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Steph Richards: Power Vibe
by Mike Jurkovic
Fire music. Free jazz. Third stream. Fourth stream. Avant improv, noise chamber blues, and whatever the meta and hashtags say it is, this sextet of loose cannons knows better and holds all the cards. Imagine for a moment what the reaction might be if your facial muscles suddenly, involuntarily, started to freeze, leaving you without expression and, without your art. Trumpeter Steph Richards, a halcyon force on the expanding concepts of free music, responded by making Power Vibe ...
Continue ReadingEast Axis: No Subject
by Karl Ackermann
Pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Kevin Ray, and drummer Gerald Cleaver return for No Subject, the sophomore release from the quartet East Axis. One point on the axis has changed with the journeyman, multi-reedist Scott Robinson replacing saxophonist Allen Lowe. Robinson is a veteran of many prestigious and diverse groups including the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, Maria Schneider's orchestra, Ron Carter's Great Big Band, and the Joe Lovano Nonet. While not an obvious choice in the company of top-tier avant-gardists, Robinson ...
Continue ReadingSamuel Blaser: As the Sea
by John Kelman
Plenty has been written about musical camaraderie--the building of long-term musical relationships and their unmistakable impact on the evolution of a group. Few, however, discuss the inevitable impact of personal relationships behind the music. Times have changed, and few jazz groups tour for more than a couple of consecutive weeks; still, hitting the road for even two weeks is sure to mean plenty of “up close and personal" time amongst band members. Samuel Blaser's Boundless (hatOLOGY, 2011) was recorded during ...
Continue ReadingRob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra: Lightning Dreamers
by Mark Corroto
The similarities between Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra and Sun Ra's Arkestra are numerous. Both leaders travel the spaceways via the technologies available in their time, applied through dynamic rhythm and pulse. For Ra, his sound began when he was an apprentice in Fletcher Henderson's band in the 1940s, and Mazurek's 1990s work revolved around Isotope 217 and the various Chicago Underground (and later São Paulo Underground) ensembles. Both bandleaders were composers of their time, nonetheless they always create music ...
Continue ReadingEast Axis: No Subject
by Mike Jurkovic
As multi-reedist Scott Robinson, (Maria Schneider, Roscoe Mitchell) takes the horn chair from Allen Lowe, all is delivered and then some on No Subject, the second, reason-defying release from chameleonic improvisers pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Kevin Ray, and drummer Gerald Cleaver. Turning to shorter forms and themes than the three lengthy group-thinks which determined 2021's restless narrative Cool With That (ESP), each member of East Axis integrally steers the protean charge to creation via his own curious instinct and will. ...
Continue ReadingJeong Lim Yang: Zodiac Suite: Reassured
by Dan McClenaghan
This is bold music. It bursts with freewheeling, chip-on-the-shoulder modernism. It is Korean-born bassist Jeong Lim Yang's take on pianist-composer Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite (Asch Records, 1945). Yang tags her revisitation of the classic piece Zodiac Suite: Reassured. But a revisitation of Williams' original trio rendition—to prime the ears for the experience of hearing this new version—says there was an awful lot of boldness and a big modern lean going on back in the mid-twentieth century. Williams ...
Continue ReadingFred Moten, Brandon López, Gerald Cleaver: Moten/López/Cleaver
by Mark Corroto
Chuck D of Public Enemy fame once said, “rap music is the CNN of the ghetto." His words, coupled with samples and the scratching of turntables, were revelatory in their day, very much like a five-minute news update. Poet and cultural critic Fred Moten's words are more like a deep dive graduate colloquy. He presents his poetry together with the accomplished improvising musicians, bassist Brandon López and drummer Gerald Cleaver. At a first pass, listeners will certainly be ...
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