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Carlo Actis Dato / Kazutoki Umezu: Wake Up with the Birds
by Robert Spencer
There is so much happening on this disc that it's hard to believe that there are only two musicians. But what musicians they are! Multi-instrumentalist reed men Carlo Actis Dato, from Italy, and Kazutoki Umezu, from Japan, are a combustible combination, and their series of six duos here is a nonstop wonder of improvisational invention. Their ...
Malik / McBee / Moffett: Storyline
by Robert Spencer
While the trumpet is often a lead instrument in jazz, trumpet trios like this one, and even trumpet quartets, are not that common. The trumpet is a demanding instrument. To play it within an ensemble places a large physical and musical burden on the trumpeter - so that only an unusually forceful musician like Raphe Malik ...
Return of the New Thing: Return of the New Thing
by Robert Spencer
Has it really been away? The New Thing, that is. There are quite a few practitioners of the now almost forty-year-old New Thing who have by now illustrious careers behind them: Mr. Braxton, Mr. McPhee, Mr. Parker, and many many more. But those men - and many others - have moved far beyond where they were ...
Michel Wintsch & Road Movie featuring Gerry Hemingway: Michel Wintsch & Road Movie featuring Gerry Hemingway
by Robert Spencer
“This work," according to a brief liner note, “was first performed and recorded at the concert 'Between the Lines - Zwischen Jazz und Europäischer Moderne'." If the intention was not just to stay zwischen but to bring jazz and Europäischer Moderne together in one musical stew, this disc has admirably succeeded. Pianist Michel Wintsch, who himself ...
Nanette Natal: Lose Control
by Robert Spencer
This is a collection of some of the best of vocalist Nanette Natal. If you haven't yet had a chance to sample her silken voice, don't miss this one. Her voice can soar and keen, and lower to a hypnotic whisper. She has an enormous amount of range and soul - more than quite a few ...
Michel Wintsch/Gerry Hemingway/B: Identity
by Robert Spencer
Any disc that features the master drummer Gerry Hemingway will be full of rhythmic surprises, and this one is no exception. Pianist Michel Wintsch, meanwhile, is a European-inflected pianist who is matched every step by bassist Bänz Oester. This is music that derives from the jazz tradition in its instrumentation and great forward energy, but otherwise ...
Mat Maneri Trio: Fifty-one Sorrows
by Robert Spencer
Fifty-one Sorrows is quite aptly named, for it features Mat Maneri at his most morose. The title track is a long, searching piece that has something to do, according to the liner notes, with “the extreme sorrow within joy." Maneri's playing expresses this profundity well, for even at its most sorrowful on this disc there is ...
Sonny Rollins: The Freelance Years: The Complete Riverside and Contemporary Recordings
by Robert Spencer
If Sonny Rollins is the King of the Tenor Saxophone, it was during the late Fifties, the period covered by this magnificent collection, that he earned his crown. He casts a long shadow on the cover of this five-disc set, and his shadow grows even longer immediately as the music starts, which Monk's treacherous tempo-shifting “Brilliant ...
Hartmut Geerken/John Tchicai/Famoudou Don Moye: Cassava Balls
by Robert Spencer
Hartmut Geerken, John Tchicai, and Famoudou Don Moye are all masters of improvisation and of deeply-felt music that smolders with passionate zeal. This disc was recorded live at the “Praxis '85" festival in Athens, Greece on May 8, 1985, a night when, by the sound of things, each man was in thorough musical command. They begin ...
John Wolf Brennan: Momentum
by Robert Spencer
This trio of pianist John Wolf Brennan, bass clarinetist Gene Coleman, and percussionist Christian Wolfarth are mainly interested on this disc in exploring sounds and textures and various possibilities of rhythm and dynamics. The Momentum of the title is honest and hard-won, for these performers are not relying on the already-realized potentials of steady rhythms for ...
