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Jazz Articles about Joëlle Léandre
Joëlle Léandre / Elizabeth Harnik / Zlatko Kaućić: Live In St. Johann
by Mark Corroto
"I was in the house when the house burned down" is a thought sure to happen to many a concert attendee after a performance by legendary French bassist Joelle Leandre. She is a force of nature, a demanding and uninhibited artist. In her presence, a listener can feel the combustion generated by her performances. The same can be said of Austrian Elisabeth Harnik, twenty years Leandre's junior. In recent years, there has been a small explosion of music from the ...
Continue ReadingJoëlle Léandre / Vinicius Cajado: Storm Dance
by John Sharpe
Now 73, French bassist Joëlle Léandre is a consummate improviser allying unrivaled facility to boundless imagination. In a massive discography of over 250 entries, she has especially favored the duo format. Within that, there is a prominent strand of encounters with other bassists, including all the premier exponents of the instrument. To that tally on Storm Dance she now adds the young Brazilian bassist Vinicius Cajado, who has been making waves in Europe, including a bravura appearance at the 2023 ...
Continue ReadingVilnius Mama Jazz Festival 2023
by John Sharpe
Vilnius Mama Jazz Festival State Youth Theater Vilnius, Lithuania May 25-28, 2023 Introduction Now the largest city in the Baltic States, the Lithuanian capital Vilnius once again hosted the Mama Jazz Festival for its 23rd edition. While booking acts which might please a wide range of music lovers, the Festival focused on prominent women in jazz for this year's event. Fitting, really, as the founder and driving force behind the whole extravaganza is a ...
Continue ReadingJoëlle Léandre: Beauty/Resistance
by Neri Pollastri
Maestra e icona dell'improvvisazione europea, Joëlle Léandre è un'artista non facile da incontrare nei festival nostrani, forse per la sua irriducibilità alle etichette con le quali si è soliti catalogare i musicisti, forse perchè autrice sempre di una musica senza compromessi. Prezioso perciò questo cofanetto edito nel 2021, anno del suo settantesimo compleanno, dalla coraggiosa label NotTwo, dedita principalmente alla documentazione delle performance improvvisative. La confezione cartonata include tre CD di formazioni diverse nelle quali la sola a ...
Continue ReadingDamon Smith, Peter Kowald, Joëlle Léandre & Bertram Turetzky: Bass Duos 2000-2007
by Jeff Schwartz
One function of recordings is to document a performer's development. Damon Smith's Bass Duos 2000-2007 not only captures his artistic and technical evolution, his choice of duet partners represents the expanded options for the bass in creative music since the 1960s. Two of the three discs in this set were previously released, but they have been remastered by Weasel Walter. The unreleased disc is excellent and, as Smith highlights in his liner notes, the combination of these ...
Continue ReadingJoëlle Léandre: Zurich Concert
by Mark Corroto
A solo concert by the double bassist Joëlle Léandre is a happening, an event of the highest order. She is very much like a writer or poet who starts with a blank sheet of paper, bringing to life characters and places seemingly drawn from thin air. Of course, like the writer, Léandre's alchemy is born out of years of study, practice, and performance. From her roots in the south of France, she studied classical music before training and performing in ...
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