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Jazz Quanta January: Chris Kelsey and Tomas R. Einarsson
by C. Michael Bailey
There are two jazz traditions represented in Jazz Quant January, the freedom principle of saxophonist Christ Kelsey and cool complexity of Latin jazz by way of Icelander bassist Tomas R. Einarsson. Two traditions transplanted and allowed to flourish. Chris Kelsey Duets | NYC / Woodstock Tzazz Krytyk 2015 What happens with free jazz stalwarts saxophonist Chris Kelsey meets one Dom Minasi, the guitarist of the future past? A freedom ...
read moreChris Kelsey/Lewis Porter: Free: Kelsey/Porter Duo Plays Ornette, Vol. 1
by Dan Bilawsky
Intrepid saxophonist and recovering jazz journalist Chris Kelsey went to his longtime friend, renowned author-educator-pianist Dr. Lewis Porter, with the idea of recording some of Ornette Coleman's music. That's how Free came to be, plain and simple. But nothing is really that simple. Kelsey and Porter worked through this material for a year, allowing the music to have ample time to settle into the mind and soul, and then they recorded these seldom-performed pieces in March of 2015. The album ...
read moreChris Kelsey & What I Say: The Electric Miles Project
by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
Trumpeter Miles Davis' post-Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970), pre-hiatus (1975-1981) electric music--dense, loud, dark, funky, vast--has posed problems for musicians. The Yo Miles! collective, led by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and guitarist Henry Kaiser, gamely approached it as a repertoire: these are songs, they seemed to say; let's just play them (and so they did, on albums like Upriver, Cuneiform, 2005). Bassist/impresario Bill Laswell, meanwhile, approached the releases of the period as post-performance collage, woven together from miles of Ampex tape; ...
read moreChris Kelsey & What I Say: The Electric Miles Project
by Mehdi El Mouden
Chris Kelsey and What I Say say it all. The Electric Miles Project is definitely well thought-out, projected, masterfully arranged, and meticulously performed. Contrary to Miles Davis' school of thought, improvisation on this project seems not to have been part of the agenda. Kelsey clearly knows exactly how to pay tribute to the late legend and, to this purpose, avoids messing with the master: no trumpeter is featured on the album. To play in Miles Davis' shadow or to do ...
read moreChris Kelsey & What I Say: The Electric Miles Project
by C. Michael Bailey
It takes no shortage of fortitude for contemporary artists to take on the electric Miles Davis. Banking off of his seminal Bitches' Brew (Columbia, 1970), the trumpeter headed for looser, louder and funkier fare, culminating in the twin two-disc releases, Agartha (Columbia, 1975) and Pangea (Columbia, 1976), two shows performed in the afternoon and evening of February 1, 1975 at Japan's Osaka Festival Hall. Laden with electric guitar, seditious percussion and an assortment of effects, Davis spins noisy magic off ...
read moreThe Chris Kelsey 4: Not Cool
by AAJ Italy Staff
"Nulla di personale contro Paul Desmond - afferma Chris Kelsey nelle efficaci note di copertina - molto semplicemente il mio modo di intendere il jazz non ha nulla a che vedere con il suo suono cristallino, le sue frasi sinuose e perfette, la sua musica per bene". E in effetti già dalle prime note si intuisce chiaramente come i riferimenti del sassofonista di Bangor, Maine, siano ben altri, e hanno nome Coltrane, Shepp, Braxton, Ayler, Coleman. Così in Not Cool, ...
read moreThe Chris Kelsey 4: Not Cool {. . .As In, "The Opposite of Paul Desmond"}
by Jerry D'Souza
Growing up as the son of a jazz saxophonist, saxophonist Chris Kelsey was influenced by his father's tastes in jazz. Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins were among those favorite artists, but Paul Desmond was not. Kelsey first heard Desmond on Bridge Over Troubled Water (A&M, 1969), his ode to Simon and Garfunkel, which was played just once in the Kelsey household. Desmond did not stir any emotions, though Kelsey admits that Desmond was “a fine player in his ...
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