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Jazz Articles about Mark Helias
Erik Friedlander: A Queens' Firefly
by Vincenzo Roggero
Il violoncello di Erik Friedlander, dolcissimo, introduce la melodia, poi gradualmente le altre voci si aggiungono con delicatezza, quasi con circospezione a dar forma a una ballad sognante. È la title track, il brano che apre il disco e sembrerebbe marcare in qualche modo il terreno, garantire coordinate di viaggio sicure. Succede invece che già la successiva «Match Strikes» sembra perdere il segnale e scombinare traiettorie, con il pizzicato e le svisate del violoncello, le leggere dissonanze ...
Continue ReadingGordon Grdina: Pathways
by Mike Jurkovic
Unlike most of our country where we can not even share the same basic facts and truths, musicians intuitively seek out, discover and discourse in an integral, common language. Pathways revels in and celebrates that common vocabulary. Enjoying what could be the most prolific and adventurous period of his Juno Award-winning career, guitarist/oudist Gordon Grdina's sixth recording in just under a year, including the brazenly alluring Boiling Point (Astral Spirits, 2022) and the hypnotic Oddly Enough: The Music ...
Continue ReadingErik Friedlander: A Queens' Firefly
by Troy Dostert
When a cello is your calling card, it is only to be expected that the “chamber jazz" label will tend to follow you around--and so it has for Erik Friedlander, although that term hardly does justice to the variegated possibilities he sets in motion through his assorted projects. Having worked with a “who's who" list of cutting-edge musicians including Myra Melford, Dave Douglas, Sylvie Courvoisier, John Zorn, and countless others including artists well outside the jazz world such as the ...
Continue ReadingGordon Grdina/Mark Helias/Matthew Shipp: Pathways
by Dan McClenaghan
Gordon Grdina, guitarist and oud player, has cranked things up into high gear in terms of CD release productivity. This is a good thing. When artists regularly release albums--two to four or five or six a year, which was common during Blue Note Records' heyday in the late 1950s and early 60s--their artistry evolves more quickly. Grdina, at the halfway mark of 2022, has already offered up four albums for the year, an output that has lifted his artistry into ...
Continue ReadingOut of the Past
by Patrick Burnette
We listen to three releases from 2022, two exploring some interesting corners of jazz repertoire and one bringing back a format that thrived in the '50s. Then, just for kicks, we get a message back from the future of 1987. Does label Cellar Music contractually oblige its artists to cover a certain Benny Golson tune? Listen to experience our hard-hitting investigation. In pop matters, Mike offers pop juggernaut Adele a sandwich. Playlist Discussion of Aaron Seeber's album First ...
Continue ReadingRuss Lossing: Traces: Two Song Cycles
by Mark Corroto
There is an HBO television series, A World of Calm, which delivers thirty-minute vignettes on subjects from trees to snowfall to the vastness of the universe. The unhurried series is designed to elicit restfulness while at the same time provoking deep concentration. The same can be said of Traces, a quartet project by pianist Russ Lossing. Lossing is probably best known as a former sideman to the late drummer Paul Motian, plus he has series of recordings on ...
Continue ReadingMark Helias, Ernesto Jodos, Ken Stubbs, Alex Massa and more
by Bob Osborne
A look to the past and one to the future this week, as we feature a re-released 1994 album from Mark Helias and new sounds via the ears&eyes label from Ernesto Jodos, and Alex Massa. I continue my examination of recent releases from Ken Stubbs, and there's a new one on Posi-tone from Doug Webb, plus one or two other little treats in between. Playlist Mark Helias “Munchkins" from Loopin' the Cool (Enja) 00:00 Ernesto Jodos “Sound Lee" from Un ...
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