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Michael Blake: Combobulate
by Chris May
The instrumentation alone promises something out of the ordinary. Saxophone, two tubas, trumpet, trombone, drums. Then there are the musicians, luminaries of downtown New York jazz. Michael Blake, Bob Stewart, Marcus Rojas, Steven Bernstein, Clark Gayton, Allan Mednard. And within seconds of the needle descending on track one, side one, Combobulate starts delivering on the promise. The album is one of four marking the return of audiophile-vinyl label Newvelle after a two-year hiatus. The approximate meaning of its ...
Continue ReadingMichael Leonhart Orchestra: The Normyn Suites
by Angelo Leonardi
Gli eclettici sviluppi orchestrali di Michael Leonhart, tra maestosi affreschi evocativi e trascinanti momenti rock e soul, tornano a entusiasmarci con questo magistrale The Normyn Suites, dove la poetica della leggerezza convive con scelte di vivo impatto ritmico e timbrico. Le due forti propensioni musicale dell'autore sono ben bilanciate: quella impressionista (che ha caratterizzato opere ammalianti come Lovers di Nels Cline e il suo The Painted Lady Suite) e quella legata alla popular music, maturata nelle collaborazioni con Steely Dan, ...
Continue ReadingChris McCarthy: Still Time to Quit
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Only two minutes into “That's All You Get," the opening track to pianist Chris McCarthy's debut recording for Ropeadope Records, Still Time To Quit, and already it seems that everything that had to be said was said. Maybe that's why at this point the track coincidentally also reaches its end. A savage yet controlled display of friction and constant motion. At its core a rabidly jumping call-and-response structure, the opener displays the leader's scarily-dexterous chops on piano through speed as ...
Continue ReadingFalkner Evans: Marbles
by Jack Bowers
On his fifth recording as leader, pianist / composer Falkner Evans has expanded his group size from trio (the first three) and quintet (the fourth) to sextet with vibraphonist Steve Nelson added on three of the album's ten numbers, the first nine of which were written by Evans. Even though this was a one-off, Evans' teammates are skillful enough to make it sound like a working ensemble. One reason for this is that the rhythm section (bassist Belden Bullock, drummer ...
Continue ReadingFalkner Evans: Marbles
by Jerome Wilson
Pianist Falkner Evans has been gradually expanding the size of his recording projects. He started out with a couple of trio discs, then made one with a quintet. On this latest offering, he fronts a three-horn sextet scored to sound like a bigger and fuller unit. He uses a front line of Michael Blake on tenor sax, Ted Nash on alto sax and Ron Horton on trumpet, that is blended into a cool, reedy sound which ebbs and ...
Continue ReadingChris McCarthy: Still Time to Quit
by Paul Rauch
From 2017 to 2020, composer and pianist Chris McCarthy charted a path as a noted sideman for such notables as Jerry Bergonzi, Ben Allison and Jason Palmer. He was often seen performing with vibraphonist Sasha Berliner and in duet with vocalist Clotilde Rullaud. In short, he has gained a reputation for imaginative and supportive playing. McCarthy's path has been blazed from a renowned high school program in Seattle, to the cloistered realm of the New England Conservatory, finally ...
Continue Reading20 Years of One Man’s Jazz
by Maurice Hogue
This show marks the 20th anniversary of One Man's Jazz which began its radio journey on May 1, 1999 at CKUW 95.9 FM in Winnipeg, eventually shifting to extraterrestrial Taint Radio in 2012. Rather than just play something from my favourite recording list for each of those twenty years (that was too easy), I decided to head for the playlists and just pluck out one track from all the tunes played in each year, starting with 1999's Peter Epstein and ...
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