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Julius Windisch Quartet: Chaos
by Vitalijus Gailius
Berlin-based pianist and composer Julius Windisch may not be a household name but he is not a newcomer either. He is a member of the psychedelic electro / jazz / improvisational duo Caesarean Moons, and in 2017 released his debut album, Drama (QFTF), recorded with his quintet. He has also been playing with other musicians on ...
Radio Bévort: BLIK
by Ian Patterson
There was a time, back in the '50s and '60s, when jazz musicians would regularly knock out half a dozen albums a year. That was when standards were all the rage and jazz was still largely codified. Today, such prolific production is reserved mostly for improvising musicians. Radio Bévort moves at a more leisurely pace, with ...
Bill Warfield and the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra: Smile
by Jack Bowers
Having no idea what to expect from an ensemble labeled the Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra, the game plan must be to advance with caution, as any orchestra with trumpeter Bill Warfield at the helm can't be all bad. After listening, it becomes clear that the game plan was sound and the premise accurate: Smile, the HKFO's ...
Sophia Smith: Elevation
by Thomas Fletcher
Initially from St. Thomas but now based in Toronto, Canada, saxophonist, composer and educator Sophia Smith has formed her own modern jazz ensemble, The Sophia Smith Quartet, showcasing her original compositions. Her work has been compared to that of saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Chris Potter, and guitarist Pat Metheny. This album reflects her recent experience within ...
Never Weather: Blissonance
by Jerome Wilson
Drummer and vibraphonist Dillon Vado is a Bay Area musician whose group, Never Weather, has produced a debut CD that shows a lot of versatility. The band uses a lineup that features, trumpet, saxophone and guitar to create music full of sudden twists and that sometimes straddles the line between jazz and rock. Guitarist ...
Henry Robinett Quartet: Jazz Standards, Volume 1: Then
by Dan Bilawsky
Back in April of 2000, guitarist Henry Robinett convened a quartet in The Hangar, a Sacramento studio where he had been working as an engineer and producer. An intentionally casual session, it was all standards all the way. Over the course of two days, tracks were called, solos and some other specifics were sorted out, and ...
David Berkman: David Berkman Plays Music By John Coltrane And Pete Seeger
by Dan Bilawsky
Formative influences rarely fit into neat categories. At a certain, impressionable age, some music, like yet unlike anything else, simply manages to seep into a youngster's consciousness. What that particular music may be, who performs it, and what it carries within and beyond its notes and/or words, is something to be sorted out at a later ...
Thiago Nassif: Mente
by Chris May
This is by no stretch of the imagination a jazz album, yet Brazilian singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer Thiago Nassif's Mente is so packed with risk-taking and invention that it is likely to appeal to a good number of AAJers. The music's starting point is tropicalia, Brazil's tripped-out successor to bossa nova in the ...
Rajiv Jayaweera: Pistils
by Dan Bilawsky
While London-born, Melbourne-reared, New York-based drummer Rajiv Jayaweera's work is naturally colored by his experiences spanning those points on the map, it's his Sri Lankan heritage that most greatly informs and influences this debut. Drawing inspiration from memories of nature, sounds and scents surrounding his grandparents' garden there, Jayaweera creates a musical sanctuary and wonderland painted ...
Steve Cardenas: Blue Has A Range
by Dan Bilawsky
Connections abound across the personnel list on this quartet date. Guitarist Steve Cardenas has been part of pianist Jon Cowherd's Mercy Project for the better part of a decade. There, and in bassist John Patitucci's Electric Guitar Quartet, he's logged some musical miles with drummer Brian Blade, who steadily employs Cowherd in his Fellowship band. And ...

