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Caterina Palazzi Sudoku Killer: Asperger
by Don Phipps
An album dedicated to villains in Disney films might be brushed off as novelty, but those that do would be mistaken. Rather than childhood fears, the tunes on Caternina Palazzi Sudoku Killer's album Asperger explore a dark and sinister side to being, like a non-stop view of a snarling Donald Trump barking insults from an 85-inch ...
Christoph Irniger Pilgrim: Crosswinds
by Don Phipps
With Crosswinds, Christoph Irniger's quartet Pilgrim offers a scintillating trip into a musical subconscious --a dream state where one opens doors only to find more doors --a spiral staircase where the top is always just beyond reach. For the most part, the album consists of tunes that are both sparse yet engaging. And it is this ...
Nate Wooley: Columbia Icefield
by Don Phipps
Nate Wooley's Columbia Icefield begins with a dueling repetition of chords by bandmates Mary Halvorson and Susan Alcorn on “Lionel Trilling." The ambiguity generated by this back and forth is the perfect start to his album's shape-shifting music. Wooley's trumpet is both poetic and piercing. There's a sense of longing in his tone and ...
Marilyn Mazur: Shamania
by Don Phipps
Marilyn Mazur's album Shamania is fascinating. Both impressionistic and abstract, it emphasizes wordless vocals and sounds while incorporating elements of global jazz and world music. The ten artists who play with Mazur are all women and hail from the Scandinavian avant-garde jazz scene. Mazur's compositions are like kaleidoscopic postcards. The set begins with the ...
Dave Liebman, Adam Rudolph, Hamid Drake: Chi
by Don Phipps
Recorded live at John Zorn's New York City experimental jazz club The Stone in May of 2018, the trio of saxophonist extraordinaire Dave Liebman and multi-instrumentalists/percussionists Hamid Drake and Adam Rudolph use their album Chi to present amazing tone poems and dynamic musical explorations. Liebman's full-throated saxophone voicings juxtapose with Drake and Rudolph's rolling ...
Tom Rainey, Mary Halvorson, Ingrid Laubrock: Combobulated
by Don Phipps
Recorded live in 2017 in New Haven, Connecticut at restaurant, watering hole, and music space Firehouse 12, Tom Rainey's Combobulated attests to the genius of three of the leading innovative music makers on the scene today. Rainey's collaborative music with saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and guitarist Mary Halvorson offer up sound explosions and introspections that unzip and ...
Orjan Hulten: Minusgrader
by Don Phipps
Technique may not drive saxophonist Örjan Hultén, but most certainly jazz tunes filled with heart and soul do. On Minusgrader, an album featuring his quartet of fellow Swedes Torbjörn Gulz (piano), Filip Augustson (bass), and Peter Danemo (drums), the blues, ballads, and bop have simple laid-back structures. That is just fine, because the music's warmth permeates ...
Peter McEachern: Bone Code
by Don Phipps
There's a strong hint of New Orleans in trombonist Peter McEachern's Bone Code, like sitting on a pier on a humid afternoon watching the barges meander down the Mississippi. With arrangements that provide space for explorations, thanks to its trio format, McEachern gives himself and his cohorts, bassist Mario Pavone and drummer Michael Sarin, the opportunity ...
Chris Pitsiokos: Silver Bullet in the Autumn of Your Years
by Don Phipps
Adventurous, hair-raising, mind-bending, dense, fibrous, layered, hallucinogenic, twisted. These are the words that come to mind when listening to the excellent but challenging music on Chris Pitsiokos's album Silver Bullet in the Autumn of Your Years. Pitsiokos' compositions often sound like a musical transcription of the trippiest parts of William Burrough's “Naked Lunch." The result? An ...
Jimbo Tribe: Rite of Passage
by Don Phipps
There is much to like about the Italian group Jimbo Tribe's album Rite Of Passage. The trio of pianist Lewis Saccocci, bassist Dario Piccioni, and drummer Nicolò Di Caro are joined by guest trumpeter Anotello Sorrentino, and the quartet offers up imaginative twist after turn. The compositions are engaging and exciting. Changes are planned but feel ...
