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Results for "Dan McClenaghan"
Marc Johnson / Eliane Elias: Swept Away
by Dan McClenaghan
Swept Away is certainly a collaborative effort--co-led by Eliane Elias and bassist Marc Johnson--but it seems more like the pianist's set. The Sao Paolo-born pianist, Elias, penned five of the disc's eleven tunes, and co-wrote two more with her musical/life partner, Johnson. The duo, in league with drummer Joey Baron and, on five tunes, saxophonist Joe ...
Ferenc Nemeth: Triumph
by Dan McClenaghan
A couple of spins of Ferenc Nemeth's Triumph reveals an artist with an ear for the big picture. The Hungarian-born drummer has assembled an all-star jazz quartet and slipped in some subtle woodwind section undercurrents on an all-original outing focused on his personal life experiences, with titles like Purpose," Joy" and Sorrow and Wishful Thinking." On ...
Gato Libre: Forever
by Dan McClenaghan
The team of pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura produces a lot of music. More often than not, it's Fujii in the leader's chair, in one of her numerous big bands, quartets, trios or in duo outings with Tamura. By normal standards--that is, not in comparison with Fujii--Tamura's output as a leader could be considered ...
Fred Hersch Trio: Alive at the Vanguard
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Fred Hersch has found a place to come alive: The Village Vanguard, where so many great live albums have been recorded. Saxophonists John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, pianist Bill Evans and drummer Paul Motian also found the New York City venue a prime spot for live recordings. Hersch revisits the venue with Alive the the ...
Jasmine Lovell-Smith: Fortune Songs
by Dan McClenaghan
A debut CD has to be good to get noticed--really good. Also, behind the pretty, well-designed cover art, an aspiring jazz person with a low profile has to have some nerve to put forty-five minutes to an hour of brand new music out there. At the very least, a new-to-the-scene artist better be able to run ...
Eric Vaughn: Minor Relocation
by Dan McClenaghan
The Rising Star" status usually goes to those of the youthful fresh faces, possessed of recent degrees from one of the major music schools. But, 58 year-old pianist Eric Vaughn, now San Francisco-based now after a dozen years in Seattle, could easily take that prize. With his major distribution debut, Minor Relocation, he could be called ...
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii: Muku
by Dan McClenaghan
Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura and pianist Satoko Fujii--partners in marriage and music--have an extensive discography together, spanning a broad array of ensemble configurations, from Fujii's calamitous big bands to Tamura's European folk song-flavored Gato Libre discs, and from Fujii's propulsive, window-rattling art rock quartets to Tamura's blistering electric quartet of Hada Hada (Libra Records, 2003). But it ...
Jessica Williams: Songs of Earth
by Dan McClenaghan
Jessica Williams, with her last four CDs on Origin Records, is like a butterfly coming out of its cocoon. Earlier in her career, Williams--who once held the piano chair in drummer Philly Joe Jones band--wrapped her artistry in the Great American Song on Some Ballads Some Blues (Red and Blue, 1999), along with stellar tributes to ...
Phil Grenadier / Bruno Raberg Duo: Plunge
by Dan McClenaghan
Swedish-born and now Boston-based bassist Bruno Råberg explores meditative soundscapes with a flexible free improvisation approach in a variety of ensemble sizes. On Presence (Orbis Records, 2000) he featured a trio lineup. Chrysalis (Orbis Records, 2004) showcased an all-star nonet; and on his sprawling two disc Lifelines (Orbis Records, 2008) he employed a quartet. With Plunge ...
Denny Zeitlin: Wherever You Are--Midnight Moods for Solo Piano
by Dan McClenaghan
There's something magnificent about a top-level artist alone with a piano, immersed in a mood of quiet nights, under quiet stars. Denny Zeitlin, a versatile music maker who wrote the electro-acoustic symphonic soundtrack for the 1978 remake of the science fiction classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, has released a handful of excellent trio albums on ...

