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Gen Yoshimura
Fernando Huergo: Relentless
by Jack Bowers
Argentine-born bassist and composer Fernando Huergo's heavy-duty Massachusetts-based big band delivers the goods on Relentless, a taut and vibrant review of oppression, discrimination, environmental challenges and other social issues, interwoven with Huergo's lively tribute to the saxophonist Ornette Coleman and a charismatic and thought-provoking survey ("La Vida Sigue") on life after the Covid-19 pandemic, with all compositions and arrangements by the leader. This is well-designed, no-holds-barred big-band jazz, delivered with verve and enthusiasm by eighteen well-prepared musicians ...
Continue ReadingCarl Clements: A Different Light
by Dan McClenaghan
Sunlight beaming into a church through a stained-glass window is a different light--tinted and soft-hued, suggestive of the presence of divinity. Saxophonist Carl Clements' quartet outing, A Different Light, gives the same impression. Looking to the album's stained glass-like cover art, artist Amanda Barrow's visual for the album seems a fine fit for this distinctive, modern jazz quartet. The painting's colors are mostly muted, with two overlapping spheres (Neptune and Uranus? Or gas giants from another solar system?) in eclipse, ...
Continue ReadingBruno Raberg Tentet: Evolver
by Dan McClenaghan
Bassist Bruno Raberg released a nonet recording, Chrysalis (Orbis Music), in 2002--review here. That was his only foray into recording with a large-ish ensemble. Since Chrysalis he has primarily recorded in small ensembles. Evolver brings him back to the “almost a big band" format in more than twenty years. The disc features a first-rate tentet, with a pair of guest artist contributions which expand the voicings. As the opener “Peripeteia" spins, the first impression is Gil Evans, or ...
Continue ReadingFryderyk HD: Sounds Good
by Iouri Lnogradski
The “HD" in this artist's name might seem like an objective coincidence (more on that below) or an elaborate PR nod to the obvious abbreviation for High Definition, “high precision." However, the reality is much more complex and cosmopolitan. The musician's full name is Frédéric Hoang Dong. He was born in Poland to ethnic Vietnamese parents. The notion of “high precision" in his life story emerges during his musical education when he unexpectedly decides to specialize in sound engineering after ...
Continue ReadingFryderyk HD: Sounds Good
by Scott Gudell
Fryderyk HD has a lot of pins in his musical map. His parents are Vietnamese and Polish, he was born in Poland and trained at both the Frederic Chopin University of Music (Warsaw) and Berklee College of Music (Boston.) His initial entry into the world of music was via sound engineering but he eventually switched to writing and performing with piano his instrument of choice. Sounds Good almost seems like a 'greatest hits' for the young pianist since ...
Continue ReadingFryderyk HD: Sounds Good
by Geno Thackara
Fryderyk HD clearly knows his stuff in the jazz world and, just as clearly, considers it a jumping-off point more than a home niche. His first outing has all the marks of a fresh mind whirling with a myriad of ideas, and ready to try them all on for size. Thankfully, it is also the kind of debut which is about exploring and synthesizing one's influences more than recycling them. Sounds Good can appeal to an impressive range of tastes ...
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Music
Low Talks
From: Hope TownBy Gen Yoshimura
Awakening
From: ChromatissenceBy Gen Yoshimura
Peripeteia
From: EvolverBy Gen Yoshimura
