Jazz Articles about Joel Ross

About Joel Ross

Album Review

Jason Palmer: The Concert: 12 Musings for Isabella

Read "The Concert: 12 Musings for Isabella" reviewed by Doug Hall

by Doug Hall
April 16, 2020

As infamous as the 1990 heist of thirteen works of art from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was, an approach to address the void has not been pursued artistically. Trumpeter Jason Palmer's release “The Concert: 12 Musings for Isabella" has taken on the challenge of composing original interpretations of these paintings and several other fine art objects. Palmer describes his reaction to the vacant frames left on the wall at the Gardner as “empty forms." With the 30th anniversary of ...

Album Review

Melissa Aldana: Visions

Read "Visions" reviewed by Serena Antinucci

by Serena Antinucci
March 31, 2020

L'ultimo progetto della sassofonista cilena Melissa Aldana, governato da invasioni e tensioni musicali, è il ritratto schietto della vita nel suo continuo divenire, fatto di stacchi improvvisi, passi indietro e sguardi critici sulla realtà. In Visions (Motéma Music, 2019) ci sono architetture sonore difficili da verbalizzare e, a volte, le parole scompaiono timidamente sommerse dai suoni. Gli undici brani del disco sono il risultato di un profondo studio, di una vitalità trascinante, a volte mista al dolore. Aldana, ...

Album Review

Jure Pukl: Broken Circles

Read "Broken Circles" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
March 7, 2020

Slovenian tenor saxophonist Jure Pukl follows up his quartet outings Hybrid (Whirlwind Recordings 2017) and Doubtless (Whirlwind Recordings 2018) with an album that signals a clear change of direction. On Broken Circles Pukl swaps his saxophonist wife Melissa Aldana for Joel Ross on vibraphone and adds guitarist Charles Altura for some lyrical comping, on top of a well-versed rhythm section. As a direct result, harmony and flow arise more implicitly, giving Pukl the ideal environment to perform long stretches of ...

Radio & Podcasts

Vibe Time

by Patrick Burnette
October 17, 2019

There aren't as many famous vibraphonists in jazz as, say, piano or saxophone players, but the best of the breed are as influential as almost any of the horn blower or key tickler. In this episode, the boys talk about two mallet-masters from the pages of history, and two sponsored by Blue Note in more recent years—a phenom from the early 2000s, and a brand new poster boy. Pop matters looks as two fine acts from the eighties that just ...

Album Review

Melissa Aldana: Visions

Read "Visions" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
July 18, 2019

Compositional and instrumental virtuosity always walks along a razor's edge between self-indulgence and purposeful accomplishment. On Visions, sought after saxophonist Melissa Aldana proves that she doesn't only master balancing this edge but that she can also go beyond the complexities of structure, scales and improvisation and naturally create her very own musical aesthetic. In interplay with an all-star cast of equally dynamic sidemen—Sam Harris on keys, Pablo Menares on bass, as well as drummer Tommy Crane and Joel Ross adding ...