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Ryoko Ono: The Days
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Ryoko Ono may not be well known in the United States, yet she has been active for almost two decades in her hometown of Nagoya, Japan. Both as an independent artist and with her genre-defying ensemble Ryorchestra, Ono has recorded several superb albums. The haunting The Days, on the New York based Relative Pitch label, ...
Atzko Kohashi & Tony Overwater: Porgy
by Dan McClenaghan
George Gershwin's 1935 folk opera, Porgy and Bess, a quintessentially American masterpiece, has had its share of jazz interpretations. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald visited the work in 1957 on Verve Records. Pianist Oscar Peterson dug into the Gershwin score--again, on Verve--in 1959. But the most notable rendition is the Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaboration Porgy and ...
Mike Thompson: 6th Avenue
by Jack Bowers
Composer and arranger Mike Thompson was in his mid-twenties when 6th Avenue, his debut album as leader of a big band, was recorded (in the mid-2020s) at Q Division Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts, enlisting for the most part veteran Boston-area musicians whom Thompson had met and befriended while studying at the Berklee School of Music, from ...
Ryan Truesdell / Gil Evans Project: Shades Of Sound
by Jack Kenny
Shades of Sound is not about Ryan Truesdell recreating the past. There are excellent reasons to listen to recreations of the music of Gil Evans. As critic Bill Mathieu wrote of Evans, “The mind reels at the intricacy of his orchestral and developmental techniques. His scores are so careful, so formally well-constructed, so mindful of tradition ...
Sheila Anozier, Rufus Cappadocia: Tranpe
by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo una laurea in giornalismo e un decennio da professionista al New York Times, Sheila Anozier ha deciso di voltare pagina e dedicarsi totalmente alla danza, diventando anche coreografa e regista per vari progetti. Nata ad Haiti, dov'è restata fino all'età di sette anni, Sheila Anozier è fortemente legata alla sua cultura d'origine e ...
Gerry Mulligan: Nocturne
by Jack Kenny
This album might go a small way to setting a record straight. Gerry Mulligan has often been underrated. Despite the critical acclaim and historical significance later attributed to Miles Davis for his groundbreaking work on the Birth of the Cool sessions, a closer examination of the repertoire reveals the profound influence of Mulligan's writing. It was ...
Zoo Too Trio: Poetry Legroom
by Kyle Simpler
The jazz trio has long captivated both musicians and listeners, with iconic recordings from artists like Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson serving as cornerstones of the genre. But with Poetry Legroom Zoo Too Trio challenges and redefines the conventional format, sidestepping tradition in favor of something more exploratory, cinematic, and emotionally expressive. Pianist Michael Cain, guitarist ...
Ron Rieder: Dia Precioso!
by Jack Bowers
Dia Precioso! is the second album of exuberant Latin Jazz designed by Massachusetts-based composer Ron Rieder, gliding in on the heels of his well-received debut recording, Latin Jazz Sessions (2024). As before, Rieder leads a more-or-less octet comprised of topnotch Boston-area musicians; and as before, Rieder's music is for the most part arranged by percussionist Ricardo ...
James Yorkston: Yorkston / Jaycock / Langendorf
by James Taylor
Yorkston Jaycock Langendorf is the latest trio outing from Scottish folk songwriter James Yorkston. A unique pairing that blends elements of Nordic folk, American primitive guitar, swirling saxophones, moody ambience, and a fair amount of free improvisation, the trio engages in surprising levels of interplay, despite recording their parts remotely. Each composition began with ...
Vijay Iyer, Wadada Leo Smith: Defiant Life
by Alberto Bazzurro
Un pezzo a testa dei due performers e firmatari del disco e gli altri quattro a paternità condivisa compongono questo puzzle a due voci in cui si respira un'aria quanto mai composta, quasi raggelata (almeno a tratti), volatile, persino un po' dispersiva, quanto meno nelle parti (per nulla rare) in cui Iyer abbandona lo strumento acustico ...
