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Anne Mette Iversen's Ternion Quartet: Invincible Nimbus
by Jerome Wilson
Anne Mette Iversen's Ternion Quartet is a frisky, loosely controlled ensemble with a fierce drive that recalls Charles Mingus' small groups. Iversen and drummer Roland Schneider push the music relentlessly forward while the front line of saxophonist Silke Eberhard and trombonist Geoffroy De Masure carouse boisterously on the top. Iversen's themes carry traces ...
Elliott Sharp: Syzygy
by Don Phipps
Immaculately recorded by Italian label Dodicilune, Elliott Sharp's Syzygy continues Sharp's explorations of spontaneous and improvisatory sound. He and his collaborators offer up studio versions of Syzygy on the first disc and live versions of the material on disc two. As much modern classical as abstract jazz, it is the musical textures and abstractions that give ...
Melissa Aldana: Visions
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Compositional and instrumental virtuosity always walks along a razor's edge between self-indulgence and purposeful accomplishment. On Visions, sought after saxophonist Melissa Aldana proves that she doesn't only master balancing this edge but that she can also go beyond the complexities of structure, scales and improvisation and naturally create her very own musical aesthetic. In interplay with ...
Ruben Caban: Shafted
by Edward Blanco
Puerto Rican trombonist Ruben Caban makes a splash with the Latin jazz shaded Shafted, his first own-name album. The disc is full of grit and swagger and offers a host of original compositions sure to shake them bones. A professor of jazz trombone at Florida International University as well as Miami-Dade and Broward colleges, Caban is ...
Matthias Spillmann Trio: Live at the Bird’s Eye Jazz Club
by Don Phipps
Matthias Spillmann's Live at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club is a trumpet trio tour de force. Recorded live in Basel, Switzerland, Spillmann, bassist Andreas Lang and drummer Moritz Baumgärtner add a fascinating spin to five classics and one original number. The trio's simple format gives Spillmann plenty of room to energize the music, and his tone ...
Satoko Fujii / Ramon Lopez: Confluence
by Karl Ackermann
Satoko Fujii's duo recordings are among her most interesting projects. Those one-on-one situations bring out creative energy in the improviser that becomes perpetual movement between musicians. The shape-shifting artist has worked this magic with Australian pianist Alister Spence, bassist Joe Fonda, violinists Mark Feldman and Carla Kihlstedt, and Fujii's husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. Similarly, Fujii's work ...
Curtis + Garabedian + Sperrazza: New Year
by Dan Bilawsky
This is a compelling slice of Brooklyn unburdened. With no real restrictions, stratification, expectations or requirements to speak of, three friends and fellow seekers document their truth(s) in sound. Burrowing into their shared experiences in the Borough of Kings, and discovering tunnels and wormholes in the process, they come out on the other end with music ...
Satoko Fujii/Ramon Lopez: Confluence
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Satoko Fujii has collected a lot of musical soul mates over her twenty-plus year, eighty-plus album career: pianist Paul Bley, her early mentor; trumpeter (and husband) Natsuki Tamura; electronics wizard/keyboardfisit Alister Spence, to name a few notables. All three have teamed with Fujii for at least one extraordinary duo album apiece, showcasing deep connections and ...
Bert Lams & Fabio Mittino: Movimenti
by Geno Thackara
George Gurdjieff was one fascinating character: traveler, mystic, philosopher, composer and more. He taught that most people's consciousness is limited and there are other realms to be experienced after a spiritual awakening--time-honored ideas, yet provocative stuff for the early 20th century. His most famous collaboration was with Russian composer Thomas de Hartmann, which resulted in a ...
Rosario Bonaccorso Quartet: A New Home
by Mark Corroto
There is a trend in jazz today to abandon beauty for technical ability. Odd meter and eccentric changes replace sympathetic music making, favoring skills over art. Thank the heavens there are those who have never abandoned beauty. One such musician is bassist Rosario Bonaccorso. His quartet recording A New Home is an exercise in elegance and ...
