Jazz Articles about Rich Brown

About Rich Brown

Album Review

Ona: Traces of Brazil Voices of Toronto

Read "Traces of Brazil Voices of Toronto" reviewed by Konstantin N. Rega

by Konstantin N. Rega
March 25, 2026

Jazz-classical crossovers are not so unique, but they can still mesmerize with their fluidity and breadth of sound. Traces of Brazil, Voices of Toronto by the Ona Ensemble is a short yet robust selection of tunes. Their style of Brazilian chamber jazz is not in your face; rather, it sits back and lets the listener glide in and unwind. “Oná" is a Yoruba word meaning “New Path," and the blend that the group has created shows this with aplomb. ...

Radio & Podcasts

Dave Sewelson, Aruan Ortiz, Neil Charles & Rich Brown

by Maurice Hogue
August 11, 2025

Check out the final track and you'll hear why Toronto's Rich Brown is hailed as one of the finest electric bassists on the planet. His new solo album, Nyaeba, is filled with over-the-moon technique and electronic wizardry. English bassist Neil Charles' debut, Dark Days , is fueled by the words of James Baldwin, while guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi continues to explore his fascination with the compositions of Tim Berne. Another solo exploration comes from pianist Aruan Ortiz, continuing to dig deep ...

Album Review

Steve Coleman and Five Elements: PolyTropos / Of Many Turns

Read "PolyTropos / Of Many Turns" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
December 10, 2024

Perpetually churning rhythms, telepathic detours, unexpected juxtapositions: these are the stock-in-trade of Steve Coleman's Five Elements. And once again the intrepid alto saxophonist's inimitable approach surfaces on PolyTropos / Of Many Turns, a generous, two-disc helping of music that manages to be both intricately complex and fundamentally accessible at the same time. With two live dates captured in France in March of 2024, one can easily appreciate the infectious energy Coleman's group can generate, with rhythmic and melodic permutations galore, ...

Album Review

Pluto Juice: Pluto Juice

Read "Pluto Juice" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
August 12, 2021

The EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) was popularized in the 1980s by the late sax great Michael Brecker, and allegedly is a difficult instrument to learn because the buttons are touch sensitive and its sound bank possesses the characteristics of multiple woodwind instruments. Moreover, the EWI contains a controller and a sound module and is not simply an electronic sax device. But highly regarded saxophonist Dayna Stephens seems to have surmounted any hurdles and conveys a rather all-inclusive scope on this ...

Album Review

Lara Solnicki: The One And The Other

Read "The One And The Other" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
May 4, 2021

Questo è il terzo album, dopo Whose Shadow?, del 2014, e A Meadow in December del 2011, a nome della cantante canadese (di Toronto) Lara Solnicki, presenza tutto sommato piuttosto anomala nel variegato panorama delle jazz singers per svariati motivi, che cerchiamo di sintetizzare. Anzitutto lei canta e dice (si definisce cantante-compositrice-poetessa), ma non su un terreno contemporaneo-aleatorio-concreto, come si potrebbe immaginare, bensì lungo brani perfettamente predefiniti, per attraversare i quali si affida alle cure di gruppi numerosi (ieri un ...

Album Review

Lara Solnicki: The One And The Other

Read "The One And The Other" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
April 11, 2021

Lara Solnicki is a Canadian poet, composer and singer who combines all her talents strikingly on this album, marrying her words to a dense fabric of free-flowing jazz and improvisation. Solnicki bends her voice well to the requirements of each composition. On the singsong rhythm of “The Embrace," she sounds sensitive but slightly detached against falling piano and electronic whispers, while, on the cinematic construction of “Bit Her Sweet Christopher Street," her voice climbs through a busy tangle ...

Album Review

Lara Solnicki: The One And The Other

Read "The One And The Other" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
February 21, 2021

Among feelings are nervousness and anxiety. While synonymous in any thesaurus, the two words differ in the same way that thankfulness and gratitude differ, that is, in focus. Nervousness and thankfulness often have no focus, no definite object creating them. Anxiety and gratitude are those feelings, those reactions to the specific. Something clearly gives rise to them. With regards to anxiety and disquiet, Canadian vocalist and composer Lara Solnicki uses “free jazz" and poetry as the stimulus for generating a ...