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Bokanté: Strange Circles
by Daniel Marx
Due to Michael League's prolific body of work with his record label, GroundUp Music, he has his fingers in many pies, the latest of which is a new band, started by the Snarky Puppy guitarist/bassist/producer, called Bokanté. The word means “exchange" in Creole, the language of the band's vocalist Malika Tirolien, and the music is meant ...
The Mica Bethea Big Band: Stage 'N Studio
by Jerome Wilson
A young composer from Jacksonville, Florida, Mica Bethea shows an impressive command of big band writing and arranging on this set. Traces of all the usual modern large ensemble influences can be heard in his work, but he also brings his own ideas to the table and creates something fresh and energetic. This is ...
Uri Gurvich: Kinship
by Dan Bilawsky
It's all about fellowship, culture, and concordance of spirit and sound. Put simply, saxophonist Uri Gurvich's Kinship is diversity and unity in league.Gurvich's third release, following The Storyteller (Tzadik, 2009) and BabEL (Tzadik 2013), keys in on many of the same aspects as his earlier work. The music is a multicultural amalgam that speaks ...
Frode Kjekstad: A Piece of the Apple
by Geno Thackara
There's no telling just when or why a certain place will sink its hooks into you. However active Frode Kjekstad remains in his native Norway, he's clearly left his heart in New York City. The bustling personality of the metropolis can be felt all over his bop-and-blues compositions and fleet fretwork. With a classy full-bodied tone ...
Richard Sorce: Samba Para a Vida
by Edward Blanco
Samba Para a Vida--New York-based pianist and composer Richard Sorce's third album of Brazilian-styled jazz from his group the Richard Sorce Projecti--s a delicious blend of ballads, light bossa novas and sambas, all captured in a superb package of vocal and instrumental performances, resulting in one enchanting musical taste of Brasil. One thing is certain: there's ...
Kanno - Poll - Pett - Shorr - MacDonald: Free Radicals
by Glenn Astarita
Here we have acoustic-electric instantaneous compositions --largely about nature --that defy the norms. Recorded live at a venue in Scotland the respective musicians are artistic, music and improvising professors from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. And after hearing this album, I'd imagine the professors bring a lot to ...
Steve Coleman's Natal Eclipse: Morphogenesis
by Luca Canini
C'è sempre il rischio che l'essenziale sfugga quando si parla di Steve Coleman. Troppe cose da spiegare, troppi pensieri da circoscrivere. E alla fine, puntualmente, il senso e la prospettiva vanno a farsi benedire. Come in una partita a Space Invaders, il videogioco anni Ottanta nel quale bisogna distruggere tutte le astronavi per impedire agli alieni ...
Aki Takase, David Murray: Cherry – Sakura
by Nicola Negri
Un dialogo iniziato oltre vent'anni fa, quello tra Aki Takase e David Murray, quando incisero Blue Monk, un album dedicato alle composizioni di Thelonious Monk. Il pianista di Rocky Mount, nume tutelare della tradizione non allineata del jazz moderno, ritorna anche in questo Cherry--Sakura, che include una bella versione di “Let's Cool One." A parte questo ...
Kathleen Gorman: I Can See Clearly Now
by Dan Bilawsky
I Can See Clearly Now testifies to the durability and pliability of everlasting songs while also opening up the floor to new ones. Kathleen Gorman, a pianist-vocalist-composer based in Toronto, fronts a quintet on a trip through six covers and four originals, speaking to truth through her own music and smartly-arranged renditions of some time-tested classics. ...
Tyshawn Sorey: Verisimilitude
by Karl Ackermann
So much has been said and written about Tyshawn Sorey's presence as a composer, performer and educator, that there is a threat of redundancy, even in adding new superlatives. Each release, however, demands attention to his exceptional and unmatched creativity. Putting aside Sorey's leader dates for the moment, those who have sought him out as a ...
