Jazz Articles

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Suoni Per Il Popolo 2009

by Mathieu Belanger
August 9, 2009

Suoni Per Il Popolo FestivalMontreal, CanadaJune 2009For the ninth time since 2001, the whole month of June in Montreal was the affair of the Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival. In past years, it would take place at Casa del Popolo and La Sala Rossa, a logical choice since the festival is the brainchild of the folks running those venues. For administrative reasons, concerts cannot be held at Casa del Popolo at the moment so some occurred elsewhere, ...

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Take Five With Agustin Barreto

by AAJ Staff
August 9, 2009

Meet Agustin Barreto: Barreto, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico started playing electric bass at age 16 and soon discovered his gift and passion for music. After a few years of “gigging around town" with a local rock band, he landed several jobs playing on local TV shows. With the encouragement of his peers he then decided to study music formally and enrolled in La Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico.

In 1999 he became the ...

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Greg Heath Quartet: Fact & Fiction

by Bruce Lindsay
August 9, 2009

Tenor saxophonist Greg Heath originates from New Zealand, but has been based in the United Kingdom since 1989, working with a diverse array of artists including Van Morrison, Marianne Faithful and Jimmy Ruffin. Fact & Fiction finds Heath in more straight-ahead jazz territory, with strong early-'60s influences and a talented quartet of musicians. Indeed, the quartet's line up of Heath with John Donaldson on piano, Nick Kacal on double-bass and Lawrence Lowe on drums is reflective of those influences and ...

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Various Artists: Creative Outlaws: UK Underground 1965-71

by Nic Jones
August 9, 2009

Although the title might be a little misleading--there are enough acts here with eyes on the financial prize, as opposed to the wholesale reconstruction of society after all--this is still a compilation that encapsulates a vibrant and diverse moment in the history of popular culture and indeed British social history. The underground, through the prism of this album, comes across as a thing which, though it might inevitably have lacked focus, played to natural human curiosity in a way which ...

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Bob Dylan at The Champlain Valley Expo, Essex Junction, Vermont

by Doug Collette
August 8, 2009

The Bob Dylan Show Champlain Valley Expo Essex Junction, Vermont July 17, 2009

Bob Dylan had a lot to prove at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds on July 17th following Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp. Both ingratiated themselves to the brave audience fighting the elements, the former with understated charm and the latter with histrionics that detracted from his band. Dylan, as is his wont, let his music speak for him almost exclusively, and it ...

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Edmar Castaneda: Entre Cuerdas

by Dan McClenaghan
August 8, 2009

The harp seems such a cerebral instrument, the sound a mix of, light, lush delicacy, refinement and finesse. It is not often heard in jazz outside of large ensemble settings. Columbian harpist/bandleader/composer Edmar Castaneda seems intent on changing that dynamic. On Entre Cuerdas, Castaneda employs a trio of unlikely parts: harp, trombone and percussion, and approaches his art with the heart and raw energy of a delta blues player combined with the unfettered passion and instrumental acumen of ...

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Jackson Browne at The Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont

by Doug Collette
August 8, 2009

Jackson Browne Shelburne Museum Shelburne, Vermont July 14th, 2009

Jackson Browne should have opened his two-set performance with “I'm Alive," closed it with “Running On Empty," and encored with the much-requested “Redneck Friend." In so doing he'd have effectively avoided the pedestrian moments early in the first set ("Boulevard," “Tender is the Night") and framed his entire show in such a way as to highlight the mix of new and old material.

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Mike Mainieri/Marnix Busstra Quartet: Twelve Pieces

by John Kelman
August 8, 2009

Released in Europe as the Marnix Busstra Trio featuring Mike Mainieri but in North America as the Mike Mainieri/Mike Busstra Quartet, the name change may reflect both vibraphonist Mainieri's significant involvement and his larger cachet, but Twelve Pieces remains a compelling look at this Netherlands-based guitarist. Less known on this side of the Atlantic, on the strength of this, his seventh release as a leader since 1995, Busstra certainly deserves a broader international audience.

Twelve Pieces ...

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Dan Tepfer / Lee Konitz: Duos with Lee

by Raul d'Gama Rose
August 8, 2009

This record is reminiscent of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959)--not historic, like that legendary record, which set modal jazz in motion--but very likely similar to that session, that must surely have been charged with near-ceaselessly flowing ideas. Duos with Lee comes from the hearts, minds and fingers of pianist Dan Tepfer and alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, both musicians who have performed on similar projects before--if not in duo settings then trios at least. Konitz did a magnificent record ...

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Trio 3: At This Time and Berne Concert

by Clifford Allen
August 8, 2009

30-odd years ago, the lineup of Trio 3--a veritable supergroup--might have seemed surprising. By the mid-'70s, drummer Andrew Cyrille had fed polyrhythmic invention to Cecil Taylor's unit structures and tuned drums for ten years, while bassist Reggie Workman was known for his work with Coltrane and a number of Blue Note artists. Reedman Oliver Lake, who had relocated to New York from St. Louis via Paris, was a former member of the Black Artists Group, an AACM parallel organization. All ...