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The Empress: Square One
by Jack Bowers
The Empress is a New York City-based co-op septet whose front line consists of four saxophonists. Based on its title, the assumption is that Square One is the group's first recording as a unit. The Empress is the idea of award-winning saxophonist Pureum Jin, who enlisted the renowned German writer and saxophonist Michael Lutzeier to arrange ten of the album's eleven durable and decisive numbers and recruited a trio of all-star saxophonists to share the stage and lend their awesome ...
Continue ReadingMichael Weiss: Homage
by Pierre Giroux
In an age when instant gratification often reigns supreme, there is something refreshingly authentic about the leisurely process of refining musical ideas on the bandstand. Pianist Michael Weiss and his cohorts, bassist Paul Sikivie and drummer Pete Van Nostrand, in this aptly titled release, Homage, embodies this organic approach to jazz, presenting a collection of compositions and arrangements that have evolved over years of performance. The session begins with “Un Petit Quelque Chose" (A Little Something), ...
Continue ReadingMichael Weiss: Persistence
by Edward Blanco
An in-demand veteran of the vibrant New York jazz scene since the '80s, pianist Michael Weiss presents the warm and engaging Persistence, his fifth as a leader and first on the Cellar Live label, as well as being his first since the critically acclaimed Soul Journey, (Sintra Records, 2003). The long time span between recordings, despite many other opportunities since then, was primarily due to the artistic and creative terms not being ideal enough until the Cellar Live proposal. One ...
Continue ReadingDmitry Baevsky: Soundtrack
by David A. Orthmann
A collection of songs, some of which are likely to be included in aficionados' play lists; interpretations that don't stray very far off the beaten path; and a band of players who share a vision of how the material should be handled. It's the recipe for many recordings—past, present and future— within the mainstream of jazz. So, why does alto saxophonist Dmitry Baevsky's Soundtrack, an entry that readily fits this pattern, stand out from the crowd? In ...
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