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Shane Theriot: Dublin
by Mike Jacobs
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 ...
Skúli Sverrisson & Óskar Guðjónsson: Afternoon Variant
by Pamela MacCarthy
Composer Skúli Sverrisson on bass guitar, is joined by fellow Icelander Óskar Guðjónsson on tenor sax. Skúli's unique bass guitar playing technique is well suited to Óskar`s soothing tenor sax. These two instruments create an otherworldly, hypnotic sound, quite unique... Their album Box Tree was released in September 2012, and won “Record of the Year" in ...
Kneebody: The Trip
by Mike Jacobs
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
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
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 ...
Art Farmer: Work of Art
by Jon Block
My favorite (jazz) album is The Art Farmer Septet (1956 Prestige PRLP 7031 of 1953-54 sessions previously released on 10" disks). It features the arrangements and compositions of Art Farmer, Gigi Gryce and Quincy Jones. It still makes me move and groove, from the first clave click on the steaming hot Afro-Cuban “Mau Mau" all the ...
Donald Byrd: Black Byrd
by Ian Patterson
It's time to celebrate. Nearly fifty years after the event, Donald Byrd's 1973 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival finally sees the light of day. Like many of his contemporaries, Byrd had turned to electric jazz-fusion towards the end of the '60s, and this live set bears all the hallmarks of a hard bopper who had ...
Donald Byrd: The Emperor
by Chris May
"The Emperor" is the killer track on Donald Byrd's 1972 masterpiece Ethiopian Knights (Blue Note), an album which took Miles Davis' contemporaneous electric experiments, stripped them of their wannabe rockstar aspirations and reframed them with a deep funk sensibility. Byrd, tenor saxophonist Harold Land, trombonist Thurman Green, vibes player Bobby Hutcherson and others bounce off plugged-in ...
Michael Blake: Afro Blake
by Ludovico Granvassu
Africa seems to have been a special source of inspiration for Michael Blake, as compositions like “Addis Abeba" (Elevated), “Malagasy" (Combobulate), “Mauritania" (Buzz), “Road to Lusaka" (In the Grand Scheme of Things), “Africa Used to Be Home" (More Like Us) or “Surfing Sahara" (Elevated ) attest. They are all characterized by memorable themes and an instantly ...
