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Bojan Z Tetraband: Humus
by Chris May
The rocket fuelled, electro-acoustic Tetraband quartet began life as a trio pianist Bojan Zulfikarpasic formed with drummer Sebastian Rochford and electric bassist Ruth Goller in 2007. Paris-based Z grew up in what was then Yugoslavia, and the Balkans' dance rhythms have long been a feature of his playing. On tour in Europe, Rochford and Goller, both ...
Disassembler: What Is
by Chris May
It's a broad church, but British guitarist Trevor Warren's Disassembler comes out of the same genre mashing movement as bands like Acoustic Ladyland, Polar Bear, Led Bib and trioVD. Each has crafted an individual spin on jazz/rock/dance collision, from Acoustic Ladyland's seminal three-minute punk thrashes, extended by Led Bib and trioVD to include more collective and ...
Verve Originals: Gato Barbieri / Paul Desmond / Gerry Mulligan / Wes Montgomery
by Chris May
Verve's admirable, no frills, reissue series, “Originals," includes a mixture of masterpieces and also-rans from its own and its associated labels' archives. This trio of albums from the September 2009 batch includes one near masterpiece, saxophonist Gato Barbieri's Chapter Three: Viva Emiliano Zapata; an outstanding blowing session, saxophonists Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond's Blues In Time; ...
NYNDK / Steffen Schleiermacher: Two-Way Jazz-Classical Traffic
by Chris May
The interface between jazz and classical music is long, diverse, sometimes overblown and sometimes rewarding. Here are three albums in the rewarding category. The fall 2009 release of NYNDK's The Hunting Of The Snark, putting into a jazz context compositions by Charles Ives, Arne Nordham, Edvard Grieg, George Perle, Carl Neilsen and Per Norgard, is complemented ...
Komeda Project: Requiem
by Chris May
Despite the snowballing emergence of European jazz musicians on the world stage, relatively few European jazz composers have, in 2009, made it into the global repertory, which continues to be dominated by American voices. Perhaps it always will be, and perhaps local singularities--Italian or British or Scandinavian or whatever--are in any case better treasured, rather than ...
Fela Kuti: The Best Of The Black President
by Chris May
Twelve years after his death, activity around the legacy of Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti is growing exponentially and the US, finally, is getting in on the act. Choreographer Bill T. Jones' musical, Fela, is to open on Broadway on November 23, 2009, and meanwhile New York's Knitting Factory label has begun a reissue program which will, ...
Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart
by Chris May
An exemplary adventure in cross-cultural music making, banjoist Béla Fleck's Throw Down Your Heart deserves every bit of hyperbole that is going to be thrown at it. The third volume in Fleck's Tales From The Acoustic Planet series, it's subtitled “Africa Sessions" and finds him in East and West Africa, mostly on field recordings or in ...
Part 5 - Revival & Revolution
by Chris May
Various ArtistsAfrobeat RevivalRough Guide2009 When Fela Kuti died in 1997, it seemed, for a while, as though Afrobeat might have died with him. So colossal was Kuti's role in the music, and so few were the young pretenders to his throne, that the vacuum left by his ...
Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins: Celebrating Prestige's 60th Anniversary
by Chris May
In fall 2009, the Prestige label is celebrating its 60th Anniversary with a series of compilations and remasters. In October, the Side Steps box set was released, chronicling saxophonist John Coltrane's sideman legacy with the label. In November, there's a compilation of sessions recorded by trumpeter Miles Davis with saxophonist Sonny Rollins, The Classic Prestige Sessions ...
Mayra Andrade: Storia Storia
by Chris May
Seemingly coming out of nowhere in 2007, singer Mayra Andrade single handedly rebooted the prevailing stereotype of Cape Verdean music with her debut album, Navega (Sterns). Sunny and gorgeously melodic, the disc provided a counterweight to the anguished oeuvre of Cesaria Evora, the “Barefoot Diva" who had been the international voice of Cape Verdean popular music ...
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