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Jason Palmer: Live From Summit Rock In Seneca Village
by Jack Bowers
With Covid-19 generally having had its way in recent years, shuttering many venues at which jazz musicians were accustomed to performing, it is a pleasure to hear an actual concert with a real live audience--even if the group is a piano-less quartet striving to hold its listeners' interest through five extended numbers whose collective playing time is over an hour. Trumpeter Jason Palmer's ensemble was recorded outdoors in May 2021 at the historic Seneca Village site in New York City's ...
Continue ReadingJason Palmer: Live From Summit Rock In Seneca Village
by Mark Corroto
It must have been a feeling of great happiness and triumph in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic for musicians to actually perform for an audience. A live, in-person audience that is, not a Zoom session from a home studio. That joyous feeling is quite evident on Jason Palmer's Live From Summit Rock in Seneca Village recorded in May of 2021 in Central Park. This release is the trumpeter's third for Giant Step Arts and his fifth with ...
Continue ReadingOded Tzur: Isabela
by David Bruggink
Saxophonist Oded Tzur burst onto the jazz scene in 2012 with a remarkable approach to his instrument that drew upon his studies with Hariprasad Chaurasia, a master of Hindustani Classical music. Joining pianist Shai Maestro, bassist Petros Klampanis, and drummer Ziv Ravitz, he formed a New York-based quartet that began performing locally and ultimately released a debut album, Like a Great River (Yellowbird), in 2015. On that thrilling recording, the wider world was exposed to Tzur's unique mélange of Indian ragas, ...
Continue ReadingOded Tzur: Isabela
by Chris May
Oded Tzur's 2020 album, Here Be Dragons, the Israeli-born, New York-based tenor saxophonist's first release on ECM, triggered an eruption of purple prose. Critics competed to see who could convey the most enthusiasm. A few even suggested that the Tzur quartet was the inheritor of the mantle of John Coltrane's classic quartet. That might have been over the top, and was certainly premature--Here Be Dragons was only Tzur's third album in a recording career which had begun as recently as ...
Continue ReadingJohnathan Blake: un batterista ai vertici
by Angelo Leonardi
Accolto tra i lavori migliori dell'anno dalle massime riviste internazionali Homeward Bound, è il quarto disco di Johnathan Blake e il debutto con l'etichetta Blue Note. L'album ha finalmente evidenziato le doti di compositore e leader del 45enne batterista di Philadelphia, figlio del violinista John Blake Jr., noto partner di McCoy Tyner, Archie Shepp, James Newton, Steve Turre e leader di proprie formazioni negli anni ottanta. Attivo professionalmente dall'età di 18 anni (con la big-band di Oliver Lake ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Whitaker: Connections
by La-Faithia White
Multi-instrumentalist Matthew Whitaker opens up and shares some personal moments on Connections. The journey begins with the light, suave “Journey Uptown." The tune grabs attention right away with an energetic upbeat feel which takes one on a magical journey of percussion and piano. “Bye-Ya" features Jon Batiste on piano. Written by Thelonious Monk, Batiste and Whitaker display their talents on piano and other keyboards. The sound is theatrical and has an Art Tatumish feel. “Stop Fighting" has ...
Continue ReadingGreg Abate: Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron
by Chris M. Slawecki
Musicians will sometimes honor another musician who influenced their lives or work with a tribute or memorial recording after that influential musician has passed on. There's an abundance of first-rate music on the double-disc Magic Dance: The Music of Kenny Barron. But the best thing about it is that the leader, flutist and saxophonist Greg Abate, convinced Kenny Barron to fill its piano chair. “Kenny was kind enough to provide me with music for a range of his tunes, some ...
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