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Samo Salamon Ra Kalam Bob Moses Orchestra: Dream Suites vol. 1
by Alberto Bazzurro
Basta scorrere i nomi dei musicisti coinvolti nell'operazione per capire di quale rappresentatività per una data scena della più creativa e verace attualità jazzistica “unga" questo assolutamente notevole album cofirmato dal chitarrista sloveno Samo Salamon e dal batterista newyorchese Bob Moses. Lo compongono tre soli ampi brani (dai tredici minuti alla mezz'ora appena scarsa) incisi nel novembre 2023 e fondati sulla pratica della libera improvvisazione (non si parla neppure di conduction, in questo caso), raggiungendo una dimensione formale assolutamente invidiabile, ...
Continue ReadingTom Teasley, Dave Ballou: Lunch Break
by Alberto Bazzurro
Il batterista e polipercussionista (nonché qua e là cantante scat, come in questo album accade per esempio in “Riqq Talk") Tom Teasley e il trombettista Dave Ballou si misurano in un tête-à-tête di poco meno di quaranta minuti che rivela un solido interplay, il piacere di suonare assieme facendo evolvere (sgorgare) la musica in maniera assolutamente naturale, senza fretta e senza pressioni di sorta (sarà magari anche--come ci viene detto espressamente, e come del resto “ufficializzato" dal titolo stesso del ...
Continue ReadingMichael McNeill: Barcode Poetry
by Hrayr Attarian
Pianist Michael McNeill approaches music like an abstract painter. Thus his work is dynamic, multi-hued, and textured. The captivating Barcode Poetry, his fourth album as a leader, finds him expanding his palette with unorthodox instrumentation. His quartet includes, in addition to trumpeter Dave Ballou and percussionist Shelly Purdy, innovative pedal guitarist Susan Alcorn whose passing a few months after this music was recorded adds poignancy. “Timeigrant" opens with McNeill's percussive chords in a dramatic tone. Ballou echoes the ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Hill Sextet Plus 10: A Beautiful Day, Revisited
by Alberto Bazzurro
Registrato dal vivo al Birdland dal 24 al 26 gennaio 2002, il materiale di questo doppio CD (nonché doppio vinile) raggiunge oggi i quasi 83 minuti di durata, aggiungendo, rispetto all'edizione originaria uscita pochi mesi dopo il concerto, un'alternate take inedita del brano che intitola l'album e una versione ampliata di “11/8," riposizionando nel contempo i nove brani complessivi in quanto a “ordine di apparizione." Ne vien fuori un'opera che possiamo tranquillamente definire monumentale, anche proprio per la ...
Continue ReadingMichael McNeill: Barcode Poetry
by Troy Dostert
Pianist Michael McNeill has pursued a number of projects since his debut release, Passageways, in 2013, each of which has defined his distinctive niche as a musician informed by both avant-garde and conventional jazz. On Barcode Poetry, it is the former impulse that prevails, as McNeill and his esteemed colleagues--Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar, Dave Ballou on trumpet, and Shelly Purdy on vibes and percussion--engage in lengthy studies in texture and abstraction rather than straightforward melodic expression.
Continue ReadingAndrew Hill Sextet Plus Ten: A Beautiful Day, Revisited
by Dan McClenaghan
The heyday of pianist Andrew Hill (1931-2007) happened during his hang with Blue Note Records, where he released ten albums between 1963 and 1970, including 1964's Black Fire, a splendid quartet session featuring saxophonist Joe Henderson; 1964's Point Of Departure), that featured a freewheeling sextet that included Henderson, multiple reedist Eric Dolphy and trumpeter Kenny Dorham; to Passing Ships (1969), with an exuberant multi-horn group that included trumpeter Woody Shaw, trombonist Julian Priester and flutist Joe Farrell. For those with ...
Continue ReadingLisa Rich: Long As You're Living
by Nicholas F. Mondello
With Long As You're Living ace jazz vocalist m: Lisa Rich and a team of New York A-listers soar across a dozen tracks of superior jazz. The album, her first since Highwire (Tritone Records, 2019) is a tour de force of musical talents and it once again validates Rich as one of our finest vocal artists. The title track opener, “Long As You're Living" hits with a hip 5/4 up-tempo take on the classic testament to optimism. Rich ...
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