Jazz Articles
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Steph Richards: Supersense
by Mike Jurkovic
With all the threatening weirdness and desperate surrealism that has become life in the USA, it makes absolute sense that Supersense, daring trumpeter/composer Steph Richards' third full length album, starts out like an encroaching invasion of ants, or microbes, or a disruptive, divisive, myopic political movement. As with such forward seeking rebels as Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson and Yoko Ono, Richards' modus operandi is chiseled in the very foundations of the music itself. Never ...
read moreNate Wooley: Columbia Icefield
by Don Phipps
Nate Wooley's Columbia Icefield begins with a dueling repetition of chords by bandmates Mary Halvorson and Susan Alcorn on “Lionel Trilling." The ambiguity generated by this back and forth is the perfect start to his album's shape-shifting music. Wooley's trumpet is both poetic and piercing. There's a sense of longing in his tone and it is amplified by his use of odd electronics which add texture and distortions to his lines or simply populate the background. Halvorson's twangs ...
read moreChicago Underground Duo: Locus
by Troy Collins
For over 17 years Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor have collaborated as the Chicago Underground Duo, a long-running partnership that has served as the core foundation for larger configurations of the group, including Trio, Quartet and Orchestra. The expansive nature of the ensemble's fluctuating personnel and the subsequent diversity of music produced has been a direct reflection of the founding members' varied interests and ensuing career paths.Mazurek's reputation as a bold electro-acoustic sound sculptor is well established, but ...
read moreJohn Butcher: Bell Trove Spools
by John Eyles
In saxophonist John Butcher's extensive discography, there are examples of many contexts, from solo through duos--including the recently released Daylight (Emanem, 2012), with drummer Mark Sanders, and At Oto (Fataka, 2012), with pianist Matthew Shipp--and trios, up to larger ensembles including Butcher's own seven-piece group, which recorded Somethingtobesaid (Weight of Wax, 2008). Taken together, they paint a detailed picture of the breadth and depth of Butcher's abilities. Yet, if it were necessary to zoom in on a single ...
read moreJohn Butcher: Bell Trove Spools
by Eyal Hareuveni
British saxophonist John Butcher is one of the most innovative and influential saxophonists to emerge in recent decades. Butcher introduced a new conception of the saxophone--not just a horn instrument but a resonant metallic tube in which the properties of air moving through are investigated in relation to amplification devices as a microphone positioned inside the bell; using it as a device for controlling and modifying feedback; and in relation to the unique acoustic spaces in which he plays.
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