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Josh Nelson: Live At Bluewhale, Volume 1
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist, composer and--maybe most importantly--conceptualist, Josh Nelson must be a big reader. For his album Exploring Mars (Origin Records, 2015) he drew from, in part, Ray Bradbury's fantastical science fiction story collage Martian Chronicles. And he took a deep look into science and science fiction (H.G. Wells, Jules Verne) for his Discoveries (Steel Bird Music, 2011). Live At Bluewhale features recordings from Nelson's Discovery Project originally performed at the Bluewhale jazz club in Little Tokyo in downtown Los ...
Continue ReadingJoshua Abrams’ Cloud Script: Cloud Script
by Mark Corroto
You can take bassist Joshua Abrams out of his Natural Information Society, but you can't take the Natural Information Society out of Abrams. His long- lived ensemble, which traffics in long-form psychedelic environmental music, has made a permanent imprint on just about everything Abrams does. In bands led by Nicole Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Dave Rempis, and Rob Mazurek, Abrams' acoustic bass sound is hypnotic and mesmerizing. The same can be said for this one-off Cloud Script quartet. The ...
Continue ReadingDave Rempis: Stringers & Struts
by John Sharpe
Chicago-based reedman Dave Rempis has hit such a peak of consistency that the number of stars awarded to any particular outing is more down to personal preference than any variation in quality. He's in control of his own destiny as most of his output flows from his own Aerophonic imprint. And he's achieved another high point with Stringers And Struts, the result of a one-off gathering of Windy City improvisers in town for the 2019 Chicago Jazz Fest, which makes ...
Continue ReadingRob Mazurek / Exploding Star Orchestra: Dimensional Stardust
by Karl Ackermann
Composer, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist Rob Mazurek has made his Exploding Star Orchestra the centerpiece of his larger groups. In this formation, he finds ample room to channel his disparate influences such as Sun Ra and Bill Dixon, and the distinctions he's absorbed as a global citizen. On Dimensional Stardust Mazurek and a dozen collaborators present an energetic, always changeable, genre-less mélange of styles held together by imagination and daring. The imposing Exploding Star Orchestra includes flautist Nicole ...
Continue ReadingRempis/Parker/Flaten/Cunningham: Stringers & Struts
by Mark Corroto
Imagine if the listener could choose bands or combinations of musicians like a fantasy football game. They would compile discographies and note when certain players crossed paths, or imagine new combinations of dissimilar styles. This is obviously not an original idea because Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis has been drafting varying combinations of talented players for more than a decade. The majority of his fantasy leagues can be heard at Elastic Arts where he curates a weekly series, at the Hyde ...
Continue ReadingDavid Lord: Forest Standards Vol. 2
by Troy Dostert
Although his many years spent on the expansive plains of Wichita, Kansas, wouldn't make it likely that guitarist David Lord developed an obsession with the darker recesses of forest life, his music certainly conveys a deep appreciation of that somewhat otherworldly realm. On his Forest Standards Vol. 1 (BIG EGO Records, 2018) and current Vol. 2 follow-up, Lord's song titles reveal a particular fondness for fungi of all kinds—Coltricia, Polypores, and other colorful, quietly growing things which nonspecialists will undoubtedly ...
Continue ReadingDave Douglas: Engage
by Giuseppe Segala
Nella conduzione della propria etichetta indipendente Greenleaf Music, Dave Douglas ha sempre perseguito criteri di attenzione e rispetto verso lo scambio positivo tra esseri umani, ambiente, forme della convivenza. “Composizioni dedicate all'azione positiva": così il trombettista definisce questo lavoro in dodici brani, facendo riferimento ai mesi dell'anno e alle tonalità musicali della tradizione occidentale. Un CD che si pone in diretta continuità con il precedente Uplift, pubblicato nel 2018, applicando gli stessi criteri programmatici, la stessa partizione in dodici brani, ...
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