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Charles Flores: Impressions Of Graffiti
by Glenn Astarita
Reared and educated in Cuba, bassist Charles Flores migrated to the US and evolved into a first-call session artist for saxophonist David Sanchez and flautist Dave Valentine among many others. Sadly, Flores' debut solo endeavor is a posthumous release as he succumbed to cancer on August 22, 2012. Yet it's a luminous testament to his holistic ...
Vole: The Hillside Mechanisms
by Glenn Astarita
Youthful dynamism and a conglomerate of influences signify a few conspicuous attributes of this European trio's debut album. It's a semi-structured and highly improvised outing. And the musicians pool their resources to indulge in free-form slugfests amid transitory punk-rock grooves, bizarre progressive-rock stylizations and numerous flights into the avant-garde jazz strata. Nonetheless, the band is a ...
Dave Haskell Group: Pivot Point
by Glenn Astarita
A one-time highly respected sideman and improviser in the San Francisco area, guitarist Dave Haskell put most of these activities on hold after becoming a commercial airline pilot. After hanging up his wings, the artist re-enters the scene with his tight-knit core band and garners the expertise of prominent West Coast musicians, guitarist Robben Ford, keyboardist ...
Mark Murdock: Cymbalic Encounters
by Glenn Astarita
Drummer, keyboardist and vocalist Mark Murdock's Cymbalic Encounters features eminent progressive-rock unit Brand X alumni, guitarist John Goodsall, bassist Percy Jones, and drummer Kenwood Dennard along with legendary jazz-fusion keyboardist David Sancious and other guests. Murdock shines as a renaissance man and offers a diversified set, highlighted by the largely memorable compositions and aided by a ...
Dice Factory: Dice Factory
by Glenn Astarita
The UK-based quartet Dice Factory derives its moniker from Luke Reinhardt's novel the The Dice Man, where decision-making for real life situations are devised on chance and risk. On the contrary, the album is well-organized, complementing the extensive latitude of improvisational segments. For those who like comparisons, the ensemble navigates through tricky, odd-metered time signatures, perhaps ...
Soft Machine Legacy: Burden of Proof
by Glenn Astarita
Subsequent to its psychedelic late 60s existence, Soft Machine redeployed its musicality into a hybrid form of British prog-rock meets avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion schema. The band invoked a signature sound, partly due to keyboardist Mike Ratlledge's fuzz-toned Lowry organ performances and other prominent factors. A chief proponent of Britain's fabled Canterbury music scene, many ...
The Green Violinist: More Thrill & Never Ending Blessings
by Glenn Astarita
This Belgian progressive-rock outfit's debut frames its moniker on the title of artist Marc Chagall's The Green Violinist. Lead vocalist Vincent Dufresne derived inspiration from the painting after wading through some personal issues in 2003. The artist states that upon hearing the Canadian punk/post-rock band Silver Mount Zion's 13 Angels Standing Guard 'Round the Side of ...
Judy Dyble: Talking With Strangers
by Glenn Astarita
British vocalist Judy Dyble is one of the founding members of the celebrated folk-rock ensemble Fairport Convention. After leaving the band, she became involved in transitory but critically successful musical endeavors, and eventually retired from the music scene to raise a family. Four decades later she reinvented her career with this album, originally issued throughout Europe ...
Secret Keeper (Stephan Crump & Mary Halvorson): Super 8
by Glenn Astarita
Bassist Stephan Crump and guitarist Mary Halvorson kindled the fire in 2011 during their initial encounter, leading to these sessions recorded in Brooklyn, N.Y. Of course, the respective artists are highly revered within modern jazz schemas and the outside realm, spanning a global presence as first-call session artists, paralleling their solo ventures. Hence, the duo crafts ...
Marbin: Last Chapter of Dreaming
by Glenn Astarita
Dani Rabin is a burgeoning guitar hero and could shred with the best of them, evidenced by this first-class band's third release, featuring guest spots by drummer Paul Wertico (Pat Metheny) and percussionist Jamey Haddad (Herbie Hancock, Joe Lovano). Marked by a diverse track mix and genre-busting compositional frameworks, the artists cross that imaginary boundary, where ...


