Jazz Articles about Jacob Garchik

About Jacob Garchik

Album Review

La musica contenuta in questo album trae spunto da una commissione ricevuta da Miguel Zenón per la composizione di una suite basata sulla storia di San Francisco e della Bay Area, evidenziando in particolare i contributi offerti da parte delle comunità giapponese, cinese, messicana e, ovviamente, afroamericana. Ne è nata così questa Golden City, presentata in anteprima al San Francisco Jazz Center nel 2022 e incisa poi a fine novembre dell'anno seguente. Per l'occasione Zenón (portoricano, lo ricordiamo) ...

Album Review

Stephan Crump: Slow Water

Read "Slow Water" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
October 24, 2024

Ispirato al libro della giornalista scientifica Erica Gies intitolato Water Always Wins e commissionato dalla Shifting Foundation, Slow Water mostra ancora una volta, se mai fosse necessario, come Stephan Crump sia da considerarsi figura di prima grandezza della scena improvvisativa statunitense, non solo come partner di lusso o co-leader, ma come autore di progetti a proprio nome che lasciano il segno. Come il disco in questione, quasi settanta minuti di magie sonore organizzati in forma di suite e interpretati da ...

Album Review

Miguel Zenon: Golden City

Read "Golden City" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 22, 2024

The alto saxophone rose to jazz prominence in the 1940s, under the influence of Charlie Parker and the birth of bebop. Important players such as Art Pepper, Lee Konitz and Ornette Coleman took the horn in their own directions, crafting distinctive alto saxophone voices. Moving ahead to the new millennium, no alto saxophonist has entered the tradition with more style and panache than Miguel Zenon. His Alma Aldentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook (Marsalis Music, 2011), Tipico (Miel Music, 2017) and ...

Album Review

Miles Okazaki: Miniature America

Read "Miniature America" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
July 31, 2024

Ventidue miniature svarianti da uno a sei minuti, con impegnati sottoinsiemi (o microgruppi, se preferite) estrapolati dal totale dei dieci elementi, sette strumentisti e tre cantanti, coinvolti nell'operazione, è quanto ci offre questo nuovo lavoro discografico (il dodicesimo, ci viene detto) a nome del cinquantenne chitarrista Miles Okazaki, con la partecipazione di svariati musicisti di punta dell'attuale scena newyorchese (e non). Ogni episodio possiede--fisiologicamente, verrebbe da dire--un aplomb cameristico di sicuro fascino, anche se è inevitabile che il ...

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Album Review

Stephan Crump: Slow Water

Read "Slow Water" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 4, 2024

Bassist-composer Stephan Crump's sonic odyssey Slow Water is a profound exploration of the essence and myriad forms of water. It goes beyond merely depicting its physical flow; rather, it delves into the symbolic and existential significances that water holds. This project emerges as a creative masterwork, reflecting Crump's deep contemplation of humanity's intricate relationship with this elemental force. Inspired by a lifetime of individual experiences and societal observations, Crump crafts an album that is both thought-provoking and sonically captivating.

Album Review

Mary Halvorson: Cloudward

Read "Cloudward" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
January 20, 2024

The title of guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson's Cloudward alludes to the sense of optimism she has stated she felt when writing the bulk of the material in fall of 2022. And while this palpable sense of faith in the future is in marked contrast to the tangible air of eerie foreboding that surfaced so often on this LP's predecessors, the presence of largely the same personnel lineup--the Amaryllis Sextet-- provides a stable link of continuity. The reappearance of prior collaborators recording ...

Album Review

Mary Halvorson: Cloudward

Read "Cloudward" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
January 2, 2024

Guitarist, composer & raconteur Mary Halvorson could very comfortably (and rightfully) wear the sobriquet of “The Charles Mingus of Guitar" if she wanted to. But even that open-ended comparison would limit her as she outdoes herself again on Cloudward. Though it must surely be getting harder to top herself given the string of releases--the deliberately articulate schizophrenia Amaryllis and Belladonna (Nonesuch, 2022), the unbridled trio synergy Multicolored Midnight (Cunneiform, 2018), the crackling mad invention propelling 2018's Code Girl (Firehouse 12 ...