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Wobbler: From Silence to Somewhere
by Glenn Astarita
Formed in 1999, this premier Norwegian band lights up the progressive rock genre with this superfine and expertly produced studio album, where the old school prog playbook is given a bit of an uplift, especially since the band casts a gleaming persona into these multifaceted works. Sure, glimpses of Gentle Giant and classic-era Genesis weave into ...
Peter Madsen's Seven Sins Ensemble: Never Bet The Devil Your Head
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Peter Madsen has come up with a novel idea for a jazz record: A Tribute to Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849), America's founding father of macabre/horror fiction. Bringing together a jazz quartet--piano/bass/drums/trumpet--and a string quartet, Madsen and his Seven Sins Ensemble capture the moods and atmospheres of some of the author's better-known tales on Never Bet ...
Bill Frisell: Music IS
by Maurizio Comandini
Benvenuti nel 'Piccolo Mondo Antico' di Bill Frisell. Un mondo che a ben guardare non è antico proprio per niente, anzi è più moderno che mai e sa indicare la strada a chi ha voglia di percorrerla. Un mondo che riesce a non farsi mai penetrare dalla meschinità che troppo spesso pervade la vita dei giorni ...
Kurt Elling: The Questions
by Dan Bilawsky
How does one grapple with existence and its juxtaposition against the present state of affairs? That's the question that hangs heaviest over The Questions. While vocalist Kurt Elling didn't come into this production with a theme in mind, he discovered a through line in the act of wrestling with difficulties and dreams in this age of ...
David Series: Meerkat Parade
by Geno Thackara
Apparently the official term is “clan" or “mob" when meerkats gather in a group. Despite their being social animals, nothing suggests they'd be organized enough for anything resembling a parade--that would only be a silly distraction from the business of burrowing, foraging and avoiding the jackals. Nonetheless David Series and a sharp crew find some good ...
Benjamin Boone: The Poetry of Jazz
by Mark Corroto
Benjamin Boone's The Poetry Of Jazz could easily have been titled The Jazz of Poetry because of the almost interchangeable nature of the terms. The composer/saxophonist's vision to put music to the U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine's prose is a reminder to listeners that jazz was birthed by the common man, and is not to be ...
Dave Liebman - Tatsuya Nakatani - Adam Rudolph: The Unknowable
by Glenn Astarita
Sax great David Liebman, multitalented percussionist, bandleader Adam Rudolph and prominent Japanese percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani project an otherworldly, Uber world jazz tome on this recording of spontaneous compositions, where song titles were appended by Rudolph as he listened to the track mix. Thanks to the crystalline audio characteristics, the production offers a very detailed soundstage.
Anat Cohen/Fred Hersch: Live In Healdsburg
by Dan Bilawsky
When you think of these two lauded artists, duo encounters aren't the first thing likely to come to mind. Pianist Fred Hersch spends most of his time toggling between solo and trio work, and it's almost impossible to keep up with the size and/or scope of clarinetist Anat Cohen's varied pursuits. But that's not to say ...
Sun Ra: Exotica
by Chris May
Spring 2018 is delivering a welcome batch of Sun Ra reissues, some of them remastered editions of existing albums, others newly put-together compilations. Among the compilations, two stand out: the previously reviewed Sun Ra Plays Gershwin (Enterplanetary Records, 2017) and now Exotica. Both are mellifluous beauties which showcase Ra's unapologetic love of a good tune. Listeners ...
Pilgrims: Oriental Orbit
by Glenn Astarita
This International trio's second album contains an East meets West nomenclature, but a case can be made that their unique bridging of various modalities defies strict categorizations. Enhanced by audiophile qualities, the recording radiates a mystical communion of diverse instrumentation that toggles between conventional world jazz norms and a horde of tasty abstracts or pieces where ...
