Results for "Geno Thackara"

John Paul Jones: Hoediddle

by Geno Thackara
January 4, 2025

Sure, everybody and their uncle knows about that band that John Paul Jones played in once upon a time, but there has seemed to be practically no recognition for his two (and apparently still only) solo albums from around the turn of the century. These were a pair of wild--and impressively eclectic, in the case of ...

Geno Thackara's Favorite Jazz Albums of 2024

by Geno Thackara
December 27, 2024

The year has unfortunately not allowed for reviewing anything near as much as I'd hoped, but the lack of coverage certainly does not mean a lack of quality--as always, there are some picks that just keep finding their way back to my speakers again and again. I'll add a quick honorable mention for Ultraviolet's Ripples and ...

Tabla Beat Science: Sacred Channel

by Geno Thackara
December 19, 2024

Bill Laswell must have known he was really onto something special when assembling this lineup, crossing some slick cyber-techno acts with endlessly open-minded Indian classical musicians such as Ustad Sultan Khan and the legendary Ustad Zakir Hussain. It was the kind of all-star group where the members don't outshine each other, but humbly mesh their brilliance ...

Jazz Sabbath: The 1968 Tapes

by Geno Thackara
December 17, 2024

The story continues: Jazz Sabbath's eponymous debut (Blacklake, 2020) introduced the premise of a progressive-minded late-'60s piano trio whose unreleased material was plagiarized and adapted in heavy blues style by those young upstarts Black Sabbath. The catalog got an even more fun horn-drenched expansion with 2022's Vol. 2 (Blacklake). The mysterious pianist Milton Keanes (da-dum) and ...

Melody Gardot: Who Will Comfort Me

by Geno Thackara
December 14, 2024

Rob Martino: One Cloud

by Geno Thackara
October 4, 2024

Paradise Cinema: returning, dream

by Geno Thackara
September 21, 2024

Was this made in a studio or beamed in from a jungle on some faraway planet? Perhaps a little of both--Jack Wyllie's saxophone does often find some alien- sounding contexts, as often shown by the futuristic electro-jazz-ambient sound sculpting of Portico Quartet or the wilder psychedelic fusion of Szun Waves. When it comes to Paradise Cinema, ...

Solo Piano: Emotions and Drama

by Geno Thackara
September 20, 2024

If solo might seem to suggest simple, then it would probably be best not to jump to conclusions. In the right hands, one instrument is capable of as much wide-scale drama as an orchestra. Maciej Tubis Komeda: Reflections AudioCave 2023 Any tribute worth its salt (or rather its vinyl ...

Jon Hassell: Maarifa Street

by Geno Thackara
September 7, 2024

A little technology and a lot of imagination can go quite a long way. With an uncanny knack for bending and warping sounds slightly out of phase with the way they sound in the real world, Jon Hassell had a way of turning the trumpet (or indeed any piece of the soundscape) into something nobody had ...

Remembering All About Jazz's Dave Binder / John Kelman

by AAJ Staff
August 15, 2024

It is with great sadness that All About Jazz must announce the death of Dave Binder, better known to millions of readers as John Kelman. Dave died of a heart attack on August 10th, after a long bout of illness. For twenty years Dave was the most internationally renowned of all AAJ's contributors, penning over 2,700 ...