Home » Search Center » Results: John Kelman
Results for "John Kelman"
Weather Report: Forecast: Tomorrow
by John Kelman
While the virtuosity of its members was never in dispute, of all the groups that emerged in the 1970s fusion era, Weather Report was the one that best avoided the trappings of excess--the victory of technical facility over musical substance to which other bands of the time fell prey. However, despite an auspicious beginning that leaned ...
ETHEL: Light
by John Kelman
These days musicians raised in compartmentalized traditions can find themselves challenged by the homogeneous blending of diverse musical interests. Not so with Ethel, a young string quartet that may be traditional in configuration, but brings together a wealth of influences--not because it's fashionable, but because it's the only thing that makes sense. Light, the followup to ...
Lynne Arriale Trio: Live
by John Kelman
Lyricism and empathy provide the focus for pianist Lynne Arriale's Live. There's nothing wrong with reaching out to an audience with catchy melodies and accessible rhythms, as this trio makes clear. Arriale is supported by bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Steve Davis--veteran players who, despite busy schedules, have made Arriale a priority since joining her on ...
Dave Liebman & Bobby Avey: Vienna Dialogues
by John Kelman
An album based around music by Mendelssohn, Mahler and other classical composers might sound a little too polite for expressionist saxophonist Dave Liebman. But Vienna Dialogues, a followup to the more in-character Manhattan Dialogues (Zoho, 2005), demonstrates what anyone who has followed his career already knows. Liebman has always been a player who can immerse himself ...
White Willow: Signal to Noise
by John Kelman
White Willow, a group of Norwegian progressive rockers, has long since given up its early folk-rock roots, moving towards a symphonic prog sound with an aggressive edge that has made the band popular on the Scandinavian circuit for the past few years. Signal to Noise is a logical progression from Storm Season (2004), continuing to forge ...
Steve Reich: Phases: A Nonesuch Retrospective
by John Kelman
When the history book is written on the minimalist scene that emerged in the 1960s, it's likely that composer Steve Reich will emerge as the most influential figure. Certainly artists including Philip Glass and Terry Riley have made extremely significant contributions to contemporary classical music and have evolved, like Reich, beyond the inherent constraints of the ...
John McLaughlin/Remember Shakti: The Way of Beauty
by John Kelman
John McLaughlin/Remember Shakti The Way of Beauty Universal Music France 2006 Over the past decade guitarist John McLaughlin, other than working on his Industrial Zen (Verve, 2006) project, has devoted much of his time to a new version of his ground-breaking mid-'70s Indo-Jazz fusion group Shakti. For those unable to ...
Nick Russo + 11: Ro
by John Kelman
In an ever-shrinking world, musical eclecticism is now becoming the norm. Still, artists need to be able to channel their varied musical sources into a focused voice. Ro is a broad-reaching affair that demonstrates guitarist Nick Russo's not insignificant improvisational and compositional strengths, but also feels a bit too much like a grab bag. Within this ...
Dave Douglas: Keystone Live in Sweden
by John Kelman
In the early days of silent film, scores were played live, most often by a single musician--simplifying the response to the on-screen activities. In recent years artists like guitarist Bill Frisell and clarinetist Louis Sclavis have upped the ante by combining composed music with improvisation on silent film scores for small ensembles, making the coordination of ...
Don Byron: Do the Boomerang: The Music of Junior Walker
by John Kelman
Clarinetist Don Byron is proof that one can be a serious musician and still have fun. A member of Mensa, he's a composer of serious music like A Ballad for Many (Cantaloupe, 2006). Still, anyone who was at his Montreal Jazz Festival show this past summer knows that, whether he's reinventing Afro-Cuban music on Music for ...


