Results for "Geno Thackara"

Tom Griesgraber & Bert Lams: Don't Look Back

by Geno Thackara
January 13, 2024

The title probably isn't really a warning. To judge from the warm affable sound of Tom Griesgraber's Chapman Stick piece, “Don't Look Back" feels more like a piece of optimistic advice. Further brightened by the easygoing chemistry he shares with Bert Lams as they skip through what should be a rhythmic booby trap, it's as bouncy ...

Ralph Towner: Winter Solstice

by Geno Thackara
December 21, 2023

It's a thoughtful, pastoral yet playful album--an early touchstone of the ECM label's sound, for good reason--and right in the middle, Ralph Towner decides to take a breather a bit more sparse than the rest. The quartet lineup drops to just a duo, and he and Jan Garbarek spin a cozy little tone poem evoking the ...

Hu Vibrational: Timeless

by Geno Thackara
December 18, 2023

An Adam Rudolph recording is less a collection of musical pieces than of sound paintings. The elements he works with are musical ones--any instrument known to mankind might be used, and often even used to play notes--but traditions of form and melody tend to be tossed out the window from the start. The tones are treated ...

Geno Thackara's Favorites of 2023

by Geno Thackara
December 14, 2023

It's been another year of surprises around every corner--faces old and new, material fresh or freshly remade, and full of endless imagination in every case. As always, this is just my selection of most-played favorites in no particular order. Matthew Halsall An Ever Changing View Gondwana Records It's almost ...

LRK Trio: Plyasovaya

by Geno Thackara
December 9, 2023

Siril Malmedal Hauge and Jacob Young: Little Wing

by Geno Thackara
December 4, 2023

"Butterflies and zebras and moonbeams and fairy tales"--even if they're separated by decades, Siril Malmedal Hauge has just the kind of voice Jimi Hendrix could have written those dreamy lines about. She and Jacob Young are a sleeper duo that rarely need anything but voice and guitar, but use those simple means to a wide and ...

Fred Hersch: After You've Gone

by Geno Thackara
November 20, 2023

Amongst the trademark ballads and Thelonious Monk tunes, it's sometimes easy to miss what a mood-lifter it can be when Fred Hersch dashes off a little jaunty stride playing. Also in classic style, this selection sounds way more cheerful than the words would suggest--but in these hands (and especially without the words), it works just fine. ...

Cameron Mizell and Charlie Rauh: Local Folklore

by Geno Thackara
November 4, 2023

Dylan Jack Quartet: Eine Quartett des Grauens

by Geno Thackara
November 2, 2023

Often--or at least usually, or sometimes? Let's say sometimes--the classics are classics for a reason. Any horror buff has their own ideas where to go for some creepy-crawlies and jump scares, but they'll probably all agree (on some level) that the most old-school classics set down the blueprint before moving pictures were even matched up with ...

Hania Rani: Hello

by Geno Thackara
October 27, 2023

Hania Rani is never one to let a few layers of electronics get in the way of some feelings. Whatever gadgets are involved, the overall experience is natural as much as otherworldly (like her voice itself, really). This surprisingly danceable example crosses a fuzzy heartbeat pulse with the weird dreaminess of a bout of insomnia--the state ...