Jazz Articles about Jim Black

Endangered Blood: Endangered Blood

by AAJ Italy Staff
July 18, 2011

Skirl Records. Cinque anni di attività testimoniati da quindici pubblicazioni. Una miseria dirà qualcuno. Quindici perle che come poche testimoniano il rigore creativo di menti tra le più fervide della scena newyorchese, affermiamo noi. Quindici tessere che più o meno consapevolmente compongono un mosaico lucido e appassionante della contemporaneità della grande mela. Se Trevor Dunn, Jim Black e Chris Speed (patron dell'etichetta) sono ben noti agli appassionati, il nome di Oscar Noriega è dalle nostre parti pressoché sconosciuto, ma nei ...

Jim Black / Alas No Axis: Houseplant

by Glenn Astarita
October 9, 2009

Stylistically, revered progressive-jazz drummer Jim Black's Houseplant might not signify a radical departure from his four previous albums for the Winter & Winter record label, spanning 2000-2006. However, Black's substantial imprint on jazz--and here, jazz-rock--offers a mark of distinction due to his quirky, and sly manner of filling in the blanks from behind the kit. And true to form, he punches out some torrid backbeats throughout this sprightly session, featuring his longtime musical group, Alas No Axis.

Tenor ...

Jim Black: One Great Night...Live; Houseplant & Kyrill

by Wilbur MacKenzie
August 2, 2009

Ellery Eskelin/Andrea Parkins/Jim BlackOne Great Night...LivehatOLOGY2009 Jim Black's AlasNoAxisHouseplantWinter & Winter2009 Achim KaufmannKyrillPirouet Records2009 For almost 15 years, drummer Jim Black's approach has augmented a jazz sensibility with occasional (and often jarring) inquiries into the sonic territory of heavier drumming styles that are the signature of ...

Jim Black: Alas, Not Exactly a "Houseplant"

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
June 14, 2009

A day off is something drummer Jim Black rarely takes. At Skirl Party V in April, he played two sets with different bands, recorded with one the next day and left the day after that to tour Europe with another group. Next, it was Australia for several shows during the Melbourne Jazz Festival with a new trio and a concert and recording with local musicians. Black then flew straight back to Europe and picked up a last-minute gig before hitting ...

Jim Black and Axis No Axis: Dogs of Great Indifference

by C. Michael Bailey
September 7, 2006

Trying to describe the texture of music is a bit of a vulgar theology. But the imperfect metaphor of texture is nevertheless the only way to discuss Jim Black's most recent release with Axis No Axis, Dogs of Great Indifference. It is an electric soundscape one might think of hearing on Hearts of Space. The core of this tactile-aural experience is formed by the leader, a drummer, with bassist Skuli Sverrisson and guitarist Hilmar Jensson. They lay down the craggy ...

Jim Black / AlasNoAxis: Dogs of Great Indifference

by Sean Patrick Fitzell
August 27, 2006

In the midst of mounting musical intensity, the drummer was undaunted when his stick shattered. He continued to pound the beat amid angular guitar washes, soaring tenor sax squalls and percolating electric bass. This was not the latest hipster rock act. It was drummer Jim Black's AlasNoAxis powering through the climactic crescendo of “Tars and Vanish from Dogs of Great Indifference--celebrating the release in performance at Tonic on June 25. Over the course of four releases, Black ...

Jim Black / AlasNoAxis: Dogs Of Great Indifference

by Chris May
July 13, 2006

Rock and jazz make fractious partners. The certainties and simplicities of the one don't always sit easily with the unpredictable trajectories and inventions of the other. Opposites can attract, but they can also repel. Miles Davis pulled the marriage off, at least with his early electric bands, and fellow trumpeter Ian Car contemporaneously created something satisfying in the UK. But the path since then has been strewn with compromise and failure--insipid rock 'n' roll and timid jazz.

The best jazz/rock ...