Home » Search Center » Results: Dan McClenaghan

Results for "Dan McClenaghan"

Article: Album Review

Jeremy Woolhouse: The Persistence of Dreaming

Read "The Persistence of Dreaming" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
February 8, 2013

The translation of melancholy into music can be a beautiful thing in any genre. Jazz, with its focus, on improvisation (to varying degrees), allows an artist to explore the nuances of mood. A framework that gives way to in-the-moment rumination or flights of fancy can make for the most evocative of sounds.Melbourne, Australia-based pianist ...

Article: Album Review

Adam Berenson and Bill Marconi: A Codex of Silent Voices

Read "A Codex of Silent Voices" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
February 4, 2013

Pianist/composer Adam Berenson is a mystery; his Facebook page features nothing about his music-making and, in its photo section, a couple of Jackson Pollock-like abstract paintings along with a Van Gogh-inspired seascape. The song titles on his numerous releases perpetuate the mystery--"Sepulchral Vicissitudes" and “Emotional Idiot," from Contextual (1999),and the title track to The Mystery of ...

Article: Album Review

Ilia Skibinsky: The Passage

Read "The Passage" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
February 1, 2013

The youthful saxophonist/composer Ilia Skibinsky strikes a thoughtful pose, gazing down at his horn on the nicely designed cover of his debut, The Passage. The substitution of a much older visage would have been believable, given the depth and beauty of the playing, and the writing on the set's nine original compositions.Born in Russia, ...

Article: Album Review

Pamela Hines Trio: 3.2.1.

Read "3.2.1." reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 28, 2013

Pianist Pamela Hines has been busy on the jazz scene for fifteen years, producing many excellent CDs featuring her quartets and quintets, as well as pairings with several top-notch vocalists. A first-rate composer of engaging and memorable tunes who put out one of the coolest Christmas albums, New Christmas (Spice Rack, 2008), she should be better ...

Article: Album Review

Inbar Fridman: Time Quartet Project

Read "Time Quartet Project" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 20, 2013

In a quartet that includes both guitar and piano, a certain symbiosis between the players is necessary for the success of the sound. Israeli guitarist Inbar Fridman has established that relationship of musical symbiosis with pianist Camelia Ben Naceur, part of a trio Fridman calls the “French mob" that also includes bassist Laurent Chavoit and drummer ...

Article: Album Review

Duke Ellington Orchestra: Big Bands Live

Read "Big Bands Live" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 30, 2012

By 1967, the heyday of the big band was over. Rock and Roll ruled as the popular music of the day, and the financial challenges of keeping a large ensemble together for recording--and especially touring--were huge. But Duke Ellington--one of American's finest bandleaders, pianists, and composers--was more than just a genius in the field of music. ...

Article: Album Review

Jonathan Saraga Quintet: First Vision

Read "First Vision" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 25, 2012

Trumpeter Jonathan Saraga opens his debut, First Vision with the eleven-and-a-half-minute original, “Guidance," a probing rumination that flares up during his solo. The tune as a whole is a slow burn, but it bursts into high flames as it comes to its conclusion.The leader has assembled a fine quintet of standard configuration--two horns, a ...

Article: Year in Review

Dan McClenaghan's Best Releases of 2012

by Dan McClenaghan
December 21, 2012

Scores of excellent CDs were released in 2012. These are some of the finest. Click on the CD titles for more in depth reviews. Hal Galper Airegin Revisited Origin Records Pianist Hal Galper has been delving deeply into his rubato explorations of the standards, along with his ...

Article: Album Review

Eivind Aarset: Dream Logic

Read "Dream Logic" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 15, 2012

The ingredients are all electric on guitarist Eivind Aarset's Dream Logic: plugged-in guitar and bass; programming; samples; dictophone; and electronics. The resulting atmospheric layering of sound with subtle dynamics and inorganic drones could be described as sterile, but what a beautiful, mysterious sterility it is.The Norwegian guitarist has contributed to several ECM Records recordings, ...

Article: Album Review

Hal Galper Trio: Airegin Revisited

Read "Airegin Revisited" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
December 9, 2012

Hal Galper's Airegin Revisited is exhilarating. The pianist has been working at his artistry for more than a half century, and he is moving surely into the “elder statesman of jazz" category, riding the furious wave of several distinctive and idiosyncratic trio recordings. Galper, like alto saxophonist Lee Konitz and pianist Martial Solal, has gone deeper ...