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Henry Threadgill: Listen Ship
by Giuseppe Segala
As in other recent works, on Listen Ship Henry Threadgill appears solely as composer and conductor. No surprise there: his works vividly showcase a quest for a personal compositional dimension, one that reflects his drive for authenticity while engaging in dialogue, proposing a possible intersection between Black American musical traditions and other musical realms. This is eloquently detailed in his 2023 autobiography, Easily Slip into Another World. A Life in Music, a gem in the realm of autobiographies, where he ...
Continue ReadingHenry Threadgill: Listen Ship
by Giuseppe Segala
Come in altri suoi lavori recenti, anche su Listen Ship Henry Threadgill compare unicamente in qualità di compositore e conduttore. Nessuna meraviglia: sappiamo che il musicista di Chicago è tra i grandi compositori della contemporaneità. È evidente e ricchissima, nelle sue opere, la ricerca di una dimensione compositiva personale, che ne rispecchi l'impulso di autenticità e nel contempo si metta in dialogo, proponga un incrocio possibile tra musiche di matrice neroamericana e altre aree musicali. Come è dettagliatamente narrato nella ...
Continue ReadingEsthesis Quartet: Sound & Fury
by Vincenzo Roggero
Sound & Fury è legato a doppio filo a due eventi ravvicinati nel tempo. Da una parte il periodo pandemico nel quale i futuri membri del quartetto condividono via Zoom esperienze, motivazioni, obiettivi che porteranno alla formazione ufficiale del gruppo denominato Esthesis. Dall'altra la prematura scomparsa nel marzo 2022 di Ron Miles, mentore di due componenti della formazione, al quale è dedicata la suite che comprende i primi quattro brani. In origine lo stesso Miles doveva essere parte ...
Continue ReadingDeborah Silver: Deborah Silver with the Count Basie Orchestra: Basie Rocks!
by Jack Bowers
Basie Rocks! A great idea? One best left on the cutting-room floor? Or perhaps a little of both? There are reasonable arguments to be made on all sides of the equation. On the one hand, this is the one and only Count Basie Orchestra, swinging in its own exceptional way. On the other, the orchestra has joined forces on every number with Mississippi-bred pop-rock singer Deborah Silver, the latest in a series of acclaimed guest vocalists that includes Ella Fitzgerald, ...
Continue ReadingDeborah Silver: Deborah Silver with the Count Basie Orchestra: Basie Rocks!
by Kyle Simpler
Jazz musicians frequently cover popular songs, but few do it quite like vocalist Deborah Silver. With Basie Rocks!, Silver teams up with the iconic Count Basie Orchestra for a genre-crossing collection that you truly have to hear to believe. This is a groove-charged big band album that reimagines classic rock and pop classics through the swinging lens of traditional jazz. While that premise might sound gimmicky on paper, the result is total sonic satisfaction. Produced by ...
Continue ReadingChris Cheek: Keepers of the Eastern Door
by David Weiner
In Keepers of the Eastern Door, saxophonist Chris Cheek leads a beautifully played, richly melodic and creatively curated set of performances, which split the difference between enchantment and fun. Cheek and his bandmates--Bill Frisell on guitar, Tony Scherr on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums--offer a mix of distinctive Cheek originals and unexpected takes on works by others. The covers are borrowed from genres outside the jazz and songbook repertoires, and the band outfits them with attractive new arrangements, tempos ...
Continue ReadingMiles Okazaki and Bill Frisell at the Miller Theater
by Paul Reynolds
Miles Okazaki and Bill Frisell The Miller Theater, Columbia University New York, NY April 15, 2025 When musicians collaborate for the first time, the setlist usually settles around shared music they love and often play. For guitarists Bill Frisell and Miles Okazaki, in their debut as a duo on Tuesday, that common ground turned out to be the compositions of Thelonious Monk. Although a generation apart--Frisell is 74 and Okazaki is 50--the two ...
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