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Matthew Shipp Trio: To Duke
by John Sharpe
So has pianist Matthew Shipp finally clambered aboard the repertory album bandwagon? Certainly on To Duke he addresses seven standards derived from the Ellington Orchestra, alongside four originals. But if you cast an eye over Shipp's discography you'll find such pieces are nothing new. Actually popular songs constitute an enduring part of his repertoire. What's unusual ...
Mark Helias Open Loose: The Signal Maker
by John Sharpe
Bassist Mark Helias runs a tight ship. Not in the sense of tricksy arrangements or impossible time signatures. It's more the laser sharp focus his accomplished Open Loose combo brings to the job in hand. And that job is breathing bustling and unpredictable life into the baker's dozen selections that constitute The Signal Maker, the unit's ...
Tobias Delius / Olie Brice / Mark Sanders: Somersaults
by John Sharpe
Any lineup which contains reedman Tobias Delius deserves attention. Born in England to an Argentinean father and a German mother, Delius was a longtime staple of the adventurous Amsterdam scene before his relocation to Berlin in 2007, though he's still a fixture with the ICP Orchestra. On Somersaults, he teams up with the talented British rhythm ...
Dave Burrell / Steve Swell: Turning Point
by John Sharpe
Although firmly associated with the avant-garde, pianist Dave Burrell often harkens back to pre-bop styles in his execution. On Turning Point he explicitly acknowledges such sources in his writing too. Perhaps that's appropriate in a sequence inspired by the American Civil War -what Burrell terms a war to end slavery. While composer in residence at Philadelphia's ...
Roscoe Mitchell Trio: Angel City
by John Sharpe
Throughout his career Chicago multi instrumentalist and composer Roscoe Mitchell has forensically examined two key polarities. More than most he has focused on the tensions between sound and silence and composition and improvisation. On Angel City, a continuous 55-minute opus recorded over two days in 2012 at Mills College in Oakland where Mitchell is professor of ...
Barry Guy: Five Fizzles for Samuel Beckett
by John Sharpe
Not to be confused with Fizzles (Maya, 1993), which contains the first documented version of the titular work along with other pieces for solo bass, Five Fizzles for Samuel Beckett is a 14 minute limited edition EP which does what it says on the tin. Virtuoso British bassist Barry Guy has long drawn inspiration from other ...
Decoy with Joe McPhee: Spontaneous Combustion
by John Sharpe
In spite of its relatively recent vintage, Oto (Bo' Weavil, 2010), the first encounter between Joe McPhee and British improvising trio Decoy, has quickly become one of the veteran multi-instrumentalist 's most popular recordings. By way of follow up Spontaneous Combustion first released as a LP, but now reissued as a double CD with added tracks, ...
Ted Daniel's Energy Module: Innerconnection
by John Sharpe
Although 72-year old trumpeter Ted Daniel remains active on the scene -courtesy of his Duology partnership with clarinetist Michael Marcus, and his own International Brass and Membrane Corps -a significant part of his recent output has focused on archival recordings. As such, the first time release of the 2 CD Innerconnection from fall 1975 neatly fits ...
Juan Pablo Carletti / Tony Malaby / Christopher Hoffman: Niño/Brujo
by John Sharpe
For his debut album, NYC-based Argentinian drummer Juan Pablo Carletti has made some wise choices, even before one considers the music. Foremost among those is the selection of saxophonist Tony Malaby to front his trio. Malaby has a compelling track record of energising such threesomes, as evidenced by his 14 year tenure in bassist Mark Helias' ...
Irene Schweizer / Jurg Wickihalder: Spring
by John Sharpe
On his only previous session in duet with piano -A Feeling For Someone (Intakt, 2008) -Swiss reedman Jurg Wickihalder's indebtedness to that master of the straight horn Steve Lacy was still evident. But on Spring, in the company of the iconoclastic pianist Irene Schweizer, Wickihalder sounds entirely his own man. Both principals boast serious avant-garde credentials, ...
