Jazz Articles
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Don Aliquo: Growth
by Jack Bowers
On Growth, his eighth album as a leader, it is said that Nashville-based saxophonist Don Aliquo “pushes past his established comfort zone and into more precarious and challenging improvisational territory." While that may well be true, another truism is that the harmonic vocabulary of contemporary jazz has remained essentially unchanged for more than eight decades, and Aliquo does nothing to alter the blueprint. He simply approaches improvisation in his own way while embracing time-honored parameters. In other ...
read moreJeff Coffin / Derek Brown: Symbiosis
by Robin B James
Rhyming dragons and synergetic saxophilia, in seven tracks. Two monsters of the single reed doing the sway. Oh, wait, what about the rhythm section? They brought their own! This duo has the intuitive chemistry that comes only from epochs of experience playing together. Jeff Coffin on tenor saxophone, bass flute, bass clarinet, and clarinet; one finishes the other's groove. Derek Brown on the tenor saxophone, baritone baritone, saxophone percussion (that's the slap-beat thing he is famous for), and of course ...
read moreDave Liebman: On the Corner Live!
by Mike Jurkovic
Saxophonist/flautist and 2011 NEA Jazz Master David Liebman knows of what he speaks when he speaks of Miles Davis. He was part of the pack stirring the rock/jazz/electronic/funk fusion cauldron, first working with Elvin Jones and then running with Davis in the studio--first appearing on the original On The Corner, (Columbia, 1972)--and on tour from 1972 to 1974. And though the electric chapter of Miles Davis and Liebman serves as the historical pivot point, for On The Corner ...
read moreDave Liebman: On the Corner Live!
by Geno Thackara
The idea is easy to dismiss at first glance. This is roughly the 127th Miles Davis homage to come along since tribute recordings became a widespread thing. It took a long time for the original On the Corner (Columbia, 1972) to gain acceptance with its thick relentless jungle-funk and lack of conventional melody, but it gradually became a touchstone that still stands without a scratch and impossible to imitate. Still, this one-off performance made a fresh and lively set for ...
read moreDave Liebman: On the Corner Live!
by Victor L. Schermer
When the Miles Davis album On the Corner (Columbia, 1972) was released, Davis had already begun to engage in electronic instrumentation and jazz fusion with soon to be revered recordings: In A Silent Way (Columbia, 1969), Bitch's Brew (Columbia, 1970) and Jack Johnson (Columbia, 1971). On the Corner, however, was so experimental and funky that it incurred the wrath of many critics and sales were minimal. Still, in the ensuing decades, it has come to be regarded as a pioneering ...
read moreIn Orbit: in Orbit
by Anya Wassenberg
In Orbit--the group, the song and the album--have a groovy 70s retro kind of feel, crashing chords, melody and dissonance, all to a disco beat. High on energy, with an emphasis on danceable grooves, In Orbit is a cross-border group with a core of Canadian guitarist Michael Occhipinti and American saxophonist Jeff Coffin, who shared composing duties on the album. Tom Reynolds adds tasteful and understated piano to the mix, with the strong combination of Felix Pastorius on ...
read moreTyler Mire Big Band: #Office for the Day
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Social Media has spewed forth a cornucopia of emoticons, symbols, and catchphrases that have Twittered their way into Webster's. The title of trumpeter/composer/arranger Tyler Mire's (pronounced “Meer") latest effort -"#Office for the Day" -is one example of a phrase that's particularly loved by musicians. However, there's nothing common or over-washed out about this latest fine effort from Mire and Team. Before his hitching up and joining the U.S. Navy's elite “Commodores," Mire pulled together a group of ...
read moreDoug Mosher / John Estes: Southern Lights
by Budd Kopman
It is almost certain that many readers of these pages have at one time or another been faced with a recording that you just did not like or could not get into. Now, life is short, and there is no dishonor in moving on to other things. However, perhaps this work was recommended or it had garnered good reviews by people whose knowledge and/or taste you have come to respect. If that is the case, you might try ...
read moreJeff Coffin with Caleb Chapman's Crescent Super Band: The Inside of the Outside
by Jack Bowers
The first time woodwind artist Jeff Coffin heard Caleb Chapman's Crescent Super Band, he was greatly impressed--so much so that he decided to record an album with the band. You may be impressed too, especially upon learning that the Super Band, which sounds for all the world like a professional (or advanced university) ensemble, is actually comprised of high school students whose ages range from fifteen to eighteen. And in spite of its New Orleans-sounding pedigree, the Super Band is ...
read moreDoug Mosher / John Estes: Southern Lights
by Jack Bowers
After listening to Southern Lights, a series of extremely low-key tone poems by tenor saxophonist Doug Mosher and bassist John Estes, two questions spontaneously arise: first, where is the audience for an album that glides gently along on an unflagging current of somnolence? (the term “smooth jazz" springs to mind, but even that genre produces an occasional spark). And second, what did Mosher and Estes have in mind when planning what is basically a procession of pleasantly unremarkable themes which, ...
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