Jazz Articles

Carter/Cook/Kowald/LaMaster: Principle Hope

by Richton Guy Thomas
March 12, 2003

Free jazz, like bebop, is complex intense playing with an emphasis on momentum. This is a simple description of the music that occupies a portion of Principle Hope. The venue where this music was performed is Boston's Tremont Theatre, a regular home for no-holds-barred open-ended jazz. The essential component of any free jazz performance is strong communication between each member of the group, which ensures forward motion. The late Peter Kowald lends particularly keen vision to this ensemble, whose credits ...

Carter-Cook-Kowald-LaMaster: Principle Hope

by Kurt Gottschalk
February 4, 2003

As skillful a horn player as he is, Daniel Carter isn't much of a conversationalist. He's proficient on sax, flute, clarinet and trumpet, but in general it's best if he's the only one touching the horns. Without speculating as to why, it's safe to say that Carter is best heard solo or backed by strings and percussion. In tandem with another horn, he can, at times, show all the nuance of a tea kettle.

Which is why the projects he's ...

M3 (Miller x3): Unearthing

by AAJ Staff
January 1, 2002

It's Miller Time. M3, a power trio of Millers, launches Unearthing with a frenzied full-on assault reminiscent of the heaviest heavy metal: guitar, bass and drums ablaze. The opening blast on “Crossing Guard" leads through attention-deficit territory, where members of the group regularly waylay themselves in pursuit of sparkling accents and crumbling free cascades. But the musicians always return to the relentless energy of the chorus, which rises like an anthem above the smoke below.

After this grinding three minute ...

Jon Rose: Strung

by Mark Corroto
January 1, 2002

Jon Rose, the Derek Bailey of the violin, is turning his attention to the possibilities of electronic manipulation of stringed instrument sound. A collaborator with the likes of Eugene Chadbourne, Bob Ostertag, Luc Houtkamp, Otomo Yoshihide, and Wayne Horvitz, Rose is a creative musician with plenty of humor on display.

Strung is a co-conspiracy between Rose and Steve Heather, an electronic and percussive musician. The pair assembled various string players at Amsterdam’s The Hospital in July of 2000 to act/react ...

Ikue Marclay/Ikue Mori/Elliott Sharp plus sMFA students: Acoustiphobia, Volume 1

by AAJ Staff
February 1, 2001

Ironically, free improvisation often turns out to be a visual affair. In a theoretical sense, the idea of improv is purely musical: artists interweave personal threads to yield a mutual fabric of sound. But in practice, the listener often gains substantial understanding and insight from actually observing the musicians at work. Trading leads, reacting, and synergizing all happen in real time, making the concert experience that much richer for one's visual involvement.

The first disc of Acoustiphobia offers a prime ...

Thurston Moore/Wally Shoup/Toshi Makihara: Hurricane Floyd

by AAJ Staff
December 1, 2000

The title of Hurricane Floyd, as you might imagine, has two meanings. First, it describes the meterological phenomenon ongoing during the performance (yes, hurricanes do actually make it to Boston on occasion). Second, it refers to the intensity of the free improvisation which occurred in the shelter of the church where these three musicians briefly joined forces. Now it must be said up front that not all of this performance falls into the category of 'stormy,' but the most ecstatic ...

Steffen Basho-Junghans: Song of the Earth

by AAJ Staff
November 1, 2000

In this striking departure from the free/avant sound of other Sublingual material, guitarist Steffen Basho-Junghans operates his instrument in the continuum extending from Leo Kottke through John Fahey and Ralph Towner. On Song of the Earth, his fourth record and first American release, Junghans plays 6- and 12-string guitars. Using resonance and repetition to achieve an open, airy sound, Junghans explores the dimensions of harmonic space. Don't misunderstand: there's no wild improvised extroversion here, only measured contemplative introspection. Much of ...

Andrew Neumann: Scramble: Lock: Combination

by Glenn Astarita
October 1, 2000

Drummer, electronics guru Andrew Neumann indulges in some mischievous hijinks on this new release titled, Scramble: Lock: Combination. Armed with an arsenal of digital delays, MIDI paraphernalia, computer software and a drum machine, Neumann improvises his way through this curiously interesting affair which at the very least should provide some thrills for the tech-heads out there. On the title track, the artist produces a bevy of cyclic and recoiling rhythms, mechanical sounds and MIDI generated tones to create rapidly paced ...

Thurston Moore - Wally Shoup - Toshi Makihara: Hurricane Floyd

by Glenn Astarita
September 1, 2000

Hurricane Floyd was recorded live at the Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Cambridge, Ma. during the hurricane that was rearing its ugly head along the New England coast. Here, “Sonic Youth” guitarist Thurston Moore adds another recorded document to his free-jazz legacy along with alto saxophonist Wally Shoup and percussionist Toshi Makihara for sequences of frenzied dialogue and at times gut-wrenching emotional outpourings. Other than Moore’s delightful solo acoustic guitar interlude titled, “Altar Boy, Church Basement” where the guitarist melds ...

Ken Field: Tokyo in F

by Glenn Astarita
August 1, 2000

Whether educating students at workshops, scoring soundtracks for television, i.e. “Sesame Street”, “HBO” and “PBS” or his ongoing affiliation with the band, “Birdsongs of the Mesozoic”, New England area saxophonist/composer Ken Field is liable to pull quite a few tricks out of the many hats he wears. With two highly acclaimed solo efforts to his credit, Pictures of Motion and Subterranea Field’s latest recording features three reputable Japanese musicians whom he had only met prior to the actual performance.

Tokyo ...