Home » Search Center » Results: CD/LP/Track Review
Results for "CD/LP/Track Review"
Kira Kira: Bright Force
by Glenn Astarita
Kira Kira's otherwise all-Japanese lineup includes Australian keyboardist Alister Spence to round out a topsy-turvy experimental soundscape with lateral movements, surging improv, cascadinging keys and free-spirited flareups. Renowned pianist and composer Satoko Fujii and her associates explore a multidimensional territory with avant-garde extremism combined with structured song-forms or themes, and brashly enacted polyrhythms supplied by drummer ...
Erik Friedlander's Throw a Glass: Artemisia
by Giuseppe Segala
Erik Friedlander ci aveva deliziato nel 2015 con la pubblicazione di Oscalypso, dedicato a Oscar Pettiford. In quell'occasione avevamo apprezzato l'abbinamento del suo violoncello al sax tenore di Michael Blake, particolarmente riuscito. Ora, con questo Artemisia, Friedlander si presenta, sempre in quartetto, affiancato dal pianoforte di Uri Caine, altro musicista la cui duttilità impavida è in ...
Miles Davis, John Coltrane: The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6
by Maurizio Comandini
Quante volte avete sentito qualche appassionato affermare che Kind of Blue di Miles Davis è il miglior disco da consigliare ad un amico che vuole iniziare ad ascoltare il jazz? Bene, il consiglio è certamente pertinente, anche se ci sono ovviamente altri mille dischi che possono fungere da entry point. Con questo cofanetto di quattro CD ...
The Ken Peplowski Big Band: Sunrise
by Jack Bowers
Many contemporary big bands are all about “breaking new ground" and “exploring new pathways." Not this one. Ace clarinetist Ken Peplowski, who has performed and recorded with myriad large ensembles, at home and abroad, but has seldom led one--although he did record one other big-band album, Last Swing of the Century (Concord Jazz, 1999)--simply wants to ...
E. J. Decker: Bluer Than Velvet: The Prysock Project
by Geno Thackara
E.J. Decker probably could write a book if they asked him--his shaping influences and history of musical collaborations (not to mention social activism) would make it a fascinating one indeed--but it would be so much nicer to hear him sing it. A voice smooth as, well, velvet (pardon the obvious simile) lets him put a rich ...
Sun Ra: Of Abstract Dreams
by Ian Patterson
Neither Sun Ra's death nor the passing of a quarter of a century since has slowed down the seemingly insatiable appetite for archival recordings of the pianist, composer and poet. In 2014, to mark the centenary of Sun Ra's birth--né Herman Poole Blount--Strut Records and Art Yard issued the 2-CD, career-spanning compilation In The Orbit of ...
Quoan - Brian Walsh, Sam Minaie, Daniel Rosenboom & Mark Ferber: Fine Dining
by Glenn Astarita
According to the press release this bi-coastal USA ultra-progressive band is inspired by the classic chord-less quartets of modern jazz via a fast-moving program, complete with tricky, mind-bending works, odd-metered unison excursions and other revved up implementations. The musicians' assertiveness is embedded into various offshoots and stylizations such as hard-hitting bop and poignant call / response ...
Bob Washut Dodectet: Journey to Knowhere
by Jack Bowers
Even as experience is often the best teacher, so it is that the teacher often has the most useful experience. Bob Washut, who has been a teacher for roughly four decades, brings that experience and more to bear on Journey to Knowhere, preparing an ambrosial banquet for his twelve-member Dodectet whose main course consists of seven ...
Rodrigo Tavares: Congo
by Chris May
Guitarist Rodrigo Tavares cites his primary influences as bossa nova and tropicália pioneers João Gilberto, Dorival Caymmi, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Tom Zé. But you would not guess it from Congo, a collection of lyrical instrumentals which reference Brazil only in passing, and which consciously avoid any recognisable sense of ...
Jason Vitelli: Head Above Tide
by Paul Naser
New York-based artist Jason Vitelli should be highly commended for his efforts at blending songwriting with interesting musical forms and arrangements (think Steely Dan), a sound that is too often avoided. Rooted in his experience as a composer for film, Vitelli's music often has a theatrical sound. His baritone voice set against the sparse production recalls ...
