succumbed to the disease shortly afterwards. In that light, it ...

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Supersilent: 9

by John Kelman
November 17, 2009

What do you do when you lose one of your founding members? Well, if you're Norwegian avante-improvising group Supersilent, you continue on, almost as if nothing has happened. Not that the loss of drummer Jarle Vespestad wasn't felt; it's just that, for Supersilent's remaining members--Arve Henriksen, Ståle Storløkken and Helge Sten (aka Deathprod)--the needs of the many far outweigh the needs of the few. The group's first performance as a trio was at Molde 2009 and, with Henriksen spending as ...

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Josh Moshier / Mike Lebrun: Joy Not Jaded

by Dan McClenaghan
November 17, 2009

The Millennials are here.

Keyboardist Josh Moshier and saxophonist Michael Lebrun, a pair of Chicago-based jazz artists born in the 1980s, delve deeply into the jazz world with Joy Not Jaded. On this fine, high-energy set, the pair and their band craft a modern-leaning sound that remains true to the post-bop tradition.

The set of all original material--five tunes from Moshier's pen, six from Lebrun's--opens with Moshier's “King's Road," inspired by night drives on Los Angeles freeways (night being the ...

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Got Bass Clarinet? Jason Stein Does

by Mark Corroto
November 17, 2009

In the short history of jazz--only about 110 years--the bass clarinet has had an even shorter existence. Students of Charles Darwin's evolutionary studies might point towards the adaption of the instrument into the new jazz of the 1960s; or perhaps the branch of evolution studies called biogeography might explain that fertile locations spawn growth in the use of certain instruments. Nonetheless, the bass clarinet has only appeared in fits-and-starts throughout the jazz story. If the progenitor was Eric Dolphy, his ...