Jazz Articles about Jack Wyllie

About Jack Wyllie

Album Review

Starling murmurations are an amazing sight and a wonder illustrating swarm intelligence. How come none of the birds collide with their peers? Decoded by computer modeling, emergent behavior in complex systems unveils patterns that go well beyond single-component contribution. It is tempting to hear out flocking behavior that transforms individual instruments into a rich tapestry--a wall of murmur--and ascribe it to natural phenomena, especially when the comparison is justified by the album's title. This is the case of Jack Wyllie's ...

Album Review

Paradise Cinema: returning, dream

Read "returning, dream" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
September 21, 2024

Was this made in a studio or beamed in from a jungle on some faraway planet? Perhaps a little of both--Jack Wyllie's saxophone does often find some alien- sounding contexts, as often shown by the futuristic electro-jazz-ambient sound sculpting of Portico Quartet or the wilder psychedelic fusion of Szun Waves. When it comes to Paradise Cinema, the sound is closer to the ground in more ways than one--its self-titled debut (Gondwana, 2020) came from some time soaking in the sounds ...

Album Review

Szun Waves: Earth Patterns

Read "Earth Patterns" reviewed by Gareth Thompson

by Gareth Thompson
August 10, 2022

The second Szun Waves album, New Hymn To Freedom (The Leaf Label, 2018), was a critical smash that united fans of Radiohead and Pharoah Sanders alike. Media types drowned in a torrent of adjectives such as gleaming, sparkling and rippling, as if the combo of brass and electronics could produce anything else. Unless, of course, it was all done adagio in a deep bass register. For their third effort, the trio of Luke Abbott (keys), Jack Wyllie (sax) ...

Album Review

Szun Waves: New Hymn To Freedom

Read "New Hymn To Freedom" reviewed by Gareth Thompson

by Gareth Thompson
August 23, 2018

Pythagoras had this notion that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum. Put simply, as these orbs travel through space they produce certain sound waves. Ever wondered what that might actually sound like? Wonder no more, for this second album from vanguard jazz trio Szun Waves is surely what Pythagoras had in mind. That is, if he could have predicted the later inventions by Adolphe Sax and Robert Moog. Introducing them briefly, we have ...