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Dave Kikoski: Weekend At Smalls
by Pierre Giroux
Few pianists capture the resilient spirit of the New York City jazz scene as convincingly as Dave Kikoski. With his release Weekend At Smalls, he affirms his reputation as one of post-bop's most energetic stylists. Recorded live at the renowned West Village club Smalls, the album features Kikoski engaging in lively conversation with bassist Joe Martin, veteran drummer Billy Hart and longtime friend and collaborator trumpeter Randy Brecker. The result is a vibrant record of straight-ahead fluency that both revisits ...
Continue ReadingNoah Haidu: Standards III
by Jack Bowers
Standards III, the ninth album by New York-based pianist Noah Haidu, is essentially a trio date with a guest appearance on one number ("Slipstream") by alto saxophonist Steve Wilson. As was true on Standards (Sunnyside, 2021) and Standards II (Sunnyside, 2024), the inclusion of several unfamiliar themes (including some by Haidu) stretches the meaning of “standard" well beyond what most listeners would consider acceptable. To be fair, there are a liberal number of standards on all three ...
Continue ReadingNoah Haidu: Standards III
by Pierre Giroux
Noah Haidu's Standards III is a study in jazz fluency--an exploration of melody, form, and interplay that reanimates familiar repertoire with both reverence and daring. Following the strong creative thread laid in the first two installments of the standards theme (Standards, 2023 and Standards II, 2024; both on Sunnyside), Haidu again enlists legendary bassist Buster Williams and veteran drummer Billy Hart, whose intuitive communication with the pianist borders on telepathic. Joining this outing is a younger trio, featuring bassist Gervis ...
Continue ReadingDave Liebman / Billy Hart / Adam Rudolph: Beingness
by Mike Jurkovic
There is something very other-worldly about Beingness. It runs on some taut meta-rhythms, courtesy of NEA Jazz Master, drummer Billy Hart, who hangs loose and fearless with award-winning, world music percussionist/composer Adam Rudolph. It sounds like free-falling. But not in a monochromatic death plunge. No, this is more a sure glide, like a leaf flirting across Bleecker in a new October, westbound breeze. A master class in hypnotic and collaborative invention, Beingness--Hart, Rudolph, and Hart's fellow NEA Jazz ...
Continue ReadingYotam Silberstein: Standards Vol. 2
by Pierre Giroux
On Standards Vol. 2 , guitarist Yotam Silberstein revisits the tradition with both reverence and invention, delivering a program of what he calls “lesser gems" -standards that have slipped through the cracks of overexposure yet hold depths still to be mined. With a lineup featuring bassist John Patitucci, drummer Billy Hart, and special guest tenor saxophonist George Coleman on one track, this album offers a thoughtful, rich journey into the overlooked corners of the jazz canon. ...
Continue ReadingBilly Hart: Just
by Jack Kenny
"Just" is an elegant album calculated to please. More than any earlier releases on ECM, it is Billy Hart's album, The quartet has been working together for over twenty years and has rightly morphed from a collective to the one steered by Hart. The drummer has supplied his sinewy rhythmic mastery to albums across the years with Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner and Stan Getz. Here, Hart is both the strongest voice, the innovator and the driver ...
Continue ReadingRandy Ingram: Aries Dance
by John Chacona
No one would suggest that a car stereo in a rush-hour traffic jam is an ideal environment to evaluate a recording--or even to squeeze much enjoyment out of one. Yet even in this setting the graceful, gliding waltz that opens Randy Ingram's Aries Dance immediately dispelled the frustration and tension of the highway like an offshore breeze drives away the midsummer heat. As traffic crept toward Columbus, Ohio at the Polaris Parkway exit, a quick check of the title: it ...
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