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Jo-Yu Chen Trio: Incomplete Soul
by Dan McClenaghan
Taiwanese-born pianist Jo-Yu Chen is going somewhere. The cover photo of her Incomplete Soul shows the artist in the back seat of a car, gazing at an indeterminate distance, with a look of quiet, unyielding determination on her face. Her journey with this recording is one of a melding of her classical influences with the improvisational ...
Benny Lackner Trio: Cachuma
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Benny Lackner can do whatever he wants, and says as much with I Can Do Whatever I Want," the opener on his forward-leaning Cachuma. This piano trio outing suggests he wants to nudge the trio setting into a modern groove while giving voice to his own artistic vision.Modernization of the tried and true ...
Juhani Aaltonen and Heikki Sarmanto: Conversations
by Dan McClenaghan
Many musicians from other countries come to the United States to study their art and then remain to build careers. Others, like saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen and pianist Heikki Sarmanto, both from Finland, attended programs in the US--in both cases at Boston's Berklee College--and then returned home to perform and record.With a history of five ...
David Bennett Thomas: Jazz Portrait
by Dan McClenaghan
One of America's top literary voices in crime fiction, T. Jefferson Parker says that after he finishes reading a good book he feels nourished. A sense of nourishment can also come from listening to a good piece of music, regardless of genre. Pianist David Bennett Thomas, who may be better known for his classical compositions--his Piano ...
Rick Stone Trio: Fractals
by Dan McClenaghan
Trio recordings hold a special place in jazz. Bass and drums, teaming with a piano or guitar, give the front man the most room for instrumental self expression (saxophone out front is a different matter). Though he may not be the busiest of guitarists in terms of recording, with a good stretch of time between Samba ...
Frank Macchia: Frank Macchia's Swamp Thang
by Dan McClenaghan
You never can tell what some jazz guys have up their sleeves. Los Angeles-based reedman Frank Macchia has worked extensively in television and movies, while maintaining a busy jazz career. His two orchestral jazz outings--Emotions (2006) and Landscapes (2008)--each garnered Grammy nominations, and he has also offered up two very distinctive jazz re-imaginings of traditional fare ...
Mike Wofford / Holly Hofmann Quintet: Turn Signal
by Dan McClenaghan
Down in out-of-the-way San Diego, California (that's out-of-the-way in a New York-centric jazz world), flautist Holly Hofmann and pianist Mike Wofford have been steadily making world-class jazz for a couple of decades. Wofford--who has spent much of his career in supporting roles, backing vocalists Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, saxophonists Zoot Sims and Benny Carter, and ...
Pete Zimmer: Prime of Life
by Dan McClenaghan
Prime of Life, drummer Pete Zimmer's fifth recording as a leader, has a clean, crisp, soulful sound. The players of the quartet--all top-notch musicians--meld their talents into a polished cohesion. Zimmer is a fine drummer capable of impeccable timekeeping and intricate, though usually subtle percussive flourishes. Zimmer's music, with its tight grooves, sounds like heartland jazz, ...
Pat Mallinger Quartet featuring Bill Carrothers: Home on Richmond
by Dan McClenaghan
Minneapolis/St. Paul-bred Pete Mallinger, steeped in the tradition of saxophonists Charles Lloyd, Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, opens Home on Richmond with Lloyd's Third Floor Richard." The Chicago-based saxophonist's quartet takes the tune on a wild ride, like a jalopy with a bad wheel alignment careening down a mountain road with questionable brakes. It's a loose-jointed, ...
Bryan and the Haggards: Still Alive and Kickin' Down the Walls
by Dan McClenaghan
Still Alive and Kickin' Down the Walls is the second foray into an unlikely marriage of free jazz and the Bakersfield, California, country sound of the legendary Merle Haggard, a follow-up to the pairing's raucous honeymoon, Pretend It's the End of the World (Hot Cup Records, 2010). Saxophonist Bryan Murray leads this outfit, a rowdy, rough ...


