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Lettuce: Mt. Crushmore
by Karl Ackermann
The long-time jazz/funk band Lettuce has been referred to in terms that liken their sound to an evangelizing of funk and that is certainly a fitting descriptions for a good portion of their music. What the funk-laden descriptions obscure is that the blending of a strong jazz element makes this group unique. That aspect is largely ...
Colin Vallon / Patrice Moret / Julian Sartorius: Danse
by Karl Ackermann
Pianist Colin Vallon seems on the verge of a creative breakthrough with his new trio album Danse. With his third ECM trio release Vallon has cemented a personal approach to his music; it is one that has taken time to unfold much like many of his compositions. In his writing, as well as group interplay, the ...
Sei Miguel: (Five) Stories Untold
by Karl Ackermann
As he did on his two previous Clean Feed albums Suite for a Jazz Combo (2010) and Salvation Modes (2014), Portuguese trumpeter Sei Miguel works with the pocket variety of the instrument and sounds superb in the process. With (Five) Stories Untold he utilizes a revolving cast of players in tempering abstraction with an abundance of ...
Club d'Elf: Live at Club Helsinki
by Karl Ackermann
Who (and what) defines the Boston-based, dub-jazz Club d'Elf is an enigma. At the core, the group" is bassist and composer Mike Rivard and drummer Dean Johnston. Rivard has far-flung history ranging from Either-Orchestra to the Boston Pops Orchestra and the cult rock group Morphine. Johnston had perused a career in the Athens, Georgia music scene ...
Jazz Education: The Next Generation, Part 1
by Karl Ackermann
A Protracted Beginning Ken Prouty, an assistant professor of Musicology and Jazz Studies at Michigan State University and author of Knowing Jazz: Community, Pedagogy, and Canon in the Information Age (University Press of Mississippi, 2013) has written at length about the early history of jazz education in the US. In his writings, he ...
Pauline Oliveros/Roscoe Mitchell/John Tilbury/Wadada Leo Smith: Nessuno
by Karl Ackermann
In 1991 the label I Dischi Di Angelica was founded solely for the purpose of documenting the performances of its namesake music festival in Italy. The non-profit label has grown--but only marginally--releasing a compact catalog of global music, typically related to artists that have some association with the annual event. Fortunately for fans of creative music, ...
Tania Stavreva: Rhythmic Movement
by Karl Ackermann
Pianist and New York City resident Tania Stavreva is a cross-genre trailblazer in the vein of a Stefano Battaglia. More than being at home in both classical and jazz, the Bulgarian native has found an approach that--when desired--connects elements of each form and adds her own methods, resulting in a unique hybrid. The twenty-something artist has ...
Tom Challenger and Kit Downes: Black Shuck
by Karl Ackermann
The great--and often dark--writer, Neil Gaiman, in his recently published book of short stories titled Trigger Warning tells the tale of the mythical dog-beast--the black shuck--that is to be avoided at night because ..."if you see him--you die.." Well, that's fairly dark and it sets the tone for the third duo outing from Kit Downes and ...
David S. Ware/Matthew Shipp: Live in Sant’Anna Arresi, 2004
by Karl Ackermann
Describing David S. Ware as a maverick would be a gimmicky shortcut around the depth of the late saxophonist's vision. Outside of John Coltrane we have not seen a Ware contemporary with more depth of spirituality, presented in such a visceral way. Similarly, Matthew Shipp employs a type of unimaginable creative mysticism that transcends technique and ...
Azure Hiptronics: Ignacio
by Karl Ackermann
Azure was established in 2006, by guitarist Rogier Scheemann and pianist Pierre-Francois Blanchard, both studying at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. Only Scheemann remains from that original group. With their first recording There Were Stars (Self-Produced, 2007), the group laid a framework for style-hopping, not just from track-to-track, but even within specific compositions. The latest ...


