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Fred Frith: Mapping the Further Reaches
by Nic Jones
Multi-instrumentalist/composer Fred Frith occupies a unique niche. As a charter member of Henry Cow, a band for which improvisation was always an integral part of musical expression, he was partly responsible for some of the most radical music ever to have emerged from beneath the rock umbrella.So much so, in fact, that ...
Sylvie Courvoisier – Mark Feldman Quartet: To Fly To Steal
by Nic Jones
Between the membership of this quartet (Mark Feldman, Sylvie Courvoisier, Thomas Morgan, and Gerry Hemingway) embodies the twenty-first century improvising musician. All four members have recorded before and in a variety of situations of wide diversity. They bring all of the experience this implies to a program that stakes out its own territory, and from start ...
Iron Kim Style: Iron Kim Style
by Nic Jones
It could be argued that the music Miles Davis was cutting about forty years ago still casts a shadow. Iron Kim Style stands in its shade, and for all of the original, offbeat stuff going on it's hard to shake the impression. According to the slipcase, all the music was freely improvised, which might be a ...
Beppe Crovella: What’s Rattlin’ On The Moon? A Personal Vision Of The Music Of Mike Ratledge.
by Nic Jones
The sub-title makes all the difference here. Mike Ratledge was a key member of all the most worthwhile line-ups of Soft Machine, but alone amongst the quartet that consisted of himself, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper and Robert Wyatt, he didn't go on to develop a solo career once he left the band. This and the passing ...
Little Women: Throat
by Nic Jones
Little Women spans the divide between the primitive and the sophisticated in a manner that's true of so few. For this, its second release, it's useful to offer pointers such as Albert Ayler and Peter Brotzmann (whose “Machine Gun" is particularly pertinent in terms of sonic assault), but they serve merely to place what this quartet ...
Michael Musillami Trio: Old Tea
by Nic Jones
Guitarist Michael Musillami composed the music for this program in the wake of his son Evan's death. The fact that it's measured and profoundly beautiful is testament to what music can do, and the fact that it's so superbly realized comes down to the fact that this trio is supremely empathetic. Five recordings to date are ...
Various Artists: Django’s Spirit. A Tribute To Django Reinhardt
by Nic Jones
Any tribute to a musician as phenomenal as Django Reinhardt leaves itself open to criticism, so all embracing was the guitar icon's ability to push at the boundaries, still felt to this day. Django's Spirit. A Tribute To Django Reinhardt isn't so much in Reinhardt's spirit as it is an attempt at bringing his work up ...
Elliott Sharp / Carbon: Void Coordinates
by Nic Jones
This is a reconvening for Elliott Sharp and his cohorts in Carbon--a band that spanned the period between 1991 and 1996--but anyone familiar with the guitarist's work will quite rightly take it for granted that this reunion has not resulted in the same old same old. If it has, in any degree, it's only as a ...
David S. Ware: Saturnian (Solo Saxophones Volume One)
by Nic Jones
This entirely solo music was captured for posterity at an AUM Fidelity label showcase in October, 2009; Ware's first live performance after a kidney transplant. Marking a dynamic return, it maps out yet another strand of Ware's artistry just as Threads (Thirsty Ear, 2003) did. Ware may be best known for his quartet work, it's clear ...
Mark Lockheart & the NDR Big Band: Days Like These
by Nic Jones
Considering the instrumental forces that the big band offers, it's surprising how conservative a lot of large ensemble writing is. Days Like These isn't iconoclastically innovative, but there's enough on offer to satisfy those who find such conservatism tiresome. Saxophonist Mark Lockheart clearly appreciates what he has at his disposal for all of the relatively conventional ...
