Jazz Articles

like 231

Vector Trio: Nomina

by Ian Patterson
September 10, 2009

Improvised music tends to be divisive, alienating those who need the life belt of recognizable tunes and attracting those who see drama in the leap into the void. The challenge with improvised music is in creating the right doses of tension and release. There is certainly plenty of tension in this trio's language, and science-fiction horror permeates their music as much as the influence of the more experimental bands who spliced jazz, rock, world rhythms and electronics in the late ...

like 139

Dan Moretti: Tres Muse

by Glenn Astarita
September 9, 2009

Northeast area saxophonist and Berklee School of Music educator Dan Moretti embarks on the piano-less jazz trio route, hearkening back to the impetus set forth by Sonny Rollins' 1957 Riverside classic, Way Out West. Since then, this framework has gained steam with modern jazz reedmen, sometimes leading to mixed results. Yet Marty Ballou's corpulent and limber electric bass lines generate a fertile bottom to complement drummer Marty Richards' polyrhythmic attack. The trio sports a broad and fluent sound, sparked by ...

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Lou Blackburn: The Complete Imperial Sessions

by Mike Neely
September 9, 2009

The Complete Imperial Sessions presents a tight West Coast band with a bluesy East Coast sound. There is the best of both worlds in this fine quintet with its well-balanced soloists and outstanding rhythm section. Blackburn is a sharp band leader whose sophistication is evident throughout these sessions; he brings to the table eleven original compositions and a band that can turn on a dime. Blackburn adds to the mix a soulful, full bodied trombone that is at home with ...

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Jazzworks 2009: Jazz Boot Camp for Adults

by John Kelman
September 9, 2009

Every year for the past 16 years--first at Christie Lake Camp, located about 60 miles from Ottawa, Canada, but for the past four at the peaceful CAMMAC (Canadian Amateur Musicians Musiciens Amateurs du Canada) Lake MacDonald Music Centre, situated within spitting distance of the world-renowned Mont Tremblant Ski Resort in the Quebec Laurentians--Jazzworks Ottawa puts on a three-day intensive jazz camp for players young and old, novice and advanced.

Lake MacDonald Music Center, CAMMAC

World class musicians, most ...

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Jessy J: True Love

by Jeff Winbush
September 9, 2009

If half of life is just showing up and the other half is timing, then Jessica Spinella's timing is right on time. Smooth jazz is filled to the brim with saxophonists and while most of them are technically proficient, the sheer volume makes it difficult for a newcomer to stand out. Spinella, aka Jessy J brings more than just another pretty face to the party; her infusion of jazz with Latin rhythms gives her a foundation upon which to build.

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Johnny Griffin: From Johnny Griffin With Love

by Greg Thomas
September 9, 2009

Johnny Griffin From Johnny Griffin With Love Storyville Records 2009

Chicago native Johnny Griffin was undoubtedly one of the greatest artists to ever play the tenor saxophone. His technical capacity at high velocity tempi was legendary, earning him the nicknames “fastest gun in the West" and “Little Giant." Not mere empty displays, Griffin's virtuosity served his expressive needs. As Frank Foster has written: “His blazing speed in producing one dynamite ...

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Ben Neill: Night Science

by Lyn Horton
September 9, 2009

Composing an aural atmosphere oozing with timelessness requires a talent for making choices from an infinite array of sound propositions. That talent without doubt lies in Ben Neill, whose Night Science boasts a stunning consistency and coherence in fulfilling of the process of combining electronic and acoustic sounds.

Refining his signature of individuality as he plays the “mutantrumpet," an electro- acoustic instrument of his own design, Neill soars through the musical space. His instrument animates a central character that peeks ...

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Franz Koglmann: Lo-lee-ta: Music on Nabokov

by Eyal Hareuveni
September 9, 2009

Viennese composer and trumpeter Franz Koglmann is a well-known commuter between the arts and modern chamber jazz. His subtle, sophisticated compositions create a set of mirrors that reflect a distinct artistic mean: literature on Make Believe (Between the Lines, 1999), inspired by Jean Cocteau; poetry on O Moon My Pin-Up (hatOLOGY, 1997), inspired by Ezra Pound and Fear Death By Water (Between the Lines, 2003), dedicated to poetry of T.S. Elliot; cinematic images on Venus In Transit (Between the Lines, ...

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Bobby Broom: Swept Away by the Music

by Cicily Janus
September 9, 2009

Bobby Broom is a veteran jazz guitarist, originally from New York City and currently operating from the Chicago jazz scene. He's been the staple side dish of soul and jazz for over thirteen years at Pete Miller's Steakhouse in Evanston, IL. He's also busy performing regularly--not only Chi-town, but throughout the world with his own groups, the Bobby Broom Trio and the Deep Blue Organ Trio, and with saxophone icon Sonny Rollins. But Plays for Monk (Origin, 2009) is a ...

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Terence Blanchard: Choices

by Mark F. Turner
September 8, 2009

Trumpeter/band leader/ film scorer Terence Blanchard is the epitome of an artist who's made good choices. One of the distinct voices in the post-Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis era, he has moved from being a young-lion with seminal players such as Donald Harrison in Black Pearl (Columbia, 1988), to delivering progressive projects such as Flow (Blue Note, 2005) and winning multiple Grammy awards for albums including 2007's A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina) (Blue Note).