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Ahmad Jamal: Marseille
by Ian Patterson
Four years between studio albums is a long gap by Ahmad Jamal's standards. Not that the 87-year-old pianist has been idle since the widely acclaimed Saturday Morning (Jazz Village, 2013). He's released two live albums in that time--Live at The Olympia (Jazz Village, 2014) featuring Yusef Lateef and Live in Marciac 2014 (Jazz Village, 2015)--and remains ...
King Cardinal: Great Lakes
by Doug Collette
It's going to take more than one album to restore some legitimacy to the glib categorization of 'Americana," but with Great Lakes, King Cardinal at least paves the way for that movement. And does so without succumbing to self-conscious gestures of authenticity either.Which isn't to say it's wholly original by any means. But this ...
Say Bok Gwai: Trio / Chinese Jesus
by Glenn Astarita
If you ever wondered what an angst-ridden, scaled back version of Sonic Youth would sound like if the musicians were overdosing on energy drinks, then the core duo of Say Bok Gwai may represent that notion rather mightily, and then some. Based in San Francisco, the unit is billed as a Chinese American hardcore rock band. ...
Grayson Capps: Scarlett Roses
by Doug Collette
It makes perfect sense for Grayson Capps' Scarlett Roses to conclude with a cut called “Moving On" (and for a lyric sheet to be included). The music on this album sounds like it comes from a place just beyond the world as most of us know it. Like the appropriately designated title song, the material itself ...
Chris McDonald: A Big (Band) Swinging Christmas!
by Jack Bowers
A Big (Band) Swinging Christmas! is at least the tenth holiday album recorded by the peerless arranger Chris McDonald's impressive Jazz Orchestra--but the first one whose title has been amplified by an exclamation mark. Could it be that this one is extra-special? That's hard to say, as the albums that preceded it have all been remarkably ...
The NJE: Afloat
by Gareth Thompson
When a jazz act takes on Jimi Hendrix, you know they do not lack for confidence. Are they experienced? They certainly are, for The NJE (Near Jazz Experience) is led by saxophonist Terry Edwards, whose many credits include Keziah Jones, Tom Waits and P J Harvey. The NJE trio tackles Hendrix's “Voodoo Child" with ...
Kristo Rodzevski: Bitter Almonds
by Nenad Georgievski
On his sophomore release, titled Bitter Almonds, singer and songwriter Krste Rodzevski shows his full embrace of the ethereal and the noisy, of the melodic and the dissonant, and delivers a moody but kaleidoscopic release. In many ways, “Bitter Almonds" feels like an extension or a branch of the hypnotic calm on Rodzevski's debut, Batania which ...
Pat Martino: Formidable
by Victor L. Schermer
The title “Formidable" and the striking cover photo of Pat Martino in profile in front of a statue of a lion suggests that the great guitarist is going to unleash awesome powers. However, the proper meaning of formidable in this context is more to be taken as the presence of the master. Here and now, in ...
The Rempis Percussion Quartet: Cochonnerie
by John Sharpe
An unchanged line up on the eighth release from saxophonist Dave Rempis' Percussion Quartet signals a generous helping of rowdy energy and inspired oratory. As the name implies, the drums loom large with two distinctive practitioners in Tim Daisy on the left and Frank Rosaly on the right well separated in the mix (from information supplied ...
Charles Rumback: Threes
by Glenn Astarita
Reared in Kansas and currently residing in Chicago, Charles Rumback has evolved into a go-to drummer these days, performing with proven progressive jazz and improvising warriors, trumpeter Ron Miles, saxophonist Tony Malaby and here, leading his piano trip captured live at the Windy City venue, Constellation. Rumback's lyrical beats and colorific shadings, along with John Tate's ...
