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Peripheral Vision: More Songs About Error And Shame
by Friedrich Kunzmann
The first half of 2018 sees the Toronto Jazz-scene bursting with fresh sound and innovation, bringing new and exciting nuances to what appears to be today's Status Quo. After the architecturally intense exploration that was saxophonist Gordon Hyland's Never Die!, by his group Living Fossil in February, the object of this review exposes shared similarities with the latter in its compositional approach. On Peripheral Vision's More Songs About Error And Shame, Toronto-based leaders Michael Herring and Don Scott establish a ...
read morePeripheral Vision: More Songs About Error And Shame
by Anya Wassenberg
More Songs About Error And Shame by Toronto's Peripheral Vision offers sophisticated, melodic modern jazz with an esoteric bent and eclectic tastes. Co-founders Michael Herring and Don Scott are joined by Nick Fraser on drums and Trevor Hogg on tenor sax in seven original tracks that combine elements of contemporary jazz with a garage band vibe and a groovy Sixties flavor of cool that includes swinging guitars and a strong rhythmic pulse. With tracks titles like “And the ...
read morePeripheral Vision: More Songs About Error And Shame
by Dan McClenaghan
The Juno Award-nominated jazz quartet, Peripheral Vision, delivers a spontaneous set of modernistic music on More Songs About Error And Shame. The sound has a live-in-the-studio freshness, with studio tweakings to embellish their forward-leaning approach. The group's appraoch is a brash and metallic, a mesh of the teaming of Trevor Hogg's sharp toned tenor sax with the luminescence of Don Scott's resonant electric guitar. The Canadian quartet shares a decade-long history of live performance that translates to a ...
read moreNick Fraser: Is Life Long?
by Mark Corroto
There is a pulse, maybe better stated a pace, drummer Nick Fraser is partial to on his recording Is Life Long?. His quartet, originally named Towns And Villages, is assembled around a concept. It is a two string (bass and cello), saxophone, and drum outfit. The music trawls an insouciant path through six original compositions. Being that it is the quartet's fourth recording, they must be doing something right.Where another drummer might be eager to display labor-intensive feats ...
read moreNick Fraser Quartet: Starer
by Glenn Astarita
Canadian drummer Nick Fraser follows up his trio CD Too Many Continents (Clean Feed, 2015) featuring pianist Kris Davis and saxophonist Tony Malaby with this quartet date also featuring Malaby, consummated by cellist Andrew Downing and bassist Rob Clutton. Hence, the leader imparts an atypical vista, contoured by his scrappy or terse drumming, where structural song-forms seamlessly intertwine with freedom of expression. It's like a loosely wrapped package framed on solid foundations that morph into liquefied digressions and gradually ascending ...
read moreNick Fraser: Too Many Continents
by Stefano Merighi
Vent'anni di esperienza a Toronto nel jazz e nella musica improvvisata di quella scena, il batterista Nick Fraser coltiva anche amicizie musicali ad ampio raggio, come dimostra la partnership con la connazionale Kris Davis e l'americano Tony Malaby. La musicalità di Fraser spazia da un jazz avanzato contemporaneo fino alla free music più rischiosa. È di questa seconda specie il corpo sonoro di Too Many Continents. E allora, come spesso accade, si torna a questioni di fondo ...
read morePeripheral Vision: Sheer Tyranny Of Will
by Bruce Lindsay
If titles are anything to go by, then Canadian quartet Peripheral Vision has a pretty pessimistic world view--if Sheer Tyranny Of Will isn't downbeat enough, “Robbed And Ridiculed," “The Ill Conceived Plan" and “Neurosis And Everyday Life" add further evidence to the pile. Maybe it's circumstantial though: tucked away in the track listing is one of 2014's most wonderful tune titles--a band that performs a number called “Charleston Heston" can't be too downhearted, can it? Bassist Michael Herring ...
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