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Josh Lawrence: And That Too
by David A. Orthmann
Less than ten seconds into “Grit," the opening track of Josh Lawrence's latest chapter as a leader for Posi-Tone Records, the trumpeter uncorks a jaw-dropping solo. Set in a brisk, no-nonsense tempo, it does not so much eclipse the music that follows as it sets the tone for the record by declaring that And That Too is playful and deadly serious. Lawrence's rich, full-bodied tone is the entryway to over two minutes of unadulterated invention. Every note ...
Continue ReadingDiego Rivera: Love & Peace
by David A. Orthmann
While some of its roots lie in jazz practices of the mid-to-late twentieth century, Diego Rivera's Love & Peace brushes aside the expectations and comparisons which often accompany newly-recorded records that bear a resemblance to sounds from the past. The tenor and soprano saxophonist assembled a cast of players who frequently appear on Posi-Tone releases. Pianist Art Hirahara, bassist Boris Kozlov, and drummer Rudy Royston have met the challenges of loads of jazz and improvised music projects, ...
Continue ReadingDave Douglas: Songs Of Ascent Book 1 — Degrees
by Giuseppe Segala
La curiosità di Dave Douglas verso l'esplorazione, la scoperta, lo stimolo intellettivo, non si placa. Si focalizza, con inesauribile attenzione, su progetti sempre diversi. Così la sua musica, che poggia sempre su un motivo di ispirazione forte: di carattere musicale, poetico, artistico e spirituale in senso ampio. Tra gli altri, Mary Lou Williams, Wayne Shorter, Booker Little, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, hanno fornito negli anni passati al trombettista materiali, ma soprattutto motivi di riflessione dai quali partire con le proprie ...
Continue ReadingNadje Noordhuis: Full Circle
by Chris May
In terms of an honest assessment of an artist's qualities, press releases are rarely worth the paper they are no longer printed on. An exception is the release accompanying Australian-born, New York-based trumpeter and composer Nadje Noordhuis' exquisitely lyrical Full Circle. It is an exception partly because it is written by Elan Mehler, the artistic director of audiophile label Newvelle Records and a pianist who first blew the mind of this reviewer with his quietly sensational sophomore album, The After ...
Continue ReadingAmina Figarova: Joy
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Amina Figarova released an album in 2005 that was about as far away from the theme of “joy" as could be. September Suite (Munich Records) explored the deadly events of September 11, 2001 (she was in New York at the time; she experienced it). It is an album that she called: “An Ode to Mourning striving to articulate the various stages of grief in musical terms." In 2022 Figarova turns 180 degrees to embrace optimism and a ...
Continue ReadingDave Douglas Quintet: Songs Of Ascent Book 1—Degrees
by Dan McClenaghan
“Devotion is not a singular expression. I wanted to come at this from as many directions as the psalms do." Dave Douglas. Trumpeter Dave Douglas released one of the finest recordings of his career in 2010, Spark Of Being (Greenleaf Records), a musical immersion into Mary Shelley's pioneering horror & science fiction novel Frankenstein. Douglas is at his best when he bites into themes--Frankenstein, the films of Fatty Arbuckle, the music of pianist & composer Mary Lou Williams, ...
Continue ReadingBrian Landrus: Red List
by Jerome Wilson
Saxophonist Brian Landrus created this project with a purpose summed up in its subtitle, Music Dedicated to the Preservation of our Endangered Species. The album was made to create awareness about all the animal species on Earth in danger of extinction, thirteen of which are explicitly referenced here. For most of these, such as the Malayan tiger and the snow leopard, only a few hundreds or thousands are still alive. For the Javan rhino, there were only 67 left at ...
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