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Matt Ulery: Mother Harp
by Mike Jurkovic
With 15 albums of adventurous composition and daredevil artistry behind him, Chicago-based bassist-composer-bandleader Matt Ulery is, as they say back home, no slouch. And on his 16th, the raucously-inflamed and infectious Mother Harp, he follows his rock 'n' roll heart to the finish line and beyond. Mother Harp is a bevy of crazy-good stuff packed with a punk-rock punch you do not hear authentically or authoritatively anymore anywhere these days. Today it all sounds categorical, as if AI ...
Continue ReadingEuan Edmonds: Beyond Hope and Fear
by Hrayr Attarian
Washington DC-based Trombonist Euan Edmonds is a versatile musician who has performed in diverse settings. He honed his improvisational skills, however, in Chicago's creative music scene. His intriguing debut, Beyond Hope and Fear, on drummer Gustavo Cortinas' Desafio Candente label, features some of the city's most exciting voices in a cohesive sextet. The core of this cinematic album is the eponymous seven-part suite that features the spontaneity of the individual musicians in a dynamic framework. Saxophonist Clark Gibson ...
Continue ReadingTwin Talk: Twin Talk Live
by Mark Corroto
The trio Twin Talk makes music that is best described as stealthfully hip. This Chicago ensemble of drummer Andrew Green, tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi and bassist/vocalist Katie Ernst does not trade in a clamorous and flamboyant sound. Still, in their own way, the trio stands out as expressive and captivating. Their fallaciously titled Twin Talk Live is the trio's third release and it follows Weaver (37d03d, 2019) and a self-titled 2015 disc on Ears&Eyes Records. Each of the ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Vogt: Awakening
by Glenn Astarita
Chicago-based Andrew Vogt's Awakening is a profound exploration of the bass guitar's potential as a melodic and rhythmic force. The album highlights Vogt's exceptional musicianship and compositional skill as he delves into a rich sonic palette. It is a jazz album that feels like a musical journey through a dreamscape, where each track is a different chapter in an unfolding story. The album opens with the melodic title track, “Awakening," which sets a serene yet powerful tone with ...
Continue ReadingPaul Dietrich: 5+4
by Jack Bowers
The concept for this latest album by Wisconsin-based trumpeter, composer and educator Paul Dietrich, his fourth as leader, can be found in its title, 5+4, wherein he employs a jazz quintet and four-member string section. It is to Dietrich's credit that neither one outshines the other; the quintet takes the lead on six of the album's eight numbers (all written by Dietrich), the strings on the others ("Out Here," “A Separation"). Indeed, the two components mesh so ...
Continue ReadingMatt Ulery: Mannerist
by Mike Jurkovic
There is a lilting magic to the music of Mannerist that is hard to deny or find fault with. The “Bridge" starts and the whole day changes, eliciting, perhaps, a feeling of being lighter on the feet, lighter in spirit and, most importantly, lighter in the head. Suddenly all the information they want you to swallow goes away and its just you and the music. It is a beautiful thing. It is something bassist/composer/bandleader Matt Ulery sets out to do ...
Continue ReadingDustin Laurenzi's Natural Language: A Time And A Place
by Mark Corroto
When Chicago tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi dedicates a song “Albert" on A Time And A Place to the the Holy Ghost of the avant- garde, Albert Ayler, he doesn't follow what most impersonators do and scream “ALBERT" at you. He builds upon a simple melody pattern (Ayler-like) patiently magnifying the intensity and fervor. Unlike Ayler, whose music hinted he wouldn't live long (he died at 34), Laurenzi's invocation maintains an equanimity within the eruption. That's just Laurenzi being Laurenzi.
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