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MIJ: Yodeling Astrologer
by Raul d'Gama Rose
This is an unusual record--one that defies category and in terms of production is quite beyond regular horizons. The musical legend is that MIJ (Jim Holmberg) was a musician who, after a serious accident that fractured his skull, then healed, but began a mind-altering journey. For instance at a time just before making Yodeling Astrologer (ESP-Disk, ...
Karel Velebny: SHQ
by Raul d'Gama Rose
If it were possible for painting and poetry to incorporate bebop in a crazy sort of rhythmic gymnastics, or if it were possible somehow to meld revolutionary body politic with dramatic performance then this record would be Paul Klee-meets-Bird--or, for that matter, Frank Zappa-meets-Vaclav Havel. Those expecting to hear a '60s nouvelle vague record would probably ...
Chris Speed / Chris Cheek / Stephane Furic Leibovici: Jugendstil
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Everything about this extraordinary album, Jugendstil, is deliberate and attains its own level of perfection. To begin with, there is its name: The word Jugendstil (German for “youth style," akin to the French “art nouveau" movement of the late nineteenth century) is so apt, considering that it defines the music contained in this record. For instance ...
Gunter Hampel Group: Music From Europe
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Although it is simply called Music From Europe, the Gunter Hampel Group's first foray into America in 1966, could well have joined the ranks of several early (1950s) recordings by MJQ or John Lewis and Dizzy Gillespie's Perceptions (Verve, 1961) as one of those earliest examples of where the musical cultures of classical Europe and jazz ...
Lowell Davidson: Lowell Davidson Trio
by Raul d'Gama Rose
Lowell Davidson was one of those quintessential artists. A pianist possessed of great virtuosity, he was also a Harvard-educated biochemist and his musical art--both compositions and performance--and emerged from a confluence of the two. Davidson inhabited a rarified space. He understood and played with such harmonic sophistication that he may be compared in this respect only ...
Giuseppi Logan: The Giuseppi Logan Quartet
by Lyn Horton
Generally, innocence drives the impetus for how to discover the next place successfully. An intriguing process of discovering various levels while creating appears on the re-release of the Giuseppi Logan Quartet (ESP Disk, 2008). Originally recorded in 1965 in New York, this recording imparts the musical uniqueness of multi-reedman Giuseppi Logan's sound. A seeming ...
Totem>: Solar Forge
by Budd Kopman
There is an observation, which seconds as an insider joke, about free jazz and the loft scene in the sixties: “There is no such thing as a bad session. Why? Because you cannot tell...." The implication here is, given that jazz is what the players say it is and that if there are no principles on ...
Milford Graves: Percussion Ensemble
by Lyn Horton
Fulfilling Bernard Stollman's prescient request to record for his label, Milford Graves decided to enlist Sunny Morgan as a drumming partner for Percussion Ensemble. Graves did so purposefully; the duo percussionists were making more than music. They were calling up their heritage at a time when Black Americans were teetering on the fulcrum of American cultural ...
Sunny Murray: Sunny Murray
by Jerry D'Souza
Sunny Murray illuminates jazz drumming. His open meters and timing set rhythm and pulse on a new and invigorating course. In doing so, he gave jazz drumming a dynamism and drive that still resonates. In the early days of his career, Murray played with Jackie McLean, Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler. This gave him ...
Totem>: Solar Forge
by Eyal Hareuveni
This is by no means an ordinary trio. Totem> is comprised of guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil, bassist Tom Blancarte and drummer Andrew Drury, all three coming from the forward thinking, left-of-center scene of New York improvisers. But it's not only their sense of risk-taking and openness that differentiates Totem> from other trios, but their ability to formulate ...
