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Alexander Hawkins and Tomeka Reid: Shards and Constellations
by Troy Dostert
Although they have not recorded together previously, pianist Alexander Hawkins and cellist Tomeka Reid are both improvisers with omnivorous musical tastes and soaring ambition. Hawkins has fronted his own ensembles over the years—perhaps the most notable example being Step Wide, Step Deep (Babel, 2014)—but he's been active in freely-improvised contexts as well, working with everyone from ...
About Nick Mazzarella
Results for pages tagged "Nick Mazzarella"...
Nick Mazzarella
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With “an individual tone sounding much older than his years, and a penchant for rugged melodies” (JazzTimes), alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella is one of the critical figures of Chicago's creative music vanguard. Over the last twenty-five years, he has made an aesthetically unique contribution grounded in rigorous craftsmanship to the city’s historic culture of jazz and improvised music. He “is one of the most versatile musicians on the scene, equally adept at riding a stout groove, delineating a potent melody, or generating powerful free improvisations; [through the] lyricism that lies at the heart of Mazzarella's playing, even at his most bracing moments, there is a pathway into an emotional register which makes his music consistently compelling” (All About Jazz). By “covering a breadth of stylistic terrain” and presenting his “uncompromising vision with grace and precision” (Corbett vs. Dempsey), he has forged an independent voice, championing form, legibility, and intuition over conceptual frameworks.
Tim Stine Quartet: Knots
by Glenn Astarita
Guitarist Tim Stine leads a democratically oriented quartet with progressive/free jazz Chicago heavyweights, providing a bit of credence to the album moniker since many of these pieces are woven together with incongruent angles and geometrical designs. With false endings, scrappy breakouts and off-metered pulses, the leader's intricate chordal and single note developments assist with maintaining an ...
Counterbalance
Label: Astral Spirits
Released: 2019
Track listing: Phonetic; The Puzzle; About Looking; Counterbalance; Headway; Innermost.
Tim Stine Quartet: Knots
by Mark Corroto
What is apparent straight away with Knots by the Tim Stine Quartet is the intense physicality of the performance. I'll posit Stine, a North Dakota native who grew up with classical music, was drawn to the creative music scene of Chicago because of its tradition of a robust and muscular sound. From Gene Ammons to Roscoe ...
Astral Spirits: Lifting the Spirit of Jazz
by Jakob Baekgaard
While pop often follows predictable musical patterns, one of the greatest qualities about jazz is its sense of adventurousness and the ability to take the listener on a journey where the destination is unknown. The Astral Spirits label, based in Austin, Texas, and run by musician Nate Cross, truly embraces this quality of jazz.
All new sounds with a focus on Simon Nabotov
by Bob Osborne
This week we focus on a batch of new releases including the latest album from Simon Nabatov who has a great band, they are so good I play something from each band member as well. Playlist Zach Brock, Matt Ulery, and Jon Deitemyer “Wonderment" from Wonderment (Woolgathering Records) 00:00 Simon Nabatov Quintet “Old ...
Andrew Collier, Jon Crompton, Zwitschermaschine & More
by Maurice Hogue
Portuguese drummer Joao Lencastre's tune Departure seemed like the right track to end a show, but perhaps I saved the best for last as well. His new recording Parallel Realities is a gem. Lencastre says he likes to hear dramatic contrasts in music, so that was his focus and the tool was using smaller groups within ...
Nick Mazzarella Trio: Counterbalance
by Troy Dostert
Although he is well-accustomed to working in other settings, alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella is perhaps at his strongest in a trio format: specifically, the sax-bass-drums configuration that allows for both maximum harmonic freedom and focused rhythmic interaction. In 2017 his Meridian Trio (featuring bassist Matt Ulery and drummer Jeremy Cunningham) released Triangulum (Clean Feed), an excellent ...
Anti-Rubber Brain Factory & Sameer Gupta
by Maurice Hogue
This episode features two extremely original albums from France, and they couldn't be more different. Guitarist Marc Ducret tackles Shakespeare on his Lady M. He's not the first to look to the Bard of Avon for inspiration (Duke Ellington and Cleo Laine come to mind immediately), but he may be the first one to frame one ...
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