Jazz Articles

Ian Michael Brown: The Beauty of Not Knowing

by Geno Thackara
October 4, 2019

Ian Michael Brown seems like a fellow who enjoys a little mystery--not the kind that is dark or forbidding, but the kind that makes travel and exploration so much fun. That feel is only further reinforced by a lush jazz-fusion sound which takes a few tonal cues from Brad Mehldau and the Pat Metheny Group. He and a few sharp cohorts bounce off one another in brightly stimulating ways through this upbeat recording, evoking wide-open landscapes almost as much as ...

Shining: Live Blackjazz

by John Kelman
December 29, 2011

With Blackjazz (Indie Recordings, 2009), the transformation of Norway's Shining from metal-tinged jazz fusion into something, well, other was complete. An ear-shattering combination of death metal/grindcore growls, crunching guitars, John Bonham-style drums reinvented for the new millennium, outrageous virtuosity and progressive rock complexities, this brainchild of guitarist/saxophonist/vocalist Jørgen Munkeby--here, as with everyone in the group, referred to by last name only--suggests a new kind of expressionism, one that's predicated on a spirit of jazz but with almost no direct references ...

Shining: Blackjazz

by John Kelman
March 17, 2010

Few groups have been as inherently frightening from the get-go as art rock progenitor King Crimson, in particular tracks like “Cirkus," from Lizard (DGM Live, 1970), “The Devil's Triangle," from In the Wake of Poseidon (DGM Live, 1970) and, perhaps most iconically, “21st Century Schizoid Man," the opening track to the group's opening salvo, In the Court of the Crimson King (DGM Live, 1969). It's no coincidence that Norway's Shining has chosen to end Blackjazz with an even more terrifying, ...

Trinacria: Now Travel Journey Infinitely

by Eyal Hareuveni
May 4, 2008

What happens if you cross a macho, brutal metal outfit with a duo of fearless female improvisers? Someone in Rikskonsertene, the Norwegian National Concert Institute, probably had a vague idea, otherwise Trinacria, named after the ancient symbol of an eye enclosed by a pyramid (as shown on the American dollar), would not have been born.

This bold attempt matches two outfits. The Fe-Mail duo of composer/vocalist Maja. S.K. Ratkje and horn player Hild Sofie Tafjord, with both doubling ...