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Otherlands Trio with Stephan Crump, Darius Jones, Eric McPherson: Star Mountain
by Don Phipps
The Otherlands Trio's Star Mountain presents five cerebral improvisations that unfold along abstract lines, utilizing staggered syncopation that seamlessly blends with nuanced passages, both soft and loud. The album feels at times like it will break into something more freewheeling, but the musicians instead choose patient moves that deliver creative phrases filled with unexpected twists and ...
Amaika Rude: The Ska and the Abstract Truth
by Don Phipps
A remake of a classic and fun to boot! Amaika Rude's album, The Ska and the Abstract Truth, evokes happy head nodding to the tunes found on Oliver Nelson's masterpiece Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse 1961). The original album, released in February 1961, featured Nelson on saxophone and included such jazz luminaries as Freddie Hubbard, ...
The Alex Levin Trio: A Sunday Kind of Love
by Don Phipps
There is a dinner jazz quality to A Sunday Kind of Love by the Alex Levin Trio. And even though there is no pretense of art here, the infectious happiness of the album would certainly destress anyone who has had a rough day. Pianist Levin composed five of the ten numbers on the album, and he ...
Simon Vincent's The Occasional Trio: Live In Berlin
by Don Phipps
Released on his own Vision Of Sound label, pianist and composer Simon Vincent's Live in Berlin is a collection of live recordings from two shows in 2018 and 2019 at the Schlot Jazz Club, Berlin, Germany. In the liner notes, Vincent acknowledges the risks of live performance recordings, but at the same time, he states in ...
Masa Ishikawa: Dialogue
by Don Phipps
The happy set of ten originals Masa Ishikawa composed for his album Dialogue suggests a budding talent. A visiting professor of jazz at the University of Iowa, Ishikawa, along with his bandmates, demonstrates a precise and light touch, where bluesy readings have just the right sense of playfulness. Born in Fukushima, Japan, Ishikawa teams ...
John Abercrombie and Don Thompson: Yesterdays
by Don Phipps
The late John Abercrombie's outstanding and extensive recorded legacy includes two duet albums with fellow guitarist Ralph Towner, Sargasso Sea (ECM 2008) and Five Years Later (ECM, 2014), four Gateway trio albums (with bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette), and three Baseline Trio albums (with bassist Hein Van de Geyn and drummer Joe LaBarbera).
Tumble: Waves
by Don Phipps
One can certainly appreciate the effort made by the members of Tumble to carve out a niche on Wave in the expanding and ever-changing world of jazz music. That said, however, there is a bit of disappointment. It's not that the group can be faulted for poor musicianship, but the readings in general are uninspired and ...
Lorenzo Feliciati & Michele Rabbia: Antikythera
by Don Phipps
Light, bouncy, funky, mysterious, cosmopolitan, chill, ambient—the music on Antikythera, an album by Lorenzo Feliciati and Michele Rabbia is all of these things. The album has an urban vibe, albeit a slow-motion one , with none of the jarring effects and noise that often accompany city living. Beyond handling the bass duties, Feliciati plays ...
John Zorn: Nove Cantici per Francesco d'Assisi
by Don Phipps
Those who admire Spanish guitar music will greatly appreciate the beautiful airy set of compositions on Nove cantici per Francesco D'Assisi by John Zorn. Zorn, best known for his challenging, cerebral and complex avant-garde offerings, conjures up a set of pastoral tunes composed as part of a residency at New York's Frick Museum. The tunes feature ...
Anthony Braxton: Quartet (New Haven) 2014
by Don Phipps
The shifting moods of Anthony Braxton's Quartet (New Haven) 2014 probably have to do with the song dedications. Each number reflects a famous and important popular musician and composer—-Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, James Brown and Merle Haggard. These four musicians would most certainly provide a strange but intoxicating mix if played at a party. Yet Hendrix's ...
