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David Lyttle & Phil Robson: IN2
by Ian Patterson
The title of drummer David Lyttle and guitarist Phil Robson's debut duo album is as direct and uncluttered as the music contained herein. Equally divided between time-honored standards and stylistically sympathetic originals--three by the Lyttle and one by Robson--the duo's straight-ahead, tradition-grounded language is perhaps a departure from their more genre-fluid work, particularly Lyttle's hip-hop filtered, MOBO-nominated Faces (Lyte Records, 2015), and Robson's wildly eclectic EP Portrait in Extremes (Lyte Records, 2022), which careened entertainingly from ambient soundscapes and straight-ahead ...
read moreMurray Brothers: Murrays Law
by Ian Patterson
Irish twins Connor Murray (bass) and Micheal Murray (alto saxophone) live by their own law. Murrays Law. It dictates that what can happen at the last minute will happen at the last minute. Yet their trajectory, since transitioning from Irish traditional music to jazz in their early teens, seems not so much cobbled together as carefully plotted, with little left to chance. Regular students at the annual Sligo Jazz Project and graduates of the jazz program at the Glasgow Royal ...
read moreJean Toussaint: Live At The Jazz Cafe 091218
by Chris May
Most times, the transatlantic flow of jazz musicians is from east to west. Less frequently, as with Jean Toussaint's relocation from New York to London, it is contrariwise. Hot from four years as a member of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers's Jazz Messengers, Toussaint arrived in Britain in 1987. He soon established himself as a bandleader, and also as teacher. One of his first pupils was Ingrid Laubrock. In 2008, Laubrock made the reverse journey, setting up home in ...
read moreJean Toussaint Allstar 6tet: Brother Raymond
by Roger Farbey
Jean Toussaint, a graduate of Berklee College of Music and an alumnus of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers has assembled a veritable all-star cast for his follow-up to Tate Song (Lyte Records, 2014). Even more remarkable is the permutation of personnel, which, other than Toussaint himself, changes on most tracks, affording a different perspective to the selections. The boisterous opener “Amabo (I Shall Love)" is a keenly-swinging number which betrays some Caribbean / Latin-esque influences. There are some great ...
read moreAlex Goodman: Second Act
by Mark Sullivan
Canadian guitarist/composer Alex Goodman has been living in New York City for five years. Second Act is his fifth album, but the first to employ a New York City based band, and all the music was composed there as well. After a solo bass introduction from Rick Rosato “Questions" opens the set with fast swing, the whole group in acoustic mode. Pianist Eden Ladin takes an extended solo before the leader takes over on guitar. “The First Break" includes an ...
read moreMeilana Gillard: Dream Within A Dream
by Ian Patterson
There are eight years between Ohio-born, Belfast-based tenor saxophonist Meilana Gillard's impressive debut, Day One (Inner circle Music, 2009), and her follow-up, Dream Within A Dream (Lyte Records, 2017) -simply way too long a gap for a musician and composer of her talents. Her debut, backed by Nir Felder, Tyshawn Sorey, Marcos Varela and Sam Barsh, flitted between classic jazz balladry and a more contemporary, upbeat vibe. For this all-acoustic outing, Gillard pins her old-school colors firmly to the mast, ...
read moreTom Harrison: Unfolding In Tempo
by Bruce Lindsay
London-based alto saxophonist Tom Harrison leads a tight and imaginative band on Unfolding In Tempo, a live album of “reflections on the Ellington/Strayhorn Canon." After three years intense study of Ellington and Strayhorn, Harrison has selected a mix of tunes that display the breadth of that canon, from the famous to the lesser-known, recorded at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham and the Pizza Express club in London's Soho. The first track, recorded in Cheltenham, is the most famous--"Take ...
read moreDavid Lyttle: Faces
by Ian Patterson
The thirty-second cello sortie that kicks off Faces is an arresting opening statement that dashes any preconceptions about what to expect from David Lyttle's third outing as leader. While the acoustic True Story (Lyte Records, 2007) and Questions (Lyte Records, 2010)--the latter a swinging collaboration with guitar wunderkind Andreas Varady--helped establish Lyttle's credentials as a first-rate jazz drummer, Interlude (Lyte Records, 2012) revamped the template by adding hip-hop and soul to the mix. Faces proclaims an even bolder skewing of ...
read moreJean Toussaint: Tate Song
by Ian Patterson
Ten albums in twenty five years isn't prolific but in a world awash with inferior music saxophonist Jean Toussaint's unhurried approach has consistently produced high-quality recordings that stand the test of time. What's more, the lapses between releases make each production a bona fide event. Certainly, the four years since his live album and the nine since his previous studio effort, Continuum Act One (Space Time, 2005) have created an expectation around Tate Song, and true to form, Toussaint delivers ...
read moreLinley Hamilton: In Transition
by Ian Patterson
The title of trumpeter Linley Hamilton's second release for Northern Irish label Lyte Records tells a tale; in the three years since Taylor Made (Lyte Records, 2011) Hamilton has dug deep into the essence of his playing, refining his compositional approach and instilling a greater economy of notes in his playing. His is a discipline that owes more to the modern European tradition exemplified by Till Bronner and Mathias Eick than the beboppers that first inspired Hamilton on his journey. ...
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