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Michael Bisio: NuMBq
by Mark Corroto
Michael Bisio borrows the phrase “and now for something completely different" from Monty Python's Flying Circus to describe his new quartet, NuMBq. Joining the bassist is longtime collaborator Jay Rosen on drums, along with two musicians traditionally rooted in classical music: violist Melanie Dyer and English horn player Marianne Osiel. With NuMBq, Bisio blurs the line between chamber music and jazz--but let's not confine this session to the Third Stream category. Early jazz-classical hybrids, such as Charlie Parker ...
Continue ReadingMichael Bisio, Fred Moten/Brandon Lopez & Rainer Brüninghausen
by Maurice Hogue
There seems to be a bit of growing trend to exploring the confluence of poetry and jazz, and this is right down my alley. New York poet Fred Moten and bassist Brandon Lopez have released two albums with Gerald Cleaver that feature stirring free improvisation in lockstep with Moten's political and questioning words. Now Moten and Lopez have combined to release Revision. It's a very worthy addition to the category. Highly respected bassist Michael Bisio leads an off-the-path quartet on ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp: New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz
by Mark Corroto
Jazz fans are much like baseball geeks; they collect facts and statistics. The baseball fan will know a player's numbers such as on base percentage, at bats, home runs and stolen bases, whereas the jazz fan, maybe better said the jazz fanatic, will note recording dates and lineups, titles, releases and recording engineers. The baseball fan will utilize those statistics to predict what a player will do in a clutch situation as in the bottom of the ninth with two ...
Continue ReadingMatthew Shipp Trio: New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz
by Karl Ackermann
Matthew Shipp with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker, issue their fifth album as the most enduring of Shipp's various trios. New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz is another vehicle for the pianist/composer in which to express his singular, intricate vision. The perpetual sea-change artist believes that this album is a substantial leap ahead of the highly regarded World Construct (ESP Disk, 2022). At the very least, New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz allows Shipp to move his ...
Continue ReadingPaul R. Harding / Michael Bisio / Juma Sultan: They Tried to Kill Me Yesterday
by Mark Corroto
When we speak of poetry and music, should we ask the chicken and the egg question? As in, which came first? Certainly there was music before spoken word, for imitations of bird calls and other nature sounds will have predated language. So, it's settled, right? Maybe, but not so fast. They Tried to Kill Me Yesterday raises an even more complex inquiry that goes beyond the avian and the ovum. Enter poet Paul R. Harding. His early years ...
Continue ReadingRich Halley: Fire Within
by Troy Dostert
The cover and title of Rich Halley's latest, Fire Within, have a menacing edge, alerting us to the incendiary qualities that are always a part of the tenor saxophonist's music. But one of the remarkable things about Halley's output is that it is never one-dimensional; there are abundant nuances and surprises to keep a listener engaged, with plenty of rhythmic fervor and lyricism even amidst the more anarchic moments. And as he is united once again on his third outing ...
Continue ReadingRich Halley: Fire Within
by Mike Jurkovic
The name of free form saxophonist and raconteur Rich Halley may not roll off the tongue or be a secret G7 password, but he sure kicks up a lot of dust. Put him in the same room as piano slaying Matthew Shipp, bassist Michael Bisio, and drummer Newman Taylor Baker and rest assured all hell will break loose. And when all hell breaks loose it sounds hydrogen-charged and animated like Fire Within--a runaround Hail Mary with a post-rock punch and ...
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