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Article: Album Review

Mark Soskin: Nino Rota

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by Dan McClenaghan
April 28, 2012

Mark Soskin is probably best known for his work with saxophone legend Sonny Rollins. As Rollins' pianist from 1978 to 1991, he contributed to a string of several marvelous CD releases on the Milestone label. These included Dancing in the Dark (1987), which opened with a masterfully straightforward cover of the pop song, “Just Once," that ...

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Article: Album Review

Mike Freeman: The Vibesman

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by Dan McClenaghan
April 24, 2012

The sound of the vibraphone glows--a ringing and sustained sonic luminescence. Current masters of the instrument include Gary Burton, Joe Locke, Bobby Hutcherson, and the perhaps lesser-known but also masterful Mike Freeman. With his percussion-soaked group Zonavibe--that includes, besides the vibes, the sounds of marimba, and kalimba, congas, bongos, campana and timbales--Freeman stirs up ...

Article: Album Review

Amit Friedman Sextet: Sunrise

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by Dan McClenaghan
April 23, 2012

This seems to be shaping up as the year of the “Sunrise." Two outstanding sets by that name have been released in 2012: one by the Masabumi Kikuchi Trio on ECM Records, the other a self-produced gem by the Indo/American chamber ensemble, Karavika. Israeli saxophonist Amit Friedman makes it a triptych with his own Sunrise, on ...

Article: Album Review

Todd Bishop Group: Little Played Little Bird

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by Dan McClenaghan
April 17, 2012

Fans of alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman have had to sit through a long wait since the free jazz pioneer's last recording, Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar Records, 2006), a marvelous set that garnered the artist a Pulitzer Prize. Those fans are still waiting, though the iconic jazz man has teased them with his bits and pieces (non-album ...

Article: Album Review

Sebastian Gille: Anthem

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by Dan McClenaghan
April 15, 2012

The most famous and venerable German record label is ECM Records, Manfred Eicher's brainchild, founded in 1969 and still going strong with now more than twelve hundred recordings in its catalog. But there is a German upstart, Pirouet Records, which has been in the business of offering up its own musical vision since the early 2000s, ...

Article: Album Review

Andy Clausen: The Wishbone Suite

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by Dan McClenaghan
April 8, 2012

Nineteen year old trombonist Andy Clausen started his music studies at The Julliard School in the fall of 2010. He did not wait to finish his studies before releasing, in March of 2012, his debut CD, The Wishbone Suite. Apparently the music was in him and it had to be recorded.The music on The ...

Article: Album Review

Masabumi Kikuchi Trio: Sunrise

by Dan McClenaghan
March 30, 2012

Pianist Masabumi Kikuchi recorded a session with the late trumpeter Miles Davis in 1978 that was never released. Had it been, the Japanese musician could perhaps have been slung by Davis' Jovian presence/influence to greater fame. As it is, Kikuchi has maintained a career as an iconoclastic artist, collaborating with some of the best jazz players. ...

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Article: Album Review

Karavika: Sunrise

by Dan McClenaghan
March 28, 2012

What are the career choices for a classically trained musician? It's not sitting in an orchestra for violinist Trina Basu and cellist Amali Premawardhana. Instead, they chose the path of creating their own Indo-Western chamber ensemble, Karavika, to explore the sounds of Indian ragas and film songs, along with their original composition, “Sunrise," that blends two ...

Article: Album Review

Dudley Owens / Aaron Wright Band: People Calling

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by Dan McClenaghan
March 23, 2012

Dudley Owens / Aaron Wright Band's People Calling, in the best possible sense, doesn't settle into any category. The title tune, introduced early and reprised at the end of the disc, walks a line between the spirituality-steeped sound of saxophonist John Coltrane's classic sixties quartet and the soulful and catchy style of vocalist/songwriter/producer Curtis Mayfield. The ...

Article: Album Review

Andrea Veneziani Trio: Oltreoceano

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by Dan McClenaghan
March 19, 2012

Since the advent of pianist Bill Evans' groundbreaking late 1950s/early 1960s group with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Scott LaFaro, piano trios have been largely focused on interplay. On his debut, Oltreoceano, Italian-born bassist Andrea Veneziani employs a trio very much in the Evans fashion, with pianist Kenny Werner (with whom Veneziani studied in the NYU ...