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Billy Mohler: Anatomy
by John Chacona
Can we please retire the old cliché about jazz from jny: Los Angeles being limp, wan and bland? One listen to pianist Cameron Graves' slamming metal-jazz or to the jittery complexity of David Binney's recent releases should be enough to torch that outdated canard. Now comes bassist Billy Mohler with Anatomy, 43 minutes of amped-up, torqued-out energy that pulses with the elevated heart-rate of first-wave punk rock. That's no accident. Mohler is a pop music pro, a Grammy ...
read morePluto Juice: Pluto Juice
by Glenn Astarita
The EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) was popularized in the 1980s by the late sax great Michael Brecker, and allegedly is a difficult instrument to learn because the buttons are touch sensitive and its sound bank possesses the characteristics of multiple woodwind instruments. Moreover, the EWI contains a controller and a sound module and is not simply an electronic sax device. But highly regarded saxophonist Dayna Stephens seems to have surmounted any hurdles and conveys a rather all-inclusive scope on this ...
read moreDayna Stephens: Right Now! Live At The Village Vanguard
by John Chacona
In his 2018 book, Playing Changes, Nate Chinen argues that the fundamental jazz dialectic of the 1980s and 90s, namely tradition vs. innovation, was ultimately a false choice. Two years later, Dayna Stephens' Right Now! Live at the Village Vanguard proves the point in the most eloquent way possible. In many ways, Right Now! is a traditional undertaking, from the classic horn-and-rhythm-section formation to the set list heavy with tunes taken at a mid-stroll tempo. And nothing cements ...
read moreDayna Stephens Quartet: Right Now! Live At The Village Vanguard
by Dan McClenaghan
New York City's Village Vanguard has a history. Founded by Max Gordon in 1935 and, after his passing in 1989, operated by his wife Lorraine until her death in 2018, the venue became famous for launching jazz careers and hosting the recordings of more than a hundred jazz albums, including saxophonist Sonny Rollins' A Night At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1957), pianist Bill Evans' Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside, 1961) and saxophonist John Coltrane's Live At The Village ...
read moreDayna Stephens Trio: Liberty
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Saxophonist Dayna Stephens, bassist Ben Street and drummer Eric Harland, together with two handfuls of original compositions, make Liberty a hip and bopping success. Who needs chords, when three voices and tones are able to interact so seamlessly and easily with one another--carefully planting ideas, picking them up and elegantly developing them over the continuing stream of bars and measures? Stephens' round tone and clear melodic language are remarkably well accompanied in a set of tunes made up of catchy ...
read moreDayna Stephens: Gratitude
by Geno Thackara
Dayna Stephens is happy to be here. It's not just in the obvious “Hello Clevelaaaand!" sense you'd get from any visiting performer saying hello to a crowd (not that that's a bad thing), but a heartfelt conviction. After a battle with a rare kidney disease and a life-saving donation from his aunt, the New Jersey saxophonist is acutely aware of how great it is to still be present and able to make beautiful music. His picturesque eighth album is meant ...
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