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David Janeway: Distant Voices
by Dan McClenaghan
In 2017 pianist David Janeway offered his Secret Passages, a trio outing featuring bassist Frank Tate and drummer Chuck Zeuren. He proves, in 2021, that he can change partners without losing an ounce of swing or even a shot glass of verve. It is Cameron Brown on bass this time out, with Billy Hart sitting in the drum chair. Both are serious, elevate-the-music guys, while Janeway continues with his sprightly cerebralism and crystalline-touch way of making music. Distant ...
Continue ReadingNoah Haidu: Slowly: Song For Keith Jarrett
by Pierre Giroux
Birthdays are always special occasions. When one is young, the celebration is about looking towards the future. As one gets older, the occasion marks the acknowledgement of life's accomplishments. As for Slowly: Song For Keith Jarrett, the release of this title on May 7 2021 was one day before Jarrett's 76th birthday. As envisaged by pianist Noah Haidu along with his cohorts bassist Buster Williams and drummer Billy Hart the album's construct would be built around Jarrett's body of work ...
Continue ReadingNoah Haidu: Slowly: Song For Keith Jarrett
by Dan McClenaghan
American poet Walt Whitman said it. Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan said it, too, on his Rough and Rowdy Ways (Columbia Records, 2020). They said: “I Contain Multitudes." Pianist Keith Jarrett also contains multitudes—though it has never been reported that he has said so. Those multitudes include early work with the groups of drummer Art Blakey, saxophonist Charles Lloyd and trumpeter Miles Davis, before he connected with ECM Records in 1972 with Facing You, a recording that set an early ...
Continue ReadingNoah Haidu, Buster Williams, Billy Hart: Slowly
by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo il progetto multimediale dedicato a Kenny Kirkland (Doctone, Sunnyside 2020), Noah Haidu dedica un omaggio a Keith Jarrett, altro pianista che ha svolto un ruolo significativo nella sua formazione. L'elemento scatenante in questa scelta è stato l'annuncio di quest'ultimo di non poter più suonare dopo i due ictus che l'hanno colpito nel 2020, lasciandogli la mano sinistra paralizzata. «Quando ho saputo di Keith--dice Haidu--sono stato profondamente commosso e ho iniziato a immaginare il progetto del disco ...
Continue ReadingBrian Landrus, Fred Hersch, Drew Gress, Billy Hart: For Now
by Angelo Leonardi
Due anni dopo il sontuoso progetto orchestrale pubblicato nell'album Generations (Blueland 2018) il compositore e multistrumentista allievo di Bob Brookmeyer, è tornato a incidere con un piccolo organico, aperto a suggestioni cameristiche (con l'aggiunta di un quartetto d'archi) o di taglio neo-bop (con il trombettista Michael Rodriguez). Quand'era adolescente Brian Landrus era una testa calda, il peggiore della scuola, sempre pronto a picchiarsi coi coetanei. Poi il jazz l'ha molto cambiato e risulta difficile crederlo oggi, di ...
Continue ReadingNoah Haidu: Doctone
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Kenny Kirkland never seemed particularly interested in attaining the high level of fame enjoyed by two of his early employers, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. He worked first for Wynton, playing on four of the trumpeter's albums between 1981 and 1985, before moving into Branford's orbit, for eight albums between 1983 to 1998. These were breakout times for the famous brothers, burst-out-onto-the-scene times that were critical to their ultimate successes. And Kenny Kirkland was there, contributing his ...
Continue ReadingBrian Landrus: For Now
by Doug Hall
Low-register reed specialist and multi-instrumentalist and composer Brian Landrus confronted a difficult period in his life and used adversity to inspire a passionate declaration in song on his 2020 release For Now (BlueLand Records). He took advice from the late valve-trombonist, composer and educator Bob Brookmeyer, “book a recording session before you have the music composed—then you have a goal." Alternating between the baritone saxophone and the bass clarinet, Landrus creates wonderful lower-range tones and compositions with instruments ...
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