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Trio Grande: Urban Myth
by Mario Calvitti
Il chitarrista israeliano Gilad Hekselman si è da tempo distinto come uno degli interpreti moderni più interessanti del suo strumento con i suoi vari progetti solistici, e anche questa recente collaborazione lo conferma. Il trio denominato Trio Grande è stato formato dal chitarrista nel 2019 insieme al sassofonista e tastierista Will Vinson e al batterista Antonio Sanchez, e lo stesso anno ha registrato un album omonimo pubblicato nel 2020 in piena pandemia, il che ha impedito al gruppo di esibirsi ...
Continue ReadingBilly Mohler: Ultraviolet
by Vincenzo Roggero
Aveva spiazzato tutti con Focus, album del 2019 nel quale riuniva alcuni degli improvvisatori più in vista della scena jazz statunitense, in controtendenza rispetto alla sua fama di produttore e songwriter per leggende della musica pop, rock, R&B e country, di vincitore grammy e di compositore per importanti campagne pubblicitarie. Parliamo di Billy Mohler, bassista dai molteplici talenti, che con UltraViolet presenta il medesimo quartetto, e che quartetto, che aveva dato seguito all'esordio con l'altrettanto apprezzato Anatomy. ...
Continue ReadingLouis Cole: Quality Over Opinion
by Scott Lichtman
Louis Cole is a chameleonic genius--merging beats, samples and catchy tunes across styles ranging from “metal-funk-fusion" to “pastoral falsettos." His loose incorporation of jazz traits, including syncopation, funk keys and sophisticated horn arrangements, has yielded new validation with a Grammy 2024 Best Alternative Jazz Album nomination for Quality Over Opinion (originally released in 2022). Cole plays fluid keys, guitar, drums, sings and produces. There are twenty pieces on Quality Over Opinion. Practically every tune--the majority clock-in at under ...
Continue ReadingBilly Mohler: Anatomy
by John Chacona
Can we please retire the old cliché about jazz from Los Angeles being limp, wan and bland? One listen to pianist Cameron Graves' slamming metal-jazz or to the jittery complexity of David Binney's recent releases should be enough to torch that outdated canard. Now comes bassist Billy Mohler with Anatomy, 43 minutes of amped-up, torqued-out energy that pulses with the elevated heart-rate of first-wave punk rock. That's no accident. Mohler is a pop music pro, a Grammy nominee ...
Continue ReadingBen Wendel: High Heart
by Mike Jacobs
If Ben Wendel's fifth outing as a leader High Heart shows anything, it's that the saxophonist is ever advancing. While this may seem a fait accompli for a card-carrying member of the shapeshifting collective Kneebody, Wendel's worthy solo efforts have been notably more in a traditionally-sounding vein and thus his innovations were perhaps a bit less readily evident to ears acclimated to that other side of his resume. And yes, by comparison to Kneebody, High Heart still tacks toward a ...
Continue ReadingKneebody: Chapters
by Emmanuel Di Tommaso
Chapters è il nono disco in studio degli americani Kneebody, il quartetto fondato nel 2001 fra le aule della Eastman School of Music di Rochester dagli allora studenti Adam Benjamin, Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley e Kaveh Rastegar, a cui si aggiunse successivamente Nate Wood. A tre anni dal solido Anti-Hero, un disco rassicurante nella misura in cui i Kneebody facevano esattamente ciò che sanno fare senza particolari stravolgimenti, questo album pubblicato dalla Edition Records riserva numerose sorprese. Ormai riconosciuti da ...
Continue ReadingKneebody: Chapters
by Mike Jacobs
Chapters--the title of Kneebody's 2019 release--has a certain appropriateness, as it definitely marks several new ones for the band. One being that lyric-oriented songs account for nearly half of the material on the album. Technically, vocals are nothing new to Kneebody. The band included one track with vocals on their 2002 proto-Kneebody album Wendel. Its 2009 collaborative effort with Theo Bleckmann, Twelve Songs of Charles Ives (Winter and Winter, 2008) was nominated for a Grammy and indeed their recent EP ...
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