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Article: Liner Notes

Conrad Herwig: Obligation

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 17, 2023

Jazz fans tend to be fanatical about those artists that most directly speak to their own musical tastes. Over time, a sense of familiarity with the musical personalities of their iconic favorites becomes entrenched, followed by categorization based on style and genre. Those already familiar with Conrad Herwig's musical endeavors over the past 20 years are ...

Article: Liner Notes

Simone Zanchini: The Music Of Nino Rota

by Howard Mandel
April 15, 2023

"I'm a musician who plays accordeon, not an accordeonist who plays jazz," says Simone Zanchini, proud of a distinction that is substantiated by Nino--his 25th album in the 20 years since his recording debut. Using vast resources drawn from the panoply of music he's studied, discovered, invented and developed for his too often stereotyped and maligned ...

Article: Liner Notes

Heiner Stadler: Brains on Fire

by Howard Mandel
April 14, 2023

Brains on Fire fuels reflection on the past and response in the present. These eight extraordinary extended tracks, recorded in unusual conjunctions of master jazz improvisers instigated by composer/pianist Heiner Stadler for sessions held from 1966 through 1974, are alive with the passions of that era celebrating large, original works stretching the bounds of ...

Article: Liner Notes

Organ Monk: Uwo In the Black

by Howard Mandel
April 11, 2023

Organ Monk is the inspired--some might say “mad"--project of Brooklyn-based keyboardist Greg Lewis to play the unique compositions of Thelonious Monk as they've never been played before. Lewis throws down Monk's memorable turns of melody and digs into his harmonic insights, mostly at groovin' rhythms, on the Hammond C 3 organ. It's tempting to say Lewis' ...

Article: Liner Notes

Anthony Wonsey: The Thang

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 10, 2023

Wisdom, it is often said, comes with age and experience. This axiom has special relevance for those who pursue excellence in the arts. Whether painters, dancers, or composers, the true creators have found that it takes time and patience to develop a singular voice. Youth seems to bring with it a desire to put technique at ...

Article: Liner Notes

Fela Kuti: Coffin For Head Of State

by Chris May
April 9, 2023

From the late 1970s onward, Fela's lyrics became longer, more complex and ever more confrontational. Coffin For Head Of State, first released on Kalakuta in 1981, is an outstanding example. It is one of several albums on which Fela responded to the Nigerian army's destruction of his Kalakuta Republic compound on 18 February 1977, and focuses ...

Article: Liner Notes

Ari Erev: Flow

by Howard Mandel
April 8, 2023

In Flow, pianist-composer Ari Erev and his players pour fresh energies into the bounty of sounds that sweeten our world. They do so in accord with the principles of personal expression, collaborative sensitivity and creative sophistication that characterizes jazz in all its gloriously open forms. A century since this music's birth, through decades that have witnessed ...

Article: Liner Notes

Hanna Paulsberg Concept: Daughter Of The Sun

by Chris May
April 7, 2023

Ever since Jan Garbarek put Norwegian jazz on the map in the late 1980s, and even more so after the international success of his singularly ascetic Officium (ECM) in 1994, the music has acquired a reputation for being, if not entirely lacking in passion, then at least emotionally detached. Since the millennium, with the emergence of ...

Article: Liner Notes

Dino Betti van der Noot: They Cannot Know

by AAJ Staff
April 5, 2023

The last Soul Note album of Dino betti van der Noot (rhymes with note), Here Comes Springtime (SN1149), contained six of his compositions, two of which, the title track and “October's Dream," had seasonal connotations. This time he gives us “Midwinter Sunshine" and “A Midwinter Night's Dream" in a seasonal shift. Whatever the climate of Betti ...

Article: Liner Notes

Wycliffe Gordon: What You Dealin' With?

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 2, 2023

Privy to the entire history of jazz trombone via the technological age in which we live, Wycliffe Gordon seems to have utilized this information in such a way that his own playing displays elements from various periods and a technical competence that is indeed remarkable. “I was most familiar, at first, with guys who played with ...