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Vance Thompson: Lost and Found
by Jack Bowers
For several years, Vance Thompson's career as a musician hung in the balance. Owing to a neurological disorder known as Focal Dystonia, the Grammy-nominated trumpeter and founder of the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra was literally unable to blow his own horn. But unlike other people who may have thrown in the towel or called it a day, ...
John Donegan: Interfuse
by Ian Patterson
When jazz musicians reach the autumn of their years, they tend to go one of two ways artistically. The first, and perhaps the most common path taken, is to slow down; composing dries up and the gaps between recordings inevitably lengthen. The second way is to burn with even greater creative fire, becoming more prolific than ...
Joe Magnarelli: Decidedly so
by Jack Bowers
Trumpeter Joe Magnarelli has been a bright light on the New York-area jazz scene for four decades, since arriving in the city in 1986 from his native Syracuse, NY. On Decidedly So, his eighteenth recording and third for Cellar Music, Magnarelli ushers a top-drawer quintet through its paces in a pleasing session that encompasses a trio ...
Elsa Nilsson and Martin Fabricius: Glaciers
by Troy Dostert
Two pathbreaking musicians who are bringing new dimensions to their instruments, flutist Elsa Nilsson and vibraphonist Martin Fabricius, explore uncharted terrain on Glaciers, their first recorded encounter together. It is a freely-improvised date, with lots of room for mutual creativity, and the patient, careful reflection which characterizes these thirteen pieces makes for a stirring, thought- provoking ...
Patricio Morales: La Tierra Canta
by Jack Bowers
While rhythm is definitely king on La Tierra Canta ("The Earth Sings"), the fifth recording by Chilean-born composer, arranger and classical guitarist Patricio Morales, it must share the throne with various handsome and radiant melodic and harmonic designs employed by Morales and his international septet. If Morales' name is unfamiliar, that could be because he has ...
Kris Davis: The Solastalgia Suite
by Mike Jurkovic
Pianist/composer/raconteur Kris Davis dazzles again with The Solastalgia Suite, her headfirst dive into third stream composition. Echoing Ravel's harmonic conversations and guided by the environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht, who describes his concept of solastalgia as a form of homesickness while we are still at home, Davis and Poland's revered Lutosławski Quartet, named for twentieth-century ...
Negative Press Project + Friction Quartet: Cycles 1
by Jack Bowers
Cycles 1, the fifth recording by the San Francisco Bay-area Negative Press Project, is chamber jazz of the highest order, neatly canvassing a dozen creative and colorful themes by the group's co-leaders, pianist Ruthie Dineen (nine) and bassist Andrew Lion (three). The octet is ably supported on every number by the Friction Quartet, whose elegant strings ...
Joe Magnarelli: Decidedly so
by Pierre Giroux
Joe Magnarelli's Decidedly So strongly reaffirms the enduring virtues of straight-ahead jazz, recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's Studio in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, where these qualities have long been valued. Brought to life in March 2025 before a small but attentive audience, the session benefits from a rare blend of relaxed confidence and deliberate swing that can ...
Billie Davies: 2455 (Music for the Future)
by Max Kutner
2455: Music for the Future features the telekinetic duo of drummer/percussionist Billie Davies and trumpeter Branden James Lewis presenting a series of dreamlike improvisations united under Davies' concept of No Boundaries, Music for the 24th Century. Davies' vision and designs allow the music to shape-shift and wander at whim between dub, ambient, free jazz, musique concrète, ...
Yelena Eckemoff: I Am a Stranger in This World
by Tyran Grillo
To feel estranged from one's own mind is among the quiet terrors of modern life. It is this condition, ancient yet urgently contemporary, that Yelena Eckemoff confronts on I Am a Stranger in This World, a double album that treats the Psalms of David not as scripture to be recited but as psychic terrain to be ...
