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Aaron Parks: Little Big III
by Mike Jurkovic
Listening to the ever-evolving mind and music of pianist Aaron Parks reveals a sizable rock and roll streak running through it all. His impulsive 2008 solo nod on Blue Note Records, Invisible Cinema, carried indy rock energy. And it is a good bet that if one digs into his work with Terrence Blanchard--four albums from 2003 including 2007's Grammy-winning A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (EMI)--Parks, a late-stage teenager at the time, exhibits a bardic, punky tinge ...
Continue ReadingAaron Parks: Little Big III
by Chris May
After debuting with a clutch of albums on Keynote around the start of the millennium, and then spending five years with Terence Blanchard, Aaron Parks emerged as a fully-fledged bandleader with his album Invisible Cinema on Blue Note in 2008. On it, Parks fronted a quartet completed by guitarist Mike Moreno, bassist Matt Penman and drummer Eric Harland. The group's bag was the capacious one known as post-genre, but the music was indisputably jazz for all that. After spells on ...
Continue ReadingJune Yun: Enlightenment - Solid Waves
by Dan McClenaghan
South Korean vocalist June Yun's compositional debut, Enlightenment -Solid Waves, explores the feelings and emotions elicited by the concepts of light and dark. These things are difficult to describe in words but translate, with her music, into compelling, atmospheric soundscapes full of shadows, apparitions, angelic imagery and mystical moods. Vid Jamnic's resonant vibraphone murkiness lays a backdrop for Yun's emotive clarity of expression on the disc's opener, “Little Mighty Soul." The lyrics are cryptic and bring to mind mid-career Joni ...
Continue ReadingEllie Lee: Escape
by Richard J Salvucci
The term “promising" is typically used to describe a new arrival on the jazz scene. It may be synonymous with “hard to pigeonhole," or, perhaps, not yet completely realized in some stylistic sense. In the case of Ellie (Seunghyung) Lee, the word is misleading. Lee conjures up echoes of other distinguished players, but she clearly has something original to say. Her compositions, which comprise the bulk of the material here, have a vibe of their own, which comes from a ...
Continue ReadingEllie Lee: Escape
by Glenn Astarita
South Korean Ellie Lee's debut highlights her significant skills as a composer and pianist, grabbing listeners' attention from the get-go. It plunges us into a universe where melody and emotion fuse to spin tales sans words. The opening title track ushers in a vibe that is both comforting and invigorating, laying down the red carpet for an album that intertwines through the tapestry of human emotions with elegance and a touch of flair. Lee's piano skills are a ...
Continue ReadingSimon Moullier Trio: Inception
by Angelo Leonardi
Il giovane vibrafonista vincitore dell'ultimo Critics Poll di Down Beat nella categoria rising star, torna al trio e agli standard con cui aveva pubblicato nel 2021 Countdown. Ritroviamo quindi Luca Alemanno al contrabbasso e Jongkuk Kim alla batteria che avevano lasciato spazio al quartetto di Isla dove Simon Moullier presentava molte sue composizioni. Inutile ribadire che il trentenne francese -con studi al Berklee College of Music e oggi residente a Brooklyn-è l'astro nascente del vibrafono, tanto quanto lo ...
Continue ReadingJahari Stampley: Still Listening
by Hrayr Attarian
Chicago-based pianist Jahari Stampley is a definite prodigy. Raised in a musical family, Stampley, like his mother, also composes and plays other instruments. His debut Still Listening is a mix of four solo and five ensemble tracks, all his originals, which also showcase his leadership skills. The unaccompanied pieces are gems of musical virtuosity. “Evanescent," for example, is a bittersweet ballad with Americana motifs. Stampley's simultaneously effervescent and melancholic chords hint at times at folk and at other ...
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