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Dan Clucas / Immediately: Exile
by Rex Butters
For Exile, longtime Los Angeles cornet count Dan Clucas convenes a quintet he calls Immediately. He uses this rare session as leader to showcase his appealing writing, blistering technique, and good ear for his bandmates. All five improvisers listen hard and create a distinctive sound, equally at ease playing the arrangement or walking in space. Brian ...
Territory Band: Company Switch
by Rex Butters
Ken Vandermark's fourth collection with the Territory Band, Company Switch, continues to mine ideas too big for the Vandermark 5. Lasse Marhaug, who replaces Kevin Drumm on electronics, seems more inclined to contribute color and texture to the ensemble's experimentation. Given Vandermark's imagination and the assembly of musicians, sparks fly and vast amounts of musical landscape ...
Joe McPhee / Matthew Shipp / Dominic Duvall: In Finland
by Rex Butters
With its beautiful sound, In Finland captures three master improvisers live and spinnin' takes. Longtime fans of Matthew Shipp who miss his prolonged flights into thundering, gothic creations: this is your fix. With two tracks hovering around the thirty-minute mark, the performances allow Shipp room to stretch and flex. Joe McPhee sticks mainly to a rich-toned ...
Dave Burrell: Margy Pargy
by Rex Butters
Dave Burrell's dual association with early jazz and the avant-garde gives his playing a grounded originality. Margy Pargy spends an easygoing near-hour with the pianist's solo ruminations on classics and his own wily compositions. Like his frequent collaborator Archie Shepp, he reaches effortlessly through time to retrieve all flavors of the blues, while incorporating unflinching romanticism ...
Jason Kao Hwang: Graphic Evidence
by Rex Butters
A member of the Anthony Braxton Sextet and the Reggie Workman Ensemble, as well as a performer with Pauline Oliveros and the Deep Listening Band, William Parker, Sirone and Billy Bang, Jason Kao Hwang brings his well-traveled violin to Graphic Evidence, a collaborative performance with soprano saxophonist Frances Wong and bassist Tatsu Aoki. On this perfect ...
Leroy Jenkins: The Art of Improvisation
by Rex Butters
Leroy Jenkins' Driftwood rarely floats, but readily burns. In addition to the violinist leader, pianist Denman Maroney and percussionist Rich O'Donnell, Min Xiao-Fen joins on pipa, a four-stringed lute from 7th Century China. A classically trained musician, Xiao-Fen began improvising with the encouragement of John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith and Derek Bailey. The quartet roils with ...
Art Ensemble of Chicago: Chi-Congo
by Rex Butters
The reissue of Chi-Congo fills a very big hole in the active Art Ensemble discography. Since the mid-1970 recording, these sessions have seen light on at least five other labels in different formats. Released between Certain Blacks and Live on Affinity, Chi-Congo introduces Famoudou Don Moye as the group's permanent percussionist. “We moved towards the direction ...
Charles Gayle: Always Reaching
by Rex Butters
Charles Gayle's life and art must certainly inspire anyone choosing to look at it. A humble, articulate man who laughs easily, he's seen more than his share of hard times. Yet now, at 65, his creative arc takes the upswing as critics and audiences begin to catch up. A highly original saxophonist, Gayle resumed his piano ...
MTKJ Quartet: Day of the Race
by Rex Butters
Even with commitments across the West Coast musical spectrum, the members of MTKJ managed to reunite for this, their second recording for Vinny Golia's Nine Winds label and fourth overall. Day of the Race delivers an exciting and fresh collection of performances that show a great band getting better. Their balance of subtlety and pyrotechnics centers ...
Nedra Wheeler: Bass is the Place
by Rex Butters
Nedra Wheeler anchors any ensemble in which she plays with a rhythmic authority blended with a melodic playfulness. Her big bass sound drives a variety of bands, including Nate Morgan's hard swinging trio, Tracey Chapman's latest Roxy performance, the Women's Jazz Ensemble, and her own sextet. The LA native has taken her art to Europe and ...
