Jazz Articles about Kenneth Salters

About Kenneth Salters

Album Review

Jakob Dreyer: Roots and Things

Read "Roots and Things" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
March 10, 2026

Jakob Dreyer è un contrabbassista tedesco di quarantacinque anni di cui questo costituisce il terzo album da leader (il primo nel 2022, tutti su Fresh Sound New Talent), inciso in realtà a Mount Vernon (come innumerevoli altri, da un po' di anni a questa parte) nel marzo 2025 con un trio tutto a stelle e strisce. Lo compongono sedici brani, di cui cinque brevissimi, poche decine di secondi, col sound d'insieme fortemente caratterizzato dalla vibrafonosta Sasha Berliner. Il ...

Album Review

Jakob Dreyer: Roots and Things

Read "Roots and Things" reviewed by La-Faithia White

by La-Faithia White
March 2, 2026

Jakob Dreyer originally studying piano from age four, switched to bass at age 14. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Music and Drama in Hamburg, Germany, where he studied both classical and jazz. He then studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory before later establishing himself as an in- demand sideman in Germany for many years, working with national artists like Gabriel Coburger Sandra Hemper and Sebastian Gillen as well as international artists like Dusko Goykovich, Nils Landgren ...

Album Review

Jakob Dreyer: Roots and Things

Read "Roots and Things" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
November 27, 2025

Bassist Jakob Dreyer searched for a new sound for his third album as a leader. He has, for his previous two releases, expressed his art via the standard quartet--sax, bass, drums and piano. For Roots and things, the piano is replaced by Sasha Berliner's vibraphone, joining the leader's other new-to-the-fold sidemen, saxophonist Tivon Pennicott and drummer Kenneth Salters.A vibraphone in the group is an inspired choice. The instrument is seeing a 2024/2025 resurgence. Blue Note Records, in particular, ...

Album Review

Charlie Porter: Hindsight

Read "Hindsight" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
May 19, 2021

Trumpeter Charlie Porter has proved himself to be an inventive composer whose works are simultaneously thought-provoking and mellifluous. His third and perhaps most immediately relevant release, Hindsight, draws inspiration from the events that came to public attention in 2020. Musically, the nine originals are fluid yet complex and are peppered with sounds from other genres such as gospel, African folk and hip hop. The result is a seamless and delightfully unique fusion which delivers its message with intelligence and panache. ...

Album Review

Charlie Porter: Hindsight

by Paul Rauch
March 4, 2021

Portland based trumpeter/composer Charlie Porter is back, and following the trend industry wide over the past year, has released a finely crafted collection of pieces attached to a social narrative. Hindsight examines how we act in hindsight dealing with the long term societal struggles of racism, corruption and inequality. While two of the pieces feature the lyrics of Majid Khaliq and Madelaina Piazza, Porter has namaged to weave the emotional uncertainty of daily life during the Covid-19 pandemic into bittersweet ...

Album Review

Charlie Porter: Immigration Nation

Read "Immigration Nation" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
December 4, 2019

Jazz has always carried with it a social narrative with historical ebbs and flows reliant on the polarizing issues of its time. With Immigrant Nation (OA2, 2019), Portland based trumpeter Charlie Porter embraces the forever narrative of American immigration, the historical force of humanity that has formed and enriched this country from its beginnings. The linear timeline of American immigration that widened at the beginning of the twentieth century has narrowed due to the gut wrenching actions of the current ...

Album Review

Joanna Wallfisch: Blood & Bone

Read "Blood & Bone" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
February 5, 2018

Put quite simply, Blood & Bone is both the sound of a broken heart laid bare and the sonic summation of a journey toward its reconstruction. It's an album informed by the gravitas of naked truth, finding vocalist Joanna Wallfisch creating and delivering a singular blend of poise, pain, and passion with startling clarity. As with any path to discovery or healing, there are mixed emotions to be found along the way here. On the album's tied-together ...