Jazz Articles about Michael Davidson

About Michael Davidson

Album Review

Canadian bassist Alex Fournier takes inspiration from some of the best, most notably bassist/cellist/composer Andrew Downing and bassist/composer Michael Formanek. Both of these mentors sit outside the mainstream, but not far off, within spitting distance we might say. Six-ish Plateaus, by Fournier's Triio—which is not a trio but rather a sextet--explores the hybrid of written material and energized freedom with two reeds, guitar and vibraphone, drums and bass line-up. Distinction of sound is a key here. The ...

Album Review

See Through 4: Permanent Moving Parts

Read "Permanent Moving Parts" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
March 5, 2021

Canadian bassist Pete Johnston is something of a jack-of-all-trades composer, working in contexts ranging from abstract chamber music to the headier fringes of prog-rock. His various See Through groupings allow him to pursue his muse wherever it leads: See Through Two's Slow Bend (All- Set!, 2016) has him teamed up with fellow bassist Rob Clutton for some low-key dialogues, while See Through 5 enables him to repay his debt to electronic rock forbears from the 70s and 80s, as on ...

Album Review

See Through 4: Permanent Moving Parts

Read "Permanent Moving Parts" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
February 22, 2021

Composer and bassist Pete Johnston, leader of Toronto's See Through 4, cites Lennie Tristano and Eric Dolphy as primary reference points for the quartet's music. As a listener, you may feel such connections are tenuous. Whatever his strengths, Tristano was not known for playfulness, a quality which runs through Permament Moving Parts. Plus, the contrapuntalism to be heard has at least as much to do with Gerry Mulligan's pianoless quartet with Chet Baker as it does with Tristano. And while ...

Album Review

Quinsin Nachoff: Pivotal Arc

Read "Pivotal Arc" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann

by Friedrich Kunzmann
August 18, 2020

Canadian saxophonist and composer Quinsin Nachoff's newest outing out on Whirlwind Recordings once again proves what was established long before: that nothing about his approach to jazz is common. As a matter of fact, if his name weren't almost exclusively mentioned in jazz publications, jazz wouldn't necessarily be the first thing that came to mind when confronted with his music. A fact that appears even more valid with regard to his new effort, Pivotal Arc. Opening with a ...

Album Review

Daniel Fortin: Brinks

by Dave Wayne
January 1, 2016

Toronto-based bassist Daniel Fortin is best known for his work in MYRIAD3, a dynamic, forward-looking piano trio whose work superficially resembles that of The Bad Plus and the Esbjörn Svensson Trio in that they're young guys in a piano trio who don't play jazz the way most piano trios play jazz. Fortin's solo debut, Brinks is just as forward-looking as MYRIAD3, though his musical persona seems a quite a bit more introspective. Sort of in the ECM mold, but not ...