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Kenny Shanker: Vortex
by Geannine Reid
Saxophonist Kenny Shanker is an award-winning composer hailing originally from California, now residing in New York. His debut album Steppin' Up (Positone, 2011) was followed by Action City (Positone, 2014), which helped garner him the ASCAP award for composition. In 2017, Shanker released his third recording, The Witching Hour (Wise Cat, 2017), on his own imprint. ...
Clint Bahr: Puzzlebox
by Chris M. Slawecki
Puzzlebox is precisely that: A hard-cover box of musical curios arranged around an 11-minute improvisation ("As Tympani Melt in the Greek Heat") performed not by a band but by a rotating caravan of progressive jazz and rock musicians organized by multi-instrumentalist and composer Clint Bahr. Bahr's collaborators in this curious collection include pianist Marilyn Crispell, violinist ...
Florian Ross: Tunes & Explorations
by Jack Bowers
Variety and nostalgia are the essence of Tunes & Explorations, the twenty-second album by German-born composer/arranger Florian Ross who observes his fiftieth anniversary by dipping into the Great American Songbook to revive and reshape for his splendid octet a number of luminous evergreens from the Golden Age of American music. Ross underlines the ...
Yuko Fujiyama: Quiet Passion
by John Sharpe
American-based Japanese pianist Yuko Fujiyama has recorded sparingly over a 40-year career, so the arrival of Quiet Passion, only the fourth date under her leadership, is an occasion to perk up the ears. Also noteworthy is the unusual instrumentation she has chosen, supplementing her piano with the cornet of Graham Haynes and electronics of Ikue Mori. ...
Sean Nelson's New London Big Band: Social Hour
by Chris M. Slawecki
"For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to have my own big band--an epic jazz orchestra of 17+ musicians," writes trombonist Sean Nelson in the liner notes to this set named for the 17-piece New London Big Band's home base, The Social Bar + Kitchen in New London, Connecticut. Nelson, also a ...
Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet: Spirit To All
by Angelo Leonardi
Il bassista e compositore Wojtek Mazolewski è tra i protagonisti della nuova generazione del jazz polacco di cui ricordiamo musicisti notevoli come il sassofonista Maciej Obara, il pianista Marek Pedziwiatr, il trombettista Tomasz Dabrowski oltre il ben noto Marcin Wasilewski, già pianista di Tomasz Stanko. Mazolewski guida da oltre un decennio questo splendido ...
Robin Holcomb: One Way or Another - Volume 1
by Vic Albani
"Ascoltate attentamente. Abbiamo bisogno di cose come questa." (Bill Frisell) In poco più di trentotto minuti Robin Holcomb distribuisce ancora una volta sapienza e bellezza. Conosco poche persone che comprendono sino in fondo la grandezza di Robin. Alcuni profondi amanti del movimento jazzistico che ha scolpito quello che si potrebbe chiamare il new ...
Hendrik Meurkens and the WDR Big Band: Samba Jazz Odyssey
by Jack Bowers
One could probably count the number of big-band albums featuring a harmonica player on the fingers of one hand and leave some unused. Only one other springs to mind here, and it was released so many years ago that the names have long since been forgotten. And so it is indeed a genuine pleasure to hear ...
Hanka G: Universal Ancestry
by Richard J Salvucci
For a recording that combines, jazz, rock, gospel soul and r&b with Slovakian folk melodies, look no farther. Hanka G, who has artists as different as Abbey Lincoln and McCoy Tyner as her models, was raised in Mongolia, coming to the United States in 2018. This is her first stateside recording, and it is an innovative ...
Giuseppe Paradiso: Parallel Dimensions
by Chris M. Slawecki
Parallel Dimensions steers the listener's imagination through a luxurious multicultural tapestry woven in music by drummer, vocalist, composer, arranger and producer Giuseppe Paradiso and his sextet. It explores broad musical horizons that can sound radiantly bright or dark, often features several instrumental or melodic voices at the same time, and is strongly colored and shaped by ...

