Articles by Mark Sullivan
Big Ears Festival 2024
by Mark Sullivan
Big Ears Festival Knoxville, TN March 21-24, 2024 After last year's triumphant tenth anniversary, the festival returned with the slogan The adventure continues." The iconic and influential Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary was celebrated with performances by Brad Mehldau, Caroline Shaw, Darcy James Argue, Mary Halvorson, Davóne Tines, Sam Amidon, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Yasmin Williams, Rhiannon Giddens, Laurie Anderson and Molly Tuttle, and a rare live performance by Robin Holcomb. Electronica pioneer King ...
read moreFernando Trueba & They Shot the Piano Player
by Mark Sullivan
Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba has long been a jazz fan, and has made several films with a jazz focus. Calle 54 (2000) is still a notable documentary on Latin jazz. The film primarily consists of studio performances by a wide array of Latin Jazz musicians. Artists featured include Chucho Valdés, Bebo Valdés, Cachao, Eliane Elias, Gato Barbieri, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Chano Domínguez, Jerry Gonzalez, Dave Valentin, Aquíles Báez, and Michel Camilo. The film takes its name from Sony Music ...
read moreThey Shot the Piano Player
by Mark Sullivan
They Shot the Piano Player Sony Pictures Classics Director: Fernando Trueba Run Time: 103 minutes 2023 They Shot the Piano Player is an animated docudrama that explores the real-world 1976 disappearance of Brazilian pianist Francisco Tenório Júnior. Tenório was a gifted young pianist (34 years old at the time of his disappearance) who was on tour with Toquinho and Vinícius de Moraes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when he went out on a ...
read moreMiles Davis and the Search for the Sound
by Mark Sullivan
Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound (graphic novel) Dave Chisholm 150 Pages ISBN: #9798886560428 Z2 Comics2023 Artist and jazz trumpeter Dave Chisholm has created a series of graphic novels that combine his two loves. The most recent was Enter the Blue (Z2 Comics, 2022), a supernatural jazz story incorporating the history of Blue Note Records. But in many ways, this story recalls Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California (Z2 Comics, ...
read moreMareike Wiening: Reveal
by Mark Sullivan
Mareike Wiening is a German drummer/composer who began her career in New York, and now divides her time between there and Köln, Germany. On her third album, she continues making music with her New York-based working band, an increasingly rare situation in contemporary jazz. It provides her an opportunity for more compositional experimentation with each release. Time for Priorities" begins abstractly, a duet between drums and guitarist Alex Goodman's spacey electronics, before introducing the swinging theme and the rest of ...
read moreMark Sullivan's Favorite Albums Of 2023
by Mark Sullivan
2023 was a very good year for creative music recordings of all sorts. My list includes eclectic music with no specific genre identifier; contemporary jazz; Latin jazz; and reissues of classic jazz and fusion. It would have been easy to create a list three or four times longer. Mata AtlanticaRetiro e Ritmo 7D Media This album is a love letter to Mata Atlântica, the coastal rain forest of Brazil, and a call to ...
read moreSebastian Schunke: Existential Intensities
by Mark Sullivan
German composer and pianist Sebastian Schunke has long taken inspiration from Latin music. But, when his album Elusive Beauty (Connector Records, 2018) won one of Latin America's most important music awards--the Premio Internacional presented during the Cubadisco Festival--he had a rare opportunity to engage directly with Cuban musicians. This album is a kaleidoscopic blend of two Cuban ensembles, Schunke's Berlin band and a Berlin-based chamber ensemble. Abakuá [versión de ritual folclórico Abakuá]" opens the set with Los Muñequitos ...
read moreCarl Weingarten: The Simian River Collection 1980-2020
by Mark Sullivan
Guitarist Carl Weingarten has had a long career as an independent artist: four decades of work, including over 30 releases on his label Multiphase Records. This triple-CD collection aims to provide a path through all of that diversity, along with the bonus of a few unreleased tracks for longtime fans. The organization is roughly chronological: each disc covers a range of years, but the track order was determined by sound and flow rather than strict chronological order. Disc ...
read moreWes Montgomery: The Complete Full House Recordings
by Mark Sullivan
Wes Montgomery's original Full House album (Riverside, 1962) comprised six tracks; the 1987 CD edition had nine tracks, with alternate takes plus the addition of Born to be Blue"; the 2007 reissue was expanded to eleven tracks. This complete edition has fourteen tracks, including all of the previously released alternate takes as well as the completely unedited master take of the title tune, with Montgomery's original guitar solo restored. That restoration is the big news for completists but, for everyone ...
read moreDave Brubeck: A Dave Brubeck Christmas
by Mark Sullivan
This was Dave Brubeck's fourth album of unaccompanied solo piano, originally released on Telarc in 1996. As the title implies, Brubeck Plays Brubeck (Columbia, 1956) was devoted to original music and sketches. But all of the others mainly featured the pianist interpreting other people's compositions; in this case, mainly brief treatments of traditional Christmas music and popular standards. Brubeck was after a particular atmosphere: his liner notes describe music as an essential part of Christmas celebrations in his family, with ...
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