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Matt Renzi: Happy Hour
by Dan McClenaghan
Reedman Matt Renzi's Happy Hour is curiously titled, given the music at hand. A “Happy Hour" brings cheap drinks and cacophonous good times in the bar room to mind. The CD of that name opens with a tranquil reverie, as mystical, inward-looking and spiritually directed as a late-period Impulse! John Coltrane rumination. The trio ...
Marcin Wasilewski Trio: Faithful
by Dan McClenaghan
In a parallel universe, it would be interesting to hear the music of a Marcin Wasilewski Trio that hadn't come under the influence of its mentor, Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko. Without him, they surely would have become an accomplished and synergistic group. But in this universe, Wasilewski's trio began recording with their countryman on Soul of ...
Terell Stafford: This Side of Strayhorn
by Dan McClenaghan
Some music just stands out from the crowd, and certainly Billy Strayhorn's tunes do exactly that. What would the great composer/bandleader Duke Ellington have been without his collaborator? He still certainly would have been considered one of the America's greatest artists, but it's hard to imagine an Ellington “greatest hits" offering--if one could be achieved, considering ...
Bill Anschell: Figments
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Bill Anschell normally involves himself in projects that shine with a high polish, recordings like the Wellstone Conspiracy's collaborative Motives (Origin, 2010) and his own More to the Ear than Meets the Eye (Origin, 2006), or in the sideman slot on the marvelous Reunion, led by saxophonists Pete Christlieb and Hadley Caliman. In addition, Anschell ...
Jessica Williams: Freedom Trane
by Dan McClenaghan
Jessica WilliamsFreedom TraneOrigin Records2011 Jessica Williams, one of our top jazz pianists, has evolved since she tossed the record company expectations and jazz games out the window into the thorny rose bushes, and sought out her own way, and found it, via the establishment of her own ...
Ken Peplowski: In Search Of ...
by Dan McClenaghan
The splenetic and hard-nosed clarinetist/bandleader Benny Goodman admired tenor saxophonist Ken Peplowski enough to hire the younger musician on for his last performing band, during the mid-1980s. But the Cleveland, Ohio-born and bred Peplowski's main ax was, in fact, the clarinet. He spent a good part of his early career playing in Polish polka bands, and ...
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers: The Sesjun Radio Shows
by Dan McClenaghan
The old and irksome “but is it jazz" argument has probably never been brought into play when it comes to drummer/bandleader Art Blakey (1919-1990) and his ever-changing line-up of Jazz Messengers. The music Blakey and his usually young players made was most certainly jazz, of the hard bop, hard-charging variety--brash and brightly hued, and joyously swinging. ...
Marc Copland: Crosstalk
by Dan McClenaghan
Rather than form a longstanding band that can soak up his musical vision over a period of years, pianist Marc Copland thrives in a universe of rotating players that keeps things fresh and spontaneous. On his three outstanding New York Trio Recordings, Copland switched bassists (Gary Peacock, Drew Gress) and drummers (Paul Motian, Bill Stewart), versatile ...
Frank Macchia: Son Of Folk Songs For Jazzers
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Frank Macchia keeps racking up the Grammy nominations. He got his third nod for the award with his big band interpretation of “Skip to My Lou," from his Folk Songs for Jazzers (Cacophony, 2010), following up his recognition for Emotions (Cacophony, 2007) and Landscapes (Cacophony 2008). In addition to his work in producing ...
Fred Hess Big Band: Into the Open
by Dan McClenaghan
Denver, Colorado-based tenor saxophonist/bandleader Fred Hess isn't one to sit around and wait for the muse to pay a visit. He boasts fifteen CDs as a leader, cranking one out every year now for better than a decade. His profile rose on the surge of a set of small group outings, beginning with Crossed Paths (Tapestry, ...
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