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Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts
by Doug Collette
Since Mary Halvorson began her prolific affiliation with Nonesuch Records, she has refused to repeat herself except with a purpose. The simultaneous release of Amaryllis & Belladonna (Nonesuch Records, 2022) was the precursor to the expansive Cloudward (Nonesuch Records, 2024), while About Ghosts represents a retrenchment, albeit a productive one. On five of these eight cuts, the identical Amaryllis Sextet that appeared on the latter LP interacts smoothly with guest saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins and Brian Settles. Such synchrony ...
Continue ReadingMary Halvorson: About Ghosts
by Mike Jurkovic
It has become more than an urban legend that Brooklyn's genius-in-residence Mary Halvorson is supernaturally up to something. Some new route around something else. On her second resiliency test of the year--her first, the fiery Bone Bells (Pyroclastic, 2025) alongside hot-house pianist Sylvie Courvoisier still rattles the playlist--Halvorson's About Ghosts tells of wide open spaces with a wide open lens. Its intricate inner architecture is so comfortably ethereal that you sway freely within its charm and frenzy. About ...
Continue ReadingJanel Leppin's Ensemble Volcanic Ash: To March Is to Love
by Vincenzo Roggero
Uscito nel mese di giugno insieme a New Moon in the Evil Age del duo Janel & Anthony, questo To March Is to Love presenta una formazione dal nome intrigante di Ensemble Volcanic Ash nella quale al duo sopra menzionato si aggiungono un basso, una batteria e ben due sassofoni. Registrato live in un solo giorno con la supervisione di Curtis Fye e con il mixaggio di Mike Reina--vero e proprio valore aggiunto dell'incisione--To March is to Love cattura tutta ...
Continue ReadingJanel Leppin, Ensemble Volcanic Ash: To March Is To Love
by Glenn Astarita
Janel Leppin, a multi-instrumentalist and composer known for her innovative approach to music, leads her Ensemble Volcanic Ash in their latest release, To March Is To Love. Her debut album, Ensemble Volcanic Ash, released in 2022, garnered widespread acclaim. Now, with her follow-up, Leppin continues to push boundaries and explore new sonic landscapes. This project, recorded live in the studio, features a stellar sextet. Her versatility and creative vision have made her a distinctive voice in contemporary music. Notably, Leppin ...
Continue ReadingLuke Stewart Silt Trio: Unknown Rivers
by Troy Dostert
Bassists in the jazz world frequently have to toil in the trenches for years, building their resumes in fits and starts as they gradually establish themselves, commonly hidden (figuratively and literally) behind the players up front who get most of the attention and credit. Luke Stewart is an undeniable exception, having enjoyed a mercurial rise to prominence since 2017 in outfits like Irreversible Entanglements, Heroes Are Gang Leaders and his own ensembles, not to mention a host of other projects ...
Continue ReadingLafayette Gilchrist: Undaunted
by Pat Youngspiel
On Undaunted Washington D.C.-raised and Baltimore-educated pianist Lafayette Gilchrist continues his idiosyncratically swinging trajectory with deep grooves, memorable lines and the gritty, unapologetic type of interplay that first brought him international acclaim on the 2004 recording The Music According To Lafayette Gilchrist. Few will have forgotten the catchy track “Assume The Position" off that album, used prominently in the popular David Simon-produced series “The Wire." Some of the funkier, more electric bits in his writing have been replaced with a ...
Continue ReadingJason Moran: From the Dancehall to the Battlefield
by Neri Pollastri
Uscito il primo gennaio 2023 su Bandcamp, questo album di Jason Moran, per il suo concept, per la varietà e la ricchezza, per il modo in cui fonde radici storiche e modernità è probabilmente da considerare il disco dell'anno. Il suggestivo titolo From the Dancehall to the Battlefield sintetizza la storia del mitico musicista a cui è dedicato: James Reese Europe, compositore, arrangiatore e direttore d'orchestra nero, nato a Mobile, in Alabama, nel 1881, e trasferitosi prima a ...
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