Jazz Articles
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Soft Machine: The Dutch Lesson
by Mark Sullivan
Soft Machine had played in Rotterdam several times before this 1973 show in the small theater De Lantaren. But this version of the band was relatively new. One of the earliest shows by the quartet of electric bassist Roy Babbington, Karl Jenkins (on multiple horns and electric piano), keyboardist Mike Ratledge and drummer John Marshall was documented on NDR Jazz Workshop--Hamburg, Germany, May 17, 1973 (Cuneiform Records, 2010). By late October the band had become a potent live force. They ...
read moreThe Muffins: Baker's Dozen
by Mark Sullivan
The Muffins were a Washington, D.C. area progressive rock band who were active from 1974-81 and then again (with their best-known line-up still intact) from 1993-2015. It is rare for any group to reform after more than a decade apart, and still rarer for them to resume their creative life rather than indulge in nostalgia. But this was not just any band: progressive rock pioneer Fred Frith declared them “the finest progressive band that America produced," and they served as ...
read moreRoger Clark Miller: Eight Dream Interpretations for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble
by Mark Sullivan
Roger Clark Miller (who has simply been “Roger Miler" on many prior recordings) has a hell of a resume. He is best known for his guitar-playing in the experimental rock band Mission of Burma, which he co-founded in 1979. But he has also made piano-based music with Maximum Electric Piano, The Binary System and Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. Eight Dream Interpretations for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble represents a unique approach to solo electric guitar. Inspired by his prepared piano experiments, ...
read moreGhost Rhythms: Spectral Music
by Mark Sullivan
After the self-produced Imaginary Mountains (2020) French experimental collective Ghost Rhythms returns to Cuneiform Records with a sequel to Live At Yoshiwara (Cuneiform Records, 2019). With roughly ten pieces, it is a band with a wide range of tonal colors; the band's leaders, drummer Xavier Gélard and keyboardist Camille Petit, have resumed their compositional role (with a bit of input from other band members). “Parapente/Paraglider" opens the album with a minimal keyboard groove and voices, joined by the rhythm section ...
read moreI.P.A.: Bashing Mushrooms
by Troy Dostert
Comprised of an impressive roster of Scandinavian all-stars, I.P.A. might only need a better name if the group is to break through to wider notice. Harnessing its commitment to post-bop freedom to thoughtful tunecraft, the band's music is both accessible and tough-edged, cerebral and hard-grooving in equal measure. The quintet's first Cuneiform release, I Just Did Say Something was a highlight of 2016, and its follow-up on the venerable label, Bashing Mushrooms, is another winner, albeit with somewhat more muted ...
read moreRay Russell: Fluid Architecture
by Mark Sullivan
Veteran British guitarist and composer Ray Russell has been active in free jazz, fusion and as a session player. His whole range of experience finds a voice in the opener “Escaping The Six String Cage," as he and synthesist Eric Baldwin explore a wide range of guitar sounds. Slide guitar gives way to lyrical volume pedal swells, followed by rhythmic loops leading into free playing. Lyrical delay evolves into an abstract soundscape, finally returning to slide. Several tracks ...
read moreThumbscrew: The Anthony Braxton Project
by Mark Sullivan
The Thumbscrew trio celebrates avant-garde legend Anthony Braxton's 75th birthday with this project. Given access to the Tricentric Archives of Braxton's work, they focused on previously unrecorded pieces by the composer, multi-wind master and bandleader. In addition to their playing history together guitarist Mary Halvorson, double bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/vibraphonist Tomas Fujiwara have all had extensive experience working with Braxton, making them ideally suited to these interpretations of his music. Seeking scores that fired their imaginations (as ...
read moreTomeka Reid Quartet: Old New
by Ian Patterson
Tomeka Reid cut her teeth in Chicago, recording with Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell and Nicole Mitchell, but the cellist's 2016 move to New York seems to have fired her creative juices even more. The prolific Reid has appeared on nearly twenty recordings in that time, notably including the Art Ensemble of Chicago's We Are On The Edge (Pi Recordings, 2019), and also touring with the group in celebration of its fiftieth anniversary. Given the demands on Reid's time, it is ...
read moreGhost Rhythms: Live at Yoshiwara
by Mark Sullivan
French ensemble Ghost Rhythms present their first live album, recorded in front of a small audience in their rehearsal space. While there is no real venue named Yoshiwara, there is an infamous Yoshiwara district in Japan, which in turn lent its name to the depraved red-light district and club in Metropolis, Fritz Lang's 1927 silent sci-fi movie. So this performance is set in an imaginary place, evoking a dreamlike atmosphere (which is further extended in the individual credits for the ...
read moreLe Rex: Escape of the Fire Ants
by Glenn Astarita
This young charismatic Swiss ensemble surges forward by melding modern sounds with New Orleans-based traditional jazz and hip groove-building pulses and perpetual motion, executed with manifold time signatures and soaring unison choruses. On its fourth album and second for Cuneiform Records, the musicians' sense of purpose transfers into your listening space as you can detect lots of smiles and conviction emanating from the band's memorable hooks, shifting themes and forceful overtones. Essentially, their seamless integration of trad jazz ...
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