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Matthew Shipp: Zero

by Karl Ackermann
In a recent interview with Jazz Trail's Filipe Freitas, pianist/composer Matthew Shipp talked about returning to his long-standing inquiry into how spontaneous free improvisation develops. His thought process involves the same metaphysical concepts that have always been what I ask -how things come out of nothing?" Shipp's line of questioning is strikingly close in its relationship ...
Matthew Shipp Quartet: Sonic Fiction

by Karl Ackermann
The ESP-Disk label simultaneously has released two distinctly different leader dates from Matthew Shipp. Zero is an excellent solo piano album, and here, we have Shipp's namesake quartet on the ten-track Sonic Fiction. The shared deference and camaraderie in this free-spirited outing allows for an appreciation of even the slightest details and distinctions--elements that can easily ...
The Dorf: Lux

by Karl Ackermann
Imagine the marriage of minimal, ambient-drone, industrial noise, and a chamber ensemble. The combination doesn't likely conjure up many musical associations, but then we have The Dorf. Founded by German saxophonist Jan Klare in 2006, the name--which roughly translates to village"--implies something small rather than an enormous ensemble of twenty-six musicians. Like a village, members have ...
Satoko Fujii: Satoko Fujii Solo

by Karl Ackermann
In celebration of her sixtieth birthday, pianist/composer Satoko Fujii plans to release twelve albums in one year; one for each month of 2018. With many other artists it would be fair to question whether such output would compromise the integrity of the music but Fujii is--and has been--one of the most inexhaustible artists of her kind. ...
Bobo Stenson: Contra la indecision

by Karl Ackermann
With a few exceptions, Swedish pianist Bobo Stenson has spent his long recording career with the prestigious ECM label, dating back to his oddly named Underwear in 1971. That particular album turned out to be more a showcase for bassist Arild Andersen and drummer Jon Christensen than for Stenson, and the pianist did not lead again ...
Kit Downes: Obsidian

by Karl Ackermann
In 2013, pianist/organist Kit Downes, along with saxophonist Tomas Challenger, released Wedding Music (Loop Records) featuring Downes on the B-3 organ at Huddersfield University's St Paul's Church. That recording was moored in an ethereal setting that gave it an ambient, but stately quality and the duo reunited under similar conditions for Vyamanikal (Slip Imprint, 2016). In ...
Rufus Reid: Terrestrial Dance

by Karl Ackermann
Rufus Reid is one of a handful of true renaissance figures in the arts. The bassist and composer has been an active presence in the jazz world since the 1970s and has recorded more than a dozen albums as a leader and in groups with Dexter Gordon, Andrew Hill, The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Quartet, ...
Culture Clubs: A History of the U.S. Jazz Clubs, Part III: Kansas City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles & Beyond

by Karl Ackermann
Beyond the Hubs While New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City and New York City were the incubators of modern jazz, they were by no means the only locations with an appetite for live music. Jazz artists whose point of origin could not sustain multiple venues ventured to locations near and far to practice their trade. ...
Dialectical Imagination: The Angel and the Brute Sing Songs of Wrath

by Karl Ackermann
On their debut album The Angel and the Brute Sing Songs of Rapture (Atma Nadi Records, 2017) pianist/composer Eli Wallace and drummer Rob Pumpelly--the duo Dialectical Imagination--described their music as an amalgam of free improvisation and chamber music. Their vision for The Angel and the Brute Sing Songs of Wrath is decidedly more abstract though that ...
Pearring Sound: True Story

by Karl Ackermann
Colorado native Jeff Pearring began studying the alto saxophone at the age of ten but pursued a career in economics before turning back to music. With a broad range of experiences that encompassed symphonic bands, ska and reggae, it was Pearring's affinity for jazz that guided him upon arriving in New York. Pearring studied with Connie ...