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Lina Allemano: Canons
by Troy Dostert
Capping twenty years of running Lumo Records--a record label dedicated to her multifarious projects--with Canons, trumpeter Lina Allemano has assembled several innovative ensembles to give voice to her distinctive chamber-jazz aesthetic. While it might not be as obviously adventurous as some of her previous releases, it retains Allemano's signature emphasis on finding the ideal pivot point between composition and improvisation. And it is often a quite beautiful listening experience as well. Allemano has always been a crafty improviser, ...
read moreTania Gill Quartet: Disappearing Curiosities
by Troy Dostert
Pianist Tania Gill has been making inspired music in the ever-thriving Toronto jazz scene since the early 2000s, although her output has become especially visible since her debut release Bolger Station (Barnyard Records, 2010). An artist equally attentive to melody and songcraft, Gill refuses to be pigeonholed, contributing to a range of projects which defy easy labeling; she appeared on vocalist Rebecca Hennessey's All the Little Things You Do (self-released, 2020), an album both jazz-inflected and pop-friendly, and on saxophonist ...
read moreRob Clutton Trio: Counsel of Primaries
by Troy Dostert
Bassist Rob Clutton has been a regular presence in the Toronto jazz scene for some time, having begun his recording career in the mid 1990s, subsequently working within a cluster of fellow Canadian improvisers, including efforts with Lina Allemano, Nick Storring, Nick Fraser, and Karen Ng. The latter two are integral components of Counsel of Primaries, a compelling venture into well-crafted music that straddles the line between an abstract chamber aesthetic and jazz-based improvisation. Clutton is credited with ...
read moreMark Segger: Lift Off
by Glenn Astarita
This Canadian band throws almost everything imaginable at the studio walls in synchronous fashion. And while the album may be classified as an EP, due to its 29-minute length, quality is the underlying factor throughout. Based out of Edmonton, Segger started this band via its first album, The Beginning (18th Note Records, 2011). Nine-years later, the sextet extends its resume with this high-impact and compelling release, brimming with gobs of counterpoint, sizzling free-form detours and complex modal narratives.
read moreMark Segger Sextet: Lift Off
by Dan Bilawsky
Fracas and focus are not mutually exclusive concepts. In purely linguistic terms, invoking the label avant-garde" when addressing sound often calls to mind a melee-as-music scenario. The audible truth, however, is something else entirely. An artist's work can lean far to the left without falling off the comprehensibility scale, and drummer Mark Segger makes that argument with brevity and brio. With twelve years of existence binding concepts and compadres, Segger's sextet operates like a well-oiled, though highly irregular ...
read moreRob Clutton with Tony Malaby: Offering
by John Eyles
Toronto-based double-bassist Rob Clutton and New York saxophonist Tony Malaby have history that dates back to 1999; after meeting at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, where both were resident artists, they eventually ended up as half of Toronto drummer Nick Fraser's quartet which released its first album, Starer (Self Produced), in 2016. Clutton has several albums to his name, including Dubious Pleasures (Rat-Drifting, 2005) and Suchness Monster (Rat-Drifting, 2009) both of which are solo bass recordings. For Offering, rather ...
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