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Lena Bloch: Heart Knows
by Hrayr Attarian
Tenor saxophonist Lena Bloch has a cool, cerebral style and a definite and captivating lyricism. Her second release Heart Knows demonstrates this quite well. In addition, Bloch showcases her inventive compositional skills as she contributes four intriguing originals to the album. One of Bloch's mentors, multi-reed player Yusef Lateef inspired the poetic and multilayered “Lateef Suite" that opens with a contemplative duet with pianist Russ Lossing. Bloch's intelligent and introspective saxophone “monologue" flows languidly over the darkly percolating ...
read moreLena Bloch & Feathery: Heart Knows
by Dan McClenaghan
Lena Bloch mocks the “sophomore jinx" myth with her second CD release, Heart Knows. The tenor saxophonist's debut, Feathery, drew a good deal of well-deserved praise. With her saxophone intertwined with a responsive guitar/bass/drums rhythm section, Bloch paid tribute--in part--to pianist Lennie Tristano, via her relationship with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. On Heart Knows, Bloch moves along in the same loose groove, adding at times some flexible Middle-Eastern motifs, and stretching her own compositional skills to the highest limits, having ...
read moreLena Bloch: Feathery
by Dave Wayne
One of the really enjoyable things about listening to jazz is that, after a few years, one is able to discern some aspects of a particular musician's stylistic evolution. If her debut album, Feathery, is any indication, saxophonist Lena Bloch has staked a claim on some of the most distinct real estate in the jazz neighborhood; the 50s era cool school jazz of Lennie Tristano, Warne Marsh, and Lee Konitz. Far from being a mawkish tribute or an entry-level primer ...
read moreTake Five With Lena Bloch
by Lena Bloch
Meet Lena Bloch: Lena Bloch was born in Moscow and has studied music in Israel, Germany, and the United States where she earned a Master's of Music in Composition at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Since moving to the United States in 2003, Bloch has been a solist with the Vermont Jazz Big Band, the Ambassadors of Light, Vishnu Wood Quartet, and the Northampton Jazz Workshop. In 2008, Bloch moved to Brooklyn and has performed with notable artists like ...
read moreLena Bloch: Feathery
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Lena Bloch's Feathery is a cerebral album laced with a mature, tender passion. It is also a collaborative effort with her sidemen contributing to the creative process democratically while maintaining their individuality.Drummer Billy Mintz's thunderous beats and crashing cymbals set an expectant and dramatic mood on Guitarist Dave Miller's solemn and ethereal “Rubato." Miller's haunting almost baroque explorations add a mystical touch while bassist Cameron Brown's bowed and reverberating strings maintain the western classical sensibility while meandering ...
read moreLena Bloch: Feathery
by Dan McClenaghan
Russian-born tenor saxophonist Lena Bloch carries a cool burning torch for the music of saxophonist Warne Marsh and the Lennie Tristano school of jazz. For Feathery, her debut CD as a leader, Bloch has assembled a quartet that can rival the loose and interactive and spontaneous ensembles of alto saxophonist Lee Konitz--a Tristano acolyte and Bloch's friend and mentor. Like the marvelous Konitz outing, Live at Birdland (ECM Record, 2011), where the saxophonist was joined by top notch ...
read moreLena Bloch: Feathery
by Jack Bowers
On one level, the Russian-born, New York-based tenor saxophonist Lena Bloch's debut album is like stepping into a time machine; on the other hand, one could argue that her approach to music in general and jazz in particular is timeless. Foremost among Bloch's influences are Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh and Lennie Tristano, and the mood on Feathery clearly reflects those associations. In fact, the word “feathery" could serve as an apt description of Bloch's style, which is for the most ...
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