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Lena Bloch & Feathery: Rose Of Lifta
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Lena Bloch knows something about the pain of separation from one's homeland. Born in Russia, she emigrated to Israel in 1990, then to Europe and, finally, in 2008, to the United States, setting up shop in New York City's fertile jazz ground. In 2014, Feathery, (Thirteen Note Records), the album and her quartet of that name, came into being. The group's second album, Heart Knows (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2007), cemented her distinctive horn-and-rhythm-section approach, with bassist ...
Continue ReadingJeff Pearring/Pearring Sound: Socially Distanced Duos
by Karl Ackermann
Jeff Pearring's background in jazz, classical, reggae and other genres has informed his creative process in ways that are not always apparent. That turns out to be a good thing as his ability to encapsulate influences without genuflecting is part of his music's appeal. The alto saxophonist, a Brooklyn-based Colorado native, is a Connie Crothers protégé with a similarly independent mindset. Billed as “Pearring Sound," the saxophonist surrounds himself with a rotation of players varying on three previous, self-produced albums, ...
Continue ReadingDahveed Behroozi: Echoes
by Dan McClenaghan
On his sophomore effort, West Coast-based pianist Dahveed Behroozi goes into a deeply atmospheric mode on Echoes. He is joined by a pair of blue ribbon sidemen in this piano trio affair. Drummer Billy Mintz, as a drummer-texturalist, is in a league with past greats Paul Motian and Jon Christensen, creating off-kilter, unsettled weather systems of his own, whether on one of his own too-infrequent recording or his work with pianist Roberta Piket, saxophonist John Gross, or pianist Hal Galper. ...
Continue ReadingLena Bloch: Heart Knows
by Hrayr Attarian
Tenor saxophonist Lena Bloch has a cool, cerebral style and a definite and captivating lyricism. Her second release Heart Knows demonstrates this quite well. In addition, Bloch showcases her inventive compositional skills as she contributes four intriguing originals to the album. One of Bloch's mentors, multi-reed player Yusef Lateef inspired the poetic and multilayered “Lateef Suite" that opens with a contemplative duet with pianist Russ Lossing. Bloch's intelligent and introspective saxophone “monologue" flows languidly over the darkly percolating ...
Continue ReadingLena Bloch: Heart Knows
by Alberto Bazzurro
Sostituendo la chitarra di Dave Miller col pianoforte di Russ Lossing, Lena Bloch dà vita al suo secondo album, a tre anni da Feathery, che oggi dà il nome al suo stesso quartetto. Di quel lavoro, che l'aveva rivelata come una tenorista di bella presenza sonora, soprattutto ottima esponente di un jazz di mezzo molto ben strutturato, compositivamente sofisticato, questo nuovo capitolo, inciso in piena estate 2017, conferma ogni risultanza, compresa una sostanziale volontà di non tradire certi modelli, in ...
Continue ReadingLena Bloch & Feathery: Heart Knows
by Dan McClenaghan
Lena Bloch mocks the “sophomore jinx" myth with her second CD release, Heart Knows. The tenor saxophonist's debut, Feathery, drew a good deal of well-deserved praise. With her saxophone intertwined with a responsive guitar/bass/drums rhythm section, Bloch paid tribute--in part--to pianist Lennie Tristano, via her relationship with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. On Heart Knows, Bloch moves along in the same loose groove, adding at times some flexible Middle-Eastern motifs, and stretching her own compositional skills to the highest limits, having ...
Continue ReadingBilly Mintz: Ugly Beautiful
by David A. Orthmann
Consisting of seventeen tracks spanning over two hours of playing time, Ugly Beautiful is a large, sprawling, wise, unflinchingly honest, powerful work of art. Billy Mintz's third recording as a leader--all of which were made in the most recent decade of a fifty-year plus career--stubbornly refuses to conform to stylistic boundaries and gleefully defies expectations of any kind. The record demands to be taken on its own terms. Trying to pin labels or anticipate the course of almost any track ...
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