Home » Jazz Articles » Mark Feldman
Jazz Articles about Mark Feldman
Gustavo Cortiñas: The Crisis Knows No Borders

by Hrayr Attarian
Drummer Gustavo Cortinas is one of Chicago's most imaginative and exciting composers. This is not solely due to his brilliant creativity but also because he explores socially aware and relevant themes. He has honed a unique style that is easily recognizable as his own. His sixth release as a leader, the superb The Crisis Knows No Border, is about the impact of human-made climate change. Cortinas leads his quartet through the 10 provocative and richly-textured, interlinked originals ...
Continue ReadingRuss Johnson Quartet: Reveal

by Troy Dostert
While he has appeared on seemingly countless releases as a sideman, trumpeter Russ Johnson remains chronically under-recorded as a leader. It thus comes as a cause for rejoicing whenever one sees his name at the top of a release. Thankfully, Calligram Records has helped redress that problem with Reveal, Johnson's latest offering featuring a quartet with violinist Mark Feldman, bassist Ethan Philion and drummer Timothy Daisy. Geof Bradfield and Chad McCullough started Calligram with an eye toward showcasing some of ...
Continue ReadingMark Feldman: Sounding Point

by Alberto Bazzurro
Beata solitudine! C'è chi ci si crogiola dentro, come a rimirarsi in un eterno specchio, chi ci si perde (che è spesso un po' la stessa cosa), chi si mette alla prova più che in qualunque altra situazione o contesto. È fortunatamente questa la dimensione scelta da Mark Feldman in questo bellissimo album, inciso a Brooklyn nell'aprile 2020, operando su composizioni per lo più sue (sei su otto), con l'aggiunta di una, l'iniziale As We Are," della moglie, la pianista ...
Continue ReadingMark Feldman: Sounding Point

by Troy Dostert
Violinist Mark Feldman has long been a consummate sideman, with well over a hundred appearances in that capacity over the course of his career dating back to the 1980s. His inimitable technique and fierce lyricism render him a perfect fit in so many different contexts: in 2020 alone he could be found reunited with the Arcado Trio on Ivo Perelman's Deep Resonance (Fundacja Sluchaj) and as a pivotal part of Susan Alcorn's terrific quintet on Pedernal (Relative Pitch). Feldman's own ...
Continue ReadingSusan Alcorn Quintet: Pedernal

by Troy Dostert
Pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn has achieved the enviable feat of commanding her own instrumental niche in the jazz world. Much like Toots Thielemans' harmonica, Gary Versace's accordion or Béla Fleck's banjo, she seems to have a unique role all to herself, at least until her substantial talents eventually spawn a host of imitators. From her beginnings playing traditional country and western in the 1980s, she has branched out considerably, in the last decade forging creative partnerships in the free ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman: Deep Resonance

by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Ivo Perelman is an exceptional innovator, even in a genre where originality and inventiveness are the norms. A stalwart of the international creative music scene, Perelman excels in small, intimate group settings. His collaboration with the string trio Arcado, the stimulating Deep Resonance, is a dramatic and introspective recording which draws equally on free improvisation and western classical music traditions. The first movement is constructed out of a mix of overlapping duets alternating with four individual stream-of-consciousness ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman with Arcado String Trio: Deep Resonance

by Troy Dostert
Throughout his long and prolific recording career, Ivo Perelman has recorded with a large number of free improvisation's leading lights. Pianist Matthew Shipp stands at the top of the pile, with over two dozen joint appearances; Joe Morris, Gerald Cleaver, Whit Dickey, William Parker, and many others help comprise the long list of associates he's maintained since the 1990s. But one would be remiss to ignore the occasional, yet important, work he has done with string players. Violinist/violist Mat Maneri ...
Continue Reading