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Medler Sextet: River Paths
by Jack Bowers
There are two Medlers in the Portland, Oregon-based Medler Sextet--tenor saxophonist Michelle and bassist Ben--who together comprise the nucleus of a sturdy ensemble whose harmonious empathy and distinctive point of view should please most advocates of thought-based contemporary jazz. Having said that, it should be noted that the studio date's all-original composition makeup--five charts by Ben Medler, another by Michelle--delivers songs that are acceptable but no more than that. In other words, there is nothing on offer ...
Continue ReadingDan Wilensky: All In All
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Dan Wilensky--who has played with everyone from Ray Charles to David Bowie to Jack McDuff-- offered up his take on some familiar pop tunes (The Beatles, The Youngbloods), a touch of George Gershwin and some Sammy Cahn on his 2018 offering, Good Music (Polyglot Music). Now it is (mostly) all Wilensky originals, the result of a busy composing period that spanned the last two weeks of December 2019 the first week of January 2020, in which the saxophonist penned ...
Continue ReadingClay Giberson: Pastures
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Clay Giberson has a fifteen year resume of fine recordings on Seattle's Origin Records label. The discs are, for the most part, solo and trio outings, with the trio sets appearing under his own name or that of his long-standing Upper Left Trio. Some examples: Spaceton's Approach, (2008), and Minga Minga (2015) as Clay Giberson; and Sell Your Soul Side, (2006), and Ulternative, (2012), with the Upper Left Trio. With Pastures, the pianist goes the quartet mode, ...
Continue ReadingClay Giberson: Minga Minga
by Dan McClenaghan
From the mouth of his young daughter came the four playful syllables that don't mean a thing in the adult world, but Portland, Oregon-based pianist Clay Giberson took the idea--and the momentous event of the birth of his child--and went into the studio to record solo, every day for two weeks. The result is Minga Minga. Giberson's association with Origin Records has been a fruitful one, featuring a double handful of excellent albums, with his Upper Left Trio ...
Continue ReadingClay Giberson: Spaceton's Approach
by Dan McClenaghan
There's much to be said for holding a band together over the course of years and performances and album/CD releases, honing the familiarity, comfort level and the intricacies of interplay. Think of the two great Miles Davis Quintets, or Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio.There's also a lot to be said for the one-off affairs, the freshness and spontaneity and energy of a group of like-minded artists getting together for a single recording.Pianist Clay Giberson's working unit is ...
Continue ReadingClay Giberson: Aiming True, Volume 1
by C. Michael Bailey
Clay Giberson last crossed my radar playing with the Upper Room Trio on last year's well-received Cycling . His current release, Aiming True, Volume 1, is a solo piano excursion into moody, nocturnal climes. Is this jazz? Is this New Age? Does this belong on Hearts of Space ? Affirmative to all three. Labels are not important when the music performed is this finely crafted. Giberson is a careful composer, never wasting notes or harmonies. His playing shimmers with quiet ...
Continue ReadingClay Giberson: Aiming True
by Dan McClenaghan
On his solo piano effort Aiming True, Clay Giberson is like a poet, center stage, naked, voicing deep personal musings; or a singer, a cappella, seeking truths with the rhythm of the syllables, the rise and fall of intonations in a world seemingly indifferent to the search. Just Clay Giberson, two hands and a piano, and a universe of probing sound in eighty-eight keys.Mr. Giberson came to my attention with the Upper Left Trio's Cycling (Origin, 2003), a ...
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