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Steve Holt: Impact
by Jack Kenny
To create a new album after a twenty-year gap is intriguing. In his long career Steve Holt has worked with Archie Shepp, Larry Coryell Eddie Henderson, Pat LaBarbera, James Moody and Michel Urbaniak. He studied with Kenny Barron, an experience that affected his keyboard style. Surrounding himself with some major Canadian musicians, he has produced some new vital work: a library of new themes for the group to work on. The main task of a composer is to ...
Continue ReadingCarn Davidson 9: Reverence
by Jack Bowers
The Carn Davidson 9 is a Toronto, Canada-based nonet co-led by trombonist William Carn and saxophonist Tara Davidson whose fourth studio album, Reverence, encompasses a pair of four-part suites, one written by Carn, the other by Davidson. What is most interesting --over and above the depth and quality of the music--is that the suites are not performed sequentially but interspersed, with the first two of Davidson's themes followed by a pair of Carn originals before alternating on the remaining four ...
Continue ReadingLaila Biali: Wintersongs
by Pierre Giroux
Laila Biali is an award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist whose recording Wintersongs offers an immersive journey into the delicate beauty and serene power of winter all through the lens of her jazz and classical roots. With two exceptions, all tracks were composed by Biali in a cabin surrounded by snow-capped mountains in the heart of Canada's Rocky Mountains. Many of Biali's usual collaborators participated in this production, including drummer Ben Wittman, renowned flutist and soprano saxophonist Jane Bunnett, accomplished trumpeter ...
Continue ReadingThe Nimmons Tribute: Volume 2--Generational
by Jack Bowers
If you live in Canada and are not familiar with the name Phil Nimmons, you probably have not been paying close enough attention. Nimmons, who surpassed the century mark in June 2023, is often referred to as the “Dean of Canadian Jazz," and listing his many accomplishments and awards would require far more space than is ordinarily set aside for a complete review. Suffice to say that Nimmons has been active as a composer, arranger, performer and educator longer than ...
Continue ReadingThe Nimmons Tribute: Volume 2 - Generational
by John Chacona
Anyone who listened to Canadian radio after the adoption of the so-called Canadian Content requirement in the '70s probably heard a lot of Phil Nimmons' music. To be sure, the clarinetist, composer and arranger had achieved some recognition south of the 49th parallel through his RCA recordings of the '50s but, by choosing to base his career in Toronto, he became a living symbol of Canadian jazz. When the nation celebrated the 100th anniversary of Confederation in 1967, Nimmons was ...
Continue ReadingNoam Lemish: Twelve
by Jack Bowers
The number Twelve has several explicit meanings on Israeli-born composer/pianist Noam Lemish's eighth album as leader of his own ensemble, which is twelve members strong (well, thirteen on the first two numbers, on which Laura Swankey adds wordless vocals, and twenty-five if one counts the thirteen-member chorus on Track 3). Returning to the basic premise, Lemish composed his first piece of music at age twelve, and it has been twelve years since he relocated from San Francisco to Toronto, Canada. ...
Continue ReadingCarn Davidson 9: The History of Us
by Jack Bowers
From north of the U.S. border comes The History of Us, a warm-hearted album by the Carn Davidson 9, a Toronto-based nonet co-led by trombonist William Carn and saxophonist Tara Davidson. The album consists of a pair of three-part suites, one by Carn, the other by Davidson, separated by Carn's amiable composition, “Goodbye Old Friend," a fond salute to his late and dearly loved cat, Murphy. Carn's “Finding Home" suite, which leads things off, was inspired by ...
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