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Aki Takase: Cherry – Sakura
by John Sharpe
Twenty three years after their first studio date Blue Monk (Enja, 1993), Japanese pianist Aki Takase and American saxophonist David Murray reunite in Switzerland. There has been one live recording since, Valencia (Sound Hills, 1997), but the question remains what took them so long? The saxophone/piano axis has been a favored format for both. Murray's companions ...
Marco von Orelli - Max E. Keller - Sheldon Suter: Blow, Strike & Touch
by Glenn Astarita
The members of this experimental Swiss trio have been significant contributors to the avant-garde, or perhaps outside realm of European jazz circles for many years. But this album is bundled with perpetual reconstruction efforts, drifting sequences and mini-themes that are sometimes meditative in scope amid several transient pieces that intersect the full-length works. Nonetheless, the musicians ...
Nika Project: Elusive
by Geno Thackara
When Veronika Griesslehner opens her mouth, you can hear an impressive weight of experience to go with such a young voice. She doesn't try or claim to approach the worldly depths of an Ella Fitzgerald or a Nina Simone and doesn't have to--the similarities in sound here are impressionistic rather than imitative, but those classic divas ...
Julian Costello: Transitions
by Bruce Lindsay
Saxophonist Julian Costello has been around the UK jazz scene for a while, but for some years he decided to give up the world of the gigging musician and take up a teaching career. In recent years he's been gigging again and he now leads his quartet on Transitions, a collection of his original compositions recorded ...
Shilpa Ray: Door Girl
by Hrayr Attarian
Singer-songwriter Shilpa Ray brings her signature pitch black humor and intelligent phraseology to the dozen tunes on her 2017 Door Girl. Most of the music bears hints of retro, 1950s, effervescent rock which contrasts with Ray's mordant poetry and her eerie, expressive keyboards with poignancy and to dramatic effect. The introspective “Morning Terrors Nights ...
Tim Berne: Incidentals
by Mike Jurkovic
Through three previous releases on ECM, (including the widely hailed 2015 release You've Been Watching Me alto saxophonist Tim Berne's sonic amalgamation Snakeoil has proven itself an often knotty and dissonant band of free creators, making them the perfect vehicle for Berne's often knotty and dissonant musical ideas.But it's mind boggling on many levels ...
Lena Bloch & Feathery: Heart Knows
by Dan McClenaghan
Lena Bloch mocks the “sophomore jinx" myth with her second CD release, Heart Knows. The tenor saxophonist's debut, Feathery, drew a good deal of well-deserved praise. With her saxophone intertwined with a responsive guitar/bass/drums rhythm section, Bloch paid tribute--in part--to pianist Lennie Tristano, via her relationship with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. On Heart Knows, Bloch moves ...
Mark Guiliana: Jersey
by Geno Thackara
With an all-encompassing style that keeps him in high demand throughout the jazz world and beyond, perhaps it's unsurprising (if unfortunate) that Mark Guiliana boasts only a handful of titles to his own name. The middle of the 2010s saw him drumming in sessions with Dave Douglas or Avishai Cohen (among others) to briefly subbing with ...
Robert Plant: Carry Fire
by Nenad Georgievski
Some albums take a split second in order to showcase both their greatness and best qualities while others take more time and require more listening in order to reveal their treasures. While singer Robert Plant's album Carry Fire is tremendous on first listen and shows great depth and richness, it also reveals an even richer experience ...
John Daversa: Wobbly Dance Flower
by Mike Jurkovic
As trumpeter John Daversa explains simply in the liners, Wobbly Dance Flower boils down to having fun. And glory be does he hit it squarely out of the park. Here's an upper deck moon shot so uplifting, so tightly nuanced and choreographed with shifts of meter, attitude, altitude, and an irresistible swing guaranteed to shake you ...
