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Peripheral 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 ...
Continue ReadingNick 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 ...
Continue ReadingNick 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 ...
Continue ReadingNick 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 ...
Continue ReadingPeripheral 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 ...
Continue ReadingLara Solnicki: Whose Shadow?
by Everett R. Davis
Canadian contemporary jazz vocalist, published poet and composer, Lara Solnicki originally intended a career in opera but turned to jazz in 2008 following a brief collaboration with a classical composer, in a conscious attempt to marry her two arts, music and poetry. She has emerged from the Canadian scene with a spellbinding voice and is highly sough after on the Toronto jazz circuit. Solnicki has been rightfully labeled a vocal purist with tremendous tonal control and naturally sings any jazz ...
Continue ReadingEric Chenaux: Dull Lights
by AAJ Italy Staff
Eric Chenaux, nella scena underground canadese, lo trovi di qua e di là. Suona la chitarra con Phleg Camp e Life Like Weeds, inizio anni ’90. Qualche anno dopo incide il suo primo album come solista e accompagna gente che ai più è ancora più sconosciuta di lui (Michelle Mcadorey, Martin Arnold e Sandro Perri). In molti lo chiamano come turnista: impressiona dell’artista lo stile dinoccolato, le frasi a singhiozzo e il minimalismo poetico che traspira dalle corde della sua ...
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