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Ingrid Laubrock & Tom Rainey: Stir Crazy
by Chris May
The spring-going-on-summer 2020 cancellation of live performances has hit jazz fans hard and it has hit musicians even harder, denying them their main source of income. Nonetheless, the response of many players has been selfless, making available morale-boosting livestream performances, most of which it is possible to watch for free, sometimes with the option of giving ...
Superposition: Superposition
by Friedrich Kunzmann
This outing by Helsinki-based jazz group Superposition is as bold as debut records come. In place of catchy melodies, the reeds focus on odd lines composed of small intervals. Instead of comfortable swing and funky shuffles, bass-and snare-drum work up a choppy sweat to wild cymbal blows. Not to mention the unstoppable double-bass fingers, running up ...
Frank Macchia / Brock Avery: Rhythm Abstraction: Gold
by Dan McClenaghan
Muli-reedist Frank Macchia and percussionist Brock Avery started 2020 with their release of Rhythm Abstraction: Azure (Cacophony), a follow-up to 2018's Rhythm Kaleidoscope (Cacophony), employing its predecessor's approach. Here's how it works. Avery lays down an improvised percussion foundation. Then Macchia steps in with just about every imaginable reed instrument to construct an elaborate orchestration—one step, ...
Sencalar/Glassman Quintet: Realization
by Hrayr Attarian
Altin Sencalar and Chris Glassman were classmates in graduate school at Michigan State University (MSU) where they were both trombonist MIchael Dease's proteges. When they decided to release their debut, the exciting Realization, their mentor produced the record, contributed a tune and made a guest appearance on the opening track. For this bop-based session ...
Javier Subatin: Variaciones
by Jakob Baekgaard
When Argentinian guitarist Javier Subatin released his album Autotelic (Sintoma, 2018), it was a refreshing examination of form that took its point of departure in the intimate interplay between guitar and piano, occasionally enhanced by drums, bass and saxophone. It was a concept that did Subatin's complex compositions justice as he managed to find the right ...
Tony Barba: Blood Moon
by Friedrich Kunzmann
Madison-based saxophonist Tony Barba is a sonic chameleon, able to wrap catchy melodic themes around a variety of different genres. His ear for melodies is on full display on his newest outing for the Midwestern label Shifting Paradigm Records. In interplay with Chicagoan guitarist Matt Gold and the Madison-based rhythm section of John Christensen on bass ...
Shabaka And The Ancestors: We Are Sent Here by History
by Karl Ackermann
Even as Shabaka Hutchings moves the evolution of jazz forward, We Are Sent Here By History laments the present-day conditions of conflict, suffering, parity, and the struggle to survive. The saxophonist's breakthrough album came with his Sons of Kemet on Your Queen Is A Reptile (Impulse! Records, 2018). He also leads the jazz/electronica hybrid The Comet ...
James Brandon Lewis / Chad Taylor: Live In Willisau
by Mark Corroto
Saxophonist James Brandon Lewis and drummer Chad Taylor's 2017 studio session Radiant Imprints (Musicube/Off, 2018) was hailed by many critics and fans alike as one of the best recordings of 2018. It was indeed a true revelation, yet that recording wasn't the genesis of a major talent. Lewis' inaugural release Divine Travels (Okeh, 2014) accomplished that ...
Un Poco Loco: Ornithologie
by Mark Corroto
Somewhere Han Bennink is very jealous of the music making of the trio Un Poco Loco. The master of 'New Dutch Swing' hijinks would give his right crash cymbal to perform music in the manner this trio covers Charlie Parker on Ornithologie. The aptly designated Un Poco Loco ('a bit crazy') trio is trombonist Fidel Fourneyron, ...
Jorge Garcia: Crossover
by Mark Sullivan
In 2020, Cuban-born guitarist Jorge Garcia splits his time between South Carolina (where he resides) and Florida (where he has an established performing career). He says that the inspiration for this album occurred while he was growing up in Cuba and listening to Classic Rock on Miami radio stations, drawn to the sound of the guitar. ...
