Jazz Articles about Kokayi

About Kokayi

Album Review

Focus Out è la seconda uscita discografica di Rising Sun, ennesima formazione partorita dalla mente vulcanica del sassofonista Jon Irabagon, da diversi anni figura centrale nella scena più vivace, creativa e imprevedibile del jazz statunitense. Un quartetto acustico/elettrico con i fiocchi che si avvale dell'apporto di musicisti altrettanto creativi e già coinvolti in passati progetti del sassofonista di origini filippine. Come la maggior parte delle incisioni di Irabagon, Focus Out sorprende per la sua organicità a dispetto della varietà di ...

Album Review

AS IS, featuring Al & Stacey Schulman: Crazy World

Read "Crazy World" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
May 1, 2026

What does it take to turn a romantic Cole Porter song into a powerful nine-minute protest piece? The band AS IS teases it out with a bit of a false trail to begin with: a tasty little scat intro, nicely-arranged. You might not suspect. Stacey Schulman brings the head in with a slight tweak to the lyric ("From this moment on, we can see clear: only truth can fight fear..."). Jeff Tain Watts launches what becomes a shipload of hydrodynamic ...

Album Review

Jon Irabagon: Focus Out

Read "Focus Out" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
April 6, 2026

Jon Irabagon remains among the most uncompromising voices in contemporary jazz. A first-generation Filipino American from Chicago, he draws deeply from the AACM legacy--Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Muhal Richard Abrams--and his home city's tradition of bold, searching saxophone work. Since his 2008 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition win, Irabagon has used his Irabbagast Records imprint to sustain a commitment to fierce originality and collective dialogue. Focus Out serves as a formidable statement from his working quartet, featuring Irabagon ...

Album Review

Ambrose Akinmusire: Honey From A Winter Stone

Read "Honey From A Winter Stone" reviewed by Frank Housh

by Frank Housh
February 21, 2025

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 ...

Album Review

The Jamie Baum Septet+: What Times Are These

Read "What Times Are These" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
September 9, 2024

Nella sua nuova incisione Jamie Baum coniuga impegno civile e ricercata varietà di soluzioni musicali con voci e suoni di particolare freschezza. A distanza di sei anni dal precedente Bridges la flautista e compositrice firma l'album più riuscito del suo ensemble, in gran parte rinnovato con l'ingresso del trombettista Jonathan Finlayson, del pianista Luis Perdomo, del bassista Ricky Rodriguez e del percussionista Keita Ogawa accanto ai fidi Jeff Hirshfield alla batteria, Brad Shepik alla chitarra, Chris Komer al ...

Album Review

Jamie Baum Septet+: What Times Are These

Read "What Times Are These" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
April 5, 2024

Reading Marge Piercy's poem “To Be of Use" (track two onWhat Times Are These), Jamie Baum could be speaking of herself, one of those “who jump into work head first without dallying in the shadows, who swim off with sure strokes," knowing that “the thing worth doing has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident." What Times Are These is a satisfying form of this sort. Confined to her New York apartment during the Covid-19 lockdown, Baum responded ...

Album Review

Jean-Paul Bourelly: Black Lives - From Generation to Generation

Read "Black Lives - From Generation to Generation" reviewed by Vic Albani

by Vic Albani
September 26, 2023

Doppio CD o doppio vinile prodotto in HI-Res e con packaging di lusso dalla Jammin'colorS, agenzia per artisti jazz, world, funk, alternativi, hip-hop, electro e sperimentali nonché etichetta indipendente. Il lavoro che ha pubblicato in tanta pompa magna è un ampio collage di musica nera realizzato da 25 musicisti africani, caraibici e afroamericani guidati dalla visione creativa di Stefany Calembert (compagna del bassista jazz Reggie Washington) e produttrice estemporanea dell'etichetta belga. A tutti è stato chiesto di comporre ...