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Katie Bull, Joe Fonda, and Julian Lage
by Jerome Wilson
This episode features imaginative jazz works by Katie Bull, Dave Douglas, and Joe Fonda, as well as new releases by Julian Lage, Mike LeDonne, and Ulysses Owens Jr. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 So-Called Jazz Sextet “Mr. Powder Blue" from Vermont Avenue (Accurate) 00:57 Dave Douglas “Over Farrell's" from Five (Soul Note) 6:22 Host Speaks 14:28 Tima Volozh ...
Continue ReadingKatie Bull: All Hot Bodies Radiate
by Franz A. Matzner
A raucous concoction, Katie Bull's All Hot Bodies Radiate bursts with energy, its verbal and musical contortions devoted to a deceptively cacophonous mix of levity, seriousness, playfulness, and avant abstractions. Artfully balanced, Bull merges spoken-word delivery and singing to deliver her poem-lyrics in a style that cleverly evokes the best coffeehouse traditions, without being overtly retro. The words themselves are evocative, often pointedly erotic, and when fused to her bandmates appropriately shifting styles, fashion clearly envisioned sound and ...
Continue ReadingKatie Bull: All Hot Bodies Radiate
by Alberto Bazzurro
Quinto album per la cantante e autrice newyorchese Katie Bull, le cui coordinate espressive spaziano da una vocalità jazz non eccessivamente ortodossa a infiltrazioni di matrice contemporaneo-colta (quella sorta di recitarcantando che segna quasi tutte le sue sortite), senza eludere del tutto refoli di ascendenza per così dire prog-song. L'interlocutore privilegiato della voce, posta sempre molto al centro delle operazioni, è il sax, più spesso tenore, di Jeff Lederer, che sfoggia una sonorità piena, corporea, che qua ...
Continue ReadingKatie Bull: Freak Miracle
by Florence Wetzel
Katie Bull is a highly original talent, a vocalist steeped in tradition who fearlessly rocks the boundaries of the known. Freak Miracle is a wonderfully expressive and free-flowing CD, a fresh and unpredictable mix that highlights Bull's gift for approaching music and songwriting from her own unique angle. Eleven of the fourteen tracks on Freak Miracle are Bull originals, and no two songs are alike, whether it's an homage to mentor Sheila Jordan on “Back to Square One," ...
Continue ReadingJazz Is Obama
by Katie Bull
The musicians I am drawn to are players who “open up." They carry the torch for the freedom of infinite possibility. They have unbounded imagination. They see a musical chart as a map into unknown territory. Not unlike healthy law, the form of a jazz vocal chart can make or break the democracy of an improvisation. It can liberate a community dialogue with firm, clear, yet spacious structure or it can lock everyone in the band into pre-meditated isolation. The ...
Continue ReadingKatie Bull: The Story, So Far
by Jim Santella
A genuine jazz singer, Katie Bull pulls no punches when it comes to interpreting original material. She tosses in a few classic songs on The Story, So Far while portraying lyrics convincingly, scat singing with natural ease, adding a sincere blues texture to each selection, all of it coming from the bottom of her heart. Her voice remains strong and accurate as she relates memorable stories in the pure jazz idiom. She and bassist Joe Fonda describe ...
Continue ReadingKatie Bull: Love Spook
by Donald Elfman
There seem to be more singers today than ever before, but along with that development come a few who are turning around the notion of just what a singer does and can do. Katie Bull is called a multimedia artist, and that notion informs her every note here. She knows the repertoire and she knows the vocabulary but she also has the sense of drama and choreography that speak to the expansion of the whole field of singing.
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