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Michael Formanek Very Practical Trio: Even Better
Composer and bassist Michael Formanek's Even Better is an adventurous compilation of bluesy abstractions with surprising twists and turns. Opting for a drummer-less trio format, Formanek gives himself room to negotiate the terrain with his own intimate rhythm. He is aided and abetted by his longtime collaborator, saxophonist virtuoso Tim Berne, and guitarist extraordinaire Mary Halvorson. Formanek's style of playing is relaxed. His runs up and down the neck of the bass are, even at their most intense, ...
read moreMara Rosenbloom, Thumbscrew & Nation Beat
Mara Rosenbloom/Melanie Dyer/Ken Filiano/Rashaan Carter Soup & Sound April 10, 2019 It's an old tradition, sometimes out of necessity, for artists to host low-key gigs in their own homes. The hyper-inventive and often powerfully percussive drummer Andrew Drury has been offering soup and sound for quite a while now, opening his front door in Lefferts Avenue, Brooklyn, to improvised music enthusiasts on a monthly basis. Not so surprisingly, Drury calls the series Soup & ...
read moreMichael Formanek Elusion Quartet: Time Like This
Bassist Michael Formanek has become a major presence on the NYC scene over the last decade, both as a forward-looking bandleader and a sideman. His two small-group offerings, The Rub And Spare Change (2010) and Small Places (2012), both on ECM, were justly feted and lead to the acclaimed big-band set The Distance (2016) by his Ensemble Kolossos which cemented his reputation. On Time Like This he rings the changes on the cast as he debuts his new ...
read moreMichael Formanek Elusion Quartet: Time Like This
In the olden days of jazz, an album consisting of trailblazing instrumentalists akin to these performers may have been billed as Michael Formanek and his All-Stars instead of a band moniker. Nonetheless, the Elusion Quartet lives up to preconceived or implicit expectations. Consequently, the heavyweight lineup imparts an abundance of mood-eliciting and symmetrical works, along with other components for our psyche's to nibble on. As a premise for this session, Michael Formanek says he sought “a more ...
read moreMark Sullivan's Best Releases of 2016
So many reviews this year, in so many genres, that I've split them into two categories--"Jazz" and “Latin, World & Experimental"--in response to the feeling that I was trying to compare apples to oranges. They're presented in more or less chronological order, and the guiding principle was whether I had a clear memory of the recording even before I went back to listen to it again. A few of these were drawn from Multiple Review articles, and I cheated a ...
read moreMichael Formanek - Tomas Fujiwara - Mary Halvorson: Convallaria
Three hyper-progressive improvisational jazz and cross-genre artists push the envelope again on their 2nd album for Cuneiform Records. The musicians' busy schedules via numerous and largely prolific solo and group-based projects have rocketed their respective artistries into the limelight, especially ECM recording artist Michael Formanek (bass) who for the past several decades has become a household name within these circles. Nonetheless, it's an adventurous exploration, led by guitarist Mary Halvorson's signature phraseology, comprised of extended lines that vaporize into the ...
read moreBarry Adamson, Michael Formanek, Elliott Sharp & Rokia Traoré
Barry Adamson Rough Trade March 21, 2016 Hot on the heels of SXSW in Austin, Barry Adamson turned up for a lower-key solo show at NYC's Rough Trade store. His reputation was made as a bassist with Magazine and Nick Cave, but in the three decades since then he's had ample time to build up a persona as composer of movie soundtracks to imaginary flicks. Not that this is his only mission, but ...
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Jumpin Jive: Cab Calloway and the Nicholas BrothersFeaturing the music of Cab Calloway
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