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Denny Zeitlin: Panoply
by Pierre Giroux
Denny Zeitlin's Panoply is a diverse array collection of unreleased performances comprising solo piano recordings at the Piedmont Piano Company in Oakland, California, trio sessions with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Matt Wilson captured at Mezzrow Jazz Club in New York City, and duo pieces with drummer/percussionist George Marsh collected over a decade of home recordings ...
Roberto Magris: Love Is Passing Thru
by Edward Blanco
Long recognized as one of the finest jazz pianists around, Roberto Magris has an extensive discography documenting his talents as a composer and his skills as a virtuoso pianist. In 2005, Magris and his all-Italian quartet of saxophonist Ettore Martin, bassist Danilo Gallo and drummer and percussionist Enzo Carpentieri toured the Far East and upon their ...
The Gabrielle Stravelli Trio: Beautiful Moons Ago
by Dan Bilawsky
In a world where heavily crafted narratives, thematic tie-ins and pointed productions are increasingly becoming the norm, it's a breath of fresh air to encounter a first-rate recording that's focused on music rather than messaging. Now that's not to say that vocalist Gabrielle Stravelli's longstanding trio with pianist Michael Kanan and bassist Pat O'Leary is without ...
Leigh Pilzer: Beatin' the Odds
by Jack Bowers
Beatin' the Odds. To baritone saxophonist Leigh Pilzer, that is far more than a catchphrase: it is a grim yet ultimately happy reality. In 2017, Pilzer was diagnosed with cancer. After extensive treatments, her odds of surviving more than five years were reckoned as around thirty percent. But six years have gone by, and not only ...
Roger Kellaway: Live At Mezzrow
by Pierre Giroux
Roger Kellaway's latest offering Live At Mezzrow is a masterclass in jazz artistry. With Kellaway on piano--leading his trio of first class musicians, including bassist Jay Leonhart and drummer Dennis Mackrel along with guest guitarist Roni Ben-Hur on a couple of tracks--they embark on a celebration of mostly historical jazz standards from the songbooks of Miles ...
Fred Hersch: Silent, Listening
by Chris May
It took Fred Hersch a long time to begin recording for ECM--four decades and 17 Grammy nominations since his first own-name album--but when he arrived he did so in style. The Song Is You (ECM, 2022), a duo recording with flugelhornist Enrico Rava, reviewed here, was quietly sensational. The word “recalibration" is often wheeled out when ...
Dave Douglas: Gifts
by Mark Corroto
When does one become an elder statesman in jazz? Is it a function of age? Awards? Discography? While that question is up for debate, it is beyond doubt that Dave Douglas is an éminence grise, except one who definitely does not work behind the scenes. When did he achieve this status? Was it when he was ...
String Planes
by Dan McClenaghan
Collin Sherman takes the 'A' train to his day job in Manhattan. Billy Strayhorn, the writer of the tune “Take the 'A' Train" that was made famous by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, must be smiling. Do the seeds of Sherman's compositions germinate during these forty-five-minute rides? Possibly, though his music has no resemblance to Ellington's or ...
Mercer Hassy Orchestra: Duke's Place
by Jack Bowers
If much of the music on Duke's Place seems only vaguely familiar, that is probably because composer-arranger Mercer Hassy has taken more than a dozen songs written and/or made popular by Duke Ellington and his orchestra and turned them, for better or worse, inside out and upside down, playing with melody, harmony and rhythm but always ...
Fred Hersch: Silent, Listening
by Mike Jurkovic
Like many of Fred Hersch's haunted, focused recordings--2017's Grammy nominated Open Book(Palmetto Records), Solo (Palmetto Records, 2015) or In Amsterdam: Live at the Bimhuis (Palmetto Records, 2006)--the short story of Silent, Listening, Hirsch's first solo foray for ECM, is this: Stay for the rich, orchestral novel and the full reward is yours. On his ...
