Jazz Articles
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Joshua Gerowitz: Solano Canyon
by Glenn Astarita
A non-exhaustive Internet search didn't reveal much in the way of biographical information on young guitarist Joshua Gerowitz, but on the opening track “Smooth as Ice," he would appear to be a potential jazz-fusion guitar hero. Atop a simple hook and a loose groove, armed with a significant bite, he weaves a stylization that nestles between experimental guitarist David Torn and Jimi Hendrix, as he shreds his guitar into miniscule bits, framed with malicious sounding EFX and sharp-edged phrasings. And ...
read moreMichael Vlatkovich: Mortality
by Glenn Astarita
Esteemed West Coast trombonist Michael Vlatkovich's second release with the large ensemble outfit Ensemblio, features a cast of largely, So. California artists including tuba performer Bill Roper and keyboardist Wayne Peet, who is also credited with the engineering duties on this pristinely recorded studio set. Nonetheless, Vlatkovich tosses more than just a few curveballs into the mix. The ensemble frequently subdivides into smaller factions during mini-motifs, but the program is an off-centered case study when considering how numerous ...
read moreMatty Harris: Double Septet
by Glenn Astarita
Multi-reedman Matty Harris' double septet is a large ensemble endeavor, featuring many Los Angeles artists, including venerable woodwind ace Vinny Golia for a program brimming with numerous horns-based convergences, soulful proclamations, subtle melodic inventions and pieces often designed with embryonic buildups and burgeoning choruses. Other movements enact notions of a calm-before-the-storm stylization amid interweaving passages and accents. Harris and associates primarily reside on the outside realm of jazz, but it is not chaotic by any stretch. The band toggles between ...
read moreJohn Blevins: Matterhorn
by Dave Wayne
Back in the 1960s, when the music now commonly known as fusion was called “jazz-rock," the earliest bands to get plastered with said label were essentially funk and rock rhythm sections--guitar, bass, keys and drums, plus or minus congas--with a lead singer and a jazzy horn section tacked on. Think Blood Sweat and Tears, or Tower of Power, or any number of the dozens of less-familiar bands in the sub-sub-genre such as Ten Wheel Drive (with Dave Liebman), Osmosis (with ...
read moreMichael Vlatkovich: Mortality
by Dave Wayne
Wow. Where to start? Apropos of its title, Mortality is huge. Vast. Complex. Quixotic. Musically, it's a mega-ambitious work that fuses operatic vocals, several styles of jazz, heavily-scored contemporary classical music and flat-out improvisational wailing in the most appealing ways possible. Interestingly, Michael Vlatkovich, a West Coast trombone virtuoso and composer / improvisor of considerable merit, is a guy who devotes considerable time to small group projects of various types--most notably tenor saxophonist Rich Halley's quartet--plus his own septet with ...
read moreVlatko: Subjective Experience In A Commercial Free Zone
by Glenn Astarita
West Coast purveyor of novel jazz concepts, trombonist and shrewd improviser, Michael Vlatkovich skirts the perimeters of expressionistic jazz rock and most all things jazz related, featuring electric guitarist Tom McNalley's impressive, quirky off-kilter voicings and stinging expeditions. It's a production that's framed on the outside schema, as the leader's compositions present a brooding and flourishing set of circumstances, built upon layers, abstractions, and the requisite improvisational encounters. The lengthy album title duly implies that Vlatkovich is blending ...
read moreOdeya Nini: Vougheauxyice (Voice)
by Eyal Hareuveni
The exceptional Odeya Nini explores assorted vocal aspects on her debut album, Vougheauxyice (Voice) --as an instrument that structures textural harmony, tonal animation or illuminates minute sounds; vocals that fit into collages of musique concrete; the kinetic characteristics of vocals in space relating to the body, and obviously, her own extended techniques. For Nini, the voice--in its great spectrum and her virtuoso delivery, beginning with innocent, primal articulations progressing through the most refined usages--is a means of inner searching and ...
read moreJeff Denson & Joshua White: I'll Fly Away
by Robert Bush
Jeff Denson has been alto saxophone legend Lee Konitz's bassist of choice for the past several years, and it's easy to see why on this superlative duet album of gospel music with the explosive pianist Joshua White, who, at age 28 appears ready to take the world by storm. White has almost twenty years of experience playing gospel music--obvious by the great liberties he uses to transform this music while retaining a visceral authenticity. There are three ...
read moreMichael Vlatkovich Quartet: You're Too Dimensional
by Glenn Astarita
Longtime and prominent affiliate of California's progressive jazz sector, trombonist Michael Vlatkovich has nurtured strong relationships with multi-reedman Vinny Golia, tenor saxophonist Rich Halley and others of note. Yet Vlatkovich has long been considered as one of the finest improvising trombonist's within modern jazz and the avant-garde jazz spectrums. He's comfortable in a variety of settings, while recently cutting some vibrant trio outings for his independent label, Thank You Records. With this outing he reemerges with a quartet formation and ...
read moreVlatkovich Tryyo: Pershing Woman
by Glenn Astarita
Southern California-based trombonist Michael Vlatkovich leads a power-packed trio, captured live at a Michigan venue. The trombonist is firmly entrenched in the region's avant-garde and progressive jazz loop, alongside cohorts such as multi-reedman Vinny Golia, pfMentum Records proprietor and trumpeter Jeff Kaiser and other notables. Here, the trio generates a lot of positive hoopla and excitement as the live recorded sound contains a slight echo that hovers like an aura and summons an analog sense of purity. The ...
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