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Alliance: Alliance
by Dan Bilawsky
The eponymous debut from Alliance--a collective quartet spearheaded by saxophonist Sharel Cassity and drummer Colleen Clark, and harmonically hinged on pianist Hannah Mayer and bassist Carmani Edwards-- is a shining example of the strength behind a pact in play. A sorority built on substantial musical prowess and possibilities, this is a band that's locked and loaded for action. Mixing carefully-chosen covers with winning originals, Alliance confidently endears itself to ears across this nine-song program. Opening on Mulgrew ...
Continue ReadingPrecarious Towers: Ten Stories
by Jack Bowers
Precarious Towers is a Midwestern-based quintet whose second recording, Ten Stories, is as bare-bones an album as one could imagine: a plain CD (without name or artwork) resting in a pale-blue jacket (no tray or protective sleeve) that includes a list of songs, composers and personnel plus recording details. That's it. From a reviewer's point of view, however, such cosmetic details are irrelevant, as the only component that matters is the music itself. Judged solely on that ...
Continue ReadingJoe Chambers: Moving Pictures Orchestra: Live at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola
by John Kelman
It's one thing to have an established `place in the jazz pantheon, another to continue redefining that position, long after others might be content to rest on their laurels. Joe Chambers' work behind the drum kit with artists including Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Mingus, and McCoy Tyner has already ensured a prominent place in jazz history. His output as a leader may be small, but he's delivered two outstanding Savant recordings in 2006's The Outlaw ...
Continue ReadingJohannes Wallmann: Precarious Towers
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Johannes Wallman set himself up with a hard act to follow when he released 2021's Elegy For an Undiscovered Species (Shifting Paradigm) an ambitious set of the leader's distinctive compositions played by an all-star quintet and string orchestra. It is a jazz with strings that leans to a spirited jazz side--cerebral and approachable at the same time. Precarious Towers, Wallmann's 2022 offering, finds the pianist bringing in a different quintet, one which proves itself as adept as ...
Continue ReadingMichael Dease: Give It All You Got
by Kyle Simpler
Jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell once discussed his views on playing music by making a point that, “you are unique, be yourself, put out that thing that is you, then use your work ethic and produce great music." Trombonist Michael Dease embodies the spirit of Burrell's statement. Dease is a dedicated musician who is rapidly making a name for himself as both a recording artist and an educator. He won the Downbeat Critics Poll for rising star trombonist along with winning ...
Continue ReadingSharel Cassity: Fearless
by Edward Blanco
Offering her fifth album as leader, saxophonist Sharel Cassity unveils an aptly titled collection of originals and a couple of standards in an album of special significance and meaning in her life, as she confronted a personal health issue that threatened to silence her musical voice forever. This project is not only about producing a delicious bebop sound one will not soon forget but, it is also a testament to her faith and courage in confronting an illness she refused ...
Continue ReadingFreedom of Expression: Interviews with Women in Jazz by Chris Becker
by C. Michael Bailey
Freedom of Expression: Interviews with Women in Jazz Chris Becker 332 Pages ISBN: # 978-0692543603 Beckeresque 2015 Houstonian writer and composer Chris Becker had a labor of love in mind when he set out to assemble his Freedom of Expression: Interviews with Women in Jazz. What may have begun as a collection of interviews, morphed into a tautly-rendered history of jazz against a backdrop of America's decaying history of racism and sexism. What ...
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