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Dan Blake: Da Fé
by Jerome Wilson
A lot of personal factors go into saxophonist Dan Blake's music on this CD, such as his concerns about the environment, his Buddhist teachings and his social activism. What comes out of this is a style of electro-acoustic jazz which is alternately meditative and fiery. The basic music here was performed in the studio by a quartet of Blake on saxophone, Carmen Staaf on piano, Dmitry Ishenko on bass and Jeff Williams on drums. The tunes were then ...
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by Mike Jurkovic
It's comforting to know that saxophonist Dan Blake hasn't taken Thoreau's inconvenient truth that “most men lead lives of quiet desperation" to heart. Instead, as his Da Fé (translated: of faith) and his apprenticeships with Anthony Braxton} and {{Julian Lage prove succinctly, Blake intends to bring the music, and the consciousness of our fragility within it, to the fore, in hopes the listener can shake the malaise too and pick up the call for action. Blake escorts his ...
Continue ReadingDan Blake: Da Fé
by Mark Corroto
Saxophonist-composer Dan Blake's Da Fé ("of faith"), a meditation on our world in crisis, may have taken, as a starting point, the lyrics to Lou Reed's “Busload Of Faith" from the über-cynical New York (Sire, 1989) recording, “You can depend on cruelty / crudity of thought and sound / You can depend on the worst always happening / you need a busload of faith to get by." What with global warming, income disparity, hunger, and homelessness, the gentle folk of ...
Continue ReadingLeni Stern: 4
by Jim Worsley
For her twenty-second record as a leader, Leni Stern entitled the album 4 (LSR, 2020). No mathematical difficulties here. With the addition of keyboardist Leo Genovese, her band now comprises four musicians. Stern's longtime contributors, percussionist Alioune Faye and bassist Mamadou Ba, formidably round out the quartet. You may recall her last album, sans Genovese, was the engagingly spirited 3 (LSR, 2018). Moving on to geography, the Argentinian born Genovese adds a South American influence that intertwines ...
Continue ReadingEsperanza Spalding: Esperanza
by AAJ Italy Staff
Ha un nome che è una dichiarazione d'intenti: Esperanza. Ha bruciato le tappe di una carriera che a soli 24 anni può dirsi formidabile. Contrabbassista, insegnante di contrabbasso a 20 anni al Berklee College, ha suonato con Stanley Clarke, Pat Metheny e Joe Lovano, per citare i più grandi. Poi ha pensato di fare da sé. E per il suo esordio, Esperanza, non ha badato a fronzoli. La Heads Up le ha dato credito e “speranza". Niño Josele, James Haddad, ...
Continue ReadingEsperanza Spalding: Esperanza
by Woodrow Wilkins
From a guest appearance on Stanley Clarke's The Toys of Men (Heads Up, 2007) to her self-titled debut, Esperanza Spalding is turning heads, and opening lots of ears. After an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, the host called the 23-year-old vocalist/bassist/composer “the coolest guest" he'd ever had. Spalding is indeed cool, having enrolled at Berklee College of Music at 16, and ultimately becoming the institution's youngest professor in its history. She landed gigs with Patti ...
Continue ReadingEsperanza Spalding: Esperanza
by Ernest Barteldes
On this major label debut, bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding demonstrates plenty of eclecticism, taking on styles ranging from samba, hard-driving jazz and R&B, a risky combination in less confident hands. However, Spalding revels in the multiple directions without ever sounding pretentious. The Berklee College alum opens the disc singing in fluent Portuguese, with a small hint of an accent, on “Ponta de Areia," a Milton Nascimento/Fernando Brandt composition originally featured on Wayne Shorter's Native Dancer and often covered ...
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