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Ellen Burr: Duos
by Nic Jones
The pleasing paradox at the heart of this music is one which encompasses warm-hearted austerity, but if this is a music of moods it's a damn sight more than mood music. Ellen Burr's conception of flute playing takes in extended technique and the vocalising perhaps most readily associated with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, although the degree of ...
Kidd Jordan / Hamid Drake / William Parker: Palm Of Soul
by Nic Jones
A sense of ritual pervades this music, and these three masters show how potent a force it can be. The idea of evocation is a fraught one, however, especially when the result is more the evocation of others than the projection of a musical identity unique to the performer. At times here Kidd Jordan evokes the ...
Warne Marsh Quartet: Ne Plus Ultra
by Nic Jones
The passing of time has done nothing to reduce the singularity of Warne Marsh's art, and this set, recorded at the end of the 1960s, is an excellent working definition. Marsh was always a musician for whom points of reference in terms of influences were never helpful. To say, for example, that he shared a certain ...
The Source: The Source
by Nic Jones
There were days when albums customarily started with the proverbial flagwaver or something evocative of barns being stormed, but The Source is a radically different proposition. Trombonist Oyvind Braekke's “Caballero" is built around a simple, plodding figure played on bowed bass in tandem with faintly martial drumming. Within the scope of its soundscape, the flags only ...
Martin Speake: Change Of Heart
by Nic Jones
A certain clarity of purpose has always run throughout the documentation of Martin Speake's music on record. In an aspect of his career that has taken in quartets, an alto sax/piano duo and a saxophone quartet, Speake has proven himself to be a musician and composer with the ability to pursue his own vision. This quartet ...
John Tchicai / Charlie Kohlhase / Garrison Fewell: Good Night Songs
by Nic Jones
These three protagonists set out their case for a trio of multiple reeds, guitar and percussion, and in doing so present a programme of music which is as idiosyncratic in itself as that lineup might suggest. On a more fundamental level, they also show that the plurality of improvised music can come up with some cogently ...
Ray Mantilla: Good Vibrations
by Nic Jones
Politeness has always been a dubious quality in music. It is, however, one of the most obvious characteristics of this disc. With the exception of baritone sax and flautist Enrique Fernandez, not one of the musicians raises the heat. Instead, a bland uniformity prevails. The percussionists dovetail without injecting the kind of rhythmic impetus that would ...
Ondrej Pivec / Organic Quartet: Don't Get Ideas
by Nic Jones
The musicians who make up this “classic" organ-led small combo have technique and ideas in abundance. The music they make is a considerable distance from the grits 'n' gravy circuit with which such groups might once have been associated, and Ondrej Pivec's harmonic and melodic senses, in particular, are more akin to Larry Young than, say, ...
John Stetch Trio: Bruxin'
by Nic Jones
For all the hype that's been lavished on piano trios over the past few years, there are still signs of musical life in the lineup, as Bruxin' exemplifies. This programme of worthwhile music could also serve as a statement of artistic intent, implying a welcome level of individuality. Stetch has gone for a comparatively risky option ...
Valery Ponomarev: Beyond The Obvious
by Nic Jones
Here's one of those rare cases where a title is relevant to the music. As an ex-member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Valery Ponomarev's name might lead many readers to believe he has his sights firmly set on some form of hard bop heaven. But that's not the case with this programme, which takes in compositions ...
