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Vicente Archer: Short Stories
by Mike Jurkovic
Bassist Vicente Archer may be a Grammy winner with a long grand vintage (Nicholas Payton, John Scofield, Kenny Garrett, Norah Jones) but he has not revealed his own particular harvest as he does on the amicable and resilient Short Stories. Accompanied on what is technically his debut, fellow Scofield and Payton alum, drummer Bill Stewart and ever curious pianist Gerald Clayton bring to these stories a captivating, unified narrative. The soft, insistent tannins of “Mirai" opens Short Stories ...
Continue ReadingRoberta Gambarini: Easy To Love
by Richard J Salvucci
In 2007, All About Jazz reviewer Michael Caratti wrote: “This debut outing from Roberta Gambarini sees the Italian-born jazz vocalist pair up with two star-studded rhythm sections and legendary tenor saxophonist James Moody, to present what has to be one of the best vocal jazz albums of the decade. Opening with Cole Porter's classic title track Gambarini's exquisite tone and masterful rhythmic phrasing are immediately on display in the first a capella section. The gradual addition of bass and brushes ...
Continue ReadingSummer Tree Ain't No Summer Breeze
by Patrick Burnette
It's the shock of the new as the boys take on three 2022 releases that stretch our heads in various directions, including a solo guitar outing, a visit to a mythical cave, and a trumpet excursion that goes to even stranger places. After that, a chill-out album from Blue Note is a welcome change of pace if nothing else. Pop matters delves into this year's edition of the Chicago Jazz Festival, so stay tuned. And watch out for those falling ...
Continue ReadingGerald Clayton: Bells On Sand
by Chris May
It seems like an age since pianist Gerald Clayton's previous album, Happening: Live At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 2020), although it is actually only two years. But what traumatic years they were--and what an impact they have had on Clayton's new album. The Vanguard disc, recorded in spring 2019, was an often exuberant or otherwise intense affair, with saxophonists Logan Richardson and Walter Smith III, both of them capable of generating heat, featured on most of the ...
Continue ReadingGretchen Parlato: Flor
by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo un'assenza di sei anni dedicati alla maternità, Gretchen Parlato torna con un album magistrale per l'equilibrio che esprime tra ricercatezza, lirismo e intatta spinta a riformulare creativamente i brani. A capo di un nuovo organico--arricchito da Gerald Clayton al piano e tastiere, Mark Guiliana alla batteria e Airto Moreira alle percussioni e voce, in veste di ospiti--la cantante losangelina conferma in Flor la sua collocazione d'interprete assolutamente personale, che non può “temere" nulla dall'ingresso in scena delle splendide vocalist ...
Continue ReadingBen Wendel: High Heart
by Mike Jacobs
If Ben Wendel's fifth outing as a leader High Heart shows anything, it's that the saxophonist is ever advancing. While this may seem a fait accompli for a card-carrying member of the shapeshifting collective Kneebody, Wendel's worthy solo efforts have been notably more in a traditionally-sounding vein and thus his innovations were perhaps a bit less readily evident to ears acclimated to that other side of his resume. And yes, by comparison to Kneebody, High Heart still tacks toward a ...
Continue ReadingGerald Clayton Trio featuring Joe Sanders and Kendrick Scott at Nighttown
by C. Andrew Hovan
Gerald Clayton Trio Nighttown Cleveland, Ohio May 16, 2017 Much like the politics of today, everything seems to come in extremes. So much of what passes for modern jazz today veers too far to the left, often opting for the esoteric and anarchism merely for the sake of being different. As an analogy, one could be different by merely building a house with no roof. But in the final analysis, such an effort would just ...
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