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Jane Ira Bloom: Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson
by Mark Sullivan
Soprano saxophonist/composer Jane Ira Bloom follows up her trio album Early Americans (Outline Records, 2016) with a concept album for quartet. In fact several of these tunes appeared in more open trio versions on the earlier album: “Dangerous Times," “Singing The Triangle," “Other Eyes," “Mind Gray River," “Cornets Of Paradise," and “Big Bill"--so she has evidently been working on this music for some time. Bassist Mark Helias and drummer Bobby Previte are joined by longtime collaborator pianist Dawn Clement for ...
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by Troy Dostert
When you think about it, it's not that hard to see the affinity between soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom and Emily Dickinson. Despite their fame coming from two different artistic worlds (although not completely different, as it turns out, as Dickinson was apparently a talented pianist), they do have a good deal in common. Bloom is a fiercely independent artist, sticking with her trademark soprano saxophone for her entire career, just as Dickinson forged her own path as a poet ...
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by Roger Farbey
Jane Ira Bloom, winner of the 65th Annual Downbeat Critics Poll Winners (2017) award in the soprano saxophone category, took as her inspiration for this recording, the writings of nineteenth century America poet Emily Dickinson. Such was her admiration for the poet that she composed the music for this double CD as a lyrical paean, made possible by a commission from Chamber Music America's 2015 New Jazz Works Program, funded through the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Some of ...
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by Ian Patterson
Three years on from the ballad standards of Sixteen Sunsets (Outline, 2013), Jane Ira Bloom--one of the few specialist soprano saxophonists--returns with a lustrous collection of originals. At one extreme, the trio of Bloom, Mark Helias and Bobby Previte fairly bristles with collective energy; at the other, it seduces with caressing, impressionistic lyricism. At whatever tempi, however, Bloom's melodic improvisations and the rhythm section's industry and nuance are never less than captivating. Helias and Previte plied the rhythmic ...
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by Dan McClenaghan
One jazz music's premier soprano saxophonists, Jane Ira Bloom, crafted a career-defining recording with Sixteen Sunsets (Outline Records, 2013). So how does she follow that up? With an alteration of her quartet trajectory. Bloom's recorded output has consisted, over a career that began in the late 90s, of a series of mostly quartet sets, featuring terrific pianists, including Fred Hersch and Jamie Saft and Dominic Fallacaro in the piano chair. For Early Americans, the piano disappears, and Bloom ...
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by Hrayr Attarian
Over a fruitful career versatile soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom has demonstrated a singular artistic voice and a restlessly explorative spirit. Since 2010 she has gone from the free flowing, edgy and electrifying Wingwalker (Outline 2010) to the serene and ethereal Sixteen Sunsets (Outline 2013) and now she presents the earthy and exuberant Early Americans. Her easily recognizable sound and facile virtuosity leave her indelible mark on all these recordings, making them each unique yet simultaneously integral parts of the ...
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by Mark Sullivan
Saxophonist/composer Jane Ira Bloom is one of the few jazz players to concentrate solely on the soprano saxophone. In 35 years she has recorded sixteen albums as a leader, most often in a quartet with piano. This is her first trio album, in the company of longtime playing partners bassist Mark Helias and drummer Bobby Previte. Their high level of communication is evident on a tune like “Singing the Triangle," which features a recurring theme that is clearly stated by ...
read moreJane Ira Bloom: Sixteen Sunsets
by Hrayr Attarian
Soprano saxophone virtuoso Jane Ira Bloom's intensely intimate and simultaneously cinematic Sixteen Sunsets is quite different from her preceding albums, Like Silver, Like Song (Artistshare, 2005), Mental Weather (Outline, 2008) and Wingwalker (Outline, 2010). Gone are the edgy flirtations with freer styles as well as the provocative, electrifying compositions. Instead the material is mostly standards and a few originals that are in the essence of those time honored songs, all interpreted with a lush lyricism laced with elegant spontaneous flourishes. ...
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by Dan McClenaghan
Sidney Bechet pioneered the use of the soprano saxophone in jazz in the early 20s. John Coltrane brought that “straight horn" out of a relative dormancy of use in 1959 with his anthem-like take on Rodgers and Hammerstein's “My Favorite Things" on his Atlantic Records album of the same name. Steve Lacy took the soprano “out there," and Dave Liebman continues to stretch its boundaries. The name Jane Ira Bloom can be added to that list of icons. ...
read moreJane Ira Bloom: Mental Weather
by J Hunter
Since 2000, Chamber Music America has put its imprint on jazz by supporting projects by (among others) Dave Douglas, Ben Allison, Don Byron and Ryan Cohan. But while Cohan's multi-hued plea for peace One Sky (Justin Time, 2008) operates on a macro scale, saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom's Mental Weather is much more intimate, though no less creative. Bloom has benefited from CMA's largesse before, so they must think she's a good investment. Given the stunning beauty Bloom has created, CMA's ...
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