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Anthony Bruno: Blue Velvet
by Dan McClenaghan
Chicago-based saxophonist Anthony Bruno wraps up a terrific triptych of album releases with 2025's Blue Velvet. The journey began with the release of his album Anthony Bruno (2023), followed by Cefalu (2024). All of these are on his Anthony Bruno Music label. Bruno counts Sonny Rollins as a major influence. He says as much in the ...
Atzko Kohashi & Tony Overwater: Porgy
by Dan McClenaghan
George Gershwin's 1935 folk opera, Porgy and Bess, a quintessentially American masterpiece, has had its share of jazz interpretations. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald visited the work in 1957 on Verve Records. Pianist Oscar Peterson dug into the Gershwin score--again, on Verve--in 1959. But the most notable rendition is the Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaboration Porgy and ...
Mark Masters Ensemble: Sam Rivers 100
by Dan McClenaghan
The Mark Masters Ensemble released Porgy and Bess Redefined! (Capri Records) in 2005. The music was taken from the George Gershwin/DuBose Heyward English-language opera, which was first performed in 1935. Masters' take on the classic was brilliantly expressed by the ensemble, who dug into his adventurous charts with freedom mixed with respect for the familiar and ...
Piano Plus: Two Enhanced Solo Piano Sets
by Dan McClenaghan
Is the piano enough? Keith Jarrett, notably, made a big name for himself with his improvised solo piano outings. Jessica Williams composed, in real time, making magic alone at the keyboard. Fred Hersch has crafted masterpieces in the solo piano mode. The ever-versatile Brad Mehldau has produced many shining moments sitting down alone at the piano. ...
Premazzi / Nasser Quartet: From What I Recall
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Simona Premazzi began her journey in Italy, in a small town on the outskirts of Milano. She took her early musical education in her homeland and moved to New York in 2004. She made a name for herself there--no easy task. Her on-the-bandstand education includes stints with saxophonist Greg Osby and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt. She ...
Seungmin Jung: Anecdotes
by Dan McClenaghan
Korean-born bassist Seungmin Jung journeyed to America to study at the Manhattan School of Music. His debut album, Anecdotes features a cohesive sound crafted by a group of like-minded international players who go deep into the leader's compositions.The opener, “Blue," has a melancholy flavor spiced with hope. Trumpet and saxophone rise into the sky; ...
Jo-Yu Chen: Rendezvous: Jazz Meets Beethoven, Tchaikovsky & More
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Jo-Yu Chen's artistic mission can be described in her words: “When the music is right, it brings us back to the true essence of music, beyond labels and boundaries." But a discussion of labels and boundaries is necessary when addressing her album Rendezvous: Jazz Meets Beethoven, Tchaikovsky & More. First, some ...
Jonathan Reisin: Too Good X Unreality
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Jonathan Reisin says of the tunes presented on his Too Good X Unreality: “These pieces are especially fragile." They are. They are like butterflies in their fragility, vignettes of space and delicacy possessed of an underlying tensile strength. A complexity/simplicity dynamic is there.His trio consists of his tenor and soprano saxophones, Shinya Lin's ...
Billie Holiday Blues
by Dan McClenaghan
Don't Explain Rafaela showed up at her job at the Oceanic Brew Pub with a slight swelling beneath her eye and a discoloration of the skin beneath it. The new grill cook, Hobgood, saw this right off when she came into the kitchen. Her effort to avoid eye contact and to avert the damaged side of ...
Phil Haynes / Ben Monder: Transition (s)
by Dan McClenaghan
The call of the electric guitar has enticed drummer Phil Haynes to revisit his early passion for the instrument. Two albums have resulted: Return to Electric (review here), and now Transition (s), both on Corner Store Records. The former is a trio album that has Haynes teamed with guitarist Steve Salerno and bassist Drew Gress, the ...
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