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Jo-Yu Chen: Savage Beauty
by Dan McClenaghan
The cover art of pianist Jo-Yu Chen's fourth album, Savage Beauty, is provocative and beautiful. So is the music. There is a sense of a “stepping up of the game," in terms of public persona and artistry. Chen has always taken the physical product—the hard copy of her CDs—seriously, beginning with her debut, Obsession (Sony Music ...
Andreas Haddeland Trio: Nyskudd
by Dan McClenaghan
Norwegian guitarist Andreas Haddeland's second trio recording, Nyskudd, is an unpretentious affair. The group improvises inside a melodic landscape, creating something that might be called Nordic country sounds. The group dynamic embraces equality on input and a gorgeous interplay within balladic and atmospheric compositions. Haddeland's guitar wouldn't sound out of place in an American ...
Benny Lackner Trio: Drake
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Benny Lackner was born in Germany, but moved to the United States at thirteen years of age. He spent his formative years in California, and received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts. Studies with pianist Brad Mehldau followed. Then, at thirty years of age, Lackner returned to Berlin from his adopted New ...
Ernest Turner: My Americana
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Ernest Turner could have gone after the Great American Songbook--Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Lerner and Loewe--a repertoire he has learned well. Instead, on My Americana, he turns toward the sounds that reflect how he grew up, music taken from the African-American experience, with tunes from Thelonious Monk, Kenny Kirkland, Stevie Wonder and Fats Waller, along ...
Johnathan Blake: Trion
by Dan McClenaghan
Johnathan Blake, an in-demand drummer who has contributed to recordings by trumpeter Tom Harrell and guitarist Russell Malone, presents an ambitious two-CD set, Trion, a chordless trio affair with a pair of fellow first-callers, saxophonist Chris Potter and bassist Linda May Han Oh. The ground was broken for this particular format by saxophonist Sonny Rollins' A ...
Dom Minasi: Remembering Cecil
by Dan McClenaghan
Guitarist Dom Minasi counts the late pianist Cecil Taylor (1929-2018) as one of his idols. Taylor was among the true pioneers of free jazz, with free-flying ensemble recordings like Unit Structures (Blue Note, 1966), Conquistador (Blue Note, 1967), and scores of solo piano outings, notably including Silent Tongues (Freedom, 1974), and For Olim (Soul Note, 1986). ...
Casper Nyvang Rask's "Slow Evolution Ensemble": Slow Evolution Ensemble
by Dan McClenaghan
Artists presenting their debut album usually draw heavily on their influences, and end up sounding like them, in a watered down way. Danish bassist Casper Nyvang Rask takes a different tangent, assembling his “Slow Evolution Ensemble"—five reeds, two drummers, and two double bass players—to create a unique and personal sound of an engaging avant-garde variety.
The OGJB Quartet: Bamako
by Dan McClenaghan
Finland's TUM Records started out the year 2019 with two compelling releases, Around Again, an innovative piano trio set from Finish pianist Iro Haarla exploring the compositions of Carla Bley, with bassist Ulf Krokfors and drummer Barry Altschul; and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's terrific Rosa Parks: Pure Love. They follow up this opening salvo with the ...
Marcio Garcia: Forest
by Dan McClenaghan
Debut records are a treat when the artist has the goods, doesn't overreach and try to show off everything he can do, which is the case with Marcio Garcia's Forest. Pianist Garcia—born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and now based in New York City—offers up this, his first recording, a mostly trio affair which reveals an ...
Yaniv Taubenhouse Trio: Perpetuation: Moments In Trio Volume Two
by Dan McClenaghan
Anyone with an antenna out for an exciting, new(ish) piano trio would do well to give Yaniv Taubenhouse a listen. The Israeli-born and now New York-based pianist offers up his third recording, tagged Perpetuation: Moments In Trio Volume Two, bringing to mind Brad Mehldau's five Art of the Trio recordings on Warner Brothers Records, released between ...
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