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Michael Sarian: Live at Cliff Bell's
by Richard J Salvucci
This is music for the adventurous, especially those with the ears to deal with unusual harmonies. Michael Sarian is a now-Canadian trumpet player in the mold of Enrico Rava. His gift is his sound: dark, burnished, probing, even tentative at times. He is fond of half-valve expeditions into the upper register, which, if executed properly, can smear a tone between a squeal and a shriek. It is more than appropriate for the sort of music he plays, insinuating and beguiling, ...
Continue ReadingMichael Sarian: Live at Cliff Bell's
by Dan Bilawsky
On March 30, 2023, Michael Sarian rolled into Detroit landmark Cliff Bell's with horn in hand. In the midst of a spring tour, that particular venue and evening provided an opportunity for the trumpeter and his bandmates--pianist Santiago Leibson, bassist Marty Kenney and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell--to do what they do best. Working through new material and strong selections from previous studio albums, this outfit delivered the goods with coiled intensity, some sturm-und-drang sophistication, open ears, sensitivity and melodic mindset. And ...
Continue ReadingLudovica Burtone: Sparks
by Angelo Leonardi
È un debutto discografico davvero significativo, questo di Ludovica Burtone, violinista friulana di formazione classica con un diploma in composizione del Berklee College of Music e un ottimo curriculum di collaborazioni con jazzzisti statunitensi e internazionali. Inciso a New York con un ensemble comprendente un quartetto d'archi e ritmica, più alcuni ospiti di rilievo (Melissa Aldana, Sami Stevens), il percorso musicale colpisce e affascina per la padronanza con cui Ludovica unisce le varie fonti d'ispirazione.
Continue ReadingSam Decker: Shrove
by Angelo Leonardi
Il titolo di questo disco è preso dal primo movimento del balletto Petrushka di Igor Stravinsky ed è indicativo della formazione del sassofonista Sam Decker. Laureato al New England Conservatory è stato molto attratto dal grande innovatore russo e da altri compositori del Novecento come Dmitrij Shostakovich e Bela Bartok. La musica di questo disco ne risente ma il suo taglio espressivo è un jazz contemporaneo dove libera improvvisazione e astratto camerismo convivono con le radiose melodie folk che impregnano ...
Continue ReadingSebastien Ammann's Color Wheel: Resilience
by Alberto Bazzurro
Lo svizzero Sebastien Ammann, di professione pianista e compositore, guida in questo elegante, solido album un quintetto dalle geometrie ben definite e dai percorsi espressivo-espositivi conseguenti. Magari non vi si respirerà tutta l'originalità di questa terra, ma il lavoro d'insieme (soprattutto) è ottimamente congegnato e condotto, e sul piano solistico tutto procede analogamente, col trombone di Samuel Blaser una spanna sopra gli altri (peraltro sempre all'altezza della situazione). Subito l'iniziale “Yayoi" ci introduce eloquentemente entro i meandri ...
Continue ReadingSebastien Ammann's Color Wheel: Resilience
by Jerome Wilson
Pianist Sebastien Ammann is originally from Switzerland but has been part of the New York City jazz scene since 2008, collaborating with musicians such as Kris Davis, Tony Malaby, Ohad Talmor and George Schuller. His current main focus is on his quintet, Color Wheel, whose second album is a kaleidoscope of fresh sounds and interesting musical combinations. Ammann's compositions often have spiky surfaces carved out by saxophonist Michael Attias and trombonist Samuel Blaser which are then made palpable ...
Continue ReadingSebastien Ammann's Color Wheel: Resilience
by Mike Jurkovic
Stark, abstract inquiries are fashioned, some resolved, some left hanging, in the jarring and resolute music of Swiss-pianist Sebastien Ammann's Color Wheel. With an uncanny ability to command the moment, Ammann and his equally inspired mates—Michael Attias on saxophone, bassistNoah Garabedian, trombonist Samuel Blaser and drummerNathan Ellman-Bell—take the moment and throw in a ton of turbulence and false leads and still close the deal. Quite nicely too. For the nine Ammann-imagined tracks on Resilience, Color Wheel's cart-wheeling follow-up to its ...
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