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Results for "Hrayr Attarian"
Jen Shyu: Song of the Silver Geese
by Hrayr Attarian
The dramatic and sublime The Song of the Silver Geese is vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu's magnum opus. On it Shyu draws from her dual cultural ancestry as well as other east Asian heritages to craft memorable performance art replete with dynamic spontaneity, unique instrumentation and exquisite poetry. The nine-piece suite is divided into “doors" and ...
Sam Newsome and Jean-Michel Pilc: Magic Circle
by Hrayr Attarian
Intimate, innovative and captivating Magic Circle is an album of duets between soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome and pianist Jean-Michel Pilc. Although they perform primarily standards their interpretations are anything but conventional. Both musicians are known for their individual styles and singular approaches to improvisation and they showcase these superbly on the current disc.Pianist and ...
Lucio Balduini: El Bosque Brillante
by Hrayr Attarian
Argentinian guitarist Lucio Balduini creates a mystical and dramatic ambience on his third release as a leader, the intriguing, El Bosque Brillante. Each of the 11 tracks that comprise the album are abstract soundscapes evoking specific moods and emotions. “Cascada Milagrosa" for instance opens with Balduini's melancholic and contemplative melody that flows elegantly over ...
Shilpa Ray: Door Girl
by Hrayr Attarian
Singer-songwriter Shilpa Ray brings her signature pitch black humor and intelligent phraseology to the dozen tunes on her 2017 Door Girl. Most of the music bears hints of retro, 1950s, effervescent rock which contrasts with Ray's mordant poetry and her eerie, expressive keyboards with poignancy and to dramatic effect. The introspective “Morning Terrors Nights ...
Fabian Almazan: Alcanza
by Hrayr Attarian
There is no doubt that pianist and composer Fabian Almazan's Alcanza is a unique and boldly inventive work. On it Almazan deftly fuses the tonality and stylings of a string quartet with those of his piano trio. He also adorns this captivating composition with the scintillating romanticism of guitarist and vocalist Camila Meza's hypnotic singing. The ...
Nicole Mitchell: Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds
by Hrayr Attarian
Composer and flutist Nicole Mitchell has released her magnum opus with the provocative and stirring Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds. The single suite is a musical dramatization of the futuristic allegory that Mitchell wrote for the album. It is a short story set in the year 2099 and is about the symbolic struggle between the decaying ...
Charles Rumback: Threes
by Hrayr Attarian
Versatile drummer Charles Rumback's third release under his name, Threes is a live session recorded at Constellation Chicago. It is also Rumback's first with a piano trio, and although the formation is conventional the music is nothing but that. Indeed, the four long pieces that make up the album are provocative in their inventiveness and passionate ...
Kate Gentile: Mannequins
by Hrayr Attarian
With the stimulating Mannequins, the New York based drummer Kate Gentile has created a cohesive and engaging album. On this first release under her own name, Gentile superbly balances emotive passion and intellectual acumen. Her intricate compositions are simultaneously fully realized and vibrantly supple and pliant as to allow for independent spontaneous expressions. The ...
Two Sackville Gems: Abdullah Ibraihim's "Ancient Africa" and Oliver Lake and Joseph Bowie's "Live at A Space 1976"
by Hrayr Attarian
In 2011 Chicago's Delmark label acquired the defunct Sackville Records catalog, a Canadian imprint that specialized in mostly trad jazz and the Avant-Garde. Since then Delmark has systematically put out previously unavailable gems from the Sackville's vaults. In the first part of 2017 it reissued pianist Abdullah Ibrahim's solo outing Ancient Africa (Sackville, 1994) and trombonist ...
Miles Okazaki: Trickster
by Hrayr Attarian
There is nothing deceptive about guitarist Miles Okazaki's Trickster. It is simply an elegantly crafted work that engages with its narrative quality and its darkly hued, intriguing texture. On his fourth release as a leader the New York based Okazaki leads a quartet that consists of two of his bandmates from altoist Steve Coleman's Five Elements, ...
