Jazz Articles
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Emiliano Sampaio: We Have a Dream
by Kyle Simpler
The worlds of classical and jazz frequently intersect. Composers such as Igor Stravinsky and George Gershwin are known for incorporating jazz motifs into their work. In contrast, compositions by such jazz artists as Duke Ellington and The Modern Jazz Quartet often show the influence of classical music. With We Have a Dream, Brazilian guitarist and composer, Emiliano Sampaio offers a fresh collection of jazz works, unmistakably inspired by classical music.Sampaio earned a music degree in Brazil, and later ...
read moreSwantje Lampert: Now!
by Chris May
The Austrian tenor saxophonist Swantje Lampert caught the jazz bug relatively late, while studying for a degree in law. She took up the saxophone and, some twenty years later, after graduating from the Vienna Conservatoire and the Berklee School of Music, has matured into an assured player and a characterful composer. Lampert is an experienced sideperson on the Austrian scene, but Now! appears to be the first album released under her own name. It is a collection ...
read moreSamo Salamon & Stefano Battaglia: Pure Magic
by Mark Sullivan
Slovenian guitarist Samo Salamon and Italian pianist Stefano Battaglia present a sequel to their first live collaboration WindS (Klopotec Records, 2016). That album included a couple of Salamon compositions along with several collaborative tracks--this time the duo have gone all in with a fully collaborative program, recorded in the studio. “The Beauty of Kei" opens the set in a reflective mood, both instruments exploring harmonically ambiguous chords, the guitar almost sounding like overtones of the piano part at ...
read moreNiogi: Landing
by Mark Sullivan
Israeli group Niogi describes themselves as an “instrumental band," leaving the question of musical genre open. But their sound is firmly placed in the ECM contemporary jazz world: “Jan's Balloon" opens with a sound like whistling from Omri Abramov's EWI (electronic wind instrument), playing a tuneful theme reminiscent of the Americana of the Pat Metheny Group. On the other hand, “Mercury Enters Virgo" strongly recalls the classic British progressive rock group Genesis to me, even though I can't place the ...
read moreAcuna/Hoff/Mathisen: Jungle City
by John Kelman
While some accuse the musical innovations taking place in Scandinavia as diluting “America's art form," there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. Many of the artists regularly stretching jazz's boundaries by introducing outside references can play in the tradition; they just choose not to. With Finding Nymo (ACT, 2009), Norwegian trombonist Helge Sunde and his Ensemble Denada incorporated elements of modern technology, traditional music and cinematic Zappa-esque classicism, but swung hard--and with conviction--in the best tradition of American big band ...
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