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Lisa Parrott
Webber/Morris Big Band: Unseparate
by Angelo Leonardi
Le sassofoniste Anna Webber e Angela Morris confermano le innovative concezioni orchestrali dimostrate in Both Are True (Greenleaf Music, 2020), con un disco ancor più avvincente, che s'impone tra i migliori dell'anno. L'organico registra pochissime variazioni (le più significativa sono l'ingresso della pianista Marta Sanchez al posto di Marc Hannaford e le assenze della vibrafonista Patricia Brennan e del trombonista Nick Grinder sostituiti rispettivamente da Yuhan Su e Zekkereya El-magharbel). L'organico è costituito dai migliori strumentisti operanti a New York ...
Continue ReadingAllen Lowe: A Love Supine: Ascension into the Maelstrom
by Karl Ackermann
There is an exhaustive property to the body of Allen Lowe's work. Composer, saxophonist, sporadic guitarist who composes on piano, and the author of several noteworthy music histories, he has released nearly two dozen albums. Lowe is a member of the quartet East Axis with Matthew Shipp, Gerald Cleaver, and Kevin Ray. A Love Supine: Ascension into the Maelstrom is an ambitious double-disc collection recorded in four sessions in 2018. The eighteen tracks were all composed by Lowe. The sessions ...
Continue ReadingBrian Woodruff Sextet: A Centering Peace
by Jerome Wilson
The title of this release by drummer Brian Woodruff suggests a set of meditative, spiritually-focused jazz by his long-standing sextet. While that may be the underlying theme of the disc but only a couple of tracks have that actual sound. The others go off in several different directions. The album is dedicated to Woodruff's spiritual advisor, Monsignor Edward Straub, and the title track was written to celebrate his 75th birthday and his 50th Anniversary in the priesthood. It ...
Continue ReadingJoel Harrison: America at War
by Angelo Leonardi
"È tutta la vita che il mio paese conduce tragiche e futili invasioni straniere. Ho sentito che dovevo scrivere su questo fatto, infondere nella mia nuova musica la sua dolorosa eredità." Queste riflessioni aprono il nuovo disco di Joel Harrison, ritornato a sette anni di distanza da Infinite Possibility a guidare un ensemble orchestrale. La storia bellica degli Stati Uniti è piuttosto lunga: in 245 anni ha combattuto 123 conflitti militari vivendo solo 18 anni in completa pace. ...
Continue ReadingWebber / Morris Big Band: Both Are True
by John Sharpe
On Both Are True Canadian composers and reed players Anna Webber and Angela Morris reimagine the language of the big band. They extend the tradition through adventurous arrangements spiced with the unpredictability of improv, by co-opting the nimbleness of a much smaller group, and reveling in non-standard techniques. Webber has already garnered plaudits for the work of her Simple Trio with Matt Mitchell and John Hollenbeck, while Morris' ventures such as the Motel Trio boast a lower profile so far. ...
Continue ReadingLisa Parrott: Round Tripper
by Jack Bowers
In the vernacular, to “parrot" means to imitate or copy. In spite of her point-blank name, Lisa Parrott goes out of her way not to do that, whether on alto or baritone sax. Parrott's alto is lustrous and ripened, summoning at times the halcyon days of the Swing Era, while her baritone is barbed and heavy, evoking an occasional memory of the late Cecil Payne--but always without mimicry. Would that the musical perspective underlying Parrott's latest recording, Round Tripper, were ...
Continue ReadingLisa Parrott: Round Tripper
by Dan McClenaghan
Alto saxophonist/free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, in the recording studio for bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma's For the Love of Ornette (Jazzwerkstatt, 2010), said to a band about to break into a tune: “Fellas. Fellas. Can you hear me? Forget the notes and get to the idea." New York-based, Australian-bred alto and baritone saxophonist Lisa Parrott seems to have taken at least half of that advice to heart. It's uncertain whether or not she has forgotten the notes, but she most definitely ...
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