Album Reviews
Michelle Lordi: Break Up With The Sound
Vocalist Michelle Lordi's house burned down at the end of 2017. That is a bracing life event from which one may find oneself at a brutally curious fork in the road. Lordi's Break Up With the Sound makes it seem that she blazed through Kubler Ross's five stages of loss and got to work on something so new, it smelled of white-hot creation. Lordi's modus operandi has been addressing the Great American Songbook, as evidenced by her densely competent Dream ...
read moreVillage of the Sun feat. Binker & Moses: Village of the Sun / Ted
After grabbing the British jazz scene by both shoulders and shaking it up with three mindblowing albums, the ferocious semi-free saxophone and drums duo Binker & Moses—tenor saxophonist Binker Golding and drummer Moses Boyd—have been taking a break from making music together. But the release of the 12" single “Village of the Sun" / “Ted" looks like those albums may not be the end of the story. Let us hope so, for the music heard on Dem Ones (2015), Journey ...
read moreTubis Trio: So Us
There are so many acts that are easy not to notice--yes, even in the jazz world where just about everybody is under the radar in some way--but this Polish piano trio still seems more of a buried treasure than most. They've quietly built an impressively smart catalogue almost in secret, like an out- of-the-way quality restaurant that earns irresistible word of mouth even if you don't see its name on billboards. Pianist Maciej Tubis, bassist Paweł Puszczało and drummer Przemysław ...
read moreMasa Ishikawa: Dialogue
The happy set of ten originals Masa Ishikawa composed for his album Dialogue suggests a budding talent. A visiting professor of jazz at the University of Iowa, Ishikawa, along with his bandmates, demonstrates a precise and light touch, where bluesy readings have just the right sense of playfulness. Born in Fukushima, Japan, Ishikawa teams up on this session with vibraphonist Christopher Varga, who has played with such notables as Terrence Blanchard and the late Jay McShann, bassist Eric ...
read moreNeyko Bodurov: Nikobo
Classically educated in Germany and the Netherlands, Bulgarian trumpeter/flugelhorn player Neyko Bodurov might have opted for a life-long career in those countries' chamber ensembles and orchestras. Instead, the thirty-seven-year old has followed his jazz muse. Once of the European Jazz Orchestra and the jazz department at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, Bodurov is the principal driving force behind the Varna Jazz Days Festival, held over two days in May, by the shore of The Black Sea. The music is clearly in his ...
read moreAudrey Ochoa: Frankenhorn
Trombonist Audrey Ochoa's Frankenhorn has a big, bold sound. The set was originally planned as a feature for duets with pianist Chris Andrew, with remixes by electronica DJ Battery Poacher. But things got out of hand, in the best sense of things. A rhythm section and strings and keyboard seasonings were brought into the mix, resulting in a sound that almost certainly tops a duet approach. Battery Poacher remixes show up on two of the tunes, “The Huggy ...
read moreJohn Abercrombie and Don Thompson: Yesterdays
The late John Abercrombie's outstanding and extensive recorded legacy includes two duet albums with fellow guitarist Ralph Towner, Sargasso Sea (ECM 2008) and Five Years Later (ECM, 2014), four Gateway trio albums (with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette), and three Baseline Trio albums (with bassist Hein Van de Geyn and drummer Joe LaBarbera). Like those albums, Yesterdays finds him at his guitar-picking best, collaborating on this one with bassist Don Thompson. Recorded live in 1992 at ...
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Go: Organic Orchestra and Brooklyn Raga Massive - RAGMALAFeaturing the music of Adam Rudolph
Contest Giveaway
ELIGIBLE WINNERS: 5 | DAYS REMAINING: 26
Prize: Ragmala: A Garland Of Ragas by Adam Rudolph
World music pioneer Adam Rudolph and his groundbreaking Go: Organic Orchestra join forces with Brooklyn Raga Massive to create the monumental new album, Ragmala – A Garland of Ragas (Meta Records). Ragmala bridges generations, cultures and traditions in a deep-rooted, forward-looking sound born of 21st-century innovation and hybrid voices. Epic in scale and ambition, the project features 40 world-class musicians including Gnawa master musician Hassan Hakmoun, legendary drummer/percussionist Hamid Drake, forward-thinking cornetist Graham Haynes, and tradition-blurring flutist...
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