Jazz Articles about Jongkuk Kim

About Jongkuk Kim

Album Review

Simon Moullier Trio: Inception

Read "Inception" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
May 13, 2024

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 ...

Album Review

Jahari Stampley: Still Listening

Read "Still Listening" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
September 12, 2023

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 ...

Album Review

Simon Moullier Trio: Countdown

Read "Countdown" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
July 2, 2021

Simon Moullier declares that one of his goals with his second recording is “to make the vibraphone disappear." To this end, he eschews the colorful guest list of his debut Spirit Song (Outside In, 2020) and puts his instrument at the head of an acoustic trio where it gets to fill out most of the melodic space. Perfectly logical, no? Nevertheless, although his unpretentious virtuosity carries the day on Countdown, it is not too hard to grasp what ...

Album Review

Daniele Germani: A Congregation of Folks

Read "A Congregation of Folks" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
April 14, 2021

Ambition is not in short supply for up-and-coming alto saxophonist Daniele Germani. Back in 2019, the Berklee College of Music alumnus committed himself to writing a song a day, and ten are featured here on his debut disc, A Congregation of Folks. Nor are they easy-come, easy-go compositions; there is an innate restlessness in Germani's muse, leading to pieces which ebb and flow with a surging intensity. While Germani is no stranger to other musicians' projects, his own record is ...

Album Review

Eshed Korten Biolcati Kim: A Way Out

Read "A Way Out" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
February 12, 2021

One of the more exciting scenarios in jazz unfolds when a group of players comes together, not to realize one individual's specific vision, but just for the sake of making music together and to develop a chemistry which, ideally, was there from the beginning. The group effort here presents the fruits of such an occasion. A Way Out captures a contemporary jazz quartet that's in it for the joy of playing together. Forming the band name under which ...

Album Review

Simon Moullier: Spirit Song

Read "Spirit Song" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
November 12, 2020

Simon Moullier sounds like a pretty old soul for someone only releasing his debut. At the same time, even more impressively, it is a relentlessly playful one, with an equal love for the old and new. One might think an instrument as established as the vibraphone only has so much potential to be taken to new places. With a mind as sharp as his hands, though, Moullier puts that familiar sound in a world-spanning musical context which makes everything both ...

Album Review

Simon Moullier: Spirit Song

Read "Spirit Song" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 17, 2020

Simon Moullier conjures elemental tides on this remarkably fluid and ear-catching debut. The French vibraphonist--a Berklee College of Music and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz alumnus, now living in Brooklyn--offers a glowing attack, sweeping suggestions, worldly modernism and otherworldly light in these pieces recorded over the span of several sessions between 2017 and 2020. Coloring his work with synthesizers and subtly shining graces, drawing on tight bonds with bassist Luca Alemanno and drummer Jongkuk Kim, filling out ...