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Mike Thompson: 6th Avenue
by Jack Bowers
Composer and arranger Mike Thompson was in his mid-twenties when 6th Avenue, his debut album as leader of a big band, was recorded (in the mid-2020s) at Q Division Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts, enlisting for the most part veteran Boston-area musicians whom Thompson had met and befriended while studying at the Berklee School of Music, from which he was graduated in 2021. Although Thompson names Bob Brookmeyer, Maria Schneider and Igor Stravinsky as role models, you would be ...
Continue ReadingRon Rieder: Dia Precioso!
by Jack Bowers
Dia Precioso! is the second album of exuberant Latin Jazz designed by Massachusetts-based composer Ron Rieder, gliding in on the heels of his well-received debut recording, Latin Jazz Sessions (2024). As before, Rieder leads a more-or-less octet comprised of topnotch Boston-area musicians; and as before, Rieder's music is for the most part arranged by percussionist Ricardo Monzon. While personnel remains roughly the same as on the earlier album, more brass (trumpeters Yaure Muniz or Greg Hopkins, trombonist ...
Continue ReadingOmar Thomas Large Ensemble: Griot Songs
by Alberto Bazzurro
Dopo una lunga gestazione, giunge a noi questo che è il terzo lavoro del Large Ensemble diretto dal compositore newyorchese Omar Thomas (incisione del maggio 2024), un doppio album ambizioso e di chiaro intento anche didascalico in cui l'orchestra appare eloquentemente come il naturale prolungamento del gesto autoriale, con risultati di notevole impatto, sette brani di ampio respiro (dai nove ai diciassette minuti) in cui la massa orchestrale tende a muoversi per lo più compatta, lungo partiture belle piene, solide, ...
Continue ReadingRon Rieder: Latin Jazz Sessions
by Jack Bowers
Even while pursuing a long and successful career in the physical sciences, Bostonian Ron Rieder never abandoned his life-long love for jazz, especially the tantalizing melodies and lively rhythms of Latin America, composing music at every opportunity before returning to writing full-time and at long last recording his debut album, Latin Jazz Sessions It was worth the wait. Rieder's colorful tunes ensnare the ears from the outset and never let go, while his septet plays Latin jazz about ...
Continue ReadingTim Ray Trio: Fire & Rain
by Jack Bowers
Boston-based pianist Tim Ray and his rhythm mates, bassist John Lockwood and drummer Mark Walker, have been performing together since 2013, and Fire & Rain is their second recording as a trio. Their years working arm-in-arm and side-by-side have spawned a symbiotic relationship, and it shows. Even when the trio tests the free-jazz waters--as it does only once, on a seat-of-the-pants salute to Chick Corea, “Improv #1 (for Chick)"--everyone is on the same page and no one ...
Continue ReadingTim Ray Trio: Fire & Rain
by Edward Blanco
Veteran educator and jazz pianist Tim Ray pays homage to some of his musical heroes with a piano trio album simply entitled Fire & Rain. It features various well-known standards from those who have been a major influence in his career, along with three original tunes added to the mix. Joining the pianist on this new adventure are familiar band mates, bassist John Lockwood and drummer Mark Walker, originally together for a Greg Abate concert and then for the Abate ...
Continue ReadingThe New World Jazz Composers Octet: The Next Stage
by Nicholas F. Mondello
The jazz octet has long been somewhat of a “Swiss Army Knife" for composer-arrangers. Consider, for example, the great Dave Pell, Ornette Coleman, David Murray, and the J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding Octets. In the hands of great arrangers, the eight-piece format allows arrangers to leverage the flexibility and creativity of a “Messengers" frontline with the total sonic impact of a classic big band. The Next Stage from The New World Jazz Composers Octet is a superb ...
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