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Marty Ehrlich: The Long View
by Rich Friedman
The Long View came out of a collaboration between Marty Ehrlich and his friend, the renowned painter Oliver Jackson, during a ten-week Harvard University residency in 2000. Inspired by Jackson’s work since the 1970s, Ehrlich sees his impressionistic paintings as “a visual counterpoint to what I have imagined in sound.” Although the music was developed to interact in exhibition with Jackson’s paintings, The Long View – comprised of six movements and a short postlude – stands on ...
Continue ReadingMarty Ehrlich: Line on Love
by Elliott Simon
Bold black brush strokes distinguish the cover of Line on Love, an offering whose compositions arouse with dense sensuality. The latest CD from reedman Marty Ehrlich features mood-inducing intros that allow him and pianist Craig Taborn to find their groove. Bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Billy Drummond especially enhance the dark cool feeling of Ehrlich’s playing. There is little frilly activity here and the session achieves elegance without daintiness. With the exception of respectful opener, “Hymn,” Ehrlich produces a thick ...
Continue ReadingMarty Ehrlich: Line on Love
by C. Michael Bailey
The presence of Marty Ehrlich on any recording more or less guarantees it will be interesting, innovative, and somewhat enigmatic. Mr. Ehrlich likes to tend toward the modern jazz/avant-garde side. On Line on Love he does not stray far from that esthetic but is still particularly well-behaved, which allows for a stimulating and educational listening experience. Ehrlich is joined by long time collaborators Michael Formanek on bass, Billy Drummond on drums, and Craig Taborn on piano. Collectively, these musicians concentrate ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Hill: A Beautiful Day
by C. Michael Bailey
Dusk was only the beginning to this part of the story...I cannot listen to Andrew Hill’s new big band recording without thinking of him and his band as a relatively well-behaved Sam Rivers and the Rivbea Big Band. Of course, that horribly shortchanges the 65 year-old Chicago native who’s Palmetto debut, Dusk, was considered by many critics as the best jazz recording on the year. Add to that that Blue Note’s Alfred Lion considered Hill his last great ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Hill: A Beautiful Day
by Jack Bowers
"There is plenty going on," designated cheerleader Stanley Crouch informs the reader, on composer / pianist Andrew Hill's latest album, A Beautiful Day, which showcases Hill's sixteen-piece big band in a concert performance last January at New York's famed Birdland nightclub. “With a vision given to great plasticity," Crouch writes, “[Hill] has found his own ways to reinterpret 4/4 swing, the blues, the romantic or meditative ballad, and the Afro-Hispanic rhythms that have almost invariably connected one generation of Jazz ...
Continue ReadingAndrew Hill: A Beautiful Day
by Jon Wagner
Sometimes a live recording captures the dynamism and vibe of a band that's really “on." In ideal situations, the musical energy is obvious right off the bat, continues throughout the set, and winds up on a disc. The listener thinks: “Man, I would love to have been at that gig." Andrew Hill's new release A Beautiful Day is one of those recordings. Hill is a pianist who's been around for a long time and played in many different ...
Continue ReadingMarty Ehrlich: Song
by David Adler
Reedsman Marty Ehrlich enlists pianist Uri Caine, bassist Michael Formanek, and drummer Billy Drummond for this lyrical, swinging, accessible set. After opening with Robin Holcomb’s melancholy “Waltz" (a feature for Ehrlich’s brilliant bass clarinet), the quartet embarks on a trilogy of Ehrlich-penned pieces. “The Price of the Ticket," inspired by James Baldwin, begins with a beautifully orchestrated rubato section before breaking into a burning swing tempo, laying a foundation for incisive solos by Ehrlich (on alto), Caine, and Drummond. “Day ...
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