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Ada Rovatti: The Hidden World Of Piloo
by Katchie Cartwright
Ada Rovatti's curiously titled album, The Hidden World of Piloo, has a tale attached (and a tail). Piloo is an affectionate name Rovatti's father has called her since childhood, after a “naughty" cat in a favorite children's book. She adopted it for her label as well (Piloo Records). Rovatti grew up in Mortara, Italy, outside of Milan, in an unusual household. Her mother was a semi-pro softball player and her dad a geologist, professional hunter and purveyor of cars. The ...
Continue ReadingClarence Penn: Behind the Voice
by Dan Bilawsky
Drummer Clarence Penn, a serious force on the scene for more than three decades, has worked with a who's who of vocalists--Betty Carter, Kandace Springs, Luciana Souza, Kate McGarry, Nellie McKay, Claudia Acuña, Paula Cole, Melissa Walker and Nneena Freelon, to name just a few. He knows more than a thing or two about history and creativity behind the voice, and he's here to show it with this sharply-constructed date. Working with a stacked lineup of singers and instrumentalists, and ...
Continue ReadingTom Guarna And The Ted Ludwig Trio At Jazz At The Joint
by C. Michael Bailey
Tom Guarna The Joint Little Rock, AR March 7, 2021 One of the curious results of 2005's Hurricane Katrina was its diasporic sequelae. Every order of New Orleans inhabitants interpreted the thrown bones of that event and elected to leave for safer climes. One of the greatest beneficiaries of this migration was Arkansas, which assimilated many NOLA expatriates into her own rich tapestry. One such ex-pat was guitarist and composer Ted Ludwig, who, with ...
Continue ReadingTom Guarna: Spirit Science
by Jack Bowers
Guitarist / composer Tom Guarna uses geometric concepts and patterns as a starting point on Spirit Science, his eighth album as leader, pairing its mathematical precision with spiritual awareness to more faithfully represent his musical point of view. Be that as it may, Guarna's handiwork must of course be appraised for its perception and effect on the listener, not for any tenets on which it is based. In other words, when all the premises have been explored, what ...
Continue ReadingTom Guarna: Spirit Science
by Friedrich Kunzmann
With The Wishing Stones (Destiny Records, 2017) New York-based guitarist Tom Guarna released something of a breakthrough album, featuring a prominently cast quartet made up of Brian Blade on drums, John Patitucci on bass and pianist Jon Cowherd. With that album Guarna perfected his personal style of composition, which sees post-bop language taken to more extensive structures filtered through modern sonic production values. Spirit Science picks up where that album left off and delivers another engaging set of modern post-bop ...
Continue ReadingTom Guarna: The Wishing Stones
by Friedrich Kunzmann
After having established himself amongst the leading modern Jazz-guitar voices with remarkably ambitious 2014 release Rush , Brooklyn-Born Tom Guarna returns leading an all-star quartet comprised of drummer Brian Blade, bassist John Patitucci and pianist John Cowherd on the inspired The Wishing Stones, sonically carrying forth what had defined the last record. While Rush saw Guarna leaving a comfort-zone which characterized previous releases, The Wishing Stones finds the guitarist building upon the modern guitar sounds and compositional structures, further developing ...
Continue ReadingTom Guarna: The Wishing Stones
by John Kelman
An unfortunate reality for too many musicians--even those who are well-known--is that most of their audiences are aware of but a portion of their true work...their fullest capabilities. Recordings only tell part of the story, since artists often tour with groups that are never documented. And even those tours, for those fortunate enough to experience them, are often limited-run engagements--perhaps a few weeks in Europe here, a short tour of Japan there. Even in North America, given the vast distances ...
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