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Jared Hall: Influences
by Paul Rauch
Jazz music has proliferated through generations traditionally by means of the oral tradition--meaning that knowledge is passed on by mentors, some by personal connection and others by more casual means. In modern times, this tradition lives alongside the jazz school phenomenon, where classrooms and studios incubate talent, while students inescapably still must pay their dues on the bandstand, playing with musicians that are more accomplished and more experienced. Trumpeter Jared Hall has for years straddled that fine line ...
Continue ReadingHadley Caliman / Pete Christlieb: Reunion
by Thomas Conrad
At the end of the first decade of the new millennium, one of the most gratifying developments in jazz is the late blossoming of Hadley Caliman. In 2008, at 76, he released Gratitude, his first recording as a leader in 31 years. It was followed in 2010 by Straight Ahead. They created a buzz on the jazz street. It is not just that he has lasted long enough to finally get the attention he deserves. Hadley Caliman is currently playing ...
Continue ReadingJohn Bishop / Bram Weijters / Piet Verbist: Antwerp
by Dan McClenaghan
Drummer John Bishop, the guy who runs Seattle's Origin Records, does not often put out records under his own name. There was Nothing If Not Something (Origin Records) in 2005, review here, and then nothing until the disc at hand, 2023's Antwerp. Not that Bishop has avoided the recording studio. He is, as a sideman, in fact quite prolific, sitting in on Hal Galper's string of rubato-style piano trio sets--one example: Trip the Light Fantastic (Origin Records, 2011), review here, ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Boone: Caught in the Rhythm
by Paul Rauch
The connection between poetry and jazz music is a delicate one. It has been documented so infrequently, in performance and recordings, that one still conjures the flicker of an image of Jack Kerouac reading in some dark Greenwich Village cafe with Steve Allen or Zoot Sims, surrounded by beret-wearing, cappuccino-sipping beatniks. The work of Fresno-based saxophonist Benjamin Boone has assisted in widening that view through four albums recorded for the Origin Records label, including the fourth, Caught in the Rhythm ...
Continue ReadingHal Galper Trio: Trip the Light Fantastic
by Ken Dryden
This liner note assignment was very special to me, as it followed a phone interview that I did with Hal Galper that was a cover feature. Galper was ecstatic when it was published and called me one afternoon, exclaiming that the release date for his new CD was being moved up and he didn't have time to writer the liner notes, so he asked me if I was interested. With so much great material from the recent interview, all I ...
Continue ReadingScenes: Variable Clouds: Live at the Earshot Jazz Festival
by Paul Rauch
Scenes'' first album dates back to 2001, but the origins of the band dates back to the early 1990s, when saxophonist Rick Mandyck, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop initiated a trio gig. On occasion guitarist John Stowell would drop in if he was off the road and in Seattle. The band that began as a trio reverted back to that format after that inaugural recording, this time Stowell in tow as Mandyck slipped into a decade-long hiatus from ...
Continue ReadingScenes: Variable Clouds: Live at the Earshot Jazz Festival
by Dan McClenaghan
The group Scenes has released seven excellent albums over two decades of recording together, beginning with their eponymous debut (Origin Records, 2001). All of those are studio efforts. The group's 2022 outing, Variable Clouds is a first for Scenes--their first album recorded live in front of an audience, in 2021 at the Earshot Jazz Festival. This is a return to the group's original line-up. Saxophonist Rick Mandyck sat out for a time due to health problems, leaving Scenes ...
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