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Jenny Hval & Susanna: Meshes of Voice
by John Kelman
After winning the Spellemannpris (Norwegian Grammy) for her first release on the fledgling Susanna Sonata label, the career-defining collaboration with Ensemble neoN, The Forester (2013), singer Susanna resists the urge to repeat herself by moving on to even more experimental territory with Meshes of Voice, this time together with fellow Norwegian vocalist Jenny Hval--a collaboration that, ...
le GGRIL: Combines
by Eyal Hareuveni
The 10-musician, Quebecois, Rimouski-based ensemble Grill, or in its full name--Grand Groupe Régional d'Improvisation Libérée, is an experimental, improvisation orchestra. The GGRIL has been active since 2007 and collaborated with innovative Canadian improvisers such as reed player Jean Derome (Le GRILL, Insubordinations, 2007), guitarist René Lussier, and percussionist Danielle P. Roger (Pinta, Niña & Maria, Ambiances ...
Kenny Lavender: Conscious Journey Part 1 & 2
by Dan Bilawsky
Texas-born, New York-based trumpeter Kenny Lavender is as versatile as can be. He's put his horn to good use on Broadway, playing lead trumpet on Bullets Over Broadway and working in the pit orchestras of other hit shows like The Drowsy Chaperone and West Side Story; he's backed up old pros like Frankie Valli, The Temptations, ...
Epirus Quartet: Transatlantic
by Bruce Lindsay
Epirus Quartet is based in Austin, Texas, but takes its name from a region of Greece--hence, perhaps, the decision to name its debut album Transatlantic. The recording is released as a limited edition, high-quality, vinyl album (it's also available as a download)--the format lends itself superbly to the quartet's brand of danceable, organ-led music.
Various Artists: Light My Fire: A Classic Rock Salute to The Doors
by Glenn Astarita
Southern California-based Purple Pyramid Records and producer, instrumentalist Billy Sherwood raised the bar with this tribute to The Doors by convening a star-studded cast, featuring classic rockers performing with progressive rock luminaries. And the jazz contingent is onboard, evidenced by jazz guitar great Larry Coryell appearing with Focus keyboardist Thijs Van Leer on Love Me Two ...
Franz Koglmann: Join!
by Eyal Hareuveni
Austrian, Vienna-based composer Franz Koglmann always used music as a means to present his ideas, often provocative perspectives, on cultural phenomena at large. He alienated the American jazz community with A White Line (hatART, 1990), where he sketched an alternative history of jazz based on white innovative musicians. Later he reconstructed the compositional ideas of Johan ...
Eyot: Similarity
by Bruce Lindsay
Atmosphere. That oft-indefinable feel that music can have, the creation of a mood or a sensation that inveigles itself into a listener's mind and captures the imagination. It's not melody, harmony or rhythm but it needs all three. Eyot--a four-piece from Serbia--has a great line in atmosphere, ably demonstrated on the band's third album, Similarity.
Gordon Lee with the Mel Brown Septet: Tuesday Night
by Jack Bowers
For more than sixteen years, jazz fans in and around Portland, Oregon, have had the pleasure of seeing and hearing drummer Mel Brown's hard-blowing Jazz Messengers-style septet each Tuesday Night at Jimmy Mak's nightclub. Among its mainstays is pianist Gordon Lee who has been writing and arranging for the group almost since he enlisted shortly afterward ...
Kerry Politzer: Below the Surface
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Kerry Politzer's relocation to Portland, Oregon seems to have given her music a boost. Always a fine mainstream artist, whether working the trio or quartet modes on Blue in Blue (Piloo Records, 2010) or Labyrinth (Palisonic Records, 2005), now her first Portland disc," Below the Surface, finds her in a common quintet setting--trumpet/saxophone and rhythm ...
Florencia Gonzalez: Between Loves
by Hrayr Attarian
On her second album as a leader, the sumptuous and intimate Between Loves, Montevideo born and New York based saxophonist Florencia Gonzalez elegantly merges a refreshingly innovative spontaneity and a mesmerizing Latin romanticism. The result is a thematically cohesive and multi-textured release that crackles with boppish energy as it draws on motifs from her native culture.

