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Ambrose Akinmusire: Honey From A Winter Stone
by Frank Housh
Since his debut in 2008 at age 26, Ambrose Akinmusire has created a sapient body of work featuring some of the most unique and sophisticated sounds in contemporary music. His new release, honey from a winter stone is a dazzling kaleidoscope of jazz, hip-hop, and chamber music, as well as a commentary on the contemporary black experience. Akinmusire said, “[i]n many respects this entire work is inspired by and is an homage to the work of ...
Continue ReadingPascal Le Boeuf: Ritual Being
by Angelo Leonardi
Come il fratello gemello--il sassofonista Remy--anche Pascal Le Boeuf affianca al talento strumentale (di pianista) alte doti di scrittura per ampi organici. Dopo i primi lavori in gruppi condivisi, i due hanno espresso proprie individualità. Il primo s'è imposto tra i protagonisti della nuova orchestrazione jazzistica pubblicando Assembly of Shadows e Architecture of Storms. Il secondo ha dato vita ad altri progetti, tra cui il trio con Linda May Han Oh e Justin Brown (Pascal's Triangle, 2013), le collaborazioni col ...
Continue ReadingBrian Lynch: Con Clave Vol.2
by C. Andrew Hovan
The jazz musician's road to success and sustainability is a rocky one, marked with more than its share of ups and downs. Becoming the norm as of late, those with the strongest staying power have increased their flexibility by becoming more diverse in their efforts. The affect is thus twofold-providing an income to pay the rent, as well as honing a well-rounded perspective of the music. Of course, trumpeter and educator Brian Lynch began the journey down this path many ...
Continue ReadingTigran Hamasyan: Stand Art
by Jerome Wilson
Many jazz pianists start out by playing tunes from the standard pop and jazz repertoires before tackling their own compositions. Tigran Hamasyan has gone in the opposite direction. He has been recording original works and traditional Armenian songs since 2005. Now, on his eleventh album, he finally gets around to playing American standards. Hamasyan leads a trio here with Matt Brewer on bass and Justin Brown on drums, occasionally helped out by tenor saxophonists Mark Turner and Joshua ...
Continue ReadingGerald Clayton: Bells On Sand
by Chris May
It seems like an age since pianist Gerald Clayton's previous album, Happening: Live At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 2020), although it is actually only two years. But what traumatic years they were--and what an impact they have had on Clayton's new album. The Vanguard disc, recorded in spring 2019, was an often exuberant or otherwise intense affair, with saxophonists Logan Richardson and Walter Smith III, both of them capable of generating heat, featured on most of the ...
Continue ReadingAmbrose Akinmusire: On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment
by Chris May
Trumpeter and composer Ambrose Akinmusire rings the changes admirably from album to album. On The Tender Spot Of Every Calloused Moment is the most stripped down of his Blue Note outings (it is his fifth album for the label). It is made with a quartet. There is no second horn. The sound is ECM-like in its monastic simplicity. At fifty minutes it is also Akinmusire's most concise work to date. And while substantial portions of The Imagined Savior Is Far ...
Continue ReadingJustin Brown: Nyeusi
by Angelo Leonardi
34 anni, da quindici a New York, Justin Brown è noto per le sue partnership con Ambrose Akinmusire, Vijay Iyer, StefonHarris, Esperanza Spalding, Christian McBride, Thundercat e altri. Come si vede è un batterista dall'ampio spettro stilistico e questo suo debutto discografico da leader lo conferma ampiamente. La musica di Nyeusi è una fusion elettro-acustica che sulle radici elettroniche degli anni settanta (Weather Report, Tony Williams, Headhunters) costruisce un percorso influenzato dal funk, dall'hip hop e dalle ...
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