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Nicola Conte: Other Directions
by Chris May
Since debuting with the quintessential acid-jazz suite Jet Sounds on the Milan-based label Schema in 2000, the composer, arranger, producer and guitarist Nicola Conte has released another ten exquisitely beautiful albums exploring acid jazz, spiritual jazz, soul jazz and bossa nova, often all on the same disc. Conte also produces other artists and has curated rare-groove ...
Alex LoRe And Weirdear: Karol
by Dan Bilawsky
To simply read about it, Karol—saxophonist Alex Lore's third album in total and first on the Challenge imprint—might seem weighted by its conceptual underpinning. Aiming to integrate “elements from Eurocentric and Black American music traditions," LoRe takes most of his inspirational cues from classical composers. Said ideal, for many, would simply lead to either academic exercise ...
Aki Takase: Thema Prima
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Where does one go after having studied the most important composers in jazz history and dedicated entire albums to them in a 40-year career? The answer lies somewhere between nowhere and everywhere, according to what Japanese pianist / composer Aki Takase presents with her new energetic project JAPANIC on Thema Prima. Whilst the aesthetic and energy ...
Frode Gjerstad: Day Two
by John Sharpe
Detail was a band ahead of its time. The co-operative trio formed in 1981 by Norwegian reedman Frode Gjerstad and English drummer John Stevens, was completed in its first incarnation by South African bassist Johnny Dyani. Day Two was recorded in Gjerstad's hometown Stavanger, and as the name suggests, it was the result of the second ...
Rich Willey: Down & Dirty
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Back in 2001, trumpeter/composer/educator Rich Willey released a critically acclaimed album titled Gone with the Piggies (CAP Records). As a result, a savvy audience has followed him cult-like ever since. With Down and Dirty, the former Maynard Ferguson standout delivers a bacchanalia presentation both as player and composer, surrounded by a unit of Los Angeles' finest ...
Nicolas Bearde: I Remember You: The Music Of Nat King Cole
by Dan Bilawsky
In 2019, Cole is king. Feted on record by John Pizzarelli, celebrated with a new seven CD set of his early work from Resonance Records, and praised and reappraised from numerous journalistic angles, Nathaniel Adams Coles--better known as Nat King Cole--is receiving the posthumous plaudits he so richly deserves in this, his centennial year. Now, adding ...
Jon Irabagon: Invisible Horizon
by Mark Corroto
The inexhaustibly adventurist saxophonist Jon Irabagon has repeatedly challenged his listeners with each project he undertakes. The 2008 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition champion and former member of the rebel outfit Mostly Other People Do The Killing can be heard in Mary Halvorson's projects, The Dave Douglas Quintet, and Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor, beside leading his own ...
Spring Roll: Episodes
by John Sharpe
French flautist Sylvaine Hélary's Spring Roll follow up their ambitious debut Printemps (Ayler, 2015) with another adventurous outing on Episodes. While the first disc incorporated words and voices, the twist this time is that Hélary commissioned works from three of New York City's finest composer-improvisers, pianists Matt Mitchell and Kris Davis, and saxophonist Dan Blake, to ...
Bobby Rush: Sitting on Top of the Blues
by C. Michael Bailey
There exists a fertile underbelly to American Music. It is music that never experiences the success of a Jay Z or Beyonce, but is infinitely more vital and fecund than any of the synthesized, IPad-generated, “genius" generated sounds that have come out over the past 20 year. Sorry, but “rad beats" is not everything and second-hand ...
Mauro Schiavone Trio: Pixel
by Neri Pollastri
Disco in trio, su composizioni originali, del quarantatreenne pianista siciliano Mauro Schiavone, collaboratore stabile di Francesco Cafiso e dalla solida formazione classica. Il lavoro è nel solco della tradizione del piano trio, tutto su composizioni originali (con la sola esclusione della conclusiva ”Isfahan”, di Duke Ellington), con una prevalenza di brani veloci e caratterizzati ritmicamente, alternati ...
