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Dan Pitt Trio: Stages

by Dan McClenaghan
Shades of Link Ray's Rumble," from 1958. Shades of Dick Dale's 1963 hit Miserlou." Shades of every guitar/bass/drum band that has ever set up in someone's garage in an attempt to work on their hard rock and roll chops, trying to become the next heavy metal band to hit the charts. Canadian guitarist Dan ...
Maddie Vogler: While We Have Time

by Dan McClenaghan
In the introduction to alto saxophonist Maddie Vogler's debut recording, While We Have Time, are two striking images. The first is the cover shot, a pair of venerable unmatched hands, depicting those of the artist's immigrant grandmothers, beautifully and simply adorned. The second image is the inside photo of a vibrant young woman, an alto saxophone ...
Henry Hey: Trio: Ri-Metos

by Dan McClenaghan
Henry Hey's name may be unfamiliar to some--he is more of a collaborator than a headline hog--but a good percentage of us have heard his music. He played piano for Rod Stewart during the singer's Great American Songbook phase, and he contributed to David Bowie's 2013 comeback album, The Next Day (Columbia Records), served as musical ...
Bellbird: Root In Tandem

by Dan McClenaghan
Give Canada's Bellbird credit as they come right out of the gate with a chip-on-the-shoulders confidence. Their debut, Root In Tandem, looks like one of those late-50s/early-60s, time-themed Dave Brubeck albums. Credit the gorgeous abstract cover painting. The cover art, though, is where the Brubeck comparison ends. Bellbird is a chordless quartet, with Claire Devlin and ...
Michael Ragonese: Stracci

by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Michael Ragonese is called Rags, a nickname given to him in childhood that stuck. His sophomore effort is entitled Stracci which means rags in Italian--a more musical sound than its English equivalent. It is a piano trio outing, a top-notch one. Ragonese's musical backstory is a common one. He began in classical studies ...
Matt Otto: Umbra

by Dan McClenaghan
This music--nine Matt Otto originals--has the feeling of shadowy sounds. Shapes without defined borders emerge. On the opener, Little Things," the core trio--the leader plus bassist Jeff Harshbarger and drummer John Kizilarmut--are joined by Fender Rhodes player Matt Villinger and guitarist Alex Frank. The electronic resonance gives the sound an alluring and shadowy blur, as does ...
Chad McCullough: The Charm of Impossibilities

by Dan McClenaghan
Trumpeter Chad McCullough encountered classical composer Olivier Messiaen's Quator pour la fin du temps" back in the early days of his jazz career. That music was written in 1940 by Messiaen to be played by a chamber ensemble consisting of the composer's fellow inmates in a German prison camp. McCullough's The Charm Of Impossibilities ...
Charu Suri: Raga Rag No. 1 (Bhimpalas)

by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Charu Suri was raised in Chennai, India, a place that influenced her artistry. New Orleans, another of her influences, lies a hemisphere away. A transplant from India to the United States, Suri brought the musical roots of Hindustani (North Indian) music to her new home. When she found her way to the Big Easy, she ...
Gordon Lee: How Can It Be?

by Dan McClenaghan
For a couple of years the Covid virus did its damnedest to shut the music down, especially the experience of live shows. During that downtime, pianist, composer & bandleader Gordon Lee put his idled hands to work practicing and composing new music. At his wife's urging, he also began a series of front porch concerts, casual ...
Between The Devil And the Deep Blue Sea

by Dan McClenaghan
When the wife invites the ladies over for Mahjong, I get out of the house. They're a great bunch, but they play the game like it's a blood sport. Fractious trash-talk melodies. Clacking, tile-smacking-the-table percussion. Wild ear-piercing laughter... So I drove down to the beach, Ella Fitzgerald singing about the devil and the deep ...