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Jazz Articles about Xavier Lecouturier
Xavier Lecouturier: I Remember Why Now
by Paul Rauch
Wisdom is in part gathered by the realization that one can only be honest with oneself. There are no lies, only distractions and suppositions that put vision and truth at bay. The wisdom and truth that produces great music is not only arrived at by immersion into the art itself, but the immersion and subsequent understanding of other experiences from which inspiration is drawn. Drummer / composer Xavier Lecouturier in his second solo album, explores the realization that there has ...
Continue ReadingXavier Lecouturier: Focus in Constant Motion
by Paul Rauch
In many ways, Seattle-based 26 year old drummer and composer Xavier Lecouturier typifies the plight of brilliant young jazz musicians on the horizon in the twenty-first century. While the talent pool in jazz music has never been more prodigious, it faces major challenges in terms of work availability and when it is available, earning a living wage in the process. The current generation of jazz brilliance is as well burdened by coming of age in an era when the recording ...
Continue ReadingMartin Budde: Back Burner
by Paul Rauch
The title of this debut recording from Seattle-based guitarist Martin Budde suggests the music has been percolating in the backwaters of his musical endeavors over the past few years. Indeed, that is the case, as the past five years have found Budde smack dab in the middle of the musical collective, Meridian Odyssey. The music was inspired by, and recorded during, the pandemic shutdown of 2020. This was a time when this collective of young Seattle musicians was sequestered in ...
Continue ReadingMartin Budde: Back Burner
by Andrew Luthringer
In the ever-evolving crucible of progressive jazz guitar, younger players often face a formidable challenge: forging a distinctive approach amidst the echoes of legends. The roles and methodologies that define modern electric jazz have multiplied exponentially in recent decades, but Martin Budde, a guitarist of floating, effortless fluidity and solid foundational control, navigates this landscape with the confident stride of a searcher who's found something he wants to communicate. On Back Burner, his second solo album, he shares the riches ...
Continue ReadingFrancesco Crosara: Circular Motion
by David Adler
"I refuse to be labeled a 'straight-ahead' player or a 'fusion' player," says Italian-born, Seattle-based pianist Francesco Crosara. It's a sentiment widely shared by jazz musicians, though they follow many different roads to get to that place. Crosara, for his part, plays both acoustic piano and Yamaha MODX-8 synthesizer on this absorbing, varied program of original music for three different trio lineups, two of them with electric bass. He cites the influence of Chick Corea, a mentor and family friend ...
Continue ReadingJun Iida: Evergreen
by Gary Fukushima
They are everywhere, dotting the undulating terrain of the great Pacific Northwest, from the winding, twisting shorelines of Puget Sound to the mountains that rise in the distance in every direction: the Olympics to the west, the Cascades to the east, Mt. Baker to the north and the majestic Rainier to the south. The trees are a constant, comforting blanket over this land, ever-present, ever-green. Jun lida has called this place home for the past three years, another ...
Continue ReadingJun Iida: Evergreen
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Evergreen from trumpeter/flugelhornist Jun Iida is a textural panorama of multi-cultural jazz flavors, offering original and known fare. Each of the ten tracks is a portrait, and they display fine solo and ensemble playing. To describe Evergreen in one word is to call it “intriguing." “Gooey Butter Cake," one of six originals from Iida, opens things in a jovial, hippity-hop, New Orleans-esque groove which develops into a trumpet-bass solo ride, with solos following from pianist Josh Nelson and ...
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