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Rodrigo Amado Northern Liberties: We Are Electric
by John Sharpe
Portuguese saxophonist Rodrigo Amado hits the jackpot with the debut by his Northern Liberties quartet. He's found gifted collaborators in the Norwegian threesome of trumpeter Thomas Johansson, drummer Gard Nilssen and bassist Jon Rune Strøm. Amado's preferred domain is muscular free jazz. It's territory he's thoroughly explored with his Motion Trio, supplemented by guests like trumpeter ...
Joe McPhee, Michael Bisio, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Juma Sultan: The Sweet Spot
by John Sharpe
Making music with one's neighbors was one way of getting by during the pandemic. Of course, it helps if your colleagues are all of the caliber of the foursome assembled on The Sweet Spot, all of whom reside in the Hudson Valley, a couple of hours north of NYC. But it is not just geographic proximity ...
John Dikeman, Pat Thomas, John Edwards, Steve Noble: Volume 1
by John Sharpe
For those worried about soaring energy bills, the inflammatory foursome of tenor saxophonist John Dikeman, pianist Pat Thomas, bassist John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble certainly offers one solution. They must have truly warmed the room at London's Cafe Oto on a cold February evening in 2019, on the evidence of the forty-minute program presented on ...
Futari: Underground
by John Sharpe
Pandemic enforcement of geographic separation in no way inconveniences the adventurous combo of pianist Satoko Fujii and vibraphonist Taiko Saito, working together under the banner Futari. Having explored the option of a virtual band on Mosaic (Libra, 2021) by her This Is It! trio, Fujii tries a different approach on Underground, her second album with Saito ...
Kappeler / Zumthor: Herd
by John Sharpe
Swiss duo pianist Vera Kappeler and percussionist Peter Conradin Zumthor deliver a haunting program of eleven simple but effective mood pieces. They share a spare aesthetic which marries elements of minimalism, folk, jazz and circus music into an idiosyncratic, but by no means inaccessible, whole. While their previous outing together, Babylon-Suite (ECM, 2014), was inspired by ...
Total Music Association: Walpurgisnacht
by John Sharpe
German free jazz enjoys a celebrated history. But while the likes of Peter Brötzmann, Alexander von Schlippenbach and Albert Mangelsdorff are among the marquee names, there's a whole other strata of lesser known entities. Among them is the short-lived Total Music Association, whose only LP, Walpurgisnacht, constitutes a revelatory reissue by the Lithuanian NoBusiness imprint. It ...
Chamber 4: Dawn To Dusk
by John Sharpe
The third album from the French-Portuguese collective Chamber 4 might be the aural equivalent of comfort food. A nourishing feast of spontaneous communal navigation which slips down easily, but leaves you wanting more. Not that there's any attempt to replicate past glories from their eponymous debut (FMR, 2015) or City Of Light (Clean Feed, 2017).
Angelika Niescier & Alexander Hawkins: Soul In Plain Sight
by John Sharpe
Some of pianist British Alexander Hawkins' most potent outings have been in the intimate duo setting. Think, for example, of Leaps In Leicester (Clean Feed, 2016) with Evan Parker or Shards And Constellations (Intakt, 2020) with cellist Tomeka Reid. To that list can be added this richly-detailed double act with the Polish-born, German-resident saxophonist Angelika Niescier. ...
This Is It!: Mosaic
by John Sharpe
Fittingly for an artist as relentlessly exploratory as pianist Satoko Fujii, on Mosaic she pushes at the boundaries of recording technology, as well as the music, and comes up trumps. For the second release from the trio This Is It! lack of physical proximity proved no obstacle. Confined to base during the pandemic, Fujii and husband ...
Lao Dan / Deng Boyu: TuTu Duo
by John Sharpe
The profile of jazz and improvisation from China rates roughly the same as the chances of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, or an anti-vaxxer's feel for community (if neither of those comparisons sits comfortably, just make up your own)—vanishingly small. So the release of TuTu Duo by reedman Lao Dan and percussionist Deng Boyu, ...
