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Dan McCarthy: Epoch
by Dan Bilawsky
As intimated by the gray horizons on this album's cover, there's a silvery beauty and dusky design element at play in Epoch. Vibraphonist Dan McCarthy, a Canadian-turned-Brooklynite with a keen appreciation for suspense and patient development, tests the boundaries and borders of shadows and shape with stunning results. Elevated by the pillars of mystique and mournfulness, ...
Coalescence: Coalescence 2
by Geannine Reid
Coalescence is a suitably titled ensemble from New York City, its namesake rings true. Each member is a seasoned player in his own right, playing in various ensembles, but together they congeal and offer a coalesced sound. Their debut offering Coalescence (Self-Produced, 2013) gathered together like-minded friends. In 2018, Coalescence recorded their second album Coalescence 2 ...
David Ambrosio: Four On The Road
by Glenn Astarita
Bassist David Ambrosio and his trio indulge in smooth sailing, partly due to alto saxophonist Loren Stillman's feathery tones via these largely, medium-tempo bop works, complete with contrapuntal type exchanges and spry breakouts. Several of these piece seem to intertwine within a similar framework and cadence, although there are a few free-form sorties, sparked ...
Scott Robinson: Tenormore
by Dan Bilawsky
When attempting to lend form to the term “rara avis" in jazz, Scott Robinson instantly appears in the mind's eye. He's most easily recognized these days as a horn heavy on the most standard of heavy horns, adding ballast and low-end individuality to the sound of Maria Schneider's orchestra with his baritone saxophone, but Robinson is ...
The Vampires: Pacifica
by Friedrich Kunzmann
While The Vampires' last venture The Vampires meet Lionel Loueke (earshift music, 2017) saw the Australian quartet collaborating with Beninese guitar virtuoso Lionel Loueke in a run of colorfully diverse tunes and extensive structures, their newest one finds them dialing things back to a simpler nature, yet equally expressive soundscapes. One of the main ...
Various Artists: The Social Power of Music
by Jakob Baekgaard
It could be argued that music has been around for as long as humans have walked on Earth. When we are born, one of the first things we do is cry and scream, and to calm babies down, lullabies are sung. As we grow up, music becomes the soundtrack for joy and mourning; the rites of ...
Robin Trower: Coming Closer to the Day
by Doug Collette
Upon departing Procol Harum in the early Seventies, guitarist Robin Trower embarked upon a solo career in which he has proved himself both prolific and consistent (like the imagistic cover art of the albums). Completely absorbing by its finish, Coming Closer to the Day reaffirms those virtues and belies the intimations of mortality in its title. ...
Mattias Risberg's Mining: Live In Stripa
by Mark Corroto
Science is beginning to acknowledge that life on earth probably began under the surface and not in some ocean. Millions of years ago, the atmosphere was so acidic, it could not support life. But underground, the conditions were ripe for single cell organisms to thrive. Today scientists discover bacteria that live nearly a mile underground without ...
Mary Halvorson / Joe Morris: Traversing Orbits
by John Sharpe
Birds of a feather flock together might be the motto of acclaimed guitarist Mary Halvorson as she has made a habit of teaming up with fellow pickers on a series of dates. Prominent among them is The Maid With The Flaxen Hair: A Tribute to Johnny Smith (Tzadik Records, 2018) with Bill Frisell, but among others ...
4 Wheel Drive: 4 Wheel Drive
by Phillip Woolever
Sometimes it's not so much who's doing the playing as how well they play together. Just as some bands seem to perform beyond their individual skill sets, there have been heavily heralded, much hyped “super groups" that amounted to almost nothing of substance. In the case of 4 Wheel Drive, a quartet consisting of ...
