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New Releases Plus A Focus On Yells At Eels And Ivo Perelman
by Bob Osborne
Trombonists kick off a show packed with new releases which are followed by a focus on the work of Yells At Eels on Ayler Records and more from the massive set of releases from Leo Records featuring Ivo Perelman.Playlist Reggie Watkins “Rivers" from Rivers (Bynk Records) 00:00 Altin Sencalar “17 West" from Unleashed (Posi-tone Records) 06:37 Ronan Guilfoyle “At Swing Two Birds" from At Swing, Two Birds (Livia Records) 14:28 Los Angeles Improvisation Ensemble “Igor's Infernal Rite To ...
Continue ReadingFred Anderson & Hamid Drake, Dennis González, Clean Feed Records & Zoh Amba
by Maurice Hogue
I missed the original release by Fred Anderson and Hamid Drake of their From The River To The Ocean in 2007, but I'm catching up to this brilliant piece of work. The recording has been made available again on bandcamp.com. It's one of the features of this episode, as is O Life, O Light Vol. 1 from saxophonist Zoh Amba, a new star in the avant-garde world. Portugal's Clean Feed Records has released several new albums recently and you'll hear ...
Continue ReadingDennis Gonzalez: Ts'iibil Chaaltun
by Don Phipps
Dennis Gonzalez's trio, Ataraxia is comprised of trumpet (Gonzalez), bass (Drew Phelps), and percussion (Jagath Lakpriya), a mix of instruments that on the surface would alone suggest interesting music. And their double album, Ts'iibil Chaaltun, does not disappoint. There's a lot of desert in this music... large rocks that jut from the sand, dunes that stretch to the sunset, and a sense of vista. There's also the dance. Listen to “Yarn" and how it spins a web of ...
Continue ReadingYells at Eels: In Quiet Waters
by Karl Ackermann
It would seem that trumpeter Dennis González could easily find a place among the better-known artists in jazz were it not for a deep commitment to making generally undefinable music and priorities that include putting his academic and literary responsibilities out front. From the time of his first release as a leader, Air Light (Sleep Sailor) (Daagnim, 1979), González began toying with unusual amalgams like free improvisation and quasi-big band augmented with global dynamics. Much of the way González communicates ...
Continue ReadingDennis Gonzalez - Joao Paulo: So Soft Yet
by Glenn Astarita
Recorded in Portugal, Texas trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez and Portuguese keyboardist Joao Paulo offer a temperate pastoral setting, grounded on the duo's intake of regional sensibilities, ethnocentricities and emotive responses to cultural and spiritual components. With the effective use of space acting as a third instrument, the duo strikes an ethereal balance, spanning open-air panoramas, lush phrasings and resonating micro-themes via a largely unhurried gait. The musicians infuse variable moods amid Paulo's edgy and darkly woven electric keys to ...
Continue ReadingDennis Gonzalez Yells at Eels: Cape of Storms
by Glenn Astarita
Texas-based trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez's distinctive alliance of composition, structure and technique has blossomed into an elevated art form within the global jazz and improvisation circles. The trumpeter's compositions periodically spawn a few nods to Ornette Coleman's harmolodic methodology, largely founded within cyclical themes built on tonal shifts and punctuated rhythmic lines. The artist also incorporates massive attacks and uses density and space as additional instruments. On Cape of Storms, featuring his sons Aaron Gonzalez (bass), and Stefan Gonzalez (drums, percussion), ...
Continue ReadingDennis Gonzalez Connecticut Quartet: Songs of Early Autumn
by AAJ Italy Staff
Dennis Gonzales fa parte di quella schiera di musicisti che una certa iconografia americana sul mondo del jazz definisce unsung hero. Nonostante decine di registrazioni a proprio nome tutte eccellenti, nonostante grandi apprezzamenti da parte di colleghi e da critici musicali, il nome di Dennis Gonzales fatica ad oltrepassare i confini statunitensi ed anche in quei territori più che una star è un musicista di culto. Peccato (o forse no...) perché il trombettista (e compositore, didatta, produttore radiofonico, artista visivo, ...
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