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Erik Friedlander: Prowl
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
One of the most highly regarded cellists in today's creative improvised music scene, Erik Friedlander has been integral to projects led by saxophonist John Zorn, pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and a host of others. But his prolific yield as a sideman has at times overshadowed his own work. Prowl, a testament to Friedlander's talents as a composer ...
Tim Berne's Screwgun Records: By Him, For You
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
With the launch of Screwgun Records in 1996, saxophonist-composer Tim Berne asserted ownership of his music and signaled a shift in his aesthetic perspective. Unwound, a live 3-disc set from his double-saxophone quartet Bloodcount, was taken from audience recordings - what would become a recurrent strategy - and mastered without production tweaks, evoking the sound of ...
Fieldwork: Simulated Progress
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
The melodic hooks are not obvious. The harmonies are not lush or comforting. And the rhythms won't be easy to tap along with. But Fieldwork's Simulated Progress is not a free-form blast of notes from three soloists playing near each other. Instead it is a result of careful listening to bring disparate elements together, with room ...
Michael Blake: Right Before Your Very Ears
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
The shrill opening blast of tenor saxophone, like a wailing-woman mourner, announces that Right Before Your Very Ears is a departure for saxophonist Michael Blake. Visceral and immediate, the emphasis is on the playing, especially Blake's, in the stripped-down sax plus rhythm setting. This is the first document of Blake's working trio with bassist Ben Allison ...
Burnt Sugar; Avram Fefer/Michael Bisio: If You Can
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
Eclectically inclusive music can often sound clinical or stilted. But when disparate styles are blended seamlessly, the results can be sublime, supporting the notion that it's all music and genre labels are meaningless. Burnt Sugar If You Can't Dazzle Them with Your Brilliance, then Baffle Them with Your Blisluth Trugroid ...
Jenny Scheinman: 12 Songs
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
The beguiling melodies draw listeners in. The lush instrumentation, evoking the parts of an orchestra, and vibrant ensemble playing hold their attention. Beautiful tunes with hints of humor and dedicated, unselfish performances coalesce on 12 Songs. The results satisfy deep, repeated listens and remain accessible enough to appeal to a wide audience without pandering.
Hardcell: Feign
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
Like a double helix of alto saxophone and piano, no matter how far Tim Berne and Craig Taborn twist and diverge their improvisations, they are always connected, intersecting with composed passages and enveloped in the swimming rhythms of drummer Tom Rainey. Feign further explores the acoustic sensibility tested on half of last year's Hard Cell Live, ...
Kevin Norton: Quark Bercuse: Solo Percussion Vol. 1
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
Solo music is perhaps the most challenging kind of all. With no place to hide, it's just the musician communicating to the listener. Percussion music presents additional challenges for both the performer and audience, since untuned instruments, like drums and cymbals, lack obvious melodic qualities and tuned instruments, like marimba and xylophone, are not inherently harmonic. ...
Pete Zimmer Quintet: Common Man
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
Though not as rare as they once were, outfits led by drummer/composers are still a minority in jazz. Picking up that mantle, Pete Zimmer, the young drummer best known for his work with saxophonist George Garzone, defies the cliche that drummers' records are nothing more than chops-driven accompanied drum solos. His debut, Common Man, serves up ...
Jimmy Smith: Retrospective
by Sean Patrick Fitzell
He might not have been the first jazz organist, but Jimmy Smith's place in jazz history as the first to modernize and popularize its use as a featured jazz instrument is secure. His innovative style created the sub-genre of organ jazz, which many have followed. When he died this past February at age 76, Smith was ...
