Jazz Articles about Kenny Wollesen

About Kenny Wollesen

Album Review

Welf Dorr, Elias Meister, Dmitry Ishenko, Kenny Wollesen: So Far So Good

Read "So Far So Good" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
July 26, 2024

Germany-reared saxophonist Welf Dorr has been a fixture in the New York City avant-garde jazz scene since 1995 and brings his distinctive blend of experimental and free jazz to life with this album. Dorr has been a relentless innovator, merging elements of blues, jazz and rock into his compositions. As leader of his group, Welf Dorr Unit, he has consistently pushed the boundaries of modern jazz. With So Far So Good, he continues this tradition, delivering a collection that is ...

Album Review

Sylvie Courvoisier: Chimaera

by John Sharpe
April 3, 2024

Even though pianist Sylvie Courvoisier has bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen on hand for Chimaera, the six-piece band is a long way from being merely the storied threesome, which made Double Windsor (Tzadik, 2014), D'Agala (Intakt, 2018) and Free Hoops (Intakt, 2020), plus added guests. As she explains in the liners, the music was originally commissioned for the 2021 Sons d'Hiver festival in Paris and was inspired by the surreal works of French Symbolist artist ...

Album Review

Sylvie Courvoisier: Chimaera

Read "Chimaera" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
December 5, 2023

It says something about pianist Sylvie Courvoisier's current profile in creative jazz that she could assemble such a distinguished ensemble for her latest release, Chimaera. Augmenting her usual trio of bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen are trumpeters Wadada Leo Smith and Nate Wooley, and with the always interesting Christian Fennesz completing the group on guitar and electronics, one would expect extraordinary results. And so they are--worthy of a lengthy, two-CD treatment, in fact. Courvoisier's work with ...

Album Review

John Zorn: Gnosis: The Inner Light

Read "Gnosis: The Inner Light" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski

by Nenad Georgievski
June 19, 2023

John Zorn's album Gnosis: The Inner Light serves as a poignant memorial and homage to the creative genius of one of modern music's most visionary composers, Ennio Morricone, who played a vital role in shaping Zorn's musical path. Decades ago, Zorn captivated audiences with The Big Gundown (Nonesuch, 1986), a groundbreaking release that boldly reimagined Morricone's compositions. Now, with Gnosis: The Inner Light, Zorn once again pays tribute to the maestro's enduring influence, delving into mystical realms and creating a ...

Album Review

Steph Richards: Supersense

Read "Supersense" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
October 22, 2020

With all the threatening weirdness and desperate surrealism that has become life in the USA, it makes absolute sense that Supersense, daring trumpeter/composer Steph Richards' third full length album, starts out like an encroaching invasion of ants, or microbes, or a disruptive, divisive, myopic political movement. As with such forward seeking rebels as Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson and Yoko Ono, Richards' modus operandi is chiseled in the very foundations of the music itself. Never ...

Album Review

Sylvie Courvoisier Trio: Free Hoops

Read "Free Hoops" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
September 28, 2020

With her idiosyncratic mixture of mystery and mirth, and a seamless conjoining of jazz and classical musical vocabularies, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier has carved an enviable niche for herself. She not only possesses impeccable technique, but her voice as a composer is just as formidable, whether in partnerships with fellow mavericks like Mary Halvorson, Evan Parker, or Mark Feldman, or in her blue-chip trio with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Their D'Agala (Intakt) was a widely hailed highlight of ...

Album Review

Mark Murphy, Folk Artist: Hiding Place

Read "Hiding Place" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
August 5, 2020

Mark Murphy's 2018 release Pocketful of Rainbows (Self Produced, 2018) was a surprise stand-out recording that year. Now, this Mark Murphy is not that Mark Murphy (1932 -2015), icon of jazz vocals. This Mark Murphy is a singer/songwriter whose 2016 release, Slip Away (Mini Movie) scored points for one of Downbeat Magazine's recordings of that year. Murphy returns with Hiding Place, a slim collection of seven songs, originals mixed with imaginative covers, in keeping with his previous offerings.