Jazz Articles

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Larry Carlton With Special Guest Robben Ford: Live in Tokyo

by John Kelman
October 8, 2009

With blues/jazz guitarist Robben Ford's Soul on Ten (Concord, 2009) receiving widespread attention, it's a good time to look at Live in Tokyo, a somewhat overlooked but unmistakably smokin' 2007 release from another West Coast guitar god, Larry Carlton. Carlton invited Ford to join his band for some dates in Tokyo in the fall of 2006, and it would be hard to find two more compatible yet distinctive guitarists for a set that ranges from down-and-dirty blues to burning samba ...

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The Frame Quartet: 35mm

by Troy Collins
October 7, 2009

Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader Ken Vandermark is widely known for paying homage to artists of various disciplines, regularly including dedications in his song titles to those who have inspired him. On 35mm, the studio debut of his newest ensemble, The Frame Quartet, Vandermark reveals his longstanding debt to cinema, not only in name, but in approach. Filmmaking is an intensely collaborative medium, and The Frame Quartet embraces this concept implicitly; Vandermark is the sole writer, yet each ...

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Ivan Farmakovsky: Raising the Bar

by Cyril Moshkow
October 7, 2009

Crisis or no crisis, the 2008-2009 jazz concert season in Russia was far from being eventless. New fruitful collaborations were unveiled, new record labels were launched, old festivals have convincingly confirmed that they were well alive and kicking, and many good Russian jazz albums have hit the stores. Those albums revealed a new trend, that of many exciting Russian-American joint ventures in jazz this year. Of those intercontinental collaborations, pianist Ivan Farmakovsky's debut as a leader, Next To The Shadow ...

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Gary Peacock / Marc Copland: Insight

by John Kelman
October 7, 2009

Gary Peacock and pianist Marc Copland have been working together for nearly 20 years, though most often in a trio setting. Peacock was Copland's bassist of choice on two of his New York Trio Recordings trilogy sets— Modhina (2006) and Voices (2007), both on the German Pirouet label. But for a pianist who mines dark, impressionistic yet subtly romantic places, the most intimate of settings is the duo, and this pair's first (and, until now, only) duet recording, What It ...

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Don Cherry: From Out of the Shadows

by Raul d'Gama Rose
October 7, 2009

It was cool in Bombay that July in 1985, or was it 1986? Somehow the year does not seem to matter quite as much as it did when the phenomenon first occurred. The other details, of course, I remember clear as day. Association PC were tearing it up on stage at the fabled arena of the historic (for India at that time) Jazz Yatra an international jazz festival hosted by Jazz India since 1978. The Max Mueller Bhavan was responsible ...

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John Coltrane: Kulu Se Mama

by Chris May
October 7, 2009

A vibrant and accessible album from saxophonist John Coltrane's late-middle period, Kulu Se Mama has been only fitfully on catalogue since its original release in early 1967, and has tended to be overlooked in favor of near contemporaneous works like A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965) and Ascension (Impulse!, 1966), elements from both of which it reprises. Kulu Se Mama was included in Verve's Originals series' five-disc box set, John Coltrane: The Impulse! Albums Volume 3 earlier in 2009, and is ...

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Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia

by Ian Patterson
October 7, 2009

Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio Alexis BistroKuala Lumpar, Malaysia September 26, 2009

It took a few numbers for the wining and dining crowd at the cozy, candle-lit Alexis Bistro to realize that Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio was something a bit special. Slowly but surely the chatter abated and was replaced by a silence that framed this quite scintillating musical performance.

The gradual enchantment of the audience began with the opening ...

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The Remote Viewers: Sinister Heights

by Glenn Astarita
October 7, 2009

Reedmen David Petts and Adrian Northover form the crux of The Remote Viewers, a band that gained notoriety via several albums for the largely avant-garde and progressive jazz-based Leo Records. But this double CD release marks the duo's third release as an Indie record label entity. Here, they employ several instrumentalists, including British free-jazz denizens, bassist John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble among others, who span diverse backgrounds such as house music synthesist Darren Tate.

Petts and Northover ...

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The Ed Palermo Big Band: Eddy Loves Frank

by Jerry D'Souza
October 7, 2009

Alto saxophonist/bandleader Ed Palermo returns with his third CD devoted to the music of Frank Zappa. Palermo has now become the jazz face of Zappa, having prepared close to 200 transcripts that leaven the music with jazz harmony, while leaving the inherent flavor and quirkiness intact. The charts lend themselves to lush orchestration as much as they leave room for individual musicians to make distinctive statements. Add Palermo's humor to the dynamic, and it's yet another delicious dollop of enjoyable ...

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Joelle Leandre / George Lewis: Transatlantic Visions

by Stuart Broomer
October 7, 2009

Recorded at Vision Festival XIII in 2008, this pairing of French bassist Joelle Léandre and American trombonist George Lewis brings together two of the most gifted and committed musicians in improvised music. They've been acquainted since the '70s and distinguished themselves as duo improvisers in the best company. (Among their individual highlights are the former's duets with Derek Bailey and Steve Lacy and the latter's with Anthony Braxton and Evan Parker). The intense commitment with which they ...