Jazz Articles

like 437

Posi-Tone Records: More Home Runs with Mike DiRubbo, Ralph Bowen, Sean Nowell

by J Hunter
August 4, 2009

If Posi-Tone Records was a major league baseball team, it would be at the top of its division. So far in 2009, the label has had big wins with Sam Yahel's piano trio debut Hometown and guitarist Yotam Silberstein's overall debut Next Page, not to mention former Ray Charles sideman, trumpeter Jim Rotondi's heartfelt tribute to his former leader, Blues for Brother Ray.

Now Posi-Tone sends three sax players--two tenors, one alto--to the plate, and the result is ...

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The Lanny Morgan Sextet: "6"

by Edward Blanco
August 4, 2009

Years ago a jazz critic of the Hong Kong press referred to Lanny Morgan as the “old master," and the moniker has stuck ever since. Now, at the ripe young age of 75, the “old master" Morgan holds court yet again with a sextet of equal masters on a scintillating session of bebop burners, simply titled “6". A legendary alto saxophonist of the same generation and caliber as Lee Konitz, Phil Woods and the late Bud Shank, Morgan moved to ...

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Larry McDonough Quartet: Simple Gifts

by Hrayr Attarian
August 4, 2009

Never look a gift horse in the mouth the old saying goes, but pianist Larry McDonough's Simple Gifts is a record that needs careful deconstructing and critiquing.

The CD starts off with a smart arrangement of Beethoven's “Ode to Joy," where Richard Terrill's soprano saxophone states the theme before the musicians take solo turns. They don't wander far from the melody, but they do go enough of a distance out to give the music a satisfyingly pleasant spin.

The recording ...

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Steve Kuhn: Life's Backward Glances

by Stuart Broomer
August 4, 2009

Pianist Steve Kuhn recently explored the beginnings of his musical career on Mostly Coltrane (ECM, 2009). On this three-CD set, ECM commemorates Kuhn's mid-career work with reissues of three LPs recorded between 1974 and 1979. Life's Backward Glances is aptly titled and not just because two of the three albums conclude with Kuhn's song of the same name. More than moods with Kuhn, retrospection and reflection form the basis of his aesthetic. Part of a school of cerebral modernist pianists ...

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Drori Mondlak: Point In Time

by Elliott Simon
August 4, 2009

Good drummers always seem to make all the right connections and Point In Time indicates that leader Drori Mondlak is, indeed, very well connected. He has brought together three marvelous instrumentalists and leaders in their own right--altoist/flutist Karolina Strassmayer, guitarist Cary DeNigris and bassist Steve LaSpina--for an intriguing quartet that strikes a perfect balance between the power in Strassmayer's horn and the elegance of DeNigris' chords, buoyed by the relaxed feel effected by his and LaSpina's obvious affinity.

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J.D. Allen: Shine!

by Wilbur MacKenzie
August 4, 2009

Shine! is the second Sunnyside release by saxophonist JD Allen and his trio with bassist Gregg August and drummer Rudy Royston. A Detroit native, Allen has been based in New York for quite a few years now, working with bassist Ron Carter, saxophonist David Murray, trumpeter Lester Bowie and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Cindy Blackman. Allen's assertive tone and the openness of his orchestration maintain a distinct, focused directionality on each track. “Son House," “Marco Polo" and ...

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Seamus Blake: Live in Italy

by Terrell Kent Holmes
August 4, 2009

Seamus Blake displays impressive talent as a tenor saxophonist, composer and leader on Live in Italy, a double CD documenting his quartet's tour through various cities in 2007, where audiences were treated to an eclectic blend of dynamic originals and standards. Originals like “The Jupiter Line," “Way Out of Willy" and “Fear of Roaming" favor the bop genre. Blake's tone is clean, with uncluttered lines and robust phrases. The band works off the themes and branches out ...

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In The Country: Whiteout

by John Kelman
August 3, 2009

Terms like magnum opus can be dangerous, setting unrealistic expectations for the present and a precedent against which the future will always be measured. Whether or not this release represents a magnum opus is far too early to tell, but In The Country's Whiteout is certainly this Norwegian piano trio's most ambitious album to date, standing to supplant its debut, the marvelously understated This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat (Rune Grammofon, 2005), as its most compelling and evocative album ...

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Weasel Walter: Revolt

by Clifford Allen
August 3, 2009

There aren't too many musicians who bring intensity to the music like drummer Weasel Walter, who has consistently been releasing extreme, vicious and dense free improvisation as a leader since the middle of the decade, mostly on his own ugExplode label. But Walter's history is a lot more varied than free jazz, as he was the fulcrum of the no wave/punk/experimental/free-form band the Flying Luttenbachers from 1992-2005. Since moving to Oakland, California from Chicago in 2003, he's split his time ...

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Bob Florence Limited Edition / Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band / Dana Legg Stage Band / John Burnett Swing Orchestra

by Jack Bowers
August 3, 2009

Bob Florence Limited Edition Legendary MAMA 2009

“Legendary" is a word that is often misused and shamelessly over-used, and in this case entirely appropriate. Even though composer / arranger / pianist Bob Florence is no longer with us, and wasn't in the studio when his Limited Edition recorded for the last time in October 2008, his indomitable presence not only ensured the spectacular outcome but has made Legendary an unequivocal frontrunner in ...