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Falkner Evans: Level Playing Field
by Dave Nathan
One of the pleasures of being allowed to review jazz CDs is the opportunity to get a chance to listen to the debut albums of younger artists with uncommon talents. Such is the case with New York pianist/composer Falkner Evans, transplanted from Oklahoma. You get your kicks from two distinct but related lines. The first is how each newcomer to the piano scene reminds one of the influences of the great performers who shaped how the instrument and the music ...
read moreDavid Liebman: The Elements: Water
by Glenn Astarita
Soprano sax icon and modern jazz pioneer Dave Liebman teams up with the equally talented and famous jazz guitarist Pat Metheny for their first ever recording. Liebman’s “”The Elements: Water” represents the first in a projected series of recordings dedicated to the elements. Liebman states in the liners: ... The music “all derives from the opening solo guitar theme” and continues with: “Every composition is based on a different harmonic aspect of this melody”. The first piece “Water: Giver Of ...
read moreDavid Liebman: The Elements: Water
by Jim Santella
Influenced by John Coltrane, Lennie Tristano, and Charles Lloyd, then having interned with Elvin Jones and Miles Davis, saxophonist Dave Liebman has a lot to draw from when he sits down at the piano to compose. More about the session’s leader may be found at www.arkadiarecords.com . This album is just the first of four jazz suites to be created by Liebman; music that wakes up the listener’s imagination and successfully folds in modern mainstream jazz with tone poem imagery. ...
read moreDavid Liebman: The Elements: Water
by Jack Bowers
Water, the first of four Jazz suites by Dave Liebman inspired by the elements (Earth, Air and Fire are to follow) is designed to evoke images of water in its many forms and guises, from tranquil to chaotic, rivulet to ocean, droplet to deluge. Does it achieve its purpose? Perhaps so. But others will have to make that assessment. I’ve always had trouble with tone poems, classical or any other kind. Even with program in hand, they usually sound like ...
read moreDave Liebman: John Coltrane's Meditations
by AAJ Staff
When it comes seeing how adventurous a person is, John Coltrane's late period is one of the things that separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. From 1965 until his death in 1967, Trane offered the most atonal of free jazz-and his music became so blistering that even some of his most ardent admirers shy away from his late period. But what frightens others is a challenge that Dave Liebman accepts with this CD, which ...
read moreCecil McBee: Unspoken
by Rick Bruner
Master bassist Cecil McBee has had a long career of supporting some of the greats of jazz from earlier work on Blue Note to more recent sessions with Joanne Brackeen and Chico Freeman. He has also produced a handful of fine dates as a leader over the years, as well as occasional tours and recordings with The Leaders, an all-star band comprised of Lester Bowie, Freeman, Arthur Blythe, Kirk Lightsey and Don Moye. Unspoken showcases McBee’s current working band performing ...
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