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Geof Bradfield Quintet: Quaver
by Jack Bowers
While tenor saxophonist Geof Bradfield's versatile Chicago-based quintet does not play “free jazz" on Quaver-- customary rhythmic and harmonic precepts underline every number--the music is explicitly adventurous and forward-looking, as Bradfield and his mates seize every chance to take flight within prescribed boundaries. All the compositions are Bradfield's, and they range from powerful to placid, none of which seems to faze any members of the group, three of whom --Bradfield, bassist Clark Sommers, drummer Dana Hall--have been ...
Continue ReadingRodney Whitaker: Oasis: The Music of Gregg Hill
by Jack Bowers
Oasis is the third time around for bassist Rodney Whitaker and music written by fellow Michigander Gregg Hill, following Common Ground (Origin 82780) and Outrospection (Origin 82819). Personnel is the same as on Common Ground (Terell Stafford, trumpet; Tim Warfield, saxophone; Bruce Barth, piano; Dana Hall, drums; Rockelle Fortin, vocals) with Hall and Fortin returning from Outrospection (on which Fortin is listed as Rockelle Whitaker). Hill's compositions are for the most part firmly grounded in customary post-bop ...
Continue ReadingDarren Johnston: Life in Time
by Jack Bowers
Brooklyn-based trumpeter Darren Johnston traveled to Chicago in May 2021 to record Life in Time with three of his favorite musicians: saxophonist Geof Bradfield, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall who form their own working trio in the Windy City. The generally charming studio date encompasses ten original compositions, six by Johnston, four by Bradfield. Technically and musically, the foursome is splendid. What is missing—and it takes a tune or two to sink in—is the welcome ...
Continue ReadingThe Adam Larson Trio: With Love, From Chicago
by Dan McClenaghan
The experience begins with the cover art, an old school black-and-white photo of Kansas City-based saxophonist Adam Larson with his hair swooped up in something of a modest 1950s pompadour, like an early Sun Records artist--Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley--sitting in the studio with his ax laid out in front of him. Except Larson's ax is not the guitar; it is the saxophone in the photo's foreground. And the Presley pompadour? It really isn't one; a ball cap pushed back on ...
Continue ReadingDamon Locks Black Monument Ensemble: Now
by Chris May
Chicago-based collective Black Monument Ensemble's sophomore album was recorded in September 2020 at the intersection of various existential crises, as seen from a US perspective: the threat of Trump winning the presidential election, by fair means or foul; the rising tide of fascist ideology; extrajudicial murders of, in particular but not exclusively, black Americans; a galloping pandemic; economic chaos; and social isolation. Given the circumstances, it is no surprise that Now sounds apocalyptic. But it is also ...
Continue ReadingGeof Bradfield, Ben Goldberg, Dana Hall Trio: General Semantics
by Troy Dostert
A fortuitous meeting between veteran clarinetist Ben Goldberg and two up-and-coming stalwarts of the Chicago creative jazz scene, saxophonist Geof Bradfield and drummer Dana Hall, General Semantics is a tribute to the power of spontaneous interaction among like-minded musicians. Although Bradfield and Hall have worked together extensively since Bradfield's quintet album Our Roots (Origin Records, 2015), neither had performed with Goldberg. But when the three met at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in 2017 and discovered their sympathetic, wide-ranging musical ...
Continue ReadingClark Sommers: Peninsula
by Mike Jurkovic
You enter the music of Chicago bassist/composer Clark Sommers with wary expectations: In its open-ness anything can happen. Dark perambulations pop against lighter propulsions. Dialogues take on thesis, equation and whimsy. Discourse holds its own parlance, gives definition, then allows for civil caucus. Because Ba(sh), a trio defined only by the elementary concept that 1+1+1=3, converse as one on Peninsula. Thereby making Sommers' rather simmering, seven scrutinies welcome respites from the breaking news and insistent chatter that bombards us all ...
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