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Versal: Versal
by Paul Naser
Houston-based composer, computer graphics (CG) artist and programmer Versal, whose given name is Javier Velez, has a unique backstory in addition to his unique set of creative skills. These blend together to create a one-of-a-kind, very specific, style which he showcases in his eponymous EP, Versal (Self Produced, 2019). As one might expect from ...
Satoko Fujii: Stone
by Dan McClenaghan
The turning of the calendar page to the year 2019 presented a dilemma for pianist/composer/bandleader Satoko Fujii: how to follow up her 2018 CD release-per-month marathon in celebration of her sixtieth birthday—called kanreki in Japan. Would she be tapped out or wearied after the frenetic release pace of the previous year? Or would the relentless creativity ...
Peter Madsen's Storytellers: Curiouser and Curiouser
by Troy Dostert
After devoting a number of his recordings on the Playscape label to the songbooks of Thelonious Monk (Sphere Essence: Another Side of Monk, 2003), Billy Strayhorn (Satin Doll, 2017) and even Elvis Presley (Elvis Never Left the Building, 2014), pianist Peter Madsen has since sought out literary texts for inspiration. 2018 was a particularly fruitful year, ...
Larry Fuller: Overjoyed
by Dan Bilawsky
Pianist Larry Fuller isn't exactly coy about the substance of this record. Exuberance is an obvious through-line as he works his way across a dozen charmers that frequently live up to the promise of the title in different ways. Leading an ace trio with Hassan Shakur on bass and Lewis Nash on drums, Fuller ...
Mike Cooper: Oh Really!? / Do I Know You? / Trout Steel / Places I know / The Machine Gun Co. With Mike Cooper
by Jakob Baekgaard
“Riverboat captain, they called my name / Time to sing my song / I didn't know that the song was wrong / Don't sing that way again." These lyrics from the song “Trout Steel" are penned by guitarist, singer and songwriter, Mike Cooper, and they point directly to the iconoclastic nature of his ...
Joe Henderson: The State Of The Tenor • Live At The Village Vanguard • Volume 2
by Greg Simmons
If any jazz performance from the 1980s could be thought of as a landmark statement, Joe Henderson's live State of the Tenor sessions would surely float to the top of the list. Recorded at the Village Vanguard over three nights in November 1985 and originally released on Blue Note Records two years later, State of the ...
Lucy O'Day and The Simon Latarche Trio: Honeymoon
by Karl Ackermann
Pianist and composer Simon Latarche has been very active on the performance front but has not released new music since his self-produced Cornish Preludes, Book II (Pentreath Music, 2012). As he did on that album's prequel, Latarche worked in a septet format, closing each album with a revealing solo piano piece. Though he tours with several ...
Naomi Moon Siegel: Live at Earshot
by Paul Rauch
Trombonist and composer Naomi Moon Siegel burst onto the national scene through eight formative and enlightening years in Seattle. Steeped in the explorative jazz and improvised music scene there, she discovered her unique voice playing in projects such as Wayne Horvitz's Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble, and the folk/jazz duo Syrinx Effect with saxophonist Kate Olson. ...
Nathan & Jessie: You're The Star
by Ljubinko Zivkovic
For a younger generation of musicians, it is often a daunting task to get into so-called older musical forms, particularly those connected to jazz. Usually, they have two paths on offer--slavishly following the route taken by the prominent artists whose steps they are trying to follow, or letting their imagination flow freely and combining musical elements ...
Ralph Peterson & The Messenger Legacy: Legacy Alive, Volume 6 at the Side Door
by Mike Jurkovic
Recorded loud and live at the Side Door Jazz Club in Old Lyme, CT, Ralph Peterson—the last drummer to play side-by-side with the incomparable Art Blakey—delivers an unstoppable two-disc hyperdrive swing-fest celebration of his mentor with Legacy Alive, Volume 6 at the Side Door. It's no deep state secret that Blakey, with his effortless ...
