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Larry Coryell's 11th House: Seven Secrets
by John Kelman
Time truly is fleeting; just look at the circumstances surrounding the release of Larry Coryell's Seven Secrets, the guitarist's first studio release with his 11th House group in 41 years. The idea for reuniting this seminal '70s fusion group first came in 2015, when the lineup for a previously booked one-week engagement at New York's The Blue Note club unexpectedly fell through. Rather than cancel, Coryell suggested bringing most of the 11th House's original members back together--trumpeter Randy ...
read moreFloratone (Frisell / Chamberlain / Townsend / Martine): Floratone II
by John Kelman
Plenty of artists treat their music as egalitarian, but some projects are more collaborative than others. Guitarist Bill Frisell has long considered his work to be about the greater whole, going so far as to credit the arrangements on Sign of Life (Savoy, 2011), as “(on the spot and subject to change) by Bill Frisell, Eyvind Kang, Hank Roberts and Jenny Scheinman." But Floratone (Blue Note, 2007) was more collaborative still, beginning life as a series of jams with drummer ...
read moreBill Frisell: All We Are Saying...
by Ian Patterson
Thirty-one years after John Lennon's murder there's no sign of his influence waning. Guitarist Bill Frisell adds personal tribute to the singer/songwriter/activist on All We Are Saying..., the year after vigils and tribute concerts were held to honor Lennon's 70th birthday from Liverpool to New York and everywhere in between. In Iceland, Yoko Ono lit a tulip-shaped beacon of light in the memorial Imagine Peace Tower, which combined with the Northern Lights in spectacular tribute. Frisell's homage is, of course, ...
read moreBill Frisell: All We Are Saying...
by John Kelman
If there's any sign that Bill Frisell's move to Savoy was a good one, it's the release of All We Are Saying..., which makes three albums from the veteran guitarist in just thirteen months. Frisell left two decades at Nonesuch to be able to release more than one album a year, in order to keep up with a still-growing myriad of projects, and with this John Lennon tribute not even in the plans when Beautiful Dreamers was released, in August, ...
read moreBill Frisell: Sign of Life - Music for 858 Quartet
by John Kelman
Bill FrisellSign of Life: Music for 858 QuartetSavoy Jazz2011 Bill Frisell fans attending the 2010 Ottawa International Jazz Festival were given a rare opportunity to catch two groups, for whom the guitarist was planning releases in the coming months: his new Beautiful Dreamers trio, a couple months before the release of its eponymous debut; and his more longstanding 858 Quartet, a full ten months before the release of Sign of Life: ...
read moreBill Frisell: Beautiful Dreamers
by Troy Collins
Heralded as a sonic innovator since his seminal work for ECM Records in the mid-eighties, Grammy winning, perennial Best Jazz Guitarist award recipient Bill Frisell has developed a rich body of work over the past two decades, guaranteeing him a place in the history books alongside his heroes Jim Hall and Jimi Hendrix. Fastidiously documented by Elektra/Nonesuch since the early nineties, Frisell's twenty plus releases for the label encompass everything from soundtracks for silent films to genre-straddling collaborations with Nashville ...
read moreBill Frisell: Beautiful Dreamers
by John Kelman
Most people slow down as they get older but, in the case of musicians, there are those who seem to actually step up the pace. Bill Frisell may be approaching 60, but he's busier than ever--so much so, in fact, that the intrepid guitarist has left his record label of over twenty years (Nonesuch), because it was unprepared to keep up with his need to release more than one album per year. Beautiful Dreamers is Frisell's first Savoy Jazz release ...
read moreRavi Coltrane: Blending Times
by David Adler
By opening Blending Times with “Shine," a wonderful rubato melody by pianist Luis Perdomo, Ravi Coltrane seems to take the spotlight off of himself, making deft use of one of his most potent resources: his working band, with Perdomo, bassist Drew Gress and drummer EJ Strickland. Ever since debuting as a leader, the saxophonist has found ways to grapple with the towering legacy of his late father while also addressing creativity in the here and now. This is Coltrane's first ...
read moreRavi Coltrane: Blending Times
by Mark F. Turner
Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane stands in the legacy of not one, but two great influences: his honored father, John Coltrane, one of the most influential musicians in jazz, and his mother, Alice Coltrane, a superb musician and spiritual guide whose untimely passing in January 17, 2007 left a void that will not be easily filled. Yet with a quiet demeanor contrasted by profound abilities, Ravi Coltrane delivers the long-awaited Blending Times. This is his fifth release as a ...
read moreJoin The Band
by C. Michael Bailey
The album title Join The Band derives from an entrance processional Little Feat sang a cappella when taking the stage during those high holy days with guitarist Lowell George. A rendition may be heard opening the band's famous live recording, Waiting For Columbus (Warner Bros, 1978). Lowell, of course, passed in 1979. Thirty years later, the phrase is resurrected as the title of the present disc. Keyboard player Bill Payne opines that Join The Band is a summation ...
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