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Michael Kocour: East Of The Sun
by Mark Sullivan
Pianist Michael Kocour--a longtime member of the Chicago jazz community, now on the faculty of Arizona State University--presents his third solo piano album. His previous solo album Wherever You Go, There You Are (OA2 Records, 2015) was a mix of originals, jazz and popular standards, even including a few electric piano tracks. This one (which Kocour ...
Eric Bernhardt: The Four Sidemen Of The Apocalypse
by Rob Rosenblum
On the surface, Eric Bernhardt is one of the many faceless, aspiring jazz musicians who hit the clubs on Frenchman Street in New Orleans, playing for tips and hoping to get noticed. What separates him from the rest is that he is a monster jazz musician. Recently encountered in a desperate-looking club called the ...
Tomasz Dabrowski Ad Hoc: Ninjazz
by Troy Dostert
Although he has built an impressive resume working with well-known avant-gardists like Evan Parker, Tyshawn Sorey, Kris Davis and Andrew Drury (with the latter two appearing on his 2014 release, Vermillion Tree ), Polish trumpeter Tomasz Dabrowski went in a different direction for his current project, Ninjazz. With the title a portmanteau of “Ninja" and “jazz," ...
Stephan Thelen: Fractal Guitar
by John Ephland
A guitar lover's delight, the Swiss Stephan Thelen's Fractal Guitar reeks of the many splendid effects the instrument can bellow, belch, intimate, cry out and sing. And all within the narrow yet liberating, pattern-based corridors Thelen's ofttimes arhythmic funkfest conjures. With nods to David Torn, Robert Fripp, Glenn Branca and even Nik Bartsch, the aesthetic creates ...
Ron Brendle Quartet: A Tribute to the Bassists of Jazz
by Martin McFie
Ron Brendle pays his own tribute to the music of the greatest bass players, bringing the heartbeat bass line of jazz out onto the front line in his new album A Tribute to the Bassists of Jazz. Brendle continues his mission to reveal and revere the great jazz compositions by bass players by bringing them together, ...
Ben LaMar Gay: Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun
by Vincenzo Roggero
Clamoroso esordio discografico su International Anthem (etichetta evidentemente abbonata ai debutti con il botto, vedi Jaimie Branch l'anno passato) quello di Ben LaMar Gay. Multistrumentista, cantante, membro dell'AACM, da una ventina d'anni presenza trasversale tra hip-hop, avant jazz, indie rock, elettronica, musica brasiliana (risiede saltuariamente in Brasile), appassionato e specialista dell'overdubbing, decide di pubblicare come primo ...
Dino Massa Quartet: Suite pour le piano for Jazz Quartet
by Mark Sullivan
Italian pianist/composer Dino Massa leads his acoustic jazz quartet through an ambitious four-part suite. The suite format is more established in classical music than jazz, but the compositional unity of this set more than justifies the title. Massa begins “Suite No. 1" unaccompanied, appropriate for the title “pour le piano"--but Nicola Pisani's soprano saxophone ...
Anton Eger: AE
by Roger Farbey
On first listen, Anton Eger's eponymously titled debut album shares similarities in its execution with the some of the recordings of Joe Zawinul and Django Bates, and Frank Zappa's Jazz From Hell Synclavier phase. Despite the irritating hieroglyphically devised song titles, there is actually real substance to the ten compositions. For over ten years Eger has ...
Aaron Goldberg: At The Edge Of The World
by Glenn Astarita
One interesting aspect of this recording relates to eminent pianist Aaron Goldberg (Kurt Rosenwinkel, Joshua Redman) reuniting with cutting-edge drummer, Leon Parker in Paris. Back in the 1990s, the artists' connected for a gig, but Goldberg was initially indoctrinated to the drummer's performances with pianists, Jacky Terrasson, Brad Mehldau and other notables. But as the press ...
Tony Adamo: Was Out Jazz Zone Mad
by Nicholas F. Mondello
The translation of “Adam" from Hebrew--from which the surname Adamo springs--means from the “ground" or “soil." It also derives from the Hebrew word for red, a la “red clay." Perhaps that is why any work from Tony Adamo is rare earth--gritty, and flaming crimson. Was Out Jazz Zone Mad Adamo's latest, his first for Ropeadope, is ...
