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The Counterfictionals: An Incomplete Encyclopedia of Gentle Emotions
by Geno Thackara
Any hardcore film buff will tell you that plot is not really what is important--or as the estimable critic Roger Ebert often said, the thing is “not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it." This is a lesson Kristoffer Rosing-Schow and The Counterfictionals have indeed taken to heart. Their pieces are mostly ...
Pat Thomas: This is Trick Step
by Mark Corroto
Where to begin with the music of Pat Thomas? The London-born pianist began his journey in classical music before a televised performance by Oscar Peterson led him down the path of jazz and free improvisation. Over the past forty-plus years, Thomas has forged a singular voice in the avant-garde, contributing to groundbreaking ensembles such as the ...
Francesco Cusa Naked Musicians: Another Way of Meditation
by Neri Pollastri
Formazione dall'organico variabile cui Francesco Cusa si rivolge quando vuol affrontare prove orchestrali, i Naked Musicians sono in quest'occasione un tentetto dalla curiosa composizione strumentale --solo due fiati, come i contrabbassi e le chitarre, assente la batteria sostituita dalle tablas, il vibrafono affianca il pianoforte --ed è chiamato dal batterista siciliano --qui solo in veste di ...
Steve Holt: Impact
by Jack Kenny
To create a new album after a twenty-year gap is intriguing. In his long career Steve Holt has worked with Archie Shepp, Larry Coryell Eddie Henderson, Pat LaBarbera, James Moody and Michel Urbaniak. He studied with Kenny Barron, an experience that affected his keyboard style. Surrounding himself with some major Canadian musicians, he has ...
Albare: Eclecticity
by Jack Bowers
On Eclecticity, his 17th recording as leader of his own groups, Moroccan-born Australia-based guitarist Albare (given name: Albert Dadon) uses, for the most part, members of his working groups, the Alchemists and Harmonix Experiment, to help him plumb jazz tradition and breathe life into 10 of his distinctive yet custom-tailored compositions and arrangements. ...
Ramón López: 40 Springs In Paris
by Mark Corroto
To say that Spanish-born Ramón López is an in-demand drummer would be an understatement. His recent collaborators span a wide spectrum of creative music, including Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura, Ivo Perelman, Barry Guy, Agustí Fernández and Angelica Sanchez--and that list reaches well beyond the realms of jazz and free improvisation. López has performed in intimate ensembles ...
Victoria Jordanova, Jérôme Descamps: A Second Orb
by Alberto Bazzurro
Meno di trentacinque minuti di interscambio consentono all'arpista Victoria Jordanova e al trombonista/cellista Jérôme Descamps di disegnare le linee del loro convivere musicalmente miscelando l'improvvisazione (più o meno senza rete) propria del jazz con sonorità e temperature (nonché timbriche, vista la presenza di due cordofoni tipici di quell'ambito) che rimandano all'ambito classico-contemporaneo. Se ...
Nick Biello: New America
by Jack Bowers
Alto saxophonist Nick Biello's New America covers a diverse and colorful landscape, one over which his able quintet glides, springs and dances with ease and assurance. Respectfully, they unravel a half-dozen of the leader's elaborate yet accessible compositions and arrangements. Biello, whose upbringing in a music-centered household exposed him to every genre from ...
Will Brahm: Distance to Empty
by Karan Khosla
Distance to Empty is a phrase that carries a familiar feeling--something you might glimpse glowing on the dashboard as you pull away from a final pit stop before a long journey. Will Brahm, metaphorically and musically, poses these questions: How far can you go with what you have? What is left in the tank? What is ...
Jason Kao Hwang: Soliloquies, Unaccompanied Pizzicato Violin Improvisations
by Richard J Salvucci
Jason Kao Hwang is a child of Chinese immigrants, and previously recorded in Book of Stories (2023), Uncharted Faith (2022), and Human Rites Trio(2022), a CD completed during the Covid-19 pandemic. He places his music, on viola and violin, within the category of avant-garde-jazz-soul-folk. In the abstract, he calls his music “a celebration of life."
