Jazz Articles about Craig Thomas

About Craig Thomas

Album Review

John Vanore & Abstract Truth: Easter Island Suite

Read "Easter Island Suite" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 26, 2026

The spirit of Oliver Nelson and the thousand ghosts of Easter Island loom large over John Vanore & Abstract Truth's Easter Island Suite. The Nelson side of the equation has its roots in trumpeter Vanore's attendance at a Nelson-directed summer program at Indiana University, which led him, as a student, into deeper explorations of Nelson's work, including 1961 classic Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse!). Hence, the name of his ensemble: John Vanore & Abstract Truth. As for Easter Island--the ...

Album Review

John Vanore & Abstract Truth: Easter Island Suite

Read "Easter Island Suite" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 15, 2026

The first and last movements of Philadelphia-based trumpeter and composer John Vanore's epic Easter Island Suite were recorded thirty-five years apart, in 1989 and 2024, which says a lot about his determination to shepherd the ambitious enterprise to its conclusion. Movements 2 and 3 of the picturesque Suite were recorded in 2012. Even today, some three hundred years after it was first seen by Western eyes in the form of Dutch explorers led by Jacob Roggeveen, Easter Island, ...