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Pete MacDonald
Savage & Smit: Of Course
by Mike Jurkovic
It was pretty much etched in stone that by the middle of the Grateful Dead's second set--and those second sets of its post-Jerry Garcia spin-offs--there occurred a period of musical and mental improvisation they wisely named “Space." That indefinite stretch of musical time aptly defines the dreamscapes within of course. Hosted by the Hudson Valley collaborative of Rick Savage- trumpet/flugelhorn, Ian Smit-guitar/fx, pianist/composer Joe Vincent Tranchina, bassist Steve LaSpina and drummer Pete MacDonald the disc's ten lucid fluidities hit the ...
Continue ReadingThe Mike Kaplan Nonet: How's That?
by Jack Bowers
Saxophonist Mike Kaplan and his New York City-based nonet play contemporary jazz; that is to say, jazz that is emphatically modern but neither purposely bland nor maddeningly incomprehensible.Kaplan’s debut album contains a number of tasty musical surprises, and it's one of only a handful to leave me wishing the leader had soloed more often (Kaplan does so at length only on his entrancing “Melody for My Mom”). Even so, his fingerprints are conspicuous throughout, as Kaplan wrote five ...
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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
