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253

Article: Album Review

Yotam Silberstein: Next Page

by J Hunter
May 23, 2009

Next Page has been pegged as an organ trio disc. The problem with that is saxman Chris Cheek appears on five of the disc's nine cuts. True, keyboardist Sam Yahel never lays out, but to completely dismiss Cheek's role in Yotam Silberstein's second release as a leader--even for simplicity's sake--is to ignore a range of color ...

142

Article: Album Review

Spoke: Spoke

by J Hunter
May 21, 2009

In his liner notes to Spoke's self-titled debut disc, Matthew Lima wrote that this Brooklyn-based quartet is “constantly refining the art of the compromise... not into a concession or lowering of standards, but an intermediate between different things." He's half right: There are no concessions whatsoever on Spoke; however, the differences are what it's all about. ...

315

Article: Album Review

Kendra Shank: Mosaic

by J Hunter
April 15, 2009

The beginning of Kendra Shank's new disc Mosaic doesn't bode well, as it opens with a song specifically sculpted for radio airplay. The track--a very beautiful, very faithful rendition of “So Far Away," Carole King's second-best ballad--would be equally at home on either Smooth Jazz radio or Adult Contemporary outfits looking to sound hip. The good ...

268

Article: Album Review

Will Sellenraad: Balance

by J Hunter
March 30, 2009

Will Sellenraad grew up in a place and time many people dream of: New York City's downtown scene of the '60s and '70s, when music and art were both in a state of quicksilver flux. Given that his parents (prominent New York artists themselves) named their son after modern-art pioneers William de Kooning and Piet Mondrian, ...

251

Article: Album Review

White Rocket: White Rocket

Read "White Rocket" reviewed by J Hunter

by J Hunter
March 25, 2009

Carnatic music--a product of southern India--is primarily performed by small groups, usually with a vocalist accompanied by some type of instrumental soloist; a rhythm section maintains the foundation and the drone during the performances. Although White Rocket's jazz inclinations give improvisation a bigger role then in standard Carnatic form, each piece on its debut disc has ...

227

Article: Album Review

Brad Shepik: Human Activity Suite

Read "Human Activity Suite" reviewed by J Hunter

by J Hunter
March 5, 2009

Theoretically, it should be difficult to do protest music without lyrics; nevertheless, that hasn't stopped Terence Blanchard, Ben Allison, and--most recently--Jeff “Tain" Waits from launching heat-seeking discs aimed right at the heart of some of this decade's most sensitive political issues. Now it's guitarist Brad Shepik's turn at bat with Human Activity Suite, only he's done ...

240

Article: Album Review

Jason Rigby: The Sage

by J Hunter
February 25, 2009

When purists maintain their Cheney-like insistence that nobody could have foreseen Miles Davis recording something as incendiary as Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969), they reveal a blind spot the size of the Chrysler Building. The pre-Brew signs were as plain as the glasses on Stanley Crouch's face: First there was Filles de Kilimanjaro (Columbia, 1968), which codified ...

484

Article: Album Review

Clayton Brothers: Brother to Brother

Read "Brother to Brother" reviewed by J Hunter

by J Hunter
January 12, 2009

Jazz had a family thing going long before the Marsalises showed up; Jeff and John Clayton created Brother to Brother to showcase the sibling side of that equation. Wynton and Branford's music isn't touched on, but other related members of jazz royalty receive due deference either through loving covers or new compositions inspired by honorees. To ...

332

Article: Album Review

Blue Note 7: Mosaic: a Celebration of Blue Note Records

Read "Mosaic: a Celebration of Blue Note Records" reviewed by J Hunter

by J Hunter
January 7, 2009

Blue Note's 70th anniversary deserves more than a cake, a toast, and a chorus of “For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." To that end, The Blue Note 7's Mosaic: a Celebration of Blue Note Records is a collection of music from some of the imprint's greatest masters, as interpreted by a group of Blue Note's current ...

410

Article: Album Review

Avishai Cohen: Flood

by J Hunter
January 3, 2009

Using accepted standards, what would be the correct instrumental configuration to recreate a disaster of, literally, Biblical proportions? A fairly sizeable orchestra--or, at minimum, a big band with a talent for the chaotic--would seem mandatory. Well, Avishai Cohen (who, among many things, holds down the trumpet chair in the immeasurably talented family band 3 Cohens) chose ...