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Results for "Dan McClenaghan"

257

Article: Extended Analysis

Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motian: Live at Birdland

by Dan McClenaghan
June 9, 2011

Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/MotianLive at BirdlandECM Records2011 The tunes are familiar, Great American Songbook and jazz standards all. So for those unfamiliar with the names involved in this quartet outing, the old complaint of “same old same old" could surface. But with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz at the top of ...

118

Article: Album Review

Colin Vallon Trio: Rruga

Read "Rruga" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 7, 2011

The piano trio--piano, bass and drums--can seem something of an anachronism in a time when musical artists make use of synthesizers, electronics, laptops and loops to craft their sounds. But scores of pianists still go to the acoustic trio format as one of their primary means of expression. In looking toward jazz veterans, Keith Jarrett and ...

272

Article: Extended Analysis

Bill Carrothers Trio: A Night at the Village Vanguard

by Dan McClenaghan
May 30, 2011

Bill Carrothers Trio A Night At The Village Vanguard Pirouet Records 2011 Maybe everything that goes down in New York's Village Vanguard should be documented. The history of live albums recorded at the legendary venue, going back to the early days, includes standout sets by pianist Bill Evans and saxophonists ...

117

Article: Album Review

Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica: Third River Rangoon

Read "Third River Rangoon" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 22, 2011

The “Mr. Ho" of Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica is vibraphonist Brian O'Neil, who has put together a vibraphone quartet, also featuring flute, percussion and bass, for Third River Rangoon. The music, dubbed “exotica," drifts back and forth across the less than distinct border between third stream chamber jazz and classical, with hints of world music influenced by ...

168

Article: Album Review

Jim Snidero: Interface

Read "Interface" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 18, 2011

Alto saxophonist Jim Snidero is a masterful mainstream jazz man, though he's proven his versatility and overall musical acumen, including a third stream lean, on his Strings (Fantasy Jazz, 2003), a set that featured a jazz quartet teamed with strings. Interface finds Snidero back in a straight-ahead frame of mind, teamed, for his ...

131

Article: Album Review

Matt Renzi: Happy Hour

Read "Happy Hour" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 7, 2011

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 ...

137

Article: Album Review

Marcin Wasilewski Trio: Faithful

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by Dan McClenaghan
May 4, 2011

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 ...

187

Article: Album Review

Terell Stafford: This Side of Strayhorn

Read "This Side of Strayhorn" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 1, 2011

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 ...

345

Article: Album Review

Bill Anschell: Figments

Read "Figments" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
April 24, 2011

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 ...

170

Article: Extended Analysis

Jessica Williams: Freedom Trane

by Dan McClenaghan
April 15, 2011

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 ...