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Dayna Stephens: Right Now! Live At The Village Vanguard
by John Chacona
In his 2018 book, Playing Changes, Nate Chinen argues that the fundamental jazz dialectic of the 1980s and 90s, namely tradition vs. innovation, was ultimately a false choice. Two years later, Dayna Stephens' Right Now! Live at the Village Vanguard proves the point in the most eloquent way possible. In many ways, Right Now! is a traditional undertaking, from the classic horn-and-rhythm-section formation to the set list heavy with tunes taken at a mid-stroll tempo. And nothing cements ...
Continue ReadingSelections Of Some New Releases From 2020
by Len Davis
Music from Aaron Parks, Dusan Jevtovic, Billy Childs and more. Playlist Aaron Parks “Attention Earthlings" from Little Big 2-Dreams of a Mechanical Man (Ropeadope) 00:00 Rymden “Terminal One" from Space Sailors (Jazzlandl) 06:21 Dusan Jevtovic “Si Pooro" from Now You See Me (Self Produced) 12:41 Bosque “Escape From Urumchi" from escape From Urumchi (Metropolisl) 19:06 Andre Quatarone “Next Nexus" from Next Nexus (Xtramuse) 25;26 Michael Bester “The Way Forward" from Now Not Yet (Self Produced) 31:49 Fahir Atakoglu ...
Continue ReadingTom Guarna: Spirit Science
by Jack Bowers
Guitarist / composer Tom Guarna uses geometric concepts and patterns as a starting point on Spirit Science, his eighth album as leader, pairing its mathematical precision with spiritual awareness to more faithfully represent his musical point of view. Be that as it may, Guarna's handiwork must of course be appraised for its perception and effect on the listener, not for any tenets on which it is based. In other words, when all the premises have been explored, what ...
Continue ReadingDayna Stephens Quartet: Right Now! Live At The Village Vanguard
by Dan McClenaghan
New York City's Village Vanguard has a history. Founded by Max Gordon in 1935 and, after his passing in 1989, operated by his wife Lorraine until her death in 2018, the venue became famous for launching jazz careers and hosting the recordings of more than a hundred jazz albums, including saxophonist Sonny Rollins' A Night At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1957), pianist Bill Evans' Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside, 1961) and saxophonist John Coltrane's Live At The Village ...
Continue ReadingTom Guarna: Spirit Science
by Friedrich Kunzmann
With The Wishing Stones (Destiny Records, 2017) New York-based guitarist Tom Guarna released something of a breakthrough album, featuring a prominently cast quartet made up of Brian Blade on drums, John Patitucci on bass and pianist Jon Cowherd. With that album Guarna perfected his personal style of composition, which sees post-bop language taken to more extensive structures filtered through modern sonic production values. Spirit Science picks up where that album left off and delivers another engaging set of modern post-bop ...
Continue ReadingRajiv Jayaweera: Pistils
by Friedrich Kunzmann
New York-based drummer Rajiv Jayaweera had quite the international upbringing. Born in London to Sri Lankan parents, Jayaweera grew up in Melbourne, where he completed his Bachelor of Music at the Victorian College of the Arts before finishing his Masters in Jazz studies in New York in 2013. In the liner notes of his debut album Pistils, Jayaweera explains that the album is dedicated to his grandparents and the music on it draws inspiration from his Sri Lankan roots and ...
Continue ReadingAaron Parks: Little Big II: Dreams of a Mechanical Man
by Pat Youngspiel
Back with his second effort under the Little Big moniker, Aaron Parks stretches out the concepts that had been established on the group's debut recording and presents an even tighter display of original jazz meets pop blended instrumentals. As on predecessor Little Big (Ropeadope Records, 2018), each bar and every measure of each track have been carefully conceived, logically constructed and unwound to form a complete picture. The foundations are through-composed, the band's interplay however is as dynamic and lively ...
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