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Pat Metheny: From This Place
by John Kelman
It's been a full six years since Pat Metheny last released a studio recording. This, despite the guitarist who has become, in a career now in the midst of its fifth decade, one of the most famous and influential jazz guitarists of his (or, some would argue, any) generation, reportedly having enough material in the can ...
MAU: Utopia
by Friedrich Kunzmann
The letters spelling out Utopia are obscured by clouds on the cover of the debut record by the Portuguese Trio MAU, confirming that the idea of a Utopia is exactly that, merely an idea, a fictional place where something reminiscent of perfect is attained. Double bassist Miguel Angelo is the leader of this group, and its ...
Andrew Schiller Quintet: Sonoran
by Jerome Wilson
The Sonoran Desert lies across the American Southwest and Northwestern Mexico. It is where bassist Andrew Schiller was born and it is the inspiration for the music on this CD he has written that draws from jazz, folk and classical sources. Schiller's quintet has a front line of tenor sax, alto sax and bass ...
Graham Costello's Strata: Cygnus
by Chris May
Metal-head jazz! It could only have been made by a Glasgow band. Without wishing to perpetuate stereotypes, the vibe suggests musicians who have spent more time in whisky bars than Tom Waits, Rabbie Burns, Ava Gardner, Mark Twain and Raymond Chandler put together. The focus and precision of their playing, however, suggests sobriety was maintained in ...
Federica Colangelo Acquaphonica: Endless Tail
by Paolo Marra
Uscito ad ottobre del 2019 per l'etichetta Folderol Records l'album Endless Tail della pianista Federica Colangelo sorprende per il suo linguaggio originale plasmato su forme armoniche e strutture ritmiche mutuate dalla musica colta, all'interno delle quali le regole sono al servizio di una libertà espressiva del tutto personale svincolata da esercizi meramente intellettuali. Il ...
Borah Bergman - Wilber Morris - Sunny Murray: Monks
by John Sharpe
For free jazz aficionados, it is much like unearthing a hitherto unknown archaeological treasure. For ordinary listeners, dulled by all the Monk retreads, there has been little to prepare them for the startling reinvention on Monks by pianist Borah Bergman, bassist Wilber Morris and drummer Sunny Murray. It has taken a while to surface. After the ...
Lee Morgan: The Sidewinder
by Greg Simmons
Legend tells us that 1964's The Sidewinder was the album, and indeed the song, which saved Blue Note Records at a time when the label was struggling financially. Dashed off to fill some tape, at the end of the recording session, it peaked at number 25 on the Billboard charts—almost unheard of for a hard-bop record—stabilizing ...
John Vanore: Primary Colors
by Dan McClenaghan
This beautiful duet set recorded by trumpeter John Vanore and pianist Ron Thomas serves as a showcase for auspicious beginnings, for both artists. The music for Primary Colors was recorded in 1984-85. Both of the players evolved into higher profiles, finding their individual places in jazz in the twenty-first century--Vanore with, mostly, his large ensemble writing, ...
Filippo Vignato/Hank Roberts: Ghost Dance
by Ian Patterson
Usually the watering hole comes after a gig, but there would have been enough wine to float a ship at this concert by cellist Hank Roberts and trombonist Filippo Vignato, held as it was in the Vigne di Zamò Winery in North-Eastern Italy. The interplay between the veteran American and the younger Italian on these nine ...
Carla Bley: Life Goes On
by Mike Jurkovic
After decades of illuminating and revealing work, reveling in and breaking free of shadows, it is those same shadows that still inspire and inform Carla Bley. Which perhaps explains why the title track of Life Goes On rolls in on the 12-bar like a music obsessed, post-bop cigarette girl absorbing Count Basie at Birdland in the ...
