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Neil Charles Quartet: Dark Days
by Mark Corroto
In 2025, amid global unrest and political fracture, the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom can feel like a distant dream, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream" speech like a myth from a gentler past. Has social media, with all its noise and manipulations, induced a kind of societal amnesia? Has King's “arc of the moral universe" begun to bend backward under the weight of cynicism and fatigue? If your glass is half empty, ...
Continue ReadingShifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders: Ecliptic
by Mark Corroto
Some books are divided into chapters--numbered, titled, and carefully structured. The musical equivalent is the tracklist: segmented, labeled pieces presented in order. But Ecliptic by the trio Shifa (شفاء, Arabic for “healing") rejects that format entirely. This 46-minute set of improvised music by saxophonist Rachel Musson, pianist Pat Thomas and drummer Mark Sanders unfolds without titles, track divisions, or breaks. It is a single, uninterrupted performance recorded live at London's Café OTO in February 2023. Like their previous ...
Continue ReadingGabriele Mitelli Three Tsuru Origami: Colapesce
by Mark Corroto
The second release from Gabriele Mitelli's Three Tsuru Origami ensemble shifts from the literal to the symbolic, expanding both in concept and personnel. Their debut, Three Tsuru Origami (We Insist!, 2022), was a meditation on birds and migration. This follow-up, Colapesce, draws inspiration from the 12th-century Sicilian legend of a half-man, half-fish who sacrifices himself to save his island. The tale, a fixture of Mediterranean folklore, resurfaced in pop culture through the 1964 film The Incredible Mr. Limpet, in which ...
Continue ReadingLarry Stabbins & Mark Sanders: Cup & Ring
by John Sharpe
Inspired by the 5000 year old Neolithic rock carvings pictured on the sleeve, Cup & Ring opens and closes with brooding, ritualistic pieces in which Larry Stabbins' breathy flute drifts like mist over Mark Sanders' deliberate, processional percussion. These atmospheric bookends, along with similarly spare interludes throughout, frame a set grounded more deeply in the language of free jazz--a realm both musicians know intimately. Stabbins, returning to performance after a lengthy hiatus, brings a layered backstory to this ...
Continue ReadingSergio Armaroli Quintet: Follow A Very Heavy Person
by Mark Corroto
Time, as a concept, transforms into an endless playground in the hands of Sergio Armaroli. In Follow A Very Heavy Person, the quintet expands upon the foundations laid in Introducing A Very Heavy Person, delving deeper into the sonic and philosophical dimensions of John Cage and Kenneth Patchen's 1942 experimental radio play, The City Wears A Slouch Hat. Emerging from the same recording session, this second volume extends and reinvents its predecessor's exploration of simultaneity, improvisation and the ephemeral nature ...
Continue ReadingSergio Armaroli: Introducing A Very Heavy Person, First Visit
by Mark Corroto
If you reject the assumption that time is linear, the ability to conceive of a time machine is simple. Assume for this discussion that the concepts of past, present, and future are a false dichotomy. In other words, the past and the future simultaneously occur with the present. Composer and percussionist Sergio Armaroli accepts this premise and his quintet accomplishes a rather time-less travel through twelve tracks. Let's back up a bit. In his career, Armaroli has been ...
Continue ReadingOlie Brice / Rachel Musson / Mark Sanders: Immense Blue
by John Sharpe
Even given today's abundance of new issues in whatever genre, there are still bands which travel beneath the radar. One such is the trio of established UK improvisers comprising bassist Olie Brice, saxophonist Rachel Musson and drummer Mark Sanders which releases Immense Blue as its debut album. As a unit it has been around for a while, but the connections go deeper still. Brice and Musson have a duet nearing fifteen years old, while the saxophonist and drummer are two ...
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