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Allen Shawn/Michael Bisio: Improvisations
by Karl Ackermann
Classical pianist and composer Allen Shawn is not a familiar name in the jazz world. He comes from a well-known artistic family, the son of long-time The New Yorker editor William Shawn, and brother of actor and playwright Wallace Shawn. Allen Shawn received degrees from Harvard and Columbia Universities and teaches at Bennington College in Vermont. ...
Sverre Gjørvad: Elegy Of Skies
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Sverre Gjørvad's 2019 offering Voi River (Losen Records) saw the Norwegian drummer painting minimalist sketches that mirrored his native environment. Taking up that thematic thread, his follow up effort opts for the gaze upward, reflecting on Norway's firmament in a musical Elegy of Skies. As compared to the predecessor, Gjørvad's 2020 sketchbook of ideas is even ...
Russ Lossing: Traces: Two Song Cycles
by Mark Corroto
There is an HBO television series, A World of Calm, which delivers thirty-minute vignettes on subjects from trees to snowfall to the vastness of the universe. The unhurried series is designed to elicit restfulness while at the same time provoking deep concentration. The same can be said of Traces, a quartet project by pianist Russ Lossing. ...
3D Jazz Trio: Christmas in 3D
by Dan Bilawsky
Still riding high on the release of I Love To See You Smile (Diva Jazz, 2020), the 3D Jazz Trio drops in again to ring in the holiday season. And while it's true that 2020 hasn't left us with much to celebrate, a chance to sit back and reflect while basking in the glow of some ...
Noah Bless: New York StrongLatin Jazz!
by Jack Bowers
When it comes to Latin jazz, trombonist Noah Bless is no novice, having gigged in and around New York City for the better part of three decades with such Latin stars as Paquito D'Rivera, Mario Bauza, Oscar D'Leon, Celia Cruz, Willie Colon and Eddie Palmieri, and sat in with the Lincoln Center Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra and ...
Vince Tampio: Adult Children
by Geno Thackara
At first glance, it's unclear whether Vince Tampio wants to imply something optimistic or dystopian with the strange cityscape on the cover of Adult Children (and with the title, for that matter). As a reflection of some strange times, such a striking image has plenty of room for interpretations positive and negative. It also could not ...
Misha Mengelberg: Rituals Of Transition
by Mark Corroto
It takes a master to speak like a child. Pianist Misha Mengelberg (1935-2017) was such a giant at the keyboard that he could shed all pretension and improvise with a simple innocence. Call it Zen enlightenment or just a blunt brilliance. His music is often absurd and paradoxical, like an inside joke, except he graciously lets ...
Chicago Soul Jazz Collective: It Takes a Spark to Start a Fire
by John Pietaro
Solace. Listening to classic 1960s soul-jazz as an escape from today's stresses united the musicians who founded the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective. Many of us know of that comfort, the one carried by a cursory view of nostalgia. But don't look too close. Tenor saxophonist John Fournier and trumpet player Marques Carroll built a band on ...
Elina Duni / Rob Luft: Lost Ships
by Chris May
Released just in time to make the Best Albums of 2020 lists, the Albanian-Swiss singer Elina Duni and the British guitarist Rob Luft's Lost Ships is an exquisitely beautiful, emotionally complex, words and music masterpiece from two of the most distinctive talents on the European scene. Passionate and grave, serene and desolate, it is a kind ...
The Golden Age Of Steam: Tomato Brain
by Bruce Lindsay
It's been a while. The Golden Age Of Steam released debut album Raspberry Tongue (Babel Records) in 2009, the follow-up, Welcome To Bat Country (Basho Records), in 2012. Then they laid low until 2020 and the appearance of album number three, Tomato Brain. It's been worth the wait. The album's multi-layered, six-part, Loftopus" is an atmospheric ...

