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Deerhoof and Wadada Leo Smith: To Be Surrounded By Beautiful, Curious, Breathing, Laughing Flesh Is Enough
by Troy Dostert
When it comes to combining the anarchic spirit of punk rock with whip-smart musicianship and a penchant for unbelievably catchy grooves, few bands come close to Deerhoof. Since the 1990s, the group has been cherished by indie rock cognoscenti, and they've also earned the respect of a large swath of the non-rock community as well, working ...
Larry Willis: I Fall in Love Too Easily
by Jack Bowers
I Fall in Love Too Easily is subtitled The Final Session at Rudy Van Gelder's," as it is not only descriptively but literally the last recording session by veteran pianist Larry Willis, who died at age seventy-six in September 2019, one year after the album was completed at the renowned Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, ...
Anders Bast & The Bast'ards: Through Space & Time
by Bruce Lindsay
Calling your band The Bast'ards may be an obvious move if your surname is Bast, even if it might cost a few namechecks in some sectors of the media (the apostrophe softens the impact in print, but not over the airways). It's a name that suggests a certain aggressive edge, a punk-meets-jazz approach to music, a ...
Skip Heller: Beyond These Hills: The Skip Heller Anthology 2017-20
by C. Michael Bailey
In terms of national exposure, Fred Skip" Heller has always hidden in plain sight. Predominantly known in his native Philadelphia and adopted-native Los Angeles, Heller is a musician / composer / producer of note and has been for twenty years. He deserves wider notice if for no other reason than he shares much in common with ...
Federico Calcagno: Liquid Identities
by Alberto Bazzurro
Federico Calcagno, venticinquenne clarinettista milanese di stanza ad Amsterdam, dove questo notevole album è stato inciso nel maggio 2019, dopo e ancor più che nel precedente From Another Planet, ispirato a Eric Dolphy, si impone come una delle più interessanti, stimolanti individualità emerse nel panorama del jazz nostrano (pur considerata la sua attuale pelle" olandese) da ...
Andrew D'Angelo: Andrew D'Angelo & DNA Orchestra
by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo quasi un decennio di attività, la DNA Orchestra di Andrew D'Angelo debutta con questo vulcanico album (al momento reperibile solo su Bandcamp) che raccoglie alcuni brani scritti dal leader e presentati in passati concerti. Dopo le drammatiche notizie del 2008 sulla salute del sassofonista (due interventi chirurgici per un tumore al cervello ...
Dena DeRose: Ode to the Road
by Jack Bowers
To those who may have wondered what ever happened to singer / pianist Dena DeRose, the answer is nothingand everything. DeRose has lived for the last fifteen years in Graz, Austria, where she is professor of jazz voice at the University of Music and the Performing Arts. She still tours frequently, sometimes returning home" to the ...
Samuel Hällkvist: Epik Didaktik Pastoral
by Chris May
Swedish guitarist Samuel Hällkvist's rifftastic electric trio plays an exhilarating mixture of jazz, prog rock and minimalist music. Riffs aside, the key ingredients are cross rhythms, rhythmic displacement and lavish servings of MIDI-enabled keyboards and tuned percussion. The result is heavy on the tension and light on the release. A close comparator is Swiss keyboard player ...
John Fedchock NY Sextet: Into The Shadows
by Dan Bilawsky
Trombonist John Fedchock's fluid slide work, celebrated composing chops and arranger's ingenuity have been put to good use in settings both large and very small in recent years, with a big band set and two live quartet records dropping between 2015 and the present. But rather than choose one of those ensemble formats over the other ...
Gabe Terracciano: In Flight
by Ian Patterson
Comes a time when every fledgling must leave the nest. Since making his recorded debut on Ron McClure's Crunchtime (Steeplechase Records, 2012), Portland-born, New York-based Gabe Terracciano has worked in everything from the riotous jazz-filtered bluegrass of the Harmolodic String Band and the groundbreaking chamber iconoclasts Turtle Island Quartet, to the Ghanaian National Symphony Orchestra. With ...

