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New Jazz Composers Octet: The Turning Gate
by Hrayr Attarian
Intricate compositions often provide the best substrate for complex and satisfying improvisation. This holds true for the New Jazz Composer's Octet's The Turning Gate, which includes five short compositions and one long suite made up of six movements. Each piece serves as a vehicle for group interplay and interpretation, and as a platform for one or ...
Oliver Lake: Makin' It
by Hrayr Attarian
Changing a few elements of a well known musical format may be all that is needed to create a new and fresh sound. Makin' It, Oliver Lake has taken the old saxophone organ trio popularized in the 1950s by the likes of Ike Quebec and made it into a new vehicle for 21st ...
Patrick Langham: Grown Up Listening
by Hrayr Attarian
Artists' early works generally channels the various influences and styles they have been exposed to during their development. What makes a debut unique is the way the different influences fuse and what the musicians can add to the mix themselves. Alto saxophonist Patrick Langham's Grown Up Listening is a perfect example. Langham is ...
Urban Hansson: Flute Fascination
by Hrayr Attarian
Instrumental jazz duet recordings that are not piano-based are a rarity; one that comes to mind is guitarist Jim Hall and bassist Ron Carter's Alone Together (Milestone, 1972). But a disc made up of exclusively flute “conversations" with other less commonly used instruments (at least in this setting) is almost unheard of. Swedish flutist Urban Hansson ...
Joe Gilman: View So Tender: Wonder Revisited - Volume Two
by Hrayr Attarian
A master improviser interpreting the works of one of the greatest popular composers should make for a stimulating listen. Sadly, pianist Joe Gilman's View So Tender: Wonder Revisited Volume 2 does not quite hit the mark. Despite being labeled Volume 2, this is not an afterthought or a follow-up building on the success ...
Dominick Farinacci: Lovers, Tales & Dances
by Hrayr Attarian
The mass appeal of a jazz recording does not necessarily compromise its value or its artistic integrity; it simply means that the artist has mastered the difficult task of balancing the creative and the commercial. Trumpeter Dominick Farinacci has done just that on his debut album, Lovers, Tales & Dances. Farinacci sounds a ...
Ray Brown Jr.: Friends and Family
by Hrayr Attarian
A solid pedigree does not necessarily guarantee talent, but in the case of Ray Brown Jr. it clearly has, which makes Friends and Family even more disappointing. Brown has an evocative baritone and an impeccable mastery over the art of singing that rivals the best classically trained opera performers. His delivery on this record, however, is ...
Dan DeChellis Trio: Organic Material
by Hrayr Attarian
Good ideas need to be expanded upon rather than repeated, since even the best of them may lose their appeal with multiple restatements. Dan DeChellis' Organic Matter is full of interesting musical concepts that are not really explored to their fullest; rather, they are repeated with each track multiple times, creating a pleasant, hypnotic effect that, ...
Tom Beckham: Rebound
by Hrayr Attarian
Catchy tunes and intelligent soloing do not a masterpiece make, but they do create a memorable and enjoyable listening experience. Tom Beckham's third album as a leader finds him in sympathetic, although slightly overbearing, company of saxophonist Chris Cheek and a rhythm section led by pianist Henry Hey. Beckham has a unique approach ...
Peter Sommer: Crossroads
by Hrayr Attarian
It takes self-confidence and talent for a new musician to lock horns with a more experienced practitioner of the same instrument, and tenor saxophonist Peter Sommer has plenty of both. His only other recording was a collaborative effort with pianist Art Lande, and this second recording is his first as a leader. On ...
