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Billy Hart & The WDR Big Band: The Broader Picture
by Dan Bilawsky
A great teacher's influence can be unusually powerful and completely unbound, fixed to specific moments and lessons in a student's mind while also reverberating through time and space. You simply never know where it may lead, what doors it may unlock, or what wonders and worlds it may help to create. That's the subtext in the ...
Michael Blanco: Spirit Forward
by Dan Bilawsky
Spirit Forward carries several connotations in its name and sound. First there's the overt reference to bartender terminology and the way it connects to the music presented by the feisty and flexible foursome of bassist Michael Blanco, saxophonist John Ellis, pianist Kevin Hays, and drummer Clarence Penn. A spirit-forward cocktail is one which focuses on enhancing ...
Jonathan Finlayson: Moving Still
by Dan Bilawsky
If the title of trumpeter-composer Jonathan Finlayson's sophomore outing doesn't fully express his keenness in balancing conceptual grounding and rigor with fly-to-the-outer-limits expressiveness, the music certainly does. Moving Still--the highly anticipated follow up to Moment And The Message (Pi Recordings, 2013)--finds Finlayson doing what he does best: offsetting intricate lines and latticework with episodes of openness, ...
Hilary Gardner and Ehud Asherie at Caffè Vivaldi
by Dan Bilawsky
Hilary Gardner and Ehud Asherie Caffè Vivaldi New York, NY October 1, 2016 Visitors, curious natives, and jazz neophytes will often ask the same question when they come looking for the music in New York: Where's the best place to see and hear jazz? The answer, of course, is not ...
In Jazz We Trust: On The Politically Inspired Work Of Delfeayo Marsalis and Ted Nash
by Dan Bilawsky
The current state of American politics--a veritable cesspool that makes reality television seem sane by comparison--leaves little to feel good about. Moral compasses are skewed, elected officials bicker like fractious toddlers, and candidates ranging from the lunatic sybarite variety to the bumptiously insincere seek the highest office in the land with strong approval from the loud ...
Ron Carter Quartet & Vitoria Maldonado: Brasil L.I.K.E
by Dan Bilawsky
The road that connects Brazilian music and jazz--the essential thematic nexus on this collaborative venture that brings bassist Ron Carter (and his quartet), vocalist Vitoria Maldonado, Ruria Duprat's Brasilian Orchestra, and a handful of guest soloists into the same line of thinking--has always been a two way street, as both forms benefit and borrow from one ...
Eric St-Laurent: Planet
by Dan Bilawsky
Given the fact that guitarist Eric St-Laurent pulls from many different places and styles in his work, it's tempting to consider him a musical polyglot. The truth, however, is that he really only speaks a single language--his own, which just so happens to be influenced and informed by everything from Afro-Cuban grooves to bebop lines, classical ...
Jimmy Scott: I Go Back Home: A Story About Hoping And Dreaming
by Dan Bilawsky
Sadness naturally hovers like a black cloud over life's December days, but hope and joy can often find a way to peak through the overcast skies. That's a message that comes through most clearly on Jimmy Scott's beautiful parting gift to the world. I Go Back Home manages to serve as swan song, ...
Paolo Fresu & Omar Sosa featuring Natacha Atlas & Jaques Morelenbaum: Eros
by Dan Bilawsky
While the connection between Cuban pianist Omar Sosa and Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu was established back in 2006, their partnership truly blossomed with Alma (Ota Music, 2012), a beauty of an album with a soft sell approach. That record--quite possibly the most moving item in either man's discography--prioritized heart over all else, and this follow-up date ...
Sara Serpa & André Matos: All The Dreams
by Dan Bilawsky
There may be no combination better capable of painting and promoting aural iridescence than that of vocalist Sara Serpa and guitarist André Matos. The work they've produced together, both on their first duo album--Primavera (Inner Circle Music, 2014)--and on this alluring outing, pits consistency against the transient nature of sonic coloration in understated yet spectacular fashion. ...


