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RelativE ResonancE: RelativE ResonancE
by Dave Wayne
The music of drummer and composer Devin Gray traverses terrains that will be familiar to those who've investigated artists such as Tyshawn Sorey and Steve Lehman. As complex and highly structured as Gray's music can be, there's a palpable human warmth throughout Relative Resonance which makes the music--in spite of its ultra-busy, highly demanding nature--kind of ...
Jerry Garcia: Broadway: Act One: October 28th, 1987
by Doug Collette
The deliciously relaxed air of the music on these three discs belies the precision in the musicianship as much as it does the operations necessary for a two week run on a Broadway theater. And all this attention to detail, well-served as it is, gives the lie to the moment of serendipity from which it sprung:an ...
Tiffany Austin: Nothing But Soul
by Dan Bilawsky
While countless artists have covered the music of Hoagy Carmichael, album-length tributes from a single artist saluting his work aren't all that common; Carmichael salutes that reshape some of his most beloved compositions are, understandably, even more scarce, as there are heavy risks involved in toying with the nature of his treasured songs. Tiffany Austin, however, ...
The Global Jazz Orchestra: Global Warming / Globarhythm
by Jack Bowers
One day, about a dozen or so years ago, a slender, unassuming Japanese man stood at a booth at the far end of an exhibit hall at an annual conference of the (now-defunct) International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE). Answering a question posed by a writer looking for big-band CDs to review, he said, in halting ...
Arshak Sirunyan: Serendipity
by Karl Ackermann
Pianist/composer Arshak Sirunyan last offered up a startlingly good multi-media, cross-genre collection with Hoodman's Blind (Self-produced, 2014). That recording found the Armenian born musician tackling the complexities of translating a medieval contest of strategy to an engaging musical concept. The success of that album hinged--in no small part--on Sirunyan's ability to blend disparate elements of chamber, ...
London, Meander, Pramuk & Ross: The Royal Bopsters Project
by C. Michael Bailey
In the beginning, and by beginning" I mean the February 26, 1926 commitment to shellac of Boyd Atkins' Heebie Jeebies" by one Louis Armstrong. Legend has it that Armstrong dropped his lyric sheet while recording the song and no words to sing, began to improvise his vocals, creating scat singing. This was one of the first ...
Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers Deluxe Edition
by Doug Collette
In combination with the 2015 'Zip Code' tour, on which the band played the album in its entirety more than once, the reissue of the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones Records, 1971) is a valiant and fully-justified effort to restore the significance of the album, the importance of which has suffered over time in comparison ...
Bret Higgins' Atlas Revolt: Bret Higgins' Atlas Revolt
by Dan Bilawsky
The eponymous debut from Toronto-based bassist Bret Higgins' Atlas Revolt is a tough one to pin down and an easy one to get pleasantly lost in. Higgins regularly walks through different musical worlds, working with the folk-rock outfit Great Lake Swimmers, the Balkan-klezmer band Beyond The Pale, the folk-ish Ozere, and the trippy ...
Harris Eisenstadt: Canada Day IV
by Troy Collins
Canada Day has been drummer Harris Eisenstadt's flagship ensemble since its first gig on July 1, 2007--his homeland's national holiday, hence the band name. In the ensuing years the quintet has developed an identifiably cohesive sound that expertly balances avant-garde explorations and in-the-pocket swing, with only one significant personnel change; the bass chair is now filled ...
New Zealand School of Music Big Band: Too Cool
by Jack Bowers
While the latest CD by the splendid New Zealand School of Music Big Band may not be Too Cool, it's definitely chilly enough to demand that the average listener wear earmuffs while sampling its frigid yet at the same time fiery bill of fare. Blues got you down? A few bars of the orchestra's sunny curtain-raiser, ...

