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Gordon Grdina/Mark Helias/Matthew Shipp: Pathways

by Dan McClenaghan
Gordon Grdina, guitarist and oud player, has cranked things up into high gear in terms of CD release productivity. This is a good thing. When artists regularly release albums--two to four or five or six a year, which was common during Blue Note Records' heyday in the late 1950s and early 60s--their artistry evolves more quickly. ...
Charles Lloyd: Trios: Chapel

by Dan McClenaghan
Blue Note Records has a history of boasting strong stables of players. In the 1950s and 60s, we could look to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter--and if ever there was an incomplete list compiled, that one is it. Time rolls on. Twenty years (or thereabouts) into ...
Alex Lakusta: Transmit Slow

by Dan McClenaghan
Canadian bassist Alex Lakusta goes into a funk mode on Transmit Slow. His group, E3 by Alex Lakusta, exudes a fun vibe on the first tune, Trick Shot," the opening salvo on a set of seven of the leader's modernistic originals. Joined by fellow Canadians Josh Smiley on keyboards and synths and drummer Keagan Eskritt, along ...
Walt Weiskopf European Quartet: Diamonds and Other Jewels

by Dan McClenaghan
Two distinct types of jazz album have emerged in the difficult Covid pandemic times: the do-it-yourself statements, usually recorded in a home studio, often with internet sound swapping; and the pent-up energy, post-pandemic energy bursts, musicians getting together again after a year or more of minimal in-person collaboration. Diamonds And Other Jewels, from the Walt Weiskopf ...
George Crotty Trio: Chronotope

by Dan McClenaghan
Surf the web in search of the word chronotope" and encounter explanations concerning literary theory of philosophy and language to describe how time and space are represented in language..." And so on. A bit cerebral for the layman, perhaps, but Chronotope, from cellist George Crotty and his trio, seems not all that brainy. Visceral, perhaps, and ...
Wadada Leo Smith: The Emerald Duets

by Dan McClenaghan
Wadada Leo Smith's music is often celestial, but the man himself is of this Earthof America, in particular, the progeny of people brought to the Western Hemisphere involuntarily. People who have historically been treated as less than human, for the sin" of having dark skin. This goes on. The true sin, the flames of racism, are ...
Kate Wyatt: Artifact

by Dan McClenaghan
At this point, in June of 2022, there is not a lot of internet chatter concerning Montreal-based pianist Kate Wyatt. Her website does not include a biography. But a trip to YouTube land reveals a bit of music from her debut CD release, Artifact. That may be all anyone needs in terms of an introduction. It ...
Antonio Flinta: Secrets of a Kiri Tree

by Dan McClenaghan
After the release of several trio and quartet albums, Antonio Flinta, a Chilean-born pianist now based in Italy, tries on the solo piano format for size. He wears it well. Secrets Of A Kiri Tree features Flinta alone at the keyboard, exploring three of his engagingly melodic originals along with four covers, including Thelonious Monk's 'Round ...
Felipe Salles, Zaccao Curtis, Avery Sharpe, Jonathan Butler: Tiyo's Songs Of Life

by Dan McClenaghan
Embarking on an errant path in his youth led saxophonist Tiyo Attallah Salah-El to life in prison, without the possibility of parole. That is about as grim as it gets, but Salah-El, rather than giving in to defeat, turned himself into a behind-the-bars composer, author and activist. He passed in 2018, but his music came to ...
Dmitri Matheny: Cascadia

by Dan McClenaghan
Flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny and his quintet play perfectly on Cascadia. There is no surprise therewith a rhythm section of pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Phil Sparks and drummer Mark Ivester backing the front line of Matheny and saxophonist Charles McNeil perfection is the expectation. Matheny grew up in Georgia and Arizona, spent a formative and ...