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Phil Donkin
Julius Gawlik: It's All in Your Head
by Nenad Georgievski
When jazz musicians talk about composition, they often mean something closer to architecture--blueprints that guide but do not dictate. Julius Gawlik's debut album takes this idea seriously, treating written material as a starting point rather than a destination. The Berlin-based saxophonist and clarinetist has assembled a quartet that thrives on incompleteness, where sketches become conversations and melodies exist to be challenged. The personnel tells part of the story: drummer Jim Black brings decades of boundary-pushing work, vibraphonist Evi ...
Continue ReadingOlivier Le Goas: Reciprocity
by Dan McClenaghan
Matt Cibula, writing for All About Jazz, wondered in his review of French drummer Olivier Le Goas' Gravitation (Altrisuoni, 2007): “Who the heck is Olivier Le Goas...?" indicating perhaps a paucity of information about the leader, even in this day of Internet info overload. Nine years later there still isn't much on-line scoop about the man. So we go with the music. Gravitation, an all-star quartet affair featuring guitarist John Abercrombie, trumpeter Ralph Alessi and bassist Drew Gress, ...
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