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Lao Dan
Lao Dan / Vasco Trilla: New Species
by Glenn Astarita
There is a moment on “Tea Horse Road," the album's fourth track, where the saxophone drops to a near whisper and the percussion seems to breathe rather than strike. You realize you are not listening to two musicians from opposite sides of the world so much as two people who have agreed, without a word, on exactly how much silence costs. Lao Dan grew up in Northeastern China near the North Korean border. He showed enough early talent ...
Continue ReadingLao Dan / Deng Boyu: TuTu Duo
by John Sharpe
The profile of jazz and improvisation from China rates roughly the same as the chances of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, or an anti-vaxxer's feel for community (if neither of those comparisons sits comfortably, just make up your own)—vanishingly small. So the release of TuTu Duo by reedman Lao Dan and percussionist Deng Boyu, on the Lithuanian NoBusiness imprint, arrives as something of an ear-opener. It presents an idiosyncratic blend of fire music-inclined free playing and folk-inflected melodies ...
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
