Recording News

Riverside Returns to the Laser's Edge with its 10th Anniversary Release

Source: Lori Hehr Public Relations
May 13, 2011

For the band's 10th anniversary, Riverside has prepared a special three song EP entitled Memories In My Head. The release marks the band's return to the Laser's Edge, which will release the EP throughout North America on June 28. Memories In My Head contains 33 minutes of fresh music. “This new material, concerning (for obvious reasons) the themes of the passing time, will be a pleasant surprise for those who have missed the specific kind of melodies and space known ...

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Gerhard Stabler's Modern String Orchestra Work "Zeichen"

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
May 13, 2011

Post 509. Who's counting really? I did neglect to note post 500, though. So we mark the progression at this juncture. The blogs do in part document my personal odyssey through the world of “serious" music today and I have come out of it thus far with a profound respect and appreciation for those artists and their institutional supporters and abettors who trudge onward in spite of all obstacles. This time we live in may not be ideal for the ...

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Ornette Coleman - Sound Grammar (2006)

Source: Something Else!
May 13, 2011

By Mark Saleski Sometimes, curiosity will get the best of me. A strange attraction to something new—a particular (and often peculiar) food, drink, author, musician—will emerge and the craving will not be denied. Mostly, this works out. I've got a large appetite for new experiences in these areas and my instincts rarely let me down. Quite often I get asked how it is that I came to discover this or that musician. “Bern Nix? Never heard of him!" “Marc Ribot? ...

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Isaac Allen Releases "Don't Smoke"

Source: Powderfinger Promotions
May 12, 2011

It is hard to keep in mind that Mr. Isaac Allen is only twenty-four years young when listening to the tracks of heartache, addiction, death row, and back alleys that compose his brilliantly honest debut—Don't Smoke. Don't Smoke shows Allen's lyrical talents, melding of jazz and blues in day when artists of this type are teetering on the brink of extinction; however, he isn't simply recreating what past greats have done; instead, like the singer-songwriter giants before him, Isaac Allen ...

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Eric Alexander "Don't Follow the Crowd"

Source: Sound Insights by Doug Payne
May 12, 2011

If jazz today has a brand, then saxophonist Eric Alexander is its standards bearer. He upholds the tradition and champions the cause like no other instrumentalist from the contemporary jazz realm. Two decades and dozens of recordings into his career, Alexander has flourished while the power of many of his peers has faded, disappeared or proved to be nothing more than just imitative exuberance. Think about it. How many others in the current pool of so-called jazz players can claim ...

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Graham Reynolds' "The Difference Engine": Triple Concerto and Remixes of Note

Source: Gapplegate Music Review by Grego Edwards
May 12, 2011

Graham Reynolds composes and conceives of music as a man of his time. Perhaps that's more true of some than others, but Maestro Reynolds most definitely fits with his time, in whatever ways that can be. Our century is no doubt too new to understand where we are and are going, what we are becoming, what future generations will think and say about us. That's inevitable. One can never be sure what the final judgement (never will happen) would be ...

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Orchestre National de Jazz - Shut up and Dance: Music of John Hollenbeck (Bee Jazz, 2010)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
May 12, 2011

Daniel Yvinec, artistic director of the Orchestre National De Jazz writes in his liner notes that he had the music of percussionist and composer John Hollenbeck in his thoughts for a long time, hearing him in his mind's eye and on the pages of his journal.

He was finally able to persuade Hollenbeck to write a set of music for the group, and what results is a wildly colorful, dynamic suite of music that covers a lot of ground with ...

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Matana Roberts - Live in London (2011)

Source: Something Else!
May 12, 2011

A few years ago when I sat down and took a stab at identifying some up and coming women in a world of instrumental jazz still dominated by men, one of those ten names that came to mind was avant-garde saxophonist Matana Roberts. After moving to NYC from her Windy City hometown she finally led a record, The Chicago Project, and created a lot of buzz in 2008. Count this writer as among one of the impressed, as I recounted ...

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