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Article: Interview

WorldService Project: Articulate Arsonists

by John Kelman
July 15, 2013

It's a very different time to be a musician than it was even 20 years ago, when major record labels still existed, providing tour support and money to make recordings. It's also a very different time because, with the upsurge of DIY recordings, there's more music being released every month than ever before. Add to that ...

Article: Live Review

2013 Montreal Jazz Festival: June 28-July 2, 2013

by John Kelman
July 11, 2013

Festival International de Jazz de MontréalMontréal, CanadaJune 28-July 7, 2013After taking a year off to curate an All About Jazz Presents: Doing It Norway at Norway's 2012 Kongsberg Jazz Festival, it was great to return to the city that hosts what must surely be the largest jazz festival in the world. Where else ...

Article: Album Review

Gary Peacock / Marilyn Crispell: Azure

by John Kelman
July 1, 2013

Who leads a project is often nothing more than a matter of optics. Bassist Gary Peacock's name may come first on the cover of Azure, but there's no doubt that this is a collaborative affair, with pianist Marilyn Crispell an equal participant; the two even co-produced the recording, with label head Manfred Eicher nowhere to be ...

Article: Live Review

2013 TD Ottawa Jazz Festival: Ottawa, Canada, June 21-26, 2013

by John Kelman
July 1, 2013

TD Ottawa Jazz FestivalOttawa, CanadaJune 20-July 1, 2013Having made the decision, in 2012, to broaden its stylistic purview to include not only music on the periphery of jazz, but artists with no real connection to the founding raison d'être of the festival, the 2013 TD Ottawa Jazz Festival continued to bring extracurricular music ...

Article: Album Review

Reijseger / Harmen Fraanje / Mola Sylla: Down Deep

Read "Down Deep" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
June 27, 2013

As one of its first signings, Ernst Reijseger has amassed a sizable discography with Winter & Winter. Werner Herzog--with whom Reijseger has also shared a lengthy relationship, scoring seven of the German film director's films since 2000's Ajax: Hark the Herald Angels Sing--has aptly described the Dutch cellist as capable of anything, furthermore suggesting that he ...

Article: Extended Analysis

David Binney: Lifted Land

by John Kelman
June 26, 2013

In a career that seems to go from strength to strength and milestone to milestone, it's hard to imagine how David Binney manages to not only release one terrific record after another, but to do so, in some cases, under some pretty constricting terms. Like the five other albums that the influential saxophonist/composer has recorded as ...

Article: Extended Analysis

Überjam Deux

by John Kelman
June 25, 2013

It's been a decade since Up All Night (Verve, 2003), John Scofield's second and, at the time it seemed, final album with his Überjam band, a group of younger players who, following his earlier forays into the territory—1998's first meeting with Medeski, Martin & Wood, A Go Go (Verve), and the larger-casted Bump (2000)—placed the guitarist ...

Article: Album Review

Julia Hulsmann Quartet: In Full View

Read "In Full View" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
June 19, 2013

There's no denying the benefit of stable longevity, but neither is there anything wrong with change. Following three ACT recordings that featured her trio--together since Scattering Poems (ACT, 2003)--supporting a series of vocalists, Julia Hülsmann moved to ECM, where the pianist was afforded greater freedom to more fully explore her trio's potential on 2008's The End ...

Article: Extended Analysis

Joe Locke: Lay Down My Heart - Blues & Ballads Vol 1

by John Kelman
June 17, 2013

In a rarefied space, Joe Locke continues to evolve, engage and impress. There simply isn't another vibraphonist of his generation with Locke's stellar chops, thorough understanding of history/tradition--not just of jazz, but of music, period--and ability to build programs based on thematic concepts that not only stand out in his gradually growing discography, but fit contextually ...

Article: Extended Analysis

Susanne Abbuehl: The Gift

by John Kelman
June 14, 2013

There was a time when artists were expected to release a record every year--sometimes a very good thing, as there was so much development going on that there was plenty to document; other times a less-than-ideal situation, as some artists simply didn't have that much music in them, so releasing albums too frequently often worked against--rather ...