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Article: Album Review

Rich Halley 4: Crossing the Passes

Read "Crossing the Passes" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Tenor saxophonist Rich Halley kicked his recording career into high gear in 2001 with the flammable Coyotes in the City (Louie Records, 2001), a chunk of free jazz ferocious enough to scare off the feeble and the weak of heart. In a succession of CDs since then--a total of four at Louie Records before switching to ...

4

Article: Album Review

Geof Bradfield: Melba!

Read "Melba!" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Melba Liston (1926-1999) isn't one of the big names that comes up when great jazz composer/arrangers are mentioned, but it should be. Starting as a trombonist with some of the greats--Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Count Basie, Art Blakey--she soon began working with Randy Weston, arranging the pianist's composition on Uhuru Africa, (Roulette Records, 1960) and Highlife ...

2

Article: Album Review

Gregg Kallor: A Single Noon

Read "A Single Noon" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Solo piano recordings are risky. Even the acknowledged masters of the form--Brad Mehldau, Keith Jarrett--fall flat from time-to-time. Somehow, outside of an interactive ensemble, magic seems harder to conjure. Pianist Gregg Kallor tries his hand at going it alone on A Single Noon, a nine movement suite, a musical ode to life in New York City.

5

Article: Album Review

Craig Taborn Trio: Chants

Read "Chants" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Pianist Craig Taborn's first ECM Records release under his own name, Avenging Angel (2011), garnered well-deserved praise as a worthy entry into the German label's long line of solo piano recordings by stellar artists such as Paul Bley, Chick Corea and, of course, Keith Jarrett. With Chants, a piano trio outing, Taborn will be held up ...

7

Article: Album Review

Dawn Upshaw/Maria Schneider: Winter Morning Walks

Read "Winter Morning Walks" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Maria Schneider proved her genius as a composer and arranger beyond any doubt with Concert in the Garden (ArtistShare, 2004), and she did it again on her second masterpiece of orchestral jazz, Sky Blue (ArtistShare, 2007). With Winter Morning Walks, Schneider introduces her first works with major orchestras, the Australian Chamber Orchestra on the nine part ...

3

Article: Album Review

Carl Bartlett, Jr.: Hopeful

Read "Hopeful" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Alto saxophonist Carl Bartlett, Jr. was pushing his late twenties when he figured it was high time that he put out a CD. Hopeful resulted, and the Queens, New York native proved he was more than ready for the task. Opening boldly, with a five minute sax solo--the disc's title tune--the young artist announces his arrival. ...

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Article: Album Review

Michael Gallant Trio: Completely

Read "Completely" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

The art of the piano trio can go the conservative route. How many players are out there going over the same jazz standards, the same American Songbook tunes? Some do it very well; others sound uninspired. But things evolve. Bill Evans created a quiet revolution with his late fifties/early sixties trio with bassist Scott La Faro ...

5

Article: Album Review

Tommy Flanagan / Jaki Byard: The Magic of 2

Read "The Magic of 2" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

One of San Francisco's most famous jazz venues, Keystone Korner, closed in 1983. It was a favorite venue of the top jazz players of the day, and several landmark live albums by pianists Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner, and saxophonists Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Stan Getz, resulted from shows taped inside its hallowed hall.The ...

6

Article: Album Review

Anthony Branker & Word Play: Uppity

Read "Uppity" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

On Uppity, Dr. Anthony Branker, Director of Jazz Studies at Princeton University, has created a life-affirming, sometimes funky, and straight-through beautiful set of sounds--an ode to the resiliency and basic goodness of the human spirit.Branker began his jazz journey as a trumpeter, but complications from a brain aneurysm in 1999 brought his trumpet playing ...

5

Article: Album Review

Verneri Pohjola & Black Motor: Rubidium

Read "Rubidium" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan

Just going by the name, for those unfamiliar with the thriving Scandinavian jazz scene, a group calling itself Black Motor might be mistaken for a heavy metal rock band--a smash-and-crash set of drums, a blasting three-chord guitar and a wall-shaking bass wrapped around bellowed lyrics. But the real Black Motor, a drums/bass/saxophone outfit--joined on Rubidium by ...


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