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Joe Syrian: Secret Message
by Richard J Salvucci
A title like Secret Message does make a listener wonder what it might be. Is it deeply subversive, like the Zimmerman Telegram, or apocalyptic, like Fatima? Of course, as someone is reputed to have said, 'Sometimes, a cigar is just a smoke.' So it is possible to over-interpret a title, which may, in the final analysis, simply be a title. Joe Syrian is a Detroit-based drummer, a city that can claim Brian Blade, J. C. Heard, ...
Continue ReadingJoe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: Secret Message
by Jack Bowers
No fuss, no frills here, simply forty-seven or so minutes of generally bright and engaging straight-ahead jazz, stylishly performed by drummer Joe Syrian's admirable Detroit-based octet. This is music the group plays often, blending standards from the Great American Songbook with more recent themes by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Leon Russell and others. The congenial session opens with a pair of well-traveled standards--"Bye Bye Blackbird," and “Star Eyes"--and closes with two more- -"Night and ...
Continue ReadingJoe Locke: Makram
by Neil Duggan
One of the leading vibraphone specialists of the 21st century, Joe Locke has won multiple awards and performed with artists as diverse as the Beastie Boys and Ron Carter. It's not just his musicianship on the vibraphone that sets him apart. He is a highly versatile arranger, incorporating soul and international influences. Named after the Lebanese bassist Makram Aboul Hosn, Makram is an eclectic mix of the comforting, the challenging and the familiar. Locke's customary quartet features pianist ...
Continue ReadingPaul Jost: While We Were Gone
by Richard J Salvucci
According to Francis Bacon, some books are to be tasted and others to be swallowed whole. Likewise with recordings. Some are to be sampled. Others are to be thoroughly assimilated. Where the listener lands with Paul Jost will depend on a host of things. Are you political? If so, are you progressive? Then by all means, this recording is for you. Jost's soliloquy, “January 6th: An Appeal for Reason" will no doubt be convincing. If your politics are ...
Continue ReadingLorin Cohen: Home
by Angelo Leonardi
Vari aspetti distinguono quest'album rispetto alla produzione del mainstream contemporaneo. Per il suo esordio da leader il contrabbassista e compositore Lorin Cohen ha riunito un settetto dall'originale e accattivante tavolozza timbrica, ottenuta accostando i suoni del vibrafono (Joe Locke), dell'armonica (Yvonnick Prene) e dello steel pan (Victor Provost). Autore di tutte le composizioni, Cohen mostra una fresca vena espressiva, presentando un jazz ritmicamente danzante e melodicamente cantabile, in cui troviamo influenze caraibiche, aromi francesi, turbolenze pianistiche tyneriane e ...
Continue ReadingLorin Cohen: Home
by Dan Bilawsky
What's “home?" Is it where somebody's born and raised? Is it where a person resides at a given time? Or is it any place where an individual finds a high level of comfort, joy, and possibility? For Lorin Cohen, it's all three. This talented bassist-composer makes that fact plainly apparent on this, his leader debut. With Home, Cohen pays tribute to the city that fostered his musical growth and development through childhood (Chicago), the metropolis where he ...
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