Jazz Articles

like 257

Zvonimir Tot: Eloquent Silence

by Matthew Warnock
June 23, 2009

Eloquent Silence is an introspective yet powerful album by Chicago guitar virtuoso Zvonimir Tot. The album features an all-star band including bassist Larry Gray, drummer Ernie Adams, saxophonist Mark Colby and brass specialist Orbert Davis. All of the tunes were composed and arranged by the multi-faceted guitarist and reflect Tot's diverse educational and performing background. Bouncing between hard-driving funk tunes, laid back ballads, rock-inspired grooves and Latin beats, Tot's compositions spin a web of musical eloquence that is both engaging ...

like 395

Objets Trouves: This Side Up

by Nic Jones
June 23, 2009

It's only right that this group didn't come together under the name of one of its members as this is cooperative music of an order that's still only too rare. This is Objets Trouves' second title for Intakt, indicating that the label seems intent on a long-term relationship with them. If so this is a good thing as their music is shot through with a shared method of communication that makes no modest case for the positive aspects of the ...

like 259

Craig Chaquico: Follow the Sun

by Jeff Winbush
June 23, 2009

Back when he was pumping out power chords for Jefferson Starship (later trimmed down to simply Starship) guitarist Craig Chaquico performed on one of the band's biggest and last hits, “We Built This City." That song would later top VH-1's The 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs...Ever as the absolute worst rock song.Chaquico didn't deserve the blame for that song's cheesiness. When he was playing rock n' roll he was a pretty formidable guitarist and when he went solo ...

like 491

Andy Sheppard: Movements in Colour

by John Kelman
June 23, 2009

Familiar to ECM fans for his work with Carla Bley including the small group The Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu (WATT, 2007) and large ensemble Appearing Nightly (WATT, 2008), Andy Sheppard has also proven comfortable in ultra ultra large ensembles like the 200 saxophone strong Saxophone Massive that he led at Mai Jazz 2008 in Stavanger, Norway. Earlier work with Bley--and his sublime duet disc with guitarist John Parricelli, P.S. (Provocateur, 2003)--demonstrated the British saxophonist's ability to fit seamlessly within ...

like 734

Milford Graves: Time Piece

by Marc Medwin
June 22, 2009

"Don't tell me how many years you've been doing something." Milford Graves's delivery is surprisingly restrained given the directness of his statement. “I want to know how completely you're filling that time, how you're spending each nanosecond." The statement defines the energy and vitality that this extraordinary musician brings to every aspect of his artistic life. To label Graves as one of the pioneers of free jazz is to define his work in far too narrow a scope. ...

like 491

Joachim Kuhn / Majid Bekkas / Ramon Lopez: Out Of The Desert

by Chris May
June 22, 2009

Boundary busting and inventive though it was, Kalimba (ACT, 2007)--the first album by German pianist Joachim Kuhn, Moroccan vocalist and guembri player Majid Bekkas, and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez--ultimately felt like Kuhn's album more than a fully integrated, cross-cultural group exercise. Two years on, the trio's second outing, Out Of The Desert, offers a deeper mix--and an altogether more absorbing one.

Kalimba was recorded in Germany. For Out Of The Desert, the trio travelled to Morocco. In the ...

like 555

Jazz Journalist Association 2009 Awards Dinner

by Ralph A. Miriello
June 22, 2009

2009 Jazz Journalists Association AwardsJazz StandardNew York, New YorkJune 16, 2009

On Tuesday, June 16th I was privileged to attend this year's Jazz Journalists Association Awards held at the Jazz Standard in New York City. It was a rare opportunity to meet and mingle with some iconic artists, some up-and-coming musical hopefuls and some seasoned but imaginative scribes who have challenged the world of jazz journalism. As the economy goes, so goes the jazz business. ...

like 228

Katharina Weber: Woven Time

by Nic Jones
June 22, 2009

Until she'd reached the age of seventeen, pianist Weber hadn't played the piano without having sheet music in front of her, but it's clear from this program that she's put in the effort it takes to acquire the improviser's gifts. Such, however, are the recorded precedents for solo improvising pianists that the business of staking out individual territory within the recorded canon is fraught.

In that regard, Weber fares rather well. The extraordinary reflection of “Sicht aus dem Kopfstand" is ...

like 401

Marshall Vente Trio: Marshall Arts

by Matthew Warnock
June 22, 2009

Marshall Arts is an entertaining and engaging album by versatile Chicago pianist Marshall Vente. The recording features pieces written for each of Vente's two separate and highly distinct piano trios, the Jazz Trio and the Tropicale Trio. The album as a whole is divided into three sections, with the first three tunes featuring Vente's American jazz roots, the middle four tunes consisting of Brazilian-influenced tunes and the final three tracks returning to post-bop style jazz. Ever the musical chameleon, Vente's ...

like 207

Chris Morrissey: The Morning World

by Raul d'Gama Rose
June 22, 2009

At first blush, The Morning World feels not so much about a bassist as leader of the ensemble, but rather as the bass as leader of the ensemble. This would per force mean that the character of the instrument first establishes its sonic character on the music, or rather makes the music swirl around it. Because Morrissey is smart and as dexterous as a bass violinist this is never a boring expedition. Rather, the relationship of the instruments in each ...