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Results for "New York"
Ray Russell: Goodbye Svengali
by Ty Cumbie
Heavy chops and slick production values are the dominant traits of this recording by British guitar wizard Ray Russell. While offering due tribute to the guitar master's powers, I would have liked to have heard more ideas and fewer effects. Russell was called up from the minors near the time fusion was starting ...
Alexander McCabe: The Round
by Ernest Barteldes
Mostly through original tunes, The Round explores diverse music without straying too far from the jazz realm. This is evident from the first track, Floating, where saxophonist Alexander McCabe goes into a bossa nova-esque direction (the opening notes are immediately reminiscent of Jobim's Chovendo Na Roseira ), reminding me of how much I loved Getz's incursions ...
Jimmy McGriff: Nobody Else But Himself
by Andrew Velez
For two evenings in April, Philadelphia-born Jimmy McGriff celebrated his 70th birthday with a gala gig at New York's Smoke. Wearing a cap reminiscent of the Beatles era, his bulky six-foot frame hunched over the organ, he radiated the intense concentration of a friendly Sumo wrestler. A professional musician since his early teens, he'd evolved firmly ...
Andrew Hill: Timelines
by Matthew Miller
March was a month to celebrate. It saw the release of Andrew Hill's new album, Time Lines (for his alma mater, Blue Note), and found him leading a powerhouse quintet for four magical nights at Birdland. The visionary's legions of fans gave him a joyous reception in concert, and there is no end of buzz around ...
James Finn Quartet: Great Spirit
by Jeff Stockton
What should instantly grab the attention of James Finn fans is that this is his first quartet recording. His previous efforts (on Cadence, CIMP and Clean Feed, plus five on his own Gingko Leaf label) were all trios, matching his tenor and flute with drums and bass or two drummers. Finn kicks up enough dust that ...
Bill Frisell: Further East/Further West
by Tom Greenland
Bill Frisell Further East/Further West Nonesuch Records 2005 Bill Frisell is an exceptional musician because he has the ability to mine the usual guitaristic textures without getting caught up in clichés, to unearth original ore in the same old vein. Further East/Further West (available only in download form) is a ...
Gianluca Petrella: Indigo4
by Elliott Simon
Indigo4 is one enjoyable morsel drawn from what has become a very broad Italian jazz landscape. Trombonist Gianluca Petrella, who routinely plays with trumpeter Enrico Rava's internationally known band, has assembled a quartet that includes bassist Paolino Dalla Porta, the young and sizzling drummer Fabio Accardi, reedman Francesco Bearzatti, and the judicious use of what amounts ...
Bud Shank: Bouncing with Bud and Phil - Live at Yoshi's
by Ernest Barteldes
This document from a 2004 tour stop at one of the West Coast's best-known rooms finds two septuagenarian saxophone players revisiting and reshaping songs they have been performing throughout the years, often as duets. Play close attention to their rendition of Eden Ahbez's beautiful Nature Boy, which Bud Shank introduces as a slow-tempo ballad, until the ...
David Aaron's Short Memory: Cynical Rat Bastard
by Elliott Simon
The inside jokes surely abound on Cynical Rat Bastard, a quirky recording from tenorist David Aaron's Short Memory band. With a feel that touches on the '70s rhythm sections of Ian Dury's Blockheads, Bastard is just that, a somewhat unholy combination of melodic and free that screams to be heard as well as whimpers in self ...
Transit: Transit
by Tom Greenland
While improvising musicians thrive on novel combinations of instruments and musical personalities, there is also the sense that close and repeated creative camaraderie fosters group cohesion. Transit, the eponymously titled debut recording from the quartet of drummer Jeff Arnal, bassist Reuben Radding, alto saxophonist Seth Misterka and trumpeter Nate Wooley--all active on the grassroots avant jazz ...

