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Iro Haarla: Around Again: The Music Of Carla Bley
by Troy Dostert
Longstanding piano-bass tandem Iro Haarla and Ulf Krokfors team up with drummer Barry Altschul for Around Again, a reverent and eminently rewarding tribute to Carla Bley. All three musicians possess a deep familiarity with Bley's work. Haarla's dates from her earliest conservatory studies at Finland's Sibelius Academy in the 1970s, while Altschul played on Paul Bley's magnificent Closer (ESP, 1965), itself a record built around Carla's compositions. Krokfors actually came up with the idea for Around Again as he was ...
Continue ReadingIro Haarla, Ulf Krokfors & Barry Altschul: Around Again: The Music Of Carla Bley
by Dan McClenaghan
At one time the Finnish pianist/harpist/composer Iro Haarla was best known as a collaborator of drummer Edward Vesala (1945-1999). Her own career blossomed in the new millennium, beginning with Penguin Beguine (TUM Records, 2005) followed by multiple releases on ECM and TUM Records, including Northbound (ECM, 2006), Vespers (ECM, 2011), Kirkastus (TUM, 2014), a daring duo outing with saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen, and a majestic orchestral outing, Ante Lucem (ECM, 2016), that didn't seem to get nearly the recognition it deserved. ...
Continue ReadingBarry Altschul: The 3Dom Factor: Live in Krakow
by Enrico Bettinello
Tutta l'energia del concerto nell'ottimo Alchemia Club di Cracovia (siamo a dicembre del 2016). Garantisce il batterista Barry Altschul, nome imprescindibile del jazz contemporaneo (lo ricordiamo con Paul Bley o con Anthony Braxton), alla guida del trio 3Dom Factor, con Joe Fonda al contrabbasso e un fantasticamente irrequieto Jon Irabagon a tenore e sopranino. Repertorio solido e consolidato, sia nei temi originali di Altschul, già presenti nel primo disco del trio, che nella turgida rilettura della monkiana ...
Continue ReadingBarry Altschul: The 3Dom Factor: Live in Krakow
by John Sharpe
Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor closed out the 2016 Krakow Jazz Autumn in fine style with this set. Recorded at the fabled Alchemia Club in the city's Jewish ghetto, the drummer leads his tightly knit combo through four originals and a Monk cover. It's a familiar program, as three of the pieces have been in Altschul's band book since the 1980s and all have appeared somewhere on the outfit's first two dates: The 3Dom Factor (TUM Records, 2013) and Tales Of ...
Continue ReadingBarry Altschul featuring Jon Irabagon & Joe Fonda: The 3Dom Factor: Live in Krakow
by Karl Ackermann
Recorded live at the Alchemia Club in Krakow, Poland, Barry Altschul's 3dom Factor offers the third group release in an informal trilogy that began with their self-titled album (TUM, 2012). That debut--Altschul's first leader outing in a couple dozen years--consisted of nine Altschul originals, and one from Carla Bley. A blend of post-bop and free playing, it set the stage for 2015's Tales of the Unforseen, a largely improvised set. The new trio album Live in Krakow adapts a technique ...
Continue ReadingBarry Altschul's 3dom Factor: Tales of the Unforeseen
by John Sharpe
Veteran drummer Barry Altschul has enjoyed something of a late career resurgence over the last decade. Work with co-operatives such as the FAB Trio, as well as with trombonists Steve Swell and Roswell Rudd presaged his first leadership date for a quarter of a century in 3dom Factor (TUM Records, 2013). That trio with bassist Joe Fonda and saxophonist Jon Irabagon reunites for Tales Of The Unforeseen. Recorded in the studio following a weeklong tour, the threesome proves exceptionally well-attuned ...
Continue ReadingBarry Altschul's 3dom Factor: Tales of the Unforeseen
by Karl Ackermann
Barry Altschul made his mark on the musical world at a time of both turmoil and guarded acceptance. Charles Lloyd's quartet, with the unknown pianist Keith Jarrett, was bridging a gap with psychedelic rock at the Fillmore West; Miles Davis' Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970) along with the work of groups like Weather Report, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Carlos Santana were blurring the line between increasingly progressive rock and even more progressive jazz in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A ...
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