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14

Article: Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: Najwa

Read "Najwa" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's introductory liner notes to Najwa begin with Muddy Waters, so we'll begin there, too. Wadada Leo Smith was born in 1941, in Leland, Mississippi, around the time Alan Lomax showed up down in Clarksdale, Miss., to record--among many others--McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters. The Lomax field recordings of Waters and ...

10

Article: Album Review

Tom Rainey Obliggato: Float Upstream

Read "Float Upstream" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Drummer Tom Rainey's reputation runs toward the “outside." His “worked with" resume speaks loudest perhaps from his collaborations with saxophonist Tim Berne--not a guy given to relaxing into a reverent take of, say,  "What's New" or “Stella By Starlight." So a set of the familiar standards from Rainey comes as a bit of a surprise.

7

Article: Album Review

Lena Bloch & Feathery: Heart Knows

Read "Heart Knows" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Lena Bloch mocks the “sophomore jinx" myth with her second CD release, Heart Knows. The tenor saxophonist's debut, Feathery, drew a good deal of well-deserved praise. With her saxophone intertwined with a responsive guitar/bass/drums rhythm section, Bloch paid tribute--in part--to pianist Lennie Tristano, via her relationship with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz. On Heart Knows, Bloch moves ...

3

Article: Album Review

VEIN: VEIN plays Ravel

Read "VEIN plays Ravel" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), the classical French composer/arranger, was an early embracer of jazz. He included elements of the then new music into some of his own later compositions. Jazz has--since the 1940s, initially under the guise of what became called the Third Stream, pioneered in part by Gunther Schuller--often married classical stylings with the quintessentially American ...

11

Article: Album Review

Mario Pavone Dialect Trio: Chrome

Read "Chrome" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Piano trios seeking a level of parity of instrumental input are common. Those who achieve a high level of piano/bass/drums democracy develop a group sound born of a melding of musical personalities. With strong personalities all around--as on the Mario Pavone Dialect Trio--a beautiful tumult is born. Chrome is bassist Pavone's second Dialect Trio ...

7

Article: Album Review

Guilhem Flouzat: A Thing Called Joe

Read "A Thing Called Joe" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Drummer Guilhem Flouzat, gearing up for his third recording as a leader, had meant to steer his music along the path he'd taken on his sophomore album, Portraits (Sunnyside Records, 2015)—a rotating cast of musicians laying down a batch of the leader's eloquent compositions. But a post card slipped through the mail slot suggesting a step ...

7

Article: Album Review

Satoko Fujii: Aspiration

Read "Aspiration" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

The teaming of pianist Satoko Fujii with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, both artists possessed of unwavering and uncompromising artistic visions, comes to life with Aspiration. Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura, Fujii's husband and musical partner is here too, as is laptop/electronics wizardess, Ikue Mori, making it a quartet of iconoclasts. Smith and Tamura, two of the ...

6

Article: Album Review

Hazelrigg Brothers: Songs We Like

Read "Songs We Like" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

George Hazelrigg, pianist, and bassist Geoff Hazelrigg, The Hazelrigg Brothers, are owners of Hazelrigg Industries, a company that markets high-end audio gear; and they have crafted a high-end musical statement with Songs We Like, an inviting piano trio effort built mostly around popular rock songs. Jimi Hendrix is here; so is Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull's frontman, ...

6

Article: Album Review

Garry Dial: Rediscovered Ellington

Read "Rediscovered Ellington" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

When a Duke Ellington disc spins, it's always a joyful noise. In addition to his own seemingly countless recordings, stellar tributes to Ellington often shine by reinterpreting the classic sound--the Count Basie Orchestra's Count Plays Duke (MAMA Records, 1998); Joyful Noise: a Tribute To Duke Ellington by Don Sebesky; and The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra's In ...

5

Article: Album Review

Martial Solal & Dave Liebman: Masters In Bordeaux

Read "Masters In Bordeaux" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

This should have happened a long time ago. Veteran jazz icons Martial Solal and Dave Liebman had never played together before the the Paris jazz club dates that served as a warm-up of sorts for this set, Masters In Bordeaux, recorded at the Jazz And Wine Festival in Bordeaux, France. Paris-based pianist Solal, ninety ...


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