Home » Search Center » Results: Chris May
Results for "Chris May"
Dan Berglund's Tonbruket: Dan Berglund's Tonbruket
by Chris May
Since the death of pianist Esbjörn Svensson in summer 2008, a few months before the release of e.s.t.'s Leucocyte (ACT Music, 2008)--an album which seemed to promise a second revolutionary stage in the Swedish group's music--fans have been obliged to look elsewhere for rock-infused reorientations of the piano trio tradition. There have been plenty of places ...
Fringe Magnetic: Empty Spaces
by Chris May
Trumpeter Rory Simmons' Fringe Magnetic was a highlight of the F-IRE Collective's festival launching London's smart new concert venue, Kings Place, in late 2008. Now we have the CD, which is released by F-IRE's fraternal co-activists, the LOOP Collective. The distinction between these two collectives, never rigid, is becoming increasingly blurred, as musicians move to and ...
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: I Speak Fula
by Chris May
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba I Speak Fula Sub Pop! 2010 Much has been made of the symbiosis between traditional Malian and roots North American musics, of which the “desert blues" of guitarist Ali Farka Toure (1939-2006) provides convincing evidence. Any remaining doubts about west African savannah-belt culture ...
John Turville Trio: Midas
by Chris May
If the carefully composed, monochrome cover art of the John Turville Trio's debut album suggests the ECM label's house style, the coincidence is appropriate. Midas is high-end piano trio jazz, beautifully recorded (in Italy). It consists in the main of tunes written by pianist Turville, is shot through with muscular lyricism, and resonates with the work ...
Christian Scott: Yesterday You Said Tomorrow
by Chris May
Trumpeter Christian Scott started raising expectations in 2006, with Rewind That (Concord), and hit the spot again in 2007 and 2008. Those earlier promises of greatness are clinched by Yesterday You Said Tomorrow. Scott's fourth Concord album is a gym-ripped amalgam of edgy jazz, hip hop and rock rhythms, off-kilter ostinatos, intimate rhapsodies and full-on passions, ...
Pat Metheny: Orchestrion
by Chris May
In a career waymarked by innovation and the unexpected, guitarist Pat Metheny, at age 55, has pulled another surprise out of the pack. This time it's his use of an orchestrion, a steam age contraption which plays a battery of real instruments--wind, percussion, fretboard and keyboard--blown or struck by mechanical devices. In the nineteenth century, orchestrions ...
Chicago Underground Duo: Boca Negra
by Chris May
Drummer Chad Taylor's and cornetist Rob Mazurek's intention with Boca Negra is to present the listener with “an emotional experience that transcends the idea of genre or label." The principle of inclusiveness starts with the recording location, Sao Paulo in Brazil, and continues through to the album's packaging: the cover shot was taken on the shore ...
Part 6 - Brooklyn's Akoya Afrobeat
by Chris May
Akoya AfrobeatP.D.P. President Dey PassAfrobomb Music2008 Among the spin-off benefits which are following the success of the hit Broadway musical Fela!, and the attendant media interest in Afrobeat, is the revitalization of the Brooklyn band Akoya Afrobeat. Formed in 2002, Akoya was off radar for much of ...
Marco Benevento & Friends: Live In NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency
by Chris May
Marco Benevento & Friends Live In NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency The Royal Potato Family 2009 In January 2008, coinciding with the release of his monumental gumbo of retro-modern jazz, rock, pop and funk, Invisible Baby (Hyena, 2008), pianist Marco Benevento took over New York's then brand new ...
Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio: Constellations
by Chris May
When hatOLOGY put it out back in summer 2009, pianist Horace Tapscott's mother lode of groove, The Dark Tree, originally released in 1991, looked like a serious contender for best reissue of the year. It's still a player--but so too is trumpeter Dave Douglas' Tiny Bell Trio's Constellations, which slips under the wire at the eleventh ...
Album Showcase
Trending
Jazz Raconteurs
Julius Hemphill: Marty Ehrlich and Tim Berne Remember a...
In Tribute To...
John Coltrane At 100: A Global Perspective
History of Jazz
John Coltrane in Detroit: A Brief History
Live Review
Detroit Jazz Festival 2026: A Gathering in a Great Jazz City
Profile
Sequoia Snyder: Growing in the Light of the Masters
Interview
Jasur Khalilov: From Falak to Fusion
Reanimating Conversations Past
Charlie Haden: Anatomy of a Jazz Classic
VOTE!
