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Matt Ulery: Pollinator
by Mike Jurkovic
What a wonderful lift to an otherwise dismal year is Pollinator, Chicago based bassist Matt Ulery's unabashed revelry in swing jazz circa King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. Add a few pops, skips and other random surface noises to the sound of these eight unbridled, hothouse Ulery compositions and you'd swear you were sitting in and listening to the real thing. Because Pollinator sure sounds like your grandad's 78s. Those mysteriously heavy, black platters that set you on this beautiful ...
Continue ReadingJeremy Cunningham: The Weather Up There
by Jakob Baekgaard
The complex landscape of human emotions is still vastly uncharted, but every true work of art adds a little piece to the puzzle. This can be done in many ways, but it is rare that an album connects emotion with complex layers of memory, interpersonal relations, politics and societal structures. Nevertheless, this is what drummer and composer Jeremy Cunningham's album does. In a statement, Cunningham explains the background: “I wrote The Weather Up There to confront the ...
Continue ReadingDustin Laurenzi: Snaketime: The Music Of Moondog
by Mark Corroto
Many genius artists have been labeled as freaks or lunatics because they didn't conform to the standards of civil society, let alone the codes of behavior for musicians. Thelonious Monk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Sun Ra are obvious examples of brilliant creators whose music endures and is celebrated. Add to that list Louis Thomas Hardin (1916-1999) aka Moondog. The blind composer-musician could often be found on 6th Avenue in New York dressed as a Viking, selling his music and poetry. ...
Continue ReadingDustin Laurenzi: Natural Language
by Mark Corroto
The first thing you notice about saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi is that he is an old soul. Not that he's old, he and bandmates guitarist Jeff Swanson, bassist Mike Harmon, and drummer Charles Rumback, are the next generation in Chicago's creative jazz tradition. It's his music that fits within the definition of old soul. It is comfortably easy to inhabit while avoiding being mainstream, patient with far-reaching wisdom that exhibits compassion and a certain inner peace. Ok, I know this is ...
Continue ReadingDustin Laurenzi: Natural Language
by Hrayr Attarian
With his sonorous tone and his watershed style, tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi is one of the most promising emergent talents on the Chicago scene. With his various ensembles, in a few short years, he has recorded handful of uniformly exciting sessions. Their trademark is their foothold in the jazz tradition while simultaneously flirting with a freer more modern sound.On his Natural Language Laurenzi and his quartet interpret seven of his fluent and intriguing originals. The individual expressions of ...
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