Home » Search Center » Results: Album Review
Results for "Album Review"
John Fedchock: Justifiably J.J.
by Dan McClenaghan
J.J. Johnson saved his instrument from possible obscurity. Rarely used as a front-line instrument pre-Johnson, the trombone might have faded away when bebop came along. Bebop--all those rapid-fire notes from trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. At that time, the trombone was considered too cumbersome to navigate the chord changes and the rhythmic fury ...
Chloë Sobek, Tim Berne: Burning Up
by Hrayr Attarian
Australian explorative composer and sound artist Chloë Sobek is a prodigious talent. For her second release Burning Up Sobek takes two bold chances both of which pay off well. She joins master improviser, saxophonist Tim Berne for an entirely spontaneous set. Sobek performs on the violone, the renaissance era ancestor to the contrabass. She not only ...
Eric Alexander & Mike LeDonne: Together
by Jack Bowers
Eric Alexander and Mike LeDonne have been together many times--on recordings, in clubs, at concerts and elsewhere-- but never quite as intimately so as on this splendid album, even though they are heard Together on only four of the album's nine tracks- -LeDonne maps a solo course on three others, Alexander on two (moving to soprano ...
Mike Casey: Valencia
by Chris May
Saxophonist Mike Casey won a few hearts and minds among AAJ readers in 2017 with his Take Five profile, which we published round about the time of the self-release of his debut album, The Sound Of Surprise: Live At The Side Door. Refreshingly happy to express an opinion, Casey slammed jazz festivals for their short-term “band ...
Albert Ayler With Don Cherry: 1964 Recordings First Visit Completed
by John Eyles
In 2020 the ezz-thetics label released the two-disc CD European Recordings Autumn 1964 Revisited which comprised the six November 9th 1964 radio recordings made in Hilversum, the Netherlands, by the quartet of Albert Ayler, cornetist Don Cherry, bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray, “Angels," “C.A.C.." “Ghosts." “Infant Happiness" (composed by Don Cherry), “Spirits" and “No ...
Massimo De Mattia Suonomadre: Domicide
by Neri Pollastri
Meno “arrabbiato" e concitato del passato, ma sempre vivo, creativo e sorprendente, il quartetto Suonomadre del flautista Massimo De Mattia esce con un nuovo lavoro totalmente improvvisato, Domicide (Aut Records). A differenza dei precedenti Riot ed Etnoshock, editi da Caligola, questo nuovo lavoro è registrato in studio e forse proprio per questo sono maggiori ...
Etienne Charles: Creole Orchestra Featuring René Marie
by Angelo Leonardi
A 18 anni di distanza dal debutto discografico in Culture Shock il trombettista originario di Trinidad & Tobago, si cimenta come bandleader di un ampio organico, in una lussureggiante sintesi di ritmi caraibici e orchestrazioni che vanno dalla tradizione Swing all'hip hop. L'orchestra è un ampliamento della sua storica Creole Soul Band e ospita la cantante ...
Tony Oxley Quintet: Angular Apron
by Chris May
Among the most welcome jazz events of 2024 is the return to active duty of the great British saxophonist Larry Stabbins following an absence of over a decade. Stabbins went into voluntary exile in 2013, after around thirty-five years at the deep end of British jazz. Disenchanted with the culturally regressive direction in which the music ...
Jordan VanHemert: Deep in the Soil
by Jack Bowers
Energy and enthusiasm fairly leap from the speakers--or headphones--on Sharel Cassity's daring “Call to Order," the opening number on Korean-born saxophonist Jordan VanHemert's fifth album as leader, Deep in the Soil. Alas, that same ardor doesn't reappear until track seven (of eight), trombonist Michael Dease's boppish “ST in the House." In between, VanHemert and his companions ...
Jimbo Ross: Jazz Passion & Satin Latin
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Jazz Passion & Satin Latin from elite viola player Jimbo Ross offers a dozen selections drawn across a wide array of resources. From tried-and-true GASsers, to more obscure, but, fascinating, jazz compositions, all seasoned with Latin flavorings, Ross and his compadres deliver an invigorating session. The album opens auspiciously with Ross in viola-guitar ...
