Results for "Mike Jacobs"

John McLaughlin And Zakir Hussain: Shakti's Half-Century Of Spontaneous Joy

by Mike Jacobs
June 12, 2023

John McLaughlin. Ustad Zakir Hussain. Speak either name and a host of musical notions can come to mind. Pair them together and they conjure just one: Shakti. Indeed, the iconic jazz guitarist and celebrated Indian percussionist have each built long careers replete with enough musical achievements, stylistic innovations and instrumental mastery to gain entrance ...

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin - Modul 45 (Live)

by Mike Jacobs
June 8, 2023

With Nik Bärtsch's composition-naming system consisting solely of numbered “Moduls," it can be a little tricky for even the well-versed fan to keep track of their favorite Ronin pieces. And indeed, one may still need a mnemonic for the title after hearing Ronin perform their signature concert piece--Modul 45--but the music itself will likely be quite ...

Stephan Thelen: Of Sonar, Fractals And Interactive Complexity

by Mike Jacobs
June 5, 2023

If you have been at all aware of the two-decade-old movement known as Swiss Minimalism, you've likely seen Stephan Thelen's name crop up. Lately, it would be fairly difficult not to. From 2018 to 2023 alone, his work as a leader in groups like Sonar and Fractal Sextet along with his Fractal Guitar series and other ...

Lost Tribe: Vevasis

by Mike Jacobs
April 9, 2023

Shane Theriot: Dublin

by Mike Jacobs
April 8, 2023

Native-born Louisianan Shane Theriot (pronounced “teh-ree-oh") did some serious jazz study before being hired by the likes of The Neville Brothers and Hall and Oates. As “Dublin" shows, it's Theriot's subtle jazz infusions that add a wonderful complexity to his funky, NOLA-spiced solo outings, but it's an equally delicious feat how the guitarist unfailingly proves that ...

Kneebody: The Trip

by Mike Jacobs
April 5, 2023

If there are jazz earworms, this one's so intoxicating it might indeed be suspected of originating in a bottle of Mezcal--were it not so infectiously upbeat, that is. From their album Chapters (Edition, 2019), “The Trip" features the classic five-man Kneebody complement of Ben Wendel, Shane Endsley, Kaveh Rastegar, Adam Benjamin and Nate Wood plus the ...

Tigran Hamasyan: Shoger Jan (Live at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, 2010)

by Mike Jacobs
April 4, 2023

In 2010, Tigran Hamasyan may still have been on his way to becoming more of a known quantity but it's performances like this one that inevitably spread his reputation to larger audiences like wildfire. This 24-minute rendition of “Shoger Jan" was expanded to include spots from bassist Sam Miniae, Hamasyan and saxophonist Ben Wendel, but it ...

Magnus Ostrom: Dancing At The Dutchtreat

by Mike Jacobs
April 3, 2023

Searching For Jupiter (Act, 2013) was Magnus Ostrom's second outing as a leader and, as evidenced by this track, saw his group really finding their stride. “Dancing At The Dutchtreat" joyously wields all the things that would become the Ostrom band's trademarks: the accessible (yet sometimes dizzying) metric proclivities, the rhythmically-bonded (yet natural-sounding) melodicism, the (ever ...

Fractal Sextet: Fractal Sextet

by Mike Jacobs
March 23, 2023

In the over two-decade-old “movement" that's come to be known as Swiss Minimalism, guitarist Stephan Thelen has pushed himself to the fore, both with his group SONAR and in solo projects. In recent years, he's been astonishingly prolific (releasing five albums from 2021-2022 alone). With recent group work in Sonar being expanded to include guitarist David ...

Michael Shrieve: Palace Of Dreams

by Mike Jacobs
March 17, 2023

From the dual-project, double album Two Doors (CMP, 1995) that features drummer Michael Shrieve manning the drum kit in two different trios, it's arguably the Deep Umbra disc with bassist Jonas Hellborg and guitarist Shawn Lane that is the brighter half of that binary star. Shrieve may indeed get top billing here but like so many ...