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Kidd Jordan: On Fire
by John Sharpe
Incendiary similes have always proven popular as descriptors of free jazz. Indeed, Fire Music," has been used as a label for the whole genre. New Orleans-based saxophonist Kidd Jordan's 2006 outing, the superb Palm of Soul (AUM Fidelity), essayed a meditative calm, music which couldn't be more different from the accurately named 50-minute studio session On ...
Chris Madsen: Pop Art
by Thomas Carroll
Freedom of musical form is one of the many beauties of jazz. Jazz musicians express themselves through improvisation over musical structures that they can alter at any moment, shifting through different meters, timbres and harmonic landscapes. However, musicians run the risk of becoming too self-invested when they engage in long-form improvisation. In those unfortunate instances when ...
Jason Robinson: The Two Faces of Janus
by AAJ Italy Staff
Periodicamente si ripresenta l'occasione di ribadire come certe esperienze attuali di musica improvvisata, soprattutto americane, dimostrino una diretta derivazione da espressioni che si sono imposte con una precisa identità nel corso degli anni Ottanta. Penso in particolare alle ricerche giovanili di Tim Berne e Steve Coleman, che a loro volta avevano alle spalle altri maestri e ...
Aaron Novik: Secret of Secrets
by Eyal Hareuveni
Secret of Secrets is the most ambitious project to date by Bay Area composer and clarinetist Aaron Novik. This dark and epic, deeply personal composition draws its inspiration from the writings of the late 12th century mystic Rabbi Eleazar Rokeach, known as Rabbi Eleazar of Worms. The Rabbi's masterwork, the five-book Secret of Secrets, deals with ...
Lisa Hilton: American Impressions
by Dan Bilawsky
Complacency can threaten to creep into a musician's being without their knowledge as time passes, but the opposite seems to have happened with pianist/composer Lisa Hilton. Her early records dealt in friendly pastel colors delivered in relatively safe fashion, but she's become more daring as time has passed. Her playing has become more limber, loose, organic, ...
Sebastian Gille: Anthem
by Dan McClenaghan
The most famous and venerable German record label is ECM Records, Manfred Eicher's brainchild, founded in 1969 and still going strong with now more than twelve hundred recordings in its catalog. But there is a German upstart, Pirouet Records, which has been in the business of offering up its own musical vision since the early 2000s, ...
Sara Leib: Secret Love
by C. Michael Bailey
Almost 10 years elapsed between West Coast singer Sara Leib's It's Not The Moon (Self Produced, 2003) and Secret Love. Leib kept occupied with teaching, most currently at Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music in Pasadena, where she gives private lessons and teaches classes on improvisation (something, as a scatter, she knows well) and chart ...
Tone Ase / Thomas Stronen: Voxpheria
by Eyal Hareuveni
The covers of Norwegian label Gigafon, designed by bassist Rune Nergaard, send an unsettling message. The cover of Voxpheria is no different, with its alien scenery and what looks like a homage to Norwegian thriller writer Jo Nesbø's invented torture instrument, Leopold's apple, taken from his The Leopard (Harvill Secker, 2011). And indeed, ...
Snarky Puppy: groundUP
by Mark F. Turner
With all of the press about economic woes, meteorological catastrophes, sleazy politics, and other calamities, the news can be overwhelmingly depressing. But artists have always found an outlet for transcending the blues through music. Enter Snarky Puppy to add some relief; a collective with over 25 players in regular rotation from Dallas and New York City, ...
Chloe Brisson: Blame It On My Youth
by David A. Orthmann
Chloe Brisson, a young, prodigiously talented singer in the early stages of a presumably long and fruitful career, had the good fortune to record in exactly the right circumstances. Saxophonist Fred Haas, Brisson's teacher and mentor, wrote arrangements for thirteen tracks that are tailor-made for her voice and interpretative skills. Nonetheless, Blame It On My Youth ...

