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Charlie Ballantine: Life is Brief: The Music of Bob Dylan
by Mark Sullivan
Indianapolis-based guitarist/composer Charlie Ballantine has included a wide range of covers on his previous albums. Providence (Self Produced, 2016) included Leonard Cohen's modern anthem “Hallelujah" and Tom Waits' “Temptation." Where Is My Mind? (Self Produced, 2017) had the title tune from the Pixies and Sun Kil Moon's “Carissa," plus the traditional “Wayfaring Stranger." But the bulk ...
Hughes Smith Quintet: Motion
by Mark Sullivan
Detroit's Hughes/Smith Quintet keeps the hard bop flame burning in this follow up to Ever Up & Onward (Self Produced, 2015). The album shares the same personnel--this has been a working band since 2013, and they sound like it--and the same positive energy. The program is all originals this time. Trumpeter Jimmy Smith's “The ...
Todd Strait: There'll Be Some Changes Made
by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
After recording more than a hundred albums for other people, including three that were Grammy nominated, drummer Todd Strait has finally released his first CD as a leader. With so many dedications to his relatives, it is clear that this record has been simmering for a long time. Well, it's finally cooked and served--and it's delicious. ...
Geoffrey Downes / Christopher Braide - DBA: Skyscraper Souls
by Glenn Astarita
Christopher Braide maintains a ubiquitous presence within the global music industry. He's a songsmith and singer for cinema and TV, and he produces works for pop acolytes such as vocalists Lana Del Rey, Beyoncé and Christine Aguilera among many other projects, spanning multiple genres. With Braide's third and finest co-led outing with famed British keyboardist Geoffrey ...
Wadada Leo Smith: Najwa
by Chris M. Slawecki
Trumpet player Wadada Leo Smith is one of the few musicians remaining from the original, founding generation of Chicago's legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. But he has hardly rested since; Smith's Ten Freedom Summers (2012, Cuneiform) was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music; in 2017, Smith swept the Downbeat Critics' ...
Roberto Pianca: Sub Rosa
by Neri Pollastri
Bella formazione, quella messa assieme dal chitarrista Roberto Pianca per il primo album interamente a suo nome, in programma sei composizioni originali di jazz moderno dalle molteplici influenze. Accanto a lui troviamo infatti Dan Kinzelman e Stefano Senni, con i quali il leader aveva lavorato a più riprese in passato, lo statunitense Glen Zaleski, pianista emergente ...
John Surman: Invisible Threads
by Mario Calvitti
Dopo oltre 50 anni di attività professionale, il sassofonista britannico John Surman è ancora in grado di sorprenderci. Lo fa con il suo nuovo lavoro, pubblicato sempre dalla ECM, a 6 anni di distanza dal precedente Saltash Bells. Questo Invisible Threads è nato quasi per caso, da un incontro fortuito del sassofonista con la musica brasiliana ...
Fred Hersch: Live In Europe
by Victor L. Schermer
Fred Hersch has been a fixture on the New York jazz scene since the 1970s. By now a legendary international figure, Hersch has over the years compiled a powerful and diverse discography that includes everything from jazz standards to original compositions, a mostly solo album of the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim, an original composition, Leaves ...
Aruán Ortiz Trio: Live in Zürich
by John Sharpe
Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz just goes from strength to strength on his third release on the Intakt imprint, although it is his twelfth overall. While most of the repertoire on Live In Zurich appears on previous albums, what he does with it here, through dramatically extending and mashing pieces together, is nothing short of remarkable. This ...
Nolatet: No Revenge Necessary
by Doug Collette
The music of Nolatet's sophomore album No Revenge Necessary belies its laissez faire title. Almost a mirror image of its largely insinuating predecessor, Dogs (Royal Potato Family, 2016), this sophomore effort finds the Crescent city-based ensemble flexing its collective muscles early and often, so the record lends itself to uninhibited dance almost as often as contemplation ...
