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Nick Hempton Cory Weeds: Horns Locked
by Pierre Giroux
The storied tradition of tenor saxophone battles has produced some of jazz's most thrilling moments, dating back to the classic duels of Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt or Johnny Griffin and Eddie Davis. Carrying that torch forward with equal measures of bravado and reverence are Nick Hempton and Cory Weeds on Horns Locked, a rollicking straight-ahead session that captures the spirit of friendly combat and deep mutual admiration. Split between an electrifying live performance at Frankie's ...
Continue ReadingNick Hempton-Cory Weeds: Horns Locked
by Jack Bowers
It has been far too long since anyone had the pleasure of eavesdropping on a two-tenor duel as heated and expressive as the one between Canadian gurus Nick Hempton and Cory Weeds on the suitably named Horns Locked. As the album's opening number, James Moody's fast-chugging “Last Train from Overbrook," unfolded, the memories came flooding back: hazy snapshots of Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Wardell Gray, Johnny Griffith, Lockjaw Davis and their counterparts who made battling tenors a classic ...
Continue ReadingJohn Lang: Earotica
by Jack Bowers
There's something special about a nonet: small enough to have its own personality, yet large enough to sound at times akin to a full-size big band. Bassist John Lang leads a first-class nonet on Earotica, his fourth album as leader. Having given Lang's last disc a rather lukewarm appraisal almost two years ago, it is a pleasure to note that his new album is superior in every respect. Gone are the desultory funk and rock beats, replaced ...
Continue ReadingNightcrawlers: Get Ready
by Pierre Giroux
The common thread between the Nightcrawlers and nightcrawler earthworms is that they both come out at night, and while the former is at home in a jazz club before a live audience, the latter is feeding on decaying organic material. Some may say that is a distinction without a difference. Nevertheless the latest nightly ritual for the Nightcrawlers is called Get Ready and it was recorded live at Frankie's Jazz Club in Vancouver B.C. This confident sextet is centred around ...
Continue ReadingNick Hempton Band Live & Loud
by David A. Orthmann
Nick Hempton Band Live and Loud New York, NY December 3, 2020 Can venues reflect the tenor of a particular time? In August of 2018, saxophonist Nick Hempton played two sets at a park in Dobbs Ferry, NY, a striking location right on the Hudson River. It was a comfortably warm summer evening. Families sat on lawn chairs and blankets, noshed on goodies, applauded the sounds of Hempton's quartet and laughed at the dry wit ...
Continue ReadingNick Hempton: Night Owl
by Dan Bilawsky
If jazz belongs to a single breed of believers, it would have to go to the night owls. Those loyalists who live a nocturnal existence—the listeners. sitting at the bar while they drink in their surroundings, and the performers, playing into the wee small hours in basement hideaways—are the heartbeat of this music, and saxophonist Nick Hempton knows it. Having spent many an evening in clubs and corner bars, Hempton is more than qualified to raise his ...
Continue ReadingNick Hempton: Trio Stonk: Live At Smalls
by David A. Orthmann
On April 20, 2017, tenor and alto saxophonist Nick Hempton, bassist George DeLancey, and drummer Dan Aran played a gig at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City. Fortunately, it was recorded and recently released by the house label, SmallsLIVE. Although Hempton is the leader, the sixty minutes of music amounts to a collective accomplishment. The record documents a band that sounds raw, unprocessed, unfiltered--in short, the antithesis of any attempt at the unattainable ideal of studio perfection. With one ...
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