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Article: Album Review

Frank Harrison Trio: Lunaris

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by Dan McClenaghan
June 4, 2014

London-based pianist Frank Harrison is probably best known for his work backing saxophonist Gilad Atzmon, but his Lunaris should help to raise his profile as a major league piano trio guy. It's Harrison's third recorded effort in the trio format, and it stands out in a crowded field full of talent. Harrison and the ...

Article: Album Review

Leon Gurvitch: Remember Me

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by Dan McClenaghan
May 30, 2014

Classical versus Jazz. The former relies more on technique and adherence to the written note. It's an artistic expression that is more about the composer. Jazz is more about the performing artist, more about improvisation and seat-of-the pants creation. Russian-born and now Hamburg-based pianist Leon Gurvitch leans hard in the classical direction. But the ...

Article: Album Review

Manuel Valera: Self Portrait

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by Dan McClenaghan
May 26, 2014

On Self Portrait, Grammy-nominated pianist Manuel Valera's first solo piano outing, the artist displays a supple and exquisite touch on his instrument, reflecting the erudition and precision of his classical background. This is worth saying right off because Valera is best known for his vivacious Latin jazz ensemble outings, New Cuban Express (Mavo Records, 2012) and ...

Article: Album Review

Jo-Yu Chen: Stranger

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by Dan McClenaghan
May 20, 2014

The short version of pianist Jo-Yu Chen's biography: Born in Taiwan, started with music in the classical realm, moved to New York to study oboe and piano at Julliard School, and fell under the spell of jazz. That's not an unusual back story in the world of jazz, with the exception of her Taiwanese roots. The ...

Article: Album Review

Paul Bley: Play Blue

Read "Play Blue" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
May 17, 2014

Pianist Paul Bley, born in 1932, began his jazz career in the 1950's, working with every one from saxophonists Charlie Parker, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, and Ornette Coleman, as well as clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre and trumpeter Chet Baker, and more legends of the time than can be listed here. He has, under his own ...

Article: Album Review

Quentin Angus: Perception

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by Dan McClenaghan
May 13, 2014

Quentin Angus, a multi-award-winning Australian guitarist, follows up his 2011 debut recording, Retrieval Structure, with the ambitious Perception. Born in 1987, he still clocks in as a “young" artist, but his music is strikingly mature. An apt comparison is the monumentally talented guitarist Pat Metheny, with a broad vision and a penchant for grand statements and ...

Article: Album Review

Holly Hofmann: Low Life: The Alto Flute Project

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by Dan McClenaghan
May 10, 2014

Holly Hofmann, one of the jazz world's premier flutists, explores a deeper-toned territory with Low Life: The Alto Flute Project. Primarily a conventional C flautist--with an impressive discography--Hofmann has broken out the lower tone of the alto flute in her concerts, and occasionally on record. Now it's time for a full length CD featuring her expertise ...

Article: Album Review

Humble Origins: Humble Beginnings

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by Dan McClenaghan
May 6, 2014

The opening of the group Humble Organism's Humble Beginnings, “Hello Jansen," with its big bright organ wash and prowling bass, a rumbling set of drums laying down a backdrop, seems to say: “Kick back, baby. You're gonna get in the groove with some organ jazz." And it doesn't sound “humble." To the contrary, its a brash ...

Article: Album Review

Felipe Salles: Uganda Suite

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by Dan McClenaghan
April 29, 2014

In 2008 saxophonist/composer Felipe Salles offered up the superb South American Suite (Curare Records). The highly rhythmic ode to his home continent seemed a natural for Salles, who hails originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He now moves his focus to the east, across the Atlantic for the gorgeous Ugandan Suite, a collection brimming with surging rhythms ...

Article: Album Review

Rich Halley 4: The Wisdom of Rocks

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by Dan McClenaghan
April 26, 2014

Portland, Oregon, based saxophonist Rich Halley calls his 2014 quartet outing The Wisdom of Rocks, and on the disc' opener, “The Atoll," he blusters out of a two horn intro--with trombonist Michael Vlatkovich--into a tenor sax solo that sounds as if its roaring from some dark cavern, up out of the bedrock from its origins in ...