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Steve Marcus, Miroslav Vitous, Sonny Sharrock, Daniel Humair: Green Line
by Joshua Weiner
Several decades into the jazz reissue boom, first on CD and now increasingly on vinyl, one might imagine the bottom of the barrel is being scraped, and that any newly rediscovered obscurities might at this point have been best left alone. Yet so vast are the archives of recorded jazz that diamonds remain in the mine, exemplified by Green Line, a beautiful document of a single session in Tokyo on September 11, 1970, credited jointly to saxophonist Steve Marcus, bassist ...
Continue ReadingHelveticus: Our Way
by Glenn Astarita
Helveticus makes a striking contribution to the jazz scene with its second album, Our Way. Comprised of a Swiss super-trio featuring the distinguished Samuel Blaser on trombone, the legendary Daniel Humair on drums, and the versatile Heiri Känzig on bass, this ensemble offers a masterclass in musical constructive interaction and innovation, blending original compositions, jazz standards, and Swiss folk songs. The opening track “IRA," sets an invigorating tone, with Blaser's trombone leading the melodic charge, weaving complex, soul-stirring ...
Continue ReadingDino Betti van der Noot: Here Comes Springtime
by AAJ Staff
There are some musicians whose instrument is the orchestra. They hear multiple voices, textures, harmonic designs. And if they are jazz composers, they hear the sweet and pungent tension between the orchestra and the improvising soloist. If, moreover, they are composers interested in more than self-gratification, they hear, as they write, particular players so that the ultimate scores reflect a range of individual personalities, each of them telling their own stories as well as that of the composer.
Continue ReadingDaniel Humair in the Lions' Dens
by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
Drummer Paul Motian is well-known for his “melodic" percussion, in which he skits and dodges arrhythmically, letting the guitars and saxophones mark the pulse of the composition. But for all the praise breathlessly--and deservedly--heaped upon Motian for this approach, the number of drummers who follow his example somewhere on this side of the free-jazz frontier, is relatively small. Swiss drummer Daniel Humair is one such example. Humair is too little known in the US, despite having worked with reed players ...
Continue ReadingDaniel Humair / Joachim Kuhn / Tony Malaby: Full Contact
by Martin Longley
This transatlantic collaboration features the long-established partnership of Swiss sticksman Daniel Humair and German pianist Joachim K ühn, but the presence of saxophonist Tony Malaby further establishes the latter's fast-ascending status outside of the US. The reedman isn't blowing as belligerently as usual, tempted into exposing his softer side, his warm tone denuded of its lime-scale textures. The material is clearly composed, but in such a manner that much of the trio's interaction sounds completely improvised (there ...
Continue ReadingDaniel Humair: Baby Boom
by John Kelman
Trust drummer Daniel Humair, who has had more musical lives than the proverbial cat, to continue to reinvent himself by surrounding himself with a group of young players who are equally at home with both composed and free styles of music. Baby Boom unites Humair with saxophonists Matthieu Donarier and Christophe Monniot, bassist Sebastien Boisseau and guitarist Manu Codjia—all players who have only emerged on the scene in the past couple of years. But what they lack in years of ...
Continue ReadingDaniel Humair, Marc Ducret, Bruno Chevillon and Ellery Eskelin: Liberte Surveillee
by Phil DiPietro
Here's one that has it all, including the package itself-so good here, I'll start the review with it. Fittingly recognized as part of the art presented, the case's brushstrokes on the cover are reflected on the discs inside. It features the best photos of musicians I've seen on an album this year, by Christian Ducasse, taken at Paris' Swiss Cultural Center during the run of shows that captured these beautifully recorded live performances. The back cover portrait of Humair makes ...
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