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Foreign Exchange: Made in New York
by David Adler
When listeners hear the first tune on Made In New York, they might well think they popped in the wrong CD. “Recontre," a breezy Brazilian number, features flute and vocals. But there is no flute or vocal credit given on the CD sleeve. In the case of the vocals, the omission might stem from a well-justified ...
New Directions: New Directions
by David Adler
These four cutting-edge players did some recent touring under the name New Directions. Their self-titled studio debut consists mainly of short and to-the-point reworkings of Blue Note classics. Altoist/leader Greg Osby remarks that the group limited itself primarily to the boogaloo and funk side of Blue Note, feeling that the more cerebral and avant-garde stuff was ...
Lee Konitz/Steve Swallow/Paul Motian: Three Guys
by David Adler
Altoist Lee Konitz, who gets top billing on this record, has a sparse, cryptic improvisational style that lends itself well to the left-of-center, quasi-free aesthetic favored by bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Paul Motian. Recently Konitz led a very different, yet equally provocative, trio project with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden, which resulted in two live ...
Conrad Herwig: Osteology
by David Adler
A jazz guitarist with a penchant for provocation once called the guitar “the lamest jazz instrument... besides the trombone." The big horn, with its awkard slide and low, nasal sound, is certainly a jazz underdog. Its important role in big bands is indisputable, but it is generally not thought of as a frontman instrument. In other ...
Kurt Rosenwinkel: The Enemies of Energy
by David Adler
The material that would eventually become Kurt Rosenwinkel's Verve debut was recorded back in late 1996. Lacking a record deal, Rosenwinkel scraped up the money to record his group independently and has managed, at long last and through much perseverance, to make the results public. So listeners ought to keep in mind that on this disc, ...
Steps/Mike Mainieri: Smokin' in the Pit/An American Diary: The Dreamings
by David Adler
These two NYC Records releases document the musical evolution of label founder and vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. Smokin’ in the Pit, a reissue of a hard-to-find double live album by Mainieri’s jazz supergroup Steps, is stuck in its late 70s moment. It feels like cheap thrills compared to Mainieri’s most recent solo record, An American Diary: The ...
Uri Caine Ensemble: Gustav Mahler in Toblach
by David Adler
Avant-garde pianist Uri Caine turned a lot of heads with his first Mahler disc, Urlicht/Primal Light (Winter & Winter, 1997). He's doing it again with a double-disc follow-up recorded live in Italy. The band is considerably smaller this time: two fewer vocalists, no clarinet, no trombone, no cello, and no guitar. Two key chairs have changed ...
David Fiuczynski: Jazz Punk
by David Adler
David “Fuze" Fiuczynski, an accomplished sideman and bandleader, is not a jazz musician in any ordinary sense. He’s a distortion-heavy shredder, a string bender, a master of fractured, dissonant guitar pyrotechnics. Yet he’s got the sensibilities, and the résumé, of a jazzman. JazzPunk, his first solo release, almost entirely consists of non-original material drawn from a ...
Ella Fitzgerald: Something To Live For
by David Adler
Created as an aural companion to a recent PBS documentary, this marvelous compilation features some of Ella Fitzgerald’s best work for Decca and Verve from 1937 to 1966. Her sheer versatility is what comes through first and foremost, making one question critics who lament Fitzgerald’s alleged stylistic limitations. She’s a small-group bebop juggernaut on scat masterpieces ...
Terence Blanchard: Wandering Moon
by David Adler
It’s been five years or so since trumpeter Terence Blanchard released a record of straight-ahead, small-group jazz, and it was well worth the wait. Blanchard has spent a good deal of his time scoring Spike Lee’s “joints" and other films. As a result, his orchestrational chops exceed those of the average jazzman, and it shows throughout ...
