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Mario Pavone: Vertical
by Don Phipps
The moody, complex, witty, playful and abstract music found on Vertical can only result from the combined genius of six talented musicians. And Mario Pavone has assembled just such an ensemble for this release. Pedigree aside, this music explores gentle improvisation and abstractions, a formless within form approach that echoes the work of Anthony Braxton, Dave ...
Quentin Angus: In Stride
by Geno Thackara
Quentin Angus comes across as the kind of player who's seemingly absorbed everything in developing a repertoire--one whose extensive study lets him draw on any style and throw out familiar licks on a whim. Here we have soft electric tones worthy of Grant Green crossed with the expansive compositional smarts of Pat Metheny. Fleet lines and ...
OSU Jazz Orchestra: Solid Gold
by Jack Bowers
Having overseen one impressive Jazz Studies program, at Northeast (OK) State University in Tahlequah, Tommy Poole has moved on to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater where he seems well on the way to repeating that success. The subtitle of Solid Gold, the first recording under Poole's direction by the OSU Jazz Orchestra, reads “featuring Michael Dease." ...
Dennis Gonzalez: Ts'iibil Chaaltun
by Don Phipps
Dennis Gonzalez's trio, Ataraxia is comprised of trumpet (Gonzalez), bass (Drew Phelps), and percussion (Jagath Lakpriya), a mix of instruments that on the surface would alone suggest interesting music. And their double album, Ts'iibil Chaaltun, does not disappoint. There's a lot of desert in this music... large rocks that jut from the sand, dunes that stretch ...
Wes Montgomery: One Night in Indy
by C. Michael Bailey
In the Resonance Wes Montgomery catalog, One Night in Indy: Featuring the Eddie Higgins Trio (2016) falls in between In The Beginning (Resonance, 2015) and Smokin' in Seattle: Live At the Penthouse 1966 (Resonance, 2017). It is documentation of Montgomery, appearing with the Eddie Higgins Trio at the Indianapolis Jazz Club, January 18, 1959. These performances, ...
Syrinx Effect: A Sky You Could Strike a Match On
by Patrick Burnette
Syrinx Effect is comprised of just two musicians: Naomi Siegel (trombone) and Kate Olson (soprano saxophone); they expand their sound with effect pedals and overdubbing. Eric Eagle, the producer on their new album, A Sky You Could Strike a Match On, plays percussion on several of the tracks. Syrinx Effect labels itself “interstellar folk ...
Earl MacDonald: Open Borders
by Jack Bowers
Open Borders brings to the fore Canadian-born pianist Earl MacDonald's burnished tentet in a program that consists of eleven sunlit and swinging themes, five of which were composed by the leader. Besides writing, MacDonald did most of the arranging, and he excels in both arenas, as he does on piano (most notably on the standards “Blame ...
Henry Lowther: can't believe, won't believe
by Bruce Lindsay
If any jazz ensemble can be said to define the word “prolific" it's not Henry Lowther's Still Waters. The band's debut album, ID, appeared in 1997. can't believe, won't believe is its second release, just 21 years later. Good things, as they say, come to those that wait. Bandleader, composer and trumpeter Lowther has ...
New Faces: Straight Forward
by Paul Rauch
The collection of musicians on this record, collectively referred to as “New Faces," is an attempt by Posi-Tone producer Marc Free to create a sampler of the label's mission, utilizing a selection of young leaders to collectively personify their overall musical vision. As stated on the Posi- Tone website, “The entire series of succinct performances included ...
Laurie Anderson and Kronos Quartet: Landfall
by Nenad Georgievski
Laurie Anderson has always been many things to many people: an enigmatic singer, an underrated visionary, sonic adventurer, composer, a charming storyteller, and so on. Blessed with a fertile imagination, a gift for vivid and enchanting storytelling and drama, compositional prowess, during her expansive five-decade career, she has released several adventurous albums that have showcased her ...
