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Marc Copland Quartet: Someday
by Dan McClenaghan
Marc Copland is a former saxophonist who found his instrument artistically confining for the purposes of expressing his vision. So he called on his childhood piano training (synaptic memories intact) to make the switch to the keyboard. The results have been magic. His artistry with the 88s is second only to the late Bill Evans, and ...
Dan McClenaghan's Top Jazz Recordings of 2022
by Dan McClenaghan
The top jazz recordings of 2022, in no particular order. Justin MorellExit Music For Intelligent Life On Earth Sonic Frenzy Records A provocative and beautiful guitar and drums album. Guitarist Justin Morell has teamed with drummer Mark Ferber (see postscript concerning Ferber at the end of this article) to construct ...
Bye Bye Blackbird
by Dan McClenaghan
Carter Johnson quad-caned his way out to his patio with a glass of whiskey and water in his hand, ice cubes tinkling like piano notes as he did his damnedest not to spill a drop. The cane steadied his unsteady gait. The whiskey had been measured out parsimoniously by Carter's wife, Olivia. In her mind, a ...
Oddgeir Berg Trio: While We Wait For A Brand New Day
by Dan McClenaghan
Writing about Norway's Oddgier Berg trio and discussing the group's terrific debut album Before Dawn (Ozella Music, 2018), one reviewer said that Berg and his mates were “A group to keep an eye and both ears on." That writer was spot on. The trio followed up that auspicious first effort with In the End ...
Thomas Marriott: Live From the Heat Dome
by Dan McClenaghan
Trumpeter Thomas Marriott settled into his groove on the Seattle-based Origin Records. He released more than a dozen discs under his own name there, including the gorgeous Romance Language (2020), a striking ballad set, and Trumpet Ship (2018), a high-energy bop workout. And then there was Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson (Origin Records, 2008), described ...
Scenes: Variable Clouds: Live at the Earshot Jazz Festival
by Dan McClenaghan
The group Scenes has released seven excellent albums over two decades of recording together, beginning with their eponymous debut (Origin Records, 2001). All of those are studio efforts. The group's 2022 outing, Variable Clouds is a first for Scenes--their first album recorded live in front of an audience, in 2021 at the Earshot Jazz Festival.
Stefano Travaglini/Achille Succi: Book Of Innocence
by Dan McClenaghan
Book Of Innocence, an album from pianist Stefano Travaglini and reedist Achille Succi, opens with a tune entitled “Rothko," taking inspiration from the Russian-born abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. The music is an edgy, frenetic romp. It sounds like a near out-of-control roll by a pair of skateboarders careening down a steep and winding mountain road, ...
Franco Ambrosetti: Nora
by Dan McClenaghan
Franco Ambrosetti's album is called simply Nora. Short and sweet, four letters, two syllables. But it could easily have been called “Franco Ambrosetti with Strings," as the Swiss flugelhornist & trumpeter follows the orchestral path of alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and his groundbreaking Charlie Parker With Strings (Verve, 1950), trumpeter Chet Baker's Chet Baker with Strings ...
Benjamin Lackner: Last Decade
by Dan McClenaghan
In a 2006 interview for All About Jazz written by Joao Moriera dos Santos, pianist/keyboardist Benjamin Lackner was asked: “What label would you like to be on in the near future?" He said, simply, “ECM." That seemed ambitious for Lackner at that stage of his career. He was 29 years old at the time and boasted ...
Collin Sherman: Organism Made Luminous
by Dan McClenaghan
The Covid pandemic slowed artistic progress for many musicians. Opportunities to collaborate became scarce; live music in front of an audience blinked out. However, the enterprising players out there found a way. File sharing and solo projects blossomed, and these—along with the relative affordability of home studio set ups—had an invigorating effect on musical creativity. If ...
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