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Jonathan Bratoeff: Points Of Perception
by Chris May
London-based guitarist Jonathan Bratoeff's Between Lines (F-IRE, 2005) was a collection of edgy small group improvisations which delivered plenty and promised more. The recording placed Bratoeff's classically rooted but adventurous electric guitar--somewhere out of Jimmy Raney, heading in a more abstract direction--alongside the leaders of Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear, respectively: Pete Wareham (tenor saxophone) and ...
Gil Evans: The Complete Pacific Jazz Sessions
by Chris May
If Stan Kenton's ponderous Sophisticated Approach (1961) showed how little jazz it is possible to make with an orchestra the size of Texas, Gil Evans' The Complete Pacific Jazz Sessions shows how much more you can make with a lot less. The CD brings together two collections of brilliantly reimagined standards, New Bottle, Old Wine (1958) ...
Solomon Ilori And His Afro-Drum Ensemble: African High Life
by Chris May
Every now and again, a label pulls a previously unissued session out of the vaults and it proves to be a down-by-law number one with a mango. Candid did it earlier in 2006 with Jamaican tenor saxophonist Wilton Gaynair's Africa Calling (London, 1960). Now it's Blue Note's turn with Solomon Ilori's African High Life (Englewood Cliffs, ...
Alexis Korner: Kornerstoned: The Alexis Korner Anthology 1954-1983
by Chris May
There's a stack of mighty fine jazz and blues music here, just about all of which has stood the passage of time well. But it has to be said that the other chief pleasure of Kornerstoned is historical, and of a train-spotting nature. Korner, known as the Godfather of British Blues during his lifetime (1928-84), was ...
George Cables Trio: A Letter To Dexter
by Chris May
During the final years of Art Pepper's life, from the mid-'70s through 1982, George Cables was the saxophonist's pianist of choice, both live and in the studio. Pepper called Cables Mr. Beautiful--not just for his playing, but also for his warm and loving personality. (In particular, Pepper appreciated Cables' positive attitude to white musicians, which apparently ...
Don Friedman: Piano Works VI: From A To Z
by Chris May
At a venerable 71 years old, California-born pianist Don Friedman still has his formidable technique firmly in place. He's playing with the attack of a young man--and the devil-may-care abandon of a mature artist wholly at ease with himself. The subtitle From A To Z refers to Friedman's friend and collaborator, the Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller ...
Maurice El Medioni meets Roberto Rodriguez: Descarga Oriental: The New York Sessions
by Chris May
The less-traveled byways of cross-cultural exploration sometimes reveal the most fascinating new horizons, and this meld of Cuban and Algerian musics does exactly that. For Descarga Oriental, Cuban-born, New York-resident percussionist Roberto Rodriguez meets Marseilles-based Algerian pianist Maurice El Médioni at the grass roots of Andalusian music, and a rainbow-hued romp of a party breaks out. ...
Eddie Henderson Project: Precious Moment
by Chris May
It's been a good month for Mwandishi alumni. First Bennie Maupin released the fine acoustic astral jazz set Penumbra, the reed player's first album in eight years. And now trumpeter Eddie Henderson has released a well-titled, poised and gorgeous ballads' set, Precious Moment. A new album from Henderson is almost always excellent news. While by no ...
Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid: The Exchange Session Vol. 2
by Chris May
Imagine John Coltrane's Africa/Brass during its most intense and primal passages, and you're getting some idea of what The Exchange Session Vol.2 sounds like--but with a truckload of electronic juju replacing the horns. This is spontaneously created electro-acoustic music at its rawest, most beat-centric and most pile-driving. Steve Reid has been a presence on the experimental, ...
Killer Shrimp: Sincerely Whatever
by Chris May
Anyone who thinks hard bop is a spent creative force, fit only for the nostalgia and retro bins, could do worse than spin Sincerely Whatever. With just a pinch of electronica and a heap of hard blowing attitude, London's Killer Shrimp delivers the message like it's box-fresh. The quartet's debut album is inventive, physical, full of ...
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