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Jon Durant & Stephan Thelen: Crossings
by Mark Sullivan
These two guitarist/composers first came together when Stephan Thelen asked Jon Durant to contribute to a track on Fractal Guitar (MoonJune Records, 2019). Durant's role was greatly expanded on Fractal Guitar 2 (MoonJune Records, 2021): he played on all six tracks, his fretless guitar playing especially distinctive. Thelen had the idea of doing a duet with ...
Roy Hargrove: In Harmony
by Thomas Fletcher
Roy Hargrove is a trumpeter often affiliated with styles of music beyond jazz including hip-hop and soul. In addition, Mulgrew Miller is character that has always proven his versatile piano playing. However, this album is a melting pot of well-loved standards and compositions written by an array of influences. In Harmony presents previously unreleased live recordings ...
Natsuki Tamura: Koki Solo
by Karl Ackermann
Birthday celebrations have found their way into jazz recordings since the Louis Armstrong era. Illinois Jacquet, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, and Jaco Pastorius have directly baked the cake into album titles while other artists have taken an indirect approach to celebrating. Satoko Fujii broke the mold in 2019 with a new release each month in commemoration ...
John McLaughlin: Liberation Time
by Geno Thackara
Perhaps the biggest success of Liberation Time is that its title feels sincere and not ironic. Such a sentiment could have easily come out as a cute bit of wishful thinking under the restrictions of pandemic life. Being who he is, though, John McLaughlin inevitably finds the value and positivity even in this strange state of ...
Roy Brooks: Understanding
by Pierre Giroux
Roy Brooks was a preeminent hard-bop drummer who early on participated in seminal recording dates led by Horace Silver, Yusef Lateef and Sonny Stitt. In this release entitled Understanding, produced by Cory Weeds and Zev Feldman for Reel To Real Records, Brooks is documented live by The Left Bank Jazz Society at The Famous Ballroom in ...
OK Aurora: Only In Autumn
by Chris May
Rod Oughton is a young London drummer with considerable technical proficiency, and a composer and bandleader of promise. With his octet OK Aurora, which prominently features singer Alina Miroshnichenko, Oughton aims to bridge the gap between jazz and what might rather patronizingly be called intelligent pop. Only In Autumn is the band's second release, following the ...
Sila Shaman: They Come Out At Night
by Dan McClenaghan
Drummer Dave Storrs' Sound Shacka garage beside his Corvallis, Oregon house, converted into a recording studiohas been open for business for more than two decades. Recordings go down when the mood strikes. The mood strikes often. There must be thousands of hours of unreleased stuff stocked away. So pianist Sila Shaman--who has participated productively in Sound ...
Massimo Discepoli: Last year, the next day
by Geno Thackara
While most good drummers know how to use texture and subtlety (or at least should), you won't find many who take the idea quite as far as Massimo Discepoli. While his rhythm parts have a recognizable and compelling pulse somewhere, that usually isn't the half of it. The point is the entire soundscape. His recordings are ...
Brian Jackson: Jazz Is Dead 8: Brian Jackson
by Karl Ackermann
The Jazz is Dead series of recordings is neither trying to bury or resurrect the genre. It largely exists on the periphery where jazz" is either a prefix or suffix. The project, launched by musician-producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad in 2020, is prolific and elastic in its choice of artists and styles. Younge and ...
Orrin Evans: The Magic of Now
by Mike Jurkovic
Timing is everything, the old masters teach. So pianist/composer/bandleader Orrin Evans drops the brazen The Magic of Now just in time. Just in time for the world to open up, renew its commitment, and move forward. Just in time for all to engage in those necessary conversations about civil upkeep. Put plainly, The Magic of Now ...

