Results for "Michael McCaw"

Michael McCaw

William Parker: Corn Meal Dance

by Michael McCaw
December 14, 2007

Steeped in the bedrock of the blues, hearkening back to sounds of Charles Mingus' Blues and Roots jazz, and featuring one of the more compelling and soulful voices in music today, Corn Meal Dance by bassist William Parker, is a complete package even if it takes a few listens to hear.With a few exceptions, ...

Michael Blake's Blake Tartare: More Like Us

by Michael McCaw
November 14, 2006

Blake Tartare More Like Us Stunt Records 2006 Listen Includes full performance of “Something In The Water" Michael Blake has long been on the cusp of being more-well known among jazz fans, but like his former employer John Lurie, often seems to be looking in. Regularly recording on ...

Greg Burk: The Way In

by Michael McCaw
October 31, 2006

Greg Burk The Way In 482 Music 2006 Listen In an interview published last November by Paul Olson, pianist/composer/improviser Greg Burk revealed a very telling musical approach. In the interview Burk states that he does not view improvisation as a manner of instantaneous composition the way many people often propose. ...

Quadro Nuevo & Tango Crash: Two Takes on Tango

by Michael McCaw
January 14, 2006

One old and one new, Justin Time has released two records attempting to deal with tango music at its core with varying degrees of success. Neither approaches the music in the same manner as, say, Astor Piazzolla, but through either acoustic or electronic instruments, they attempt to communicate with the same soul. Quadro Nuevo ...

Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworked

by Michael McCaw
January 13, 2006

Various Artists Impulsive! Revolutionary Jazz Reworked Impulse! 2005 Remix projects in general have more than their fair share of naysayers. And where often the crux of their arguments center around the issue of taking an established piece of art and adding unneeded elements or simply implying these projects are only ...

Jim Hall in Duet with Enrico Pieranunzi & Geoff Keezer: Duologues and Free Association

by Michael McCaw
January 13, 2006

It's becoming well-documented how Jim Hall has and is exploring the art of the duo in depth, whether with Pat Metheny, Bill Evans, or more recent associations with Enrico Pieranunzi and Geoffrey Keezer. And as classic as albums such as Undercurrent (Blue Note, 1963) or Jim Hall and Basses (Telarc, 2001) are, these more recent duo ...

Brad Mehldau: Day Is Done

by Michael McCaw
January 10, 2006

Seldom do musicians rise beyond their peers into a more rarefied air, transversing the ground between player and interpreter to influence standards and the direction where the next steps will go. Rarely, if ever, is this transition actually recorded. Nonetheless, one thing is easily identifiable with Day Is Done: Brad Mehldau has begun the transformation from ...

Electric Masada: At The Mountains of Madness

by Michael McCaw
January 9, 2006

You could come close to identifying the music on this incredibly lively and vibrant, yet draining release by imagining Buckethead's Monsters and Robots combined with John Zorn's Bar Kokhba Sextet. Identified by Zorn's Tzadik label as an amalgamation of the agitated pacing of Naked City, the immediacy and “improvisational edge of Cobra, and the lyrical qualities ...

Gerry Hemingway: The Whimbler

by Michael McCaw
January 8, 2006

For those who may approach Gerry Hemingway as an acolyte of Anthony Braxton and thus shy away from the often dense musical milieu put forth by Braxton and his ilk, The Whimbler is cause for intrigue and celebration. And for those who approach Hemmingway for exactly this association, don't turn away because the compositions aren't mathematical ...