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Geno Thackara's Best Releases of 2020
by Geno Thackara
However strange the year has gotten, the urge to create clearly hasn't lessened at all--either that or the circumstances have left us more appreciative of art where we find it. Most likely it's some of both. Whatever the case may be, 2020 has still seen no shortage of musical treats good for the soul.
Vince Tampio: Adult Children
by Geno Thackara
At first glance, it's unclear whether Vince Tampio wants to imply something optimistic or dystopian with the strange cityscape on the cover of Adult Children (and with the title, for that matter). As a reflection of some strange times, such a striking image has plenty of room for interpretations positive and negative. It also could not ...
Simon Moullier: Spirit Song
by Geno Thackara
Simon Moullier sounds like a pretty old soul for someone only releasing his debut. At the same time, even more impressively, it is a relentlessly playful one, with an equal love for the old and new. One might think an instrument as established as the vibraphone only has so much potential to be taken to new ...
Derek Brown and The Holland Concert Jazz Orchestra: All Figured Out
by Geno Thackara
Whatever you imagine when you think of big bands, it's nothing quite like this. While Derek Brown can ably channel the snappy spirit of golden-age jazz--and certainly does here, with happy hard-swinging results--his spirit in composing and bandleading could not be more thoroughly modern. The same can be said of his approach to his instrument, as ...
Mulo Francel: Crossing Life Lines
by Geno Thackara
Mulo Francel clearly believes in life imitating art. The endlessly versatile saxophonist is happy to demonstrate here how music reflects the wider world, but more importantly, Crossing Life Lines offers a determined reminder of how it can go both ways. The concept is simple yet expansive: while touring through parts of Europe that had been in ...
Lafayette Gilchrist: Now
by Geno Thackara
In some alternate world somewhere, Lafayette Gilchrist is a great modern American novelist, spinning real-life stories that vividly evoke the spirit of the times. In our world, he ended up as a comparable spirit doing the same thing in the music realm instead. His piano playing nonetheless criss-crosses the span of jazz, blues, funk, gospel, ragtime, ...
Maria Baptist and Jan von Klewitz: Facing Duality
by Geno Thackara
In a way it seems out of nowhere, and in a way it was a long time coming. While Maria Baptist has ranged from solo to trio to big band and more, throughout her career at the piano, Jan von Klewitz's saxophone has been a more steady presence beside her than than most. He came on ...
Ronny Wiesauer: All Yours
by Geno Thackara
If Ronny Wiesauer sounds lonesome and thoughtful on his latest solo outing, that's not entirely a new thing. He was eloquently inhabiting that mood when he stepped out with his first solo recording Monologues (recordJet, 2019) before the subsequent pandemic had forced anyone into isolation. True enough, his guitar style has had no shortage of grace ...
Kadi Vija Key Project: Roaming in the Contemporary Society to Make Peace With It
by Geno Thackara
Kadi Vija's voice often feels like some exotic Asian string instrument, particularly the kind with a resonant droning tone that flows and bends in the hands of an expert player. She uses her natural instrument in much the same way, almost always eschewing actual words for a nuanced vocalese that is every bit as expressive. The ...
Dan Waldman: Sources & Angles
by Geno Thackara
After a couple decades as a busy working player, a fellow certainly should have plenty of angles to play, not to mention myriad sources to draw on in a milieu as exciting as the jazz-fusion tradition. This would explain why Dan Waldman's debut doesn't sound like a debut. He knows his stuff; he couldn't have lasted ...
