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Greg Abate & Phil Woods: Kindred Spirits: Live at Chan's
by Dan McClenaghan
The legendary alto saxophonist Phil Woods' (1931-2015) health was failing at the time Kindred Spirits: Live at Chan's was recorded, but you never know it by listening to the crisp delivery, the vitality of a hot bebop band playing in the mode of the iconic altoist Charlie Parker. Saxophonist Greg Abate joins Woods in the front ...
Aruan Ortiz Trio: Hidden Voices
by Dan McClenaghan
The jazz piano trio comes in a wide spectrum of approaches, from the traditional--Red Garland, Tommy Flanagan--to the way out there avant-garde, like Cecil Taylor. When the subject of Cuban pianists" comes up, some of the first names that come to mind are probably those who work in a traditional vein: Chucho Valdes, perhaps, or maybe ...
Christine Jensen/Maggi Olin: Transatlantic Conversations: 11 Piece Band Live
by Dan McClenaghan
Prior to the release of her marvelous big band outing, Habitat (Justin time, 2013), Canada's Christine Jensen was probably best know as the alto saxophone-playing sister of high profile trumpeter Ingrid Jensen. Sweden's Maggi Olin's major notoriety--on the United States' side of the Atlantic--certainty came from her work as a pianist/composer for the under-recognized quintet, Nordic ...
Carlos Vega: Bird's Ticket
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Carlos Vega's band crackles. The sound of A Confluence in Chi-Town," the opener on his Bird's Ticket recording, has an on-the-edge urgency in its distinctive approach to the standard jazz quintet format--bass/drums/keyboard rhythm section and a trumpet and a saxophone--a line up like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie used. Vega, a veteran of ...
Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott: Return of the East-West Trumpet Summit
by Dan McClenaghan
Seattle-based trumpeter Thomas Marriott plays well with electricity. Specifically, with the Hammond B3 organ. The most memorable of his now nine CDs on Origin Records feature either the Hammond B3 or some serious Moog synthesier/Fender Rhodes work: Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson (2007 ), with Ryan Burns on electric keys; Human Spirit (2009), featuring Gary ...
Adam Pieronczyk & Miroslav Vitous: Wings
by Dan McClenaghan
Based in Krakow, Poland, saxophonist Adam Pieronczyk crafted, in 2010, perhaps the finest recorded tribute to his countryman, Krzysztof Komeda, with Komeda: The Innocent Sorcerer (Jazzwerkstatt). Komeda was a seminal Polish jazz man who shifted his focus to soundtrack work, most famously with film maker Roman Polanski, and most notably on the 1968 psycho-horror movie, Rosemary's ...
Dan McClenaghan's Best Releases of 2015
by Dan McClenaghan
My search for the best jazz recordings of 2015 led me to these marvelous CDs. Yelena EckemoffLions L&H Productions Pianist Yelena Eckemoff, originally from Russia, and originally a classical player, has driven deep into her quest to create first rate jazz. This ambitious two disc set, featuring Norwegian bassist Arild ...
Velocity: Displacement Over Time
by Dan McClenaghan
The band Velocity, with its recording, Displacement Over Time, explores the laws of physics with its music. If that sounds off-puttingly cerebral, not to worry. The Tacoma, Washington-based quartet's sounds travels crisp, tightly-woven modern jazz terrain not unlike that of pianist Chick Corea's Elektric Band: groove-centric drums and bass, a hot saxophone not quite out front ...
Juhani Aaltonen & Iro Haarla: Kirkastus
by Dan McClenaghan
The most striking thing about Kirkastus--a duo outing by a pair of seasoned Finnish free jazzers, saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen and pianist/harpist Iro Haarla--is the unalloyed beauty of the sound they've made. Aaltonen, in his eighth decade now, has the longer term veteran's credentials. His saxophone style draws from late period John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, with ...
Rich Halley 4: Eleven
by Dan McClenaghan
Saxophonist Rich Halley exploded out of a five year recording hiatus in 2010 with Live at Penofin Jazz Festival, a growling, high energy, in-front-of-the-crowd mad man rant that featured trumpeter Bobby Bradford in the front line of a wild and often raucous chordless quartet. Five years off or not, there was a history there--a bunch of ...


