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Article: Album Review

Donder: Still

Read "Still" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 23, 2016

A tiny brick chapel in the gloom of dusk, double doors flung open revealing a bright interior of the edifice in the foreground of dark, dense foliage, on the cover of Still, the debut CD release of the Belgium-based piano trio, Donder. The imagery portrays to perfection the music of the group. Reflective and often minimalist, ...

Article: Multiple Reviews

Mysteries Of The Deep and Binary from Brian (Shankar) Adler

by Dan McClenaghan
October 19, 2016

The compact disc probably won't disappear anytime soon, but the importance of the physical product is on the wane in the music world. Drummer Brian (Shankar) Adler works the “digital download only" mode of operation in his music-making sojourn, with two marvelous, mysterious, free-flowing EP sets, Mysteries of the Deep and Binary. Brian Shankar ...

Article: Album Review

Daniel Schlaeppi/Marc Copland: More Essentials

Read "More Essentials" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 12, 2016

The experience of this duo outing, More Essentials, begins with the packaging, the cover art, a gorgeous photo of two jelly fish immersed in the softened hues of shallow submersion in the sea. The disc spins, an introductory bass solo by Daniel Schlaeppi that leads into Miles Davis' “Blue In Green," with pianist Marc Copland's liquid, ...

Article: Album Review

Andrew Downing: Otterville

Read "Otterville" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 11, 2016

Canada's Downing clan hails from the Ontario tobacco belt town, Otterville. Andrew Downing--bassist/cellist/composer--home-ported in Toronto now, celebrates the familial stomping grounds with a two CD set laid down by a sextet, plus guests, of an unusual instrumentation. It's an immersion into the simplicity and tranquility of the out-of-the-way, small town experience. Each of the ...

Article: Album Review

Richard Sussman: The Evolution Suite

Read "The Evolution Suite" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 4, 2016

Arranger/conductor Gunther Schuller coined, in 1957, the term “Third Stream," to describe a musical synthesis of jazz and classical music. Early examples of this sound include Miles Davis/Gil Evans' Sketches of Spain (Columbia Records, 1961), saxophonist Stan Getz' Focus (Verve Records, 1961), and the Dizzy Gillespie/J.J. Johnson collaboration, the oddly overlooked and excellent Perceptions (Verve Records, ...

Article: Album Review

Tomo Jacobson: When the sleeping fish turn red and the skies start to sing in C major I will follow you to the end

Read "When the sleeping fish turn red and the skies start to sing in C major I will follow you to the end" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 2, 2016

Copenhagen-based bassist Tomo Jacobson--employing his musical vehicle, Moonbow--creates a musical ruckus with When the sleeping fish turn red and the skies start to sing in C-major I will follow you to the end (how's that for a CD title?). And it sounds like a ruckus in the blacksmith shop--metallic, slashing guitar, raucous, ragged-edged, tin/brass saxophones over ...

Article: Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks

Read "America's National Parks" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 27, 2016

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith has a feel for the epic in his art, on recordings like: America (Tzadik Records, 2009), a duet set with drummer Jack DeJohnette; “America's Third Century Spiritual Awakening," from his first Golden Quartet (Tzadik Records, 2000) outing; Occupy The World (TUM Records, 2013), with the Finish big band, Tumo; The Great Lakes ...

Article: Album Review

Parker Abbott Trio: Elevation

Read "Elevation" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 26, 2016

It's hard to imagine a musical palette with more sonic possibilities: It's a bunch of 88s: two pianos, combined with an array of electric keyboards: Moogs, MicroKorgs (sounds like small aliens from the planet Korgon), glockenspiels, melodicas, a Hammond B-3 organ, a Nord Electro, a Microbrute (a diminutive schoolyard bully?), a Moog Sub Phatty. And throw ...

Article: Album Review

David Bennett Thomas: Deeper Journey

Read "Deeper Journey" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 25, 2016

Pianist David Bennett Thomas takes inspiration from God's word. Not unlike Finish pianist/harpist Iro Haarla, on her beautiful duet set Kirkastus (TUM Records, 2015), with saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen, where Biblical Psalms informed the music, Thomas' Deeper Journey goes to the Bible for inspiration on half the tunes on this meticulously crafted, subtle--yet modern and adventurous--set of ...

Article: Album Review

Erik Sondhy: Abbey Road Sessions, Vol 1

Read "Abbey Road Sessions, Vol 1" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
September 25, 2016

Joey Alexander, the young piano phenom from Bali, has caused quite a splash in the jazz world, a player who is ridiculously talented for one so young. But there's another masterly young piano guy from the Indonesian island: Erik Sondhy. The sessions resulting in Sondhy's debut, Recorded At Abbey Road, Vol. 1, also known ...