Jazz Articles about Sean Conly

About Sean Conly

Album Review

New York-based drummer John Clay's latest album is appropriately titled About Time. For a drummer, of course, every phrase, every measure, every game plan is in essence about time, and Clay keeps exemplary time on each of the album's 10 numbers, as do the other members of his splendid quintet. Clay pilots a burnished rhythm section whose building blocks include pianist Enrique Haneine and bassist Sean Conly. Together, they lend staunch support to the ensemble's front-liners, trumpeter Shunzo ...

Album Review

Michael Attias: Quartet Music Vol I: LuMiSong & Vol II: Kardamon Fall

Read "Quartet Music Vol I: LuMiSong & Vol II: Kardamon Fall" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
April 8, 2025

Saxophonist Michaël Attias has impressed on the NYC scene for over three decades. He has recorded with Paul Motian, Anthony Braxton and Taylor Ho Bynum, while artists like Eric Revis, Anthony Coleman and Kris Davis have covered his compositions. But despite such recognition, Attias's discography undeservedly languishes in single figures. His decision to issue two volumes of quartet music, Lumisong and Kardamon Fall, available separately or together in a single package, represents the next step in his evolution ...

Album Review

Caleb Wheeler Curtis: The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)

Read "The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
March 24, 2025

Musicista non ancora quarantenne, da noi poco conosciuto,Caleb Wheeler Curtis sassofonista, trombettista, compositore newyorchese, licenzia il suo album più ambizioso, un doppio CD che già dal titolo fa presagire qualcosa di assai lontano da un rassicurante mainstream. The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery, questo il titolo (ogni riferimento a Frank Zappa è puramente casuale), è un doppio CD che presenta due differenti trii, registrati a pochi mesi di distanza. Nel primo, che porta ...

Album Review

Caleb Wheeler Curtis: The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)

Read "The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
November 15, 2024

Caleb Wheeler Curtis is one of the more daring musicians in jazz today, not only in his approach to playing the saxophone, but in his fearless dedication to his own musical conceptions, expressed clearly in his original compositions. That daring and dedication can be equally attributed to many of the shakers and movers of modern jazz, including one Thelonious Sphere Monk. On his double album release, The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Imani, 2024), Curtis ...

Album Review

Caleb Wheeler Curtis: The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)

Read "The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
November 12, 2024

There has always been room in jazz for those creative minds who can bridge the gap between the heart of tradition and the leading edge of change. In the world of saxophonists, Thomas Chapin, Arthur Blythe, Julius Hemphill or David Murray easily come to mind. Multi-instrumentalist Caleb Wheeler Curtis has similarly explored this terrain for years, and like his forebears, he often does his best work in a trio format. His August in March (Imani Records, 2023) was an imaginative ...

Album Review

Reggie Quinerly: New York Nowhere

Read "New York Nowhere" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
January 5, 2022

Born in Houston, drummer Reggie Quinerly attended his hometown's famous High School of the Performing and Visual Arts. He then moved on to study under such masters as Jimmy Cobb, Lewis Nash, and Kenny Washington in the Masters in Jazz Studies program at Juilliard, and released his debut recording, Music Inspired by Freedmantown (Self Produced, 2012) soon after graduating. Quinerly composed New York Nowhere, his fourth release as a leader, as his farewell to the city he called ...

Album Review

Sean Conly: Hard Knocks

Read "Hard Knocks" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
November 24, 2018

This trio gives credence to the old saying that, “too many cooks spoil the broth." Given the musicians' course of action, it would seem that additional instrumentalists may have gotten in the way of progress. This is due to the band's extreme agility coupled with a horde of alternative routes, undulating bop grooves, an uncluttered soundstage and tight unison outbreaks. And with Michaël Attias' fluid, whispery tones and venomous solo sprees, the trio's airtight scope of attack also includes melodic ...