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Jim Rattigan: When
by Chris May
Composer-arrangers as diverse as Gil Evans and Charles Mingus have employed the French horn, but it remains something of a niche instrument in jazz. Why? The same question applies to the almost complete absence of trombones in West African jazz and Afrobeat, and their ubiquity in Brazilian samba. The first convincing explanation in the Comments box ...
José Lencastre / Hernâni Faustino / Vasco Furtado: Vento
by Mark Corroto
It would be interesting to learn the order in which the six tracks on this recording were laid down. Not so much that it would make for a better listening experience, because this is a thrilling debut, but it would give us clues into the organization and presentation of music by this new label, Phonogram Unit. ...
Satoko Fujii / Ramon Lopez / Natsuki Tamura: Mantle
by John Sharpe
Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii rarely stands still. When she and Spanish drummer Ramon Lopez toured Japan in 2019 on the back of their duo album Confluence (Libra, 2019), they took the opportunity to add Fujii's partner trumpeter Natsuki Tamura to the line up. To make things fresher still, they set themselves a challenge: to each write ...
Dr Bekken Trio: In Fonk We Trust
by Jim Worsley
With some fresh boogie-woogie powder, just the right amount of handpicked blues, a bit of jazz seasoning, and honky-tonk leaves, all rolled together in the same Zig-Zag, the Dr. Bekken Trio smoked the joint. The crowd at the Lillehammer Mikrobyggeri, in the Olympic city of Lillehammer, Norway, were abuzz the minute the band took the stage. ...
Mary Halvorson's Code Girl: Artlessly Falling
by Jerome Wilson
Guitarist Mary Halvorson has displayed her playing and composing talents in a number of settings, but this second release by her song-based band, Code Girl, is one of the most focused and intense things she has ever done. Halvorson and her quintet constructed music around eight of her own poems, each written in a ...
Ivo Perelman: Shamanism
by Hrayr Attarian
Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman's impressive oeuvre is marked by its creator's singular talent of balancing intellectual rigor and passionate abandon. Perelman's improvisation-heavy pieces are dynamic and intricately constructed, sometimes resembling tone poems in their evocative nature. His 2020 Shamanism consists of ten of these which are imbued with sublime spirituality. Joining Perelman on this ...
Tom Keenlyside Quartet: Fortune Teller
by Jack Bowers
A jazz flutist who plans to record using only a standard three-member rhythm section as back-up should best be musically astute, technically sound, love what he (or she) is doing and harbor an ample supply of clever and interesting phrases designed to suit every occasion. Even though Tom Keenlyside checks all the boxes on Fortune Teller, ...
Ivan Kapec 5tet: Crta
by Mike Jurkovic
From the start, this one promptly pulls listeners into its jumpy orbit with its antic, gravitational bass line and percussion hijinks as Croatian baritone guitarist Ivan Kapec begins to separate, distinguish and mark out what is chaos from what we tell ourselves is organized space. Talk about a mission simultaneously fraught and ripe with possibility! That ...
Merzbow / Mats Gustafsson / Balázs Pándi: Cuts Open
by Mark Corroto
Calling Cuts Open by Merzbow (aka Masami Akita), Mats Gustafsson and Balázs Pándi their sotto voce record would be like saying you received a love tap from Mike Tyson. This is the trio's fifth release, following the inaugural Cuts (RareNoise Records, 2013), Live In Tabačka 13/04/12 (Tabačka Records, 2015) and two sessions with the addition of ...
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah: Axiom
by Phillip Woolever
As evidenced here, those in attendance for Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah's 2020 engagement at New York's Blue Note from March 11-15 witnessed what turned out to be some of the most powerful performances of this restricted musical year, just before everyday life changed for most people on the planet. The record is dedicated to the victims ...

