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Gary Burton: Alone at Last
by Robert Spencer
An album of solo vibes ? Well, solo piano albums are as common as rain showers, and the vibes aren't that far from the piano. Rather than being a single-line melodist like a saxophonist or a trumpeter, a vibes player can play harmony and melody simultaneously, like a pianist. Yet even with that exception aside, many ...
Guillermo Gregorio Trio: Red Cube(d)
by Robert Spencer
With encompassing subtlety and delicacy of touch, Guillermo Gregorio, Pandelis Karayorgis, and Mat Maneri range over the musical spectrum on this disc. Without the theatrics of Sun Ra, but with a kindred sensibility, the trio turns from the unstintingly abstract “Crimson Mountain" to Fletcher Henderson's “Red Dust." Gregorio's clarinet catapults back in time for a moment ...
Ran Blake: Something to Live For
by Robert Spencer
Ran Blake is not precisely a minimalist, although he is seldom loquacious, and has a spare and virtually unerring sense of placement. He is transcendently evocative without ever lapsing into easy sentimentality, and can sum up, with just a few notes, effects that a hundred thrashers and bashers never approach. He can whisper. He can sing ...
The Houdini's: The Best of the Houdini's: Live at Kiama Jazz Festival Australia
by Robert Spencer
The Houdini's are in masterful form for this live date from the Kiama Jazz Festival in Australia. They start the proceedings off with a bang with the lively “Headlines," by pianist Edwin Hoorweg. After a high-spirited unison head, tenor man Barend Middelhoff rips through a burning solo; once the band returns to the twisty head, the ...
John Butcher/Phil Durrant/John Russell: The Scenic Route
by Robert Spencer
Three improvisers with long resumes and magnificent virtuosity. Themeless improvised music that highlights the abilities of each musician to interact with his fellows and create a seamless whole of spontaneous composition. That is The Scenic Route by John Butcher, Phil Durrant, and John Russell. The title may be derived from the unhurried nature of these 1998 ...
Brian Tarquin: Soft Touch
by Robert Spencer
This music was born in the Seventies. Do you remember “The Hustle"? Barry White? If you like that, baby, this is for you! Danceable grooves that last all day long, fronted by Tarquin's sweet guitar, plus the saxophones of Phil Brown and Jacko Peake, Damon Brown's trumpet, and the sax and flute of Dave John-Baptiste. There's ...
Martial Solal Trio: Balade du 10 Mars
by Robert Spencer
Martial Solal has always been a remarkable pinaist, both in his work with Lee Konitz and others and in his own right. This recording is no different: it contains Solal playing, with a trio, a program of (mostly) standards, but with anything but a standard sensibility. He continually finds new ways to breathe life into them. ...
Juanita Williams: It's Who I Am
by Robert Spencer
Oh yes. If you're looking for a big voiced, confident, blustery, bluesy singer, you've found her in Juanita Williams. On this array of ten stylistically varied songs she demonstrates that she can belt with the best of them ("Every Day I Have the Blues") as well as bring it down a little to tug at the ...
The Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet: The Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet
by Robert Spencer
There's no use denying it, so I'll confess: I am not a big jazz flute fan. The instrument has always seemed to me to be too slight to power a rhythm section and too breathy to maintain an individual attractiveness. But Herbie Mann and Sam Most have converted me on this unlikeliest of ensembles, a double ...
Vyacheslav Guyvoronsky & Evelin Petrova: Chonyi Together
by Robert Spencer
The crystalline purity and brilliance of Vyacheslav Guyvoronsky's trumpet sound is an utter delight, and comes through gorgeously on this duo recording with accordionist/vocalist Evelin Petrova. Alone, as he is on the extended introduction to “Still-life" at the beginning of this disc, he improvises searchingly, without obvious pyrotechnics or heat. He slowly weaves a spider web ...
