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Jazz Articles about Mark Helias
Erik Friedlander: Dirty Boxing / Floating City
by Vic Albani
Ironico come sempre, Erik Friedlander torna sul mercato con un singolare nuovo lavoro intitolato Dirty Boxing dedicato al crudo vocabolario delle arti marziali miste (!!!) con tanto di guantoni da boxe in copertina. Il gioco è quello di esplorare gli imprevisti parallelismi tra la disciplina artistica della musica e il combattimento strategico delle arti marziali. Il violoncellista newyorkese, come al solito molto intelligente ed attento, si circonda della bellezza musicale di Uri Caine al pianoforte, Mark Helias al ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman Quartet: Water Music
by Alberto Bazzurro
Un free piuttosto spinto apre questo CD inciso ormai due anni or sono (novembre 2022) da un quartetto coi controfiocchi, in grado di cacciarsi a capofitto nella tenaglia dell'improvvisazione senza rete con la quasi certezza di venirne fuori brillantemente. E' quanto gli otto brani su cui la sfida si sdipana ci confermano a chiare lettere, con l'iperpresenzialismo tante volte dimostrato da Ivo Perelman (nel singolo album ma anche con l'elefantiaca, scriteriata produzione di qualche anno fa) che sa farsi invece ...
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman Quartet: Water Music
by John Sharpe
New and old converge on Water Music. Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman showcases a quartet with longstanding partner Matthew Shipp on piano together with the fresh rhythm axis of bassist Mark Helias and drummer Tom Rainey. Although they have not played with Perelman before, they are not exactly Johnny-come-latelys. Both have achieved veteran status, not only individually, but also as a team, exemplified by Rainey having fuelled Helias' mighty Open Loose trio since its inception back in the late 1990s.
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman Quartet: Water Music
by Mark Corroto
Come on a rafting expedition with the Ivo Perelman Quartet. A river excursion is a perfect metaphor for the saxophonist's Water Music. Those familiar with the anomalous and idiosyncratic sounds that emanate from Perelman's saxophone also know he is attuned and reactive to the set and setting of a performance. Just as a trip on a raft is conditioned by the river's flow, gradients, constrictions and any obstacles in its way, the same can be said of Perelman's music.
Continue ReadingIvo Perelman / Mark Hellias / Tom Rainey Truth Seeker: Truth Seeker
by Mike Jurkovic
Saxophonist Ivo Perelman has a very deep understanding of time and space. He knows deep down these things, these oddly elusive concepts that bind us to the irreparable now, are truly meant to serve as agents of creation, of freedom. Of the freedom to create without corruption. He also senses on the most granular level that creation is a minute-by-minute thing. Or it should be. On his umpteenth release of the new year, Perelman, in studio for the ...
Continue ReadingQuinsin Nachoff: Stars and Constellations
by Vincenzo Roggero
Quinsin Nachoff è personaggio atipico nell'attuale panorama musicale. Attivo e apprezzato interprete di musica classica come di musica improvvisata, continua a operare con successo in entrambi i campi ma da anni,--attraverso lavori commissionati ad hoc, progetti multimediali che coinvolgono esperti di fisica, cineasti, orchestre da camera, quartetti d'archi --, sta portando avanti una personale visione delle possibili convivenze tra i due mondi musicali. Niente di nuovo, si dirà--senza scomodare ingombranti richiami alla Third Stream Music--sono numerosi i ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp & Mark Helias: The New Syntax
by John Sharpe
Pianist Matthew Shipp particularly favors the duo format. Among a discography of more than 300 entries are winning combinations with partners as varied as trumpeter Nate Wooley, violist Mat Maneri, and saxophonists Darius Jones, Rob Brown and Evan Parker. But he retains a special fondness for the bass/piano twosome, accounting for multiple meetings with longtime comrade William Parker and the current occupant of the bass chair in his trio, Michael Bisio. To that illustrious roster can also be added his ...
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