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Alex Koo / Attila Gyárfas / Ralph Alessi: Identified Flying Object
by Mark Corroto
Belgian-Japanese pianist Alex Koo and Hungarian drummer Attila Gyárfás formed the duo Identified Flying Object to explore fully improvised music that has one foot in jazz, one in chamber music, another in minimalism, and a fourth in electronic manipulations. Their initial release Galactic Liturgy (2017) is followed up here with the addition of Ralph Alessi's trumpet and piccolo trumpet. Alessi, along with Mark Turner, was heard on the stunningly beautiful Appleblueseagreen (Clever Tree Records, 2019). Where Galactic Liturgy ...
read moreTineke Postma: Freya
by Ian Patterson
Following the co-led outing with Greg Osby that was Sonic Halo (Challenge Records, 2014), Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma took a step back from her solo career to raise a family. In the intervening years there were two trio albums with Nathalie Loriers, but Freya-- Postma's debut on Edition Records--marks her comeback as a leader. Inspiration comes in various guises on these ten originals, with motherhood, her surrounding landscape and formidable women all firing her creative juices. Pianist Kris Davis, trumpeter ...
read moreFerdinando Romano: Totem
by Friedrich Kunzmann
According to Italian double bassist Ferdinando Romano, a totem “is a symbol that represents a natural or spiritual entity which has a particular meaning for a single person or even for a large group of people." Furthermore, it refers to the different references each of the musicians on this album have, the different people they've met and shared artistic experiences with, as Romano explaines in the liner notes. For his debut album as a leader, Romano has chosen to work ...
read moreRalph Alessi: Imaginary Friends
by Mike Jurkovic
Ever leading the avant-garde, trumpeter Ralph Alessi has never been pressed for future-forward ideas or the time to express them in whatever setting best suits the music. Not counting his prodigious work alongside such leading figures as Fred Hersch, Don Byron, and Steve Coleman, in this tumultuous century alone Alessi has led and released such challenging works as This Against That (RKM, 2002), the blazing Cognitive Dissonance (Cam Jazz, 2010) with Jason Moran, his ECM debut Badia (2013), and the ...
read moreYelena Eckemoff: Better Than Gold and Silver
by Mark Sullivan
Russian-born pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff began setting verses from the Bible's Book of Psalms shortly after her conversion to Christianity, even before her emigration to the United States. But she waited until she had considerable experience working with jazz musicians before attempting these jazz arrangements. The first disc in this double disc set presents settings with two vocalists, tenor Tomás Cruz and mezzo-soprano Kim Mayo, accompanied by a remarkable band: trumpeter Ralph Alessi, guitarist Ben Monder, violinist Christian Howes, bassist Drew ...
read moreRalph Alessi & This Against That featuring Ravi Coltrane Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam
by BIMHUIS
For the first installment of BIMHUIS Radio on All About Jazz we present the full recording of the recent concert by Ralph Alessi & This Against That featuring Ravi Coltrane held at BIMHUIS on 18 May 2018. Describing Ralph Alessi's trumpet playing is like describing his compositions: clear of sound and structure and simultaneously full of ingenuity and expertise. This gives him room for adventure and innovation and that's what This Against That is all about. In this ...
read moreRalph Alessi: Quiver
by Stefano Merighi
Il quartetto di Ralph Alessi mantiene due coordinate espressive ben distinte. Dal vivo, il repertorio ben compatto, per lo più introspettivo, si accende con una passione inaspettata, che realizza dunque una concezione dialettica della musica. Il magistero tecnico dei solisti si afferma a partire da sobri materiali di partenza e si evolve con irresistibili conversazioni e vociferazioni collettive. In studio invece, come è il caso di questo recente Quiver, Alessi preferisce esecuzioni più sorvegliate, in cui l'essenza del suono prevale ...
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