Jazz Articles

Ayman Fanous: Negoum

by Hrayr Attarian
March 30, 2020

Guitarist and composer Ayman Fanous is a musical explorer who thrives in duet settings. He has recorded three such outings over a span of a dozen years, the latter of which is the mystical and haunting Negoum (Stars in Arabic). On it Fanous collaborates with the restlessly inventive cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, who has pushed boundaries of her instrument into uncharted territory. When writing the music for this album Fanous drew inspiration from the work of medieval Islamic scholar ...

Ayman Fanous / Frances-Marie Uitti: Negoum

by Karl Ackermann
February 27, 2020

The very flexible tone systems of the Middle East and Southern Asia have influenced Western music for decades. From John Coltrane to Jimmy Page and George Harrison, the sounds of those regions have often successfully fused with the disciplined beat of the West. Egyptian-born, New York-based guitarist and bouzouki player Ayman Fanous and American-born, Paris-based cellist Frances-Marie Uitti bring East and West together on Negoum but not in a predictable manner. Fanous appears to be most comfortable in ...

Marco Cappelli: The American Dream

by Mark Corroto
August 9, 2012

Things get lost in translation. It's inevitable, and it's not just words and meaning. Cultural things morph. Take a Venetian or Roman to an Olive Garden restaurant in America and she won't recognize much on the menu, or send an American to Puglia with the task of finding a pizza pocket. Some things just don't translate.Such is not the case with hipness. What is cool in Milano is happening in Brooklyn. When Italian guitarist Marco Cappelli, the Italian ...

Anthony Braxton / Jerry Hemmingway: Old Dogs

by Mark Corroto
August 12, 2010

It is very difficult to separate the music of saxophonist Anthony Braxton and percussionist Gerry Hemingway from the actual experience of listening to four-disc, four-plus hour Old Dogs (2007). Each disc represents a morning or afternoon's work, recorded at Wesleyan University in early August, 2007, requiring almost complete immersion--letting go each moment, as it passes. There is little possibility of consuming this music in one sitting; it requires listening in either small bites, or an unfettered approach of allowing the ...

Joe McPhee: Voices: 10 Improvisations

by Lyn Horton
May 18, 2008

Being able to speak a language well implies a command of its syntactical dimensions. A fearless approach to maximizing the expression of ideas within language signifies creativity. Common to both a command of language and creativity is the principle of voice, which distinguishes itself from all similar practice. In music, voice simply, unquestionably, identifies how the musician and instrument mix.

Voices: 10 Improvisations, featuring brass and reedman, Joe McPhee, and percussionist John Heward, opens with the ...

Gavin Bryars: The Marvellous Aphorisms of Gavin Bryars: The Early Years

by Kurt Gottschalk
December 14, 2007

While Gavin Bryars is best known for his long-form compositions ("The Sinking of the Titanic, Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet), he also played a significant role in the early development of British free improv, playing bass in the trio Joseph Holbrooke with Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He left the trio, which was far from any level of fame, to focus on composing and on this CD the New York label Mode presents four of those early pieces in ...

Marco Cappelli: Extreme Guitar Project

by Kurt Gottschalk
November 18, 2006

The talented Italian guitarist Marco Cappelli's love affair with New York City began with a trip in 2002, which led to him commissioning a series of compositions for solo guitar. That set of pieces--the “Extreme Guitar Project --is a remarkable collection, allowing at once a variety of vantages of the composers, the interpreter and the guitar. The pieces were written by guitarists and non-guitarists (not all New Yorkers), and all take advantage of his unusual, customized instrument, a classical guitar ...