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Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet: For The Love Of Fire And Water
by Mark Corroto
While the now infamous quote “writing about music is like dancing about architecture" may befit jazz criticism, writing music about painting is actually achievable. Proof of that is pianist Myra Melford's For the Love of Fire and Water; her quintet sets out to perform music inspired by the American painter Cy Twombly's (1928-2011) Bay of Gaeta drawings “For the Love of Fire and Water." Melford has taken inspiration from visual artists in the past, specifically on her solo ...
Continue ReadingMoers Festival Interviews: Tomeka Reid
by Martin Longley
The Moers Festival has been operating its Improviser In Residence initiative since 2008, inviting artists every year to dwell in a designated house on Klein Allee, very close to this German city's expansive Schlosspark. The 'Residence' part of the title is quite extreme, as each successive musician is given the keys for a full year's inhabitation, the aim being to infiltrate local society, performing, collaborating, workshopping and generally burrowing into the Moers scene, quite possibly inviting other players from the ...
Continue ReadingArtifacts: Tomeka Reid, Nicole Mitchell, Mike Reed: …and then there’s this
by John Sharpe
For the follow up to the excellent debut Artifacts (482 Music, 2015), the stellar threesome of cellist Tomeka Reid, flautist Nicole Mitchell, and drummer Mike Reed waxes another outstanding album, but one which differs in two respects. Firstly this time out the emphasis is on the compositional smarts of the crew rather than a celebration of their forebears in Chicago's esteemed AACM. Secondly, as Mitchell elucidates, this collection is also more focused on the groove. But neither is a dramatic ...
Continue ReadingArtifacts: Tomeka Reid, Nicole Mitchell, Mike Reed: …and then there’s this
by Mark Corroto
Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians or AACM, formed in 1965, adopted the maxim “ancient to the future." The future of which they spoke, in the hands of the next generation heard here, is indeed secure. The trio Artifacts comprises the gifted successors to the AACM, cellist Tomeka Reid, flutist Nicole Mitchell, and drummer Mike Reed. ...and then there's this is the trio's second release and it follows the self-titled debut from 482 Music in 2015. Where that ...
Continue ReadingMary LaRose: Out Here
by Jerome Wilson
Vocalist Mary LaRose has long been putting vocals, with and without words, to the works of modern jazz composers such as Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden and Eric Dolphy. This CD is her first full-length exploration of Dolphy, probing the free-wheeling elusiveness of his work with a group which includes several of the instruments he used in his recordings, cello, vibraphone, and bass clarinet. LaRose approaches Dolphy's music by putting lyrics to some tunes, singing wordlessly on ...
Continue ReadingMary LaRose: Out Here
by Mark Corroto
Vocalist Mary LaRose has explored the instrumental music of jazz artists in the past, penning lyrics to the music of Thelonious Monk,Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, and Charles Mingus. Also included in her previous releases is the music of Eric Dolphy, who has always been a spirit guide for LaRose. With Out Here, she dedicates an entire album to Dolphy's compositions, plus a couple pieces tied to his legacy. This session reminds you of the great Carmen McRae's Carmen ...
Continue ReadingAnthony Braxton: 12 COMP (ZIM) 2017
by Jerome Wilson
There had been just a slow trickle of recordings from Anthony Braxton, but all at once he made up for lost time with two major releases. One is a 13 CD box set of performances of standards. The other is a collection of recordings of original compositions that form part of his latest musical concept, ZIM Music, twelve works that run for a total of more than 11 hours and are released on a single Blu-Ray disc. ZIM ...
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