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Joe Locke: Love Is A Pendulum
by Troy Collins
Since the late '80s vibraphonist Joe Locke, an artist who defies categorization, has performed and recorded with a diverse array of musicians, including Eddie Henderson, Cecil Taylor, and The Beastie Boys. Love Is A Pendulum, his fourth release on the Harlem-based Motema label, features some of Locke's most compelling music to date, the centerpiece of which is a five movement suite based on a poem by musician and writer Barbara Sfraga. Culled from Sfraga's Subway Series, Locke explains ...
read moreYelena Eckemoff: A Touch of Radiance
by Tyran Grillo
It's fulfilling to hear an artist evolve. In this regard, Yelena Eckemoff has heeded callings definable only by the language of the spirit. The Russian-born pianist and composer comes from a rigorous classical background, and within those parameters has shaped a quiet yet assured corpus of jazz albums stretching back to 2006's The Call. Since then she has assembled numerous ad hoc bands, caressing ebonies and ivories alongside Arild Andersen, Marilyn Mazur, Peter Erskine, and many other established names in ...
read moreYelena Eckemoff: A Touch of Radiance
by Greg Simmons
Trained in an intensive ten-year classical piano program at Moscow's Gnessins School, and after quietly making records for over two decades, Russian native Yelena Eckemoff has been transitioning to a form of hybrid, classically informed improvisation with some exceptional results. 2010's Cold Sun, a trio featuring the exquisite drumming of Peter Erskine, was a tremendous musical statement for a leader making an early foray into improvisation and a record that is well worth seeking out to this day.
read moreEldar Djangirov: Breakthrough
by Dan Bilawsky
"Point Of View Redux"--the eight-minute-long opener on pianist Eldar Djangirov's Breakthrough--doesn't exactly say it all, but it says a hell of a lot. A firmly delivered flourish flies through the air in the opening seconds, a rollicking riff sets things in motion as titan-like technique powers the warp-speed explorations that follow, things take a bluesy turn for a spell, and Djangirov generates enough energy to power an entire city block along the way. This aptly-titled number serves as a musical ...
read moreJoe Locke: Lay Down My Heart: Blues & Ballads Vol.1
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
The successful combination of two chordal instruments--like vibes and piano--requires giant ears and mutual respect in order to avoid melodic pile-ups and harmonic collisions. On this CD, vibraphonist and composer Joe Locke and pianist Ryan Cohan provide a textbook example of how this is done. They are happily aided and abetted by bassist and co-producer David Finck and drummer Jaimeo Brown, who consistently demonstrate the same high level of musicianship. The result is a warmly recorded and completely satisfying set.
read moreJoe Locke: Lay Down My Heart - Blues & Ballads Vol 1
by John Kelman
In a rarefied space, Joe Locke continues to evolve, engage and impress. There simply isn't another vibraphonist of his generation with Locke's stellar chops, thorough understanding of history/tradition--not just of jazz, but of music, period--and ability to build programs based on thematic concepts that not only stand out in his gradually growing discography, but fit contextually within it to create an actual oeuvre, an ever- expanding body of work that represents an artist whose number one priority is always the ...
read moreJoe Locke: Lay Down My Heart: Blues & Ballads Vol.1
by Edward Blanco
The ever versatile vibraphonist extraordinaire Joe Locke returns to his early days of music-making, where he once felt that jazz was, is and “should always be, people music." On his third recording for the Motema label, Locke presents Lay Down My Heart: Blues & Ballads Vol. 1 designed as a vehicle for people everywhere who need a respite from the troubles of the world through a landscape of light blues and soft ballads. Joining the vibraphonist for this date is ...
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