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Alexandra Ridout
Album Review
Gaia Wilmer Large Ensemble: Parabólico: Reflections on Gilberto Gil, Volume 1
by Angelo Leonardi
La bandleader e arrangiatrice brasiliana Gaia Wilmer dedica la sua attenzione alle musiche di Gilberto Gil tornando a incidere con una grande orchestra. Nella sua decennale attività discografica hanno infatti prevalso i medi organici e solo per le musiche di Egberto Gismonti ha guidato un'ampia formazione (Folia 2023). Con venti musicisti a sua disposizione, compresa la cantante Mônica Salmaso, Gaia ha modo d'evidenziare le personali doti di scrittura in dinamiche orchestrali raffinate e ricche di colore. Le riletture del repertorio ...
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Dave Douglas: Alloy
by Giuseppe Segala
La lega di metalli a cui si riferisce Dave Douglas nel suo ultimo lavoro è quella delle trombe nella front-line. Tre personalità differenti, che si fondono in un tenace amalgama musicale, il cui prodotto ha caratteristiche di versatilità, elasticità, brillantezza, empatia. Ma è senz'altro possibile estendere tali caratteristiche all'intera formazione messa in scena dal trombettista, scaturita da una commissione del Festival of New Trumpet Music. Un gruppo inedito e singolare nel suo organico strumentale, con una coppia di ritmi accanto ...
Continue Reading...Dave Douglas: Alloy
by Glenn Astarita
Dave Douglas continues his alchemical pursuits with Alloy, forging a trumpet-centric ensemble that elevates group dialogue to new heights--proving that in jazz, three is not a crowd, it is a conspiracy of cool. Commissioned for the 23rd season of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, the project pairs the leader with British trumpeter Alexandra Ridout and New Hampshire's Dave Adewumi, creating a brass coalition where collaboration outshines competition, like diplomats dodging discord. The title nods to the art of melding ...
Continue Reading...Alex Hitchcock: Dream Band: Live in London
by Glenn Astarita
This is a bold expedition into the heart of progressive jazz, rendered across a vast canvas of three enthralling nights at the Vortex Jazz Club in London. This three-CD collection is not just a mere album, but a grand, audacious gathering of talents which blurs the line between a larger ensemble setup and a more intimate, modern band experience. Hitchcock's nifty approach to ensemble creation is at the core of this live recording. Rather than sticking ...
Continue Reading...Alex Hitchcock: Dream Band Live In London
by Chris May
Viewed in retrospect, the abiding memory of 2023 is that it produced too many jazz albums prioritizing technical facility over emotional engagement. In London, New York and elsewhere (but not, so it seemed, in Chicago), musicians appeared to focus on virtuosity rather than feeling. Dullsville. For the record, some of those albums that did put soul on, at the least, an equal footing with cerebralism, are to be found in the Best Albums of 2023 round-up which can be read ...
Continue Reading...Zoe Rahman: Colour of Sound
by Neil Duggan
If you have shown your virtuosity on the piano in a variety of live and studio recordings, been recognized as one of the leading lights in contemporary British jazz and won multiple awards, what do you do next? In Zoe Rahman's case, more of the same but expanded and magnified. Most often heard in a trio format, Rahman has assembled seven trusted musicians to create an uplifting album, The Colour of Sound. Perhaps resulting from her background in ...
Continue Reading...OK Aurora: Only In Autumn
by Chris May
Rod Oughton is a young London drummer with considerable technical proficiency, and a composer and bandleader of promise. With his octet OK Aurora, which prominently features singer Alina Miroshnichenko, Oughton aims to bridge the gap between jazz and what might rather patronizingly be called intelligent pop. Only In Autumn is the band's second release, following the self-produced EP Baby Zeza (2019). The intelligent pop part of Oughton's equation lies primarily in the lyrics, just under half of ...
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