Jazz Articles about Nate Wooley

About Nate Wooley

Album Review

Columbia Icefield: A Silence Opens

Read "A Silence Opens" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
July 5, 2026

While grief is universal to the human experience, its specific manifestations can vary widely within each person who mourns. One of the challenges of the grieving process involves the difficulty of sharing exactly what one is feeling, and it can thus be an isolating experience--ironically, and painfully, at a time when human connection is most needed. Nate Wooley's latest iteration of his Columbia Icefield project involves his own attempt to come to terms with profound loss, both in the passing ...

Album Review

Ivo Perelman/Nate Wooley: Polarity 4

Read "Polarity 4" reviewed by Don Phipps

by Don Phipps
January 19, 2026

On Polarity 4, their fourth album of collaborative improvisations, tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley create a diverse array of soundscapes. The spontaneous compositions exhibit fluid, arcing energy that skips around like a hummingbird darting towards clusters of brightly colored rhododendron blooms. Both musicians demonstrate their trademark virtuosity: Perelman with his supreme embouchure control, and Wooley with his diverse and challenging mouthpiece manipulations. The album consists of nine improvisations--each consisting of unique twists and turns and ...

Album Review

Ivo Perelman, Nate Wooley, Matt Moran, Mark Helias, Tom Rainey: A Modicum Of The Blues

Read "A Modicum Of The Blues" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
December 16, 2025

An intrepid and groundbreaking saxophonist, Ivo Perelman excels in the company of like-minded artists. Thus, the majority of his work is either in duos or with small ensembles. The soulful A Modicum of the Blues is an entirely improvised five-movement suite featuring a quintet of long-standing collaborators. It is a masterful blend of fiery spontaneity and contemplative quietude enveloped in a cinematic ambience. “Part 1" opens with dramatic flair as the musicians alternate brief phrases interspersed with silent ...

Album Review

Arkady Gotesman: Music For An Imaginary Ballet

Read "Music For An Imaginary Ballet" reviewed by Ieva Pakalniškytė

by Ieva Pakalniškytė
December 6, 2025

Arkady Gotesman occupies a singular position in Lithuanian music scene, having performed across more than fifty international festivals and concerts as a percussionist, composer and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans jazz, contemporary classical repertoire, free improvisation, theatre, literature and film. Over four decades he has collaborated with an exceptional range of musicians--from Vyacheslav Ganelin, Petras Vysniauskas, Liudas Mockūnas, Anthony Coleman and Mats Gustafsson to Nate Wooley, Charles Gayle, Barry Guy and Dave Douglas, among many others--while also premiering works by Anatolijus Šenderovas, Osvaldas Balakauskas, ...

Album Review

Ivo Perelman and Nate Wooley: Polarity 3

Read "Polarity 3" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
January 31, 2025

The stimulating Polarity 3 is the third installment in a series of spontaneous duets between innovative saxophonist Ivo Perelman and equally creative trumpeter Nate Wooley. On these 10 tracks, the two improvisers use silent pauses to craft haunting atmospheres and contemplative melodies. The performances are akin to two complimentary yet independent introspective musings. Languid, wistful tones from both men start off the opener “One." The soft howls and undulating refrains are interspersed in the hypnotic quietude and thus ...

Album Review

Modney: Ascending Primes

Read "Ascending Primes" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
October 7, 2024

"Ascender" ti investe con la forza di un uragano. Poco più di sette minuti dove il solitario violino di Joshua Modney, collegato ad un pedale distorsore, scatena un'onda d'urto di emozioni che stordisce. Ingannati da un inizio che ha le cadenze di una ballata folk improvvisamente il suono si stratifica, ruggisce, deborda in rumore, rende lo spazio denso e grumoso salvo poi scivolare in una dolcezza apparente, strattonata com'è da dissonanze e armonici. È l'apertura di Ascending Primes, ...

Album Review

Sylvie Courvoisier: Chimaera

by John Sharpe
April 3, 2024

Even though pianist Sylvie Courvoisier has bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen on hand for Chimaera, the six-piece band is a long way from being merely the storied threesome, which made Double Windsor (Tzadik, 2014), D'Agala (Intakt, 2018) and Free Hoops (Intakt, 2020), plus added guests. As she explains in the liners, the music was originally commissioned for the 2021 Sons d'Hiver festival in Paris and was inspired by the surreal works of French Symbolist artist ...