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3x3: Piano Trios: August 2019
by Geno Thackara
Yoko Miwa Trio Keep Talkin' Ocean Blue Tear Music 2019 When Yoko Miwa and her trio-mates get to talking, it's no wonder they only want to keep going and going. Their playful bantering elevates everything on offer here, from a couple venerable standards through a handful of playful originals showing the ...
Mu: Free Energy!
by Geno Thackara
The Greek letter mu is used in physics notation to represent the coefficient of friction--and accordingly, this wacky and brainy crew could have hardly chosen a more relatable handle. The name seems to conflict with inventor Nikola Tesla's famous concept of free (i.e. all-natural) energy, but the clash is pretty apt for Free Energy!, which revels ...
Michele Rabbia - Gianluca Petrella - Eivind Aarset: Lost River
by Geno Thackara
There is a bewitching soundscape from a group of subtle and skilled aural sculptors on this beautifully abstract ECM Records session. The players' backgrounds touch on jazz, electronics, European folk and much more, but none of that really matters here. Their approach on Lost River is free of form and convention in the most liberating sense. ...
Kevin Hays & Lionel Loueke: Hope
by Geno Thackara
It would have been easy to leave well enough alone. Kevin Hays and Lionel Loueke made a delightful recording the first time around—a most happy clash of hemispheres blending urban jazz and world-folk balladry, crossing upbeat piano with lively scat-singing, frisky African rhythm play and much more. Nonetheless, a slot with Edition Records offered them a ...
HILA PUNTUR: Plastic Polaroid
by Geno Thackara
Aren't Polaroids largely plastic already? What other kind is there? Does this title signify that the work is fixed like a photograph or malleable like, well, plastic itself? Is it a quickly captured snapshot, or a work craftily molded into shape? When approaching Hila Puntur, all of the above are somewhat true. It's best to leave ...
Resonance Records: The Art of the Sampler
by Geno Thackara
Resonance Records is a refreshing success story in the modern jazz world, still happily defying the norms of the streaming age with unflagging class and style. Even familiar listeners can lose sight of what a catalogue of material they've gathered, which is where 2019's handful of budget samplers come in. Co-president Zev Feldman declares that he's ...
Ronny Wiesauer: Monologues
by Geno Thackara
If you are willing to learn, learn from the best. Guitarist Ronny Wiesauer has clearly taken the right lessons from the likes of Egberto Gismonti and Ralph Towner--he is a happily understated player, at home in the worlds of studious classical and informal jazz alike. He has played in different contexts and featured his own pieces ...
Monty Alexander: Still Rolling
by Geno Thackara
If there's one defining quality to Monty Alexander's music, it's joy. An unmistakable undercurrent of happiness has been constant across several decades, dozens of recordings and countless performances all over the world. He could be honoring classic jazz balladeers, exploring the danceable “riddims" of his native Jamaica or anything in between, and you can always hear ...
3x3: Piano Trios: July 2019
by Geno Thackara
It must unofficially be the year of the piano trio or something. They just keep coming, and thankfully each new one is still stimulating and surprising. Shalosh Onwards and Upwards ACT Music 2019 The name means “three," simply enough, and Shalosh is all about embodying that ideal of ...
Bert Lams & Fabio Mittino: Movimenti
by Geno Thackara
George Gurdjieff was one fascinating character: traveler, mystic, philosopher, composer and more. He taught that most people's consciousness is limited and there are other realms to be experienced after a spiritual awakening--time-honored ideas, yet provocative stuff for the early 20th century. His most famous collaboration was with Russian composer Thomas de Hartmann, which resulted in a ...
