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About Nate Smith
Nate Smith: Kinfolk: Postcards from Everywhere
by Mike Jacobs
To get right to it, rarely does a first effort as leader come along that is so worthy of attention. With Postcards From Everywhere, Nate Smith has offered a many-faceted jewel whose luster only grows with re-examination. On one level, this is indeed an album that satisfies the requisite expectations for a debut from a drummer of Smith's caliber. It has tunes covering a wide range of influences, great grooves in both straight and unusual meters, and of ...
Continue Reading...Album Review
Jürgen Hagenlocher: Leap in the Dark
by AAJ Italy Staff
Il contenitore mainstream" continua ad ampliarsi esponenzialmente grazie a produzioni e collaborazioni in ogni angolo del mondo, consentendo un confronto artistico attraverso uno stile che - pur se in parte codificato - lascia ampio spazio a creativitità, complessità e virtuosismo. In Leap in the Dark abbiamo modo di ascoltare il sassofonista tedesco Jürgen Hagenlocher insieme ad uno dei musicisti più interessanti degli ultimi anni, il trombettista russo, naturalizzato statunitense, Alex Sipiagin (autore di numerose incisioni, da leader per la casa ...
Continue Reading...Dave Holland Octet: Pathways
by Alain Londes
With bassist Dave Holland setting up the foundation for the band, during the live taping of Pathways at New York's Birdland in 2009, the rest of the octet paves the way for baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan to develop the title track in the similar vein to his earlier big band recording What Goes Around (ECM, 2002).
At first it's possible to imagine listening to the entire big band due to the fullness of the sound. Some of its core musicians ...
Continue Reading...Dave Holland: Pathways
by David Adler
Bassist Dave Holland's main creative vehicle has long been the Dave Holland Quintet, but in recent years he's launched a number of other groups, tweaking and expanding instrumentation while preserving something of the quintet's signature sound. On Pathways, recorded live at Birdland in 2009, Holland takes another detour with the Dave Holland Octet, which splits the difference between his quintet and big band in terms of size, texture and orchestrated thrust. Incidentally, Holland switched from ECM Records ...
Continue Reading...Dave Holland Octet: Pathways
by John Kelman
Dave Holland Octet Pathways Dare2 Records 2010
It's been nearly four years since bassist Dave Holland has delivered an album based around his enduring quintet of over a decade. Since 2006's Critical Mass (Dare2), he's released Pass It On (Dare2, 2008) and The Monterey Quartet: Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey Jazz Festival Records, 2009), both featuring ensembles where, for the first time in his lengthy career, the bassist collaborated ...
Continue Reading...Dave Holland: Critical Mass
by AAJ Italy Staff
Questo ottimo album del bassista Dave Holland incarna l’idea di classicità moderna. Ascoltandolo se ne ricava immediatamente la sensazione che sia un lavoro che si pone in una posizione ‘centrale’ nel panorama jazzistico dei giorni nostri. Una sorta di raffinata costruzione architettonica attorno alla quale ruota la musica stessa di Dave Holland, un bassista che non si è fatto mancare in passato i brividi delle avanguardie anche più estreme e che strada facendo ha deciso di ‘rientrare’ in gruppo. Senza ...
Continue Reading...Dave Holland Quintet: Critical Mass
by Joel Roberts
Bassist extraordinaire Dave Holland believes that like fine wine, music shouldn't be unbottled before its time. Holland and his highly regarded quintet spent a year and a half honing and retooling the music on their new album until it reached the point he calls critical mass, where it has become what it's going to be. That patience, care and commitment to getting things right is evident throughout Critical Mass. This is the work of a working band, ...
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