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The Billy Lester Trio: Italy 2016
by Dan McClenaghan
Piano trios jazz can charm or seduce, and occasionally mesmerize. In modern times, they can also rock the house, but they seldom jump out of the speakers at you with joy. The Billy Lester Trio, Italy 2016, does just that. The initial impression of pianist Lester's influences--as the opener “An Evening With Friends" plays--is Bud Powell. ...
Oli Rockberger: Sovereign
by Roger Farbey
Undoubtedly, Berklee College of Music educated keyboardist and singer Oli Rockberger possesses a truly irresistible voice. True, his compositions and vocal style are vaguely reminiscent of Mose Allison, Georgie Fame and Sting (and, pray, is that a bad thing?); but there's definitely a uniqueness to the delivery of his attractive and memorable songs. He's lived in ...
Hans Lüdemann - Trio Ivoire: Desert Pulse
by Glenn Astarita
Pianist Hans Ludemann's past is steeped in modern and outside jazz realms amid his affiliations with trombonist Albert Mangelsdorf, pianist Paul Bley and other forward-looking explorers. But as the liner notes point out, the artist switched gears after a trip to West Africa in 1999 where he met balaphone performer Aly Keita who uses the melodic ...
Roberto Ottaviano QuarkTet: Sideralis
by Mario Calvitti
Per il suo più recente lavoro, appena pubblicato, Roberto Ottaviano ha inteso realizzare un omaggio a John Coltrane nella ricorrenza del cinquantesimo anniversario dalla sua scomparsa. In realtà il disco è molto più di un semplice tributo al grande artista, che è sempre stato uno dei principali punti di riferimento per Ottaviano; le dieci composizioni originali ...
Paula Shocron / Germán Lamonega / Pablo Diaz: Tensegridad
by Jakob Baekgaard
The cover image for Tensegridad, the second album from the Argentinian SLD Trio, looks like a dolmen and it fits the music that both feels ancient and modern. While some types of avant-garde music seek to re-invent the language of music to the point of total estrangement, the strength of the SLD Trio lies in its ...
Fonnesbaek & Kauflin: Synesthesia
by Chris Mosey
Young US pianist Justin Kauflin and Danish bassist Thomas Fonnesbaek share the neurological condition known as synesthesia, in which the senses become mixed. For the two musicians, this means experiencing sounds as colors with their minds' eyes. They met in Copenhagen for the first time in 2015. Fonnesbaek recalls, “Besides being a meeting ...
Rock Candy Funk Party: The Groove Cubed
by Geannine Reid
Rock Candy Funk Party (RCFP) is a collection of groove loving musicians bringing a fresh and funky vibe to the world of jazz. The band formed around 2009 when drummer Tal Bergman and guitarist Ron DeJesus combined their love of funk music and released Grooove Vol. 1 to share with the world. After Tal began recording ...
Chris Combs: Combsy
by Doug Collette
It does no disservice to Combsy or the man who made it to state how favorably it compares to the most recent work of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey in terms of both style and quality. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Chris Combs was integral to the concepts and production of The Race Riot Suite (Kinnara, 2011) and ...
Disreputable Few: Ain't Who I Was
by Doug Collette
The name of this double-barreled guitar band, Disreputable Few, rolls off the tongue in much the same euphonious fashion as the group so often plays. And the intelligence and self-awareness of these versatile Los Angeles players, all of whom play multiple instruments here, manifests itself right from the start of Ain't Who I Was, where the ...
The Sound Field: The Bucket List
by Doug Collette
The cryptic nature this band's name dissipates fairly rapidly as The Sound Field's album plays. Similarly, the meaning of the record's enigmatic title, The Bucket List, clarifies with each passing cut so that, by the end of this debut effort, its definition has become as clear as the sound mix. Graphics on the compact ...
