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9
Album Review

Paul Colombo: Rio Crystal

Read "Rio Crystal" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Rio Crystal is the perfect title for this bright and clear, warm and sunny set led by guitarist Paul Colombo. Its frontline pairs Colombo's nimble guitar with keyboardist Ron Thomas, supported by bassist Andy Alonso and drummer Chris Loser, in a series of jazzy instrumental workouts. It's uncomplicated swing, and the emotional directness and honesty with which the principals play, turn Rio Crystal from jazz fusion into genuine (instrumental) soul music. The title track was the first tune ...

16
Album Review

Paul Colombo Group: Rio Crystal

Read "Rio Crystal" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Paul Colombo's debut, Rio Crystal, comes about because his fellow guitarist, Pat Martino, released an album called Pat Martino/Live! (Muse Records, 1972). When Colombo heard Martino's sound, the then fifteen year old aspiring musician's path to jazz artistry came into focus. The keyboardist on Martino's 1972 LP was Ron Thomas, who played Fender Rhodes on Pat Martino/Live! He went on to become an adventurous and artistically successful--if somewhat underrecognized--jazz (and beyond) player in his own right, with the ...

10
Reassessing

Scenes From A Voyage To Arcturus

Read "Scenes From A Voyage To Arcturus" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Scottish writer David Lindsay published his A Voyage To Arcturus in 1920. It is said to have influenced everyone from C.S. Lewis in the writing of his Space Trilogy to J.R.R. Tolkien to Clive Barker. The story concerns a character Muskull and his fantastical journey across the planet Tormance that orbits the star Arcturus. And while the external landscapes encountered are surreal, so too are Muskill's inner landscapes, and the music. “Lindsay's fantasy eludes analysis," pianist/composer Ron Thomas ...

5
Album Review

Ron Thomas / Paul Klinefelter: Duo

Read "Duo" reviewed by Budd Kopman


One of the wonderful things about jazz is that it can be appreciated from more than one angle, oftentimes simultaneously: pure entertainment, art as entertainment, art as beauty and art as intellect among others. Some of this, of course, relates to music in general, but jazz as a genre has moved beyond any stylistic boundaries to the point where no one can claim any particular sub-genre to represent “jazz." This push-pull aspect of jazz allows a player to ...

7
Album Review

David Bennett Thomas: Deeper Journey

Read "Deeper Journey" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianist David Bennett Thomas takes inspiration from God's word. Not unlike Finish pianist/harpist Iro Haarla, on her beautiful duet set Kirkastus (TUM Records, 2015), with saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen, where Biblical Psalms informed the music, Thomas' Deeper Journey goes to the Bible for inspiration on half the tunes on this meticulously crafted, subtle--yet modern and adventurous--set of songs. On his previous recording, Headspace (Vectordisc, 2013), Thomas assembled a stellar ensemble, with drummer Erik Johnson and bassist Micah Jones, along ...

8
Album Review

Ron Thomas/Paul Klinefelter: Duo

Read "Duo" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianist Ron Thomas' talents range widely, from his Karlheinz Stockhausen-influenced electric outings like Elysium (Vectordisc, 2009), through his fluid free association piano trio sets, Music In Three Parts (Art Of Life Records, 2006) and Doloroso (Art of Life Records, 2006), to his mainstream outings that draw their inspiration from the late pianist Bill Evans--Two Lonely People (Vectordisc, 2011) and Blues For Zaranthustra (Art Of Life Records, 2008), a pairing a duo set with bassist Paul Klinefelter. Duo is ...

7
Album Review

Ron Thomas: Duo

Read "Duo" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


The poet John Keats famously wrote: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever." That's the kind of album this is. It's one stretch of beautiful playing from beginning to end. It's not a “statement," it's not a “thing," it's not a “groove." It's just music that, taken as a whole becomes an “objet d'art," something special to have in your collection and listen to over and over again because its perfection draws you towards it. Pianist Ron ...

8
Album Review

Ron Thomas Trio: Impatience

Read "Impatience" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


A brief glance at pianist Ron Thomas' website is enlightening, to say the least. He chronicles his life there, providing a detailed biography, a rundown of commercially available compositions, a list of his colleagues, mp3 files, a discography, essays, videos, photos, teaching information, and a list of influences, with names both familiar (Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock) and relatively unknown (Ron Dewar, Dennis Sandole) to many jazz fans and musicians. But to really get to know Thomas, you need only spend ...

7
Album Review

Ron Thomas: Impatience

Read "Impatience" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


There is something elemental about the jazz piano trio. It is classically called the “Rhythm Section," that practical subset of a larger ensemble that produces the pulse that propels the band and compositions the band plays. It is also the most enduring of jazz performance formats that has included the giants of jazz. Whether it is the cathedral of Oscar Peterson, the interior world of Bill Evans or the durable consistency of Red Garland and Gene Harris, the jazz piano ...

4
Album Review

Victory Jazz Quartet: Origin

Read "Origin" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Most of the jazz fusion groups of the 1970s threw more instruments into the mix than flugelhornist Al Moretti does on Origin. His Victory Jazz Quartet finds Moretti with his horn, fronting a simple rhythm section--keyboard, bass and drums. Fusion evolved from trumpeter Miles Davis' In a Silent Way (Columbia Records, 1969), sparkling music woven with a tight tapestry of instrumentation, featuring three keyboardists. Moretti's pared-down approach allows the music more breathing room. The title tune ...


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