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James Brandon Lewis Quartet: Code of Being
by Troy Dostert
With each new release, tenor saxophone phenom James Brandon Lewis seems to raise his game even higher. He continues to craft ever more compelling compositions, with both lyrical intensity and conceptual rigor, and his sound on the tenor is just as noteworthy, mixing brawn with sensitivity in equal measure. It doesn't hurt that he has colleagues of the first rank, with pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones and drummer Chad Taylor part of his core quartet, the group that gave ...
Continue ReadingAlchemy Sound Project: Afrika Love
by Jerome Wilson
The group Alchemy Sound Project is the result of five accomplished composers and bandleaders pooling their resources. The five are saxophonists Salim Washington and Erica Lindsay, trumpeter Samantha Boshnack, pianist Sumi Tonooka and bassist David Arend. Each one contributes a composition to this, their third release together. The result is a varied set of complex and restless modern jazz, arranged to showcase the playing talents of the group's members. Arend's “The Fountain" is a jangling group collage which ...
Continue ReadingWarriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath
by Mark Corroto
If we alter President John F. Kennedy's 1962 moon spaceflight speech just a bit, it easily fits the big band adaptation of Muhal Richard Abrams' magnum opus Soundpath, “We choose to perform this composition not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept." Accepting the challenge was band leader Bobby Zankel and ...
Continue ReadingAlchemy Sound Project: Afrika Love
by Troy Dostert
Confirming the many advantages of a regular working ensemble, the Alchemy Sound Project came together in 2014 to provide an additional venue of exploration for several members of the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute in Los Angeles. Although the group possesses an affinity for fusing classical composition techniques with expansive improvisation, what stands out on Afrika Love, the collective's third release, is its undisguised love of the jazz tradition. With a three-horn core of trumpeter Samantha Boshnack and multi-instrumentalists ...
Continue ReadingWarriors of the Wonderful Sound: Soundpath
by Giuseppe Segala
Nel 2011 il sassofonista di Filadelfia Bobby Zankel, leader della big band The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound e promotore di laboratori di musica contemporanea, propose a Muhal Richard Abrams un lavoro compositivo che avrebbe dovuto essere affidato alla band, con la direzione dello stesso pianista. Operazioni di questo tipo erano già state realizzate da Zankel negli anni precedenti con le musiche per big band di Julius Hemphill, dirette da Marty Ehrlich, poi con composizioni di Rudresh Mahanthappa e Steve ...
Continue ReadingJames Brandon Lewis: Jesup Wagon
by Mark Corroto
Most listeners have long since moved saxophonist James Brandon Lewis from the rising star category to one labeled virtuoso. But then, pianist Matthew Shipp signaled this status when he mentored Lewis early on and certainly bassist William Parker ordained his arrival by recording with the saxophonist on his major label debut, Divine Travels (Okeh, 2014). Parker returns for this latest release, as does drummer Chad Taylor who can be heard on the quartet recording Molecular (Intakt Records, 2020) and two ...
Continue ReadingJames Brandon Lewis & Red Lily Quintet: Jesup Wagon
by Vic Albani
Erano anni che il jazz attendeva un lavoro come questo. Splendido nella totale sua interezza, capace di riportare “il jazz nel jazz" dopo tanti anni e tante nuove incisioni che i critici hanno valutato con attenzione e spesso incensate come lo sforzo creativo del guardare avanti, pur “rimanendo nobilmente avvinghiati alla tradizione" e via di conserva. Potremmo analizzare a lungo il jazz contemporaneo ma davanti a dischi come questo è ovvio riflettere e considerare ciò che in ...
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