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Django Bates: Tenacity
by Pat Youngspiel
Few jazz artists go to such great lengths to make their audience feel at the same time bewildered by humor-infused technical exhaustion and smitten by charm and sheer musical beauty as Django Bates does. The English pianist and composer has gained a reputation over the years, for bringing the quirkiest and widest range of ideas and ...
Dan Wilensky: All In All
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Dan Wilensky--who has played with everyone from Ray Charles to David Bowie to Jack McDuff-- offered up his take on some familiar pop tunes (The Beatles, The Youngbloods), a touch of George Gershwin and some Sammy Cahn on his 2018 offering, Good Music (Polyglot Music). Now it is (mostly) all Wilensky originals, the result of ...
Uptown Jazz Tentet: What's Next
by Jack Bowers
A tentet is a rather strange bird; too large to be labeled a small group, yet too small to be counted as a big band, it resides somewhere near the edges, mapping out its own musical profile. Some may rate that an asset, while others may deem it a mere hybrid, unworthy of their consideration. Wiser ...
Oyvind Braekke: Wilderness
by Angelo Leonardi
Il trombonista Øyvind Brække è uno dei massimi strumentisti norvegesi ed è conosciuto per le incisioni Ecm col quartetto cooperativo The Source, la presenza nella Trondheim Jazzorkester e varie collaborazioni internazionali con Chick Corea, Arild Andersen e col sassofonista scozzese Tommy Smith. A cinquant'anni d'età registra il suo primo disco da leader in un ...
Oskar Schonning / The Calle Stenman Quintet: America, Oh America
by Chris May
America, Oh America is co-led by two of Sweden's most distinctive jazz musicians, trumpeter Calle Stenman and bassist Oskar Schönning. Schönning is the better known of the pair, having been recording since 2004. Stenman debuted in 2019 with the Calle Stenman Quintet's Mr Sands Is In The Dressing Room (AMP), an assured and swinging album which ...
The Steve Spiegl Big Band: The L.A. Sessions at Capitol Studios
by Jack Bowers
Almost every Monday morning for the past fifty years, composer-arranger Steve Spiegl convened his Los Angeles-based big band for a rehearsal session, assembling, for most of that time, at the Musicians Union in Hollywood and, more recently, at its new home in Burbank. When Spiegl decided in 2019 to pull up stakes and move northward to ...
Nicholas Brust: Frozen In Time
by Dan Bilawsky
Want to hear somebody who means business? Just listen to Nicholas Brust deftly drive through Frozen In Time's opener, Work Ahead." That initial offering on this, the alto saxophonist's full-length debut, explores the travails and triumphs of breaking into the jazz world in New York. Judging by the way Brust burns, flows and blows the doors ...
Ryan Burns: Postponed Parade
by Dan McClenaghan
Keyboardist Ryan Burns' Postponed Parade happened, in large part, because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The vexing virus that hit us in 2020 made getting together difficult and dangerous--for music-making or anything else. So here is what Burns did: During Covid-19 times he recorded and released a single tune each month, from May to October 2020. These ...
Chet Baker / Wolfgang Lackerschmid: Quintet Session
by Chris May
Quintet Session is the second of two albums the trumpeter Chet Baker recorded in Stuttgart, Germany with the vibraphonist Wolfgang Lackerschmid in 1979. It was originally released as Chet Baker / Wolfgang Lackerschmid (Sandra Music, 1980). The combination worked well on the first session, which produced the lovely Ballads For Two (Sandra Music, 1979), and almost ...
I.P.A.: Bashing Mushrooms
by Troy Dostert
Comprised of an impressive roster of Scandinavian all-stars, I.P.A. might only need a better name if the group is to break through to wider notice. Harnessing its commitment to post-bop freedom to thoughtful tunecraft, the band's music is both accessible and tough-edged, cerebral and hard-grooving in equal measure. The quintet's first Cuneiform release, I Just Did ...

