Results for "Sun Ra"

Hal Willner, Nino Rota & Beyond

by Ludovico Granvassu
August 1, 2018

For Today's episode we go back in time to 1981, the year in which Amarcord Nino Rota by producer Hal Willner was released. 37 years later it remains a reference record and one of the greatest tribute albums ever produced, and recently remastered and re-released by Corbett vs. Dempsey. We take a look back at the ...

Hal Willner's Rock 'n' Rota

by Ludovico Granvassu
July 26, 2018

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." Anyone who has ever been at an all-star event--especially if that was a tribute concert--has learned the importance of Aristotle's maxim the hard way. Maybe the occasion was momentous, the cast probably star-studded, the heart certainly in the right place and the expectations high... however, at ...

Michael Leonhart: Surfing on an Orchestral Wave

by Ludovico Granvassu
July 16, 2018

If one were to find an answer to the age-old “nature or nurture" debate, s/he would have to look no further than The Painted Lady Suite [Sunnyside Records]. Listening to the stunning debut album by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra makes it clear that major achievements are only possible when nature and nurture are well integrated and ...

Kamasi Washington: Heaven & Earth

by Roger Farbey
July 15, 2018

Taking inspiration from his 2017 release Harmony Of Difference, Kamasi Washington has once again employed the use of strings and choir on this gargantuan release. The sonic augmentation has the effect of rendering many of the tracks like a cross between John Coltrane and Carl Orff or perhaps Sun Ra and Sir Karl Jenkins.

Nik Turner and Youth: Pharaohs From Outer Space

by Chris May
July 1, 2018

Pharaohs From Outer Space is one of three albums launching British experimental / ambient label Painted Word. The label has been formed by post-punk band Killing Joke's bassist Youth, who describes the album--which he produced and co-headlines with Nik Turner, saxophonist with psychedelic space-rockers Hawkind--as “a nod to Sun Ra and Alice Coltrane." It is mellifluous, ...

This Is It!: 1538

by Dan McClenaghan
June 19, 2018

Pianist/composer Satoko Fujii's June 2018 edition of her CD-release-a-month celebration of her sixtieth birthday introduces a new trio, called This Is It!. The group's debut recording takes its name from the Celsius melting point of iron. The group is a variation on the Satoko Fujii New Trio, a piano trio that released the excellent Spring Storm ...

A Six-String Travelogue

by Geno Thackara
June 18, 2018

Leni Stern 3 Leni Stern Recordings 2018 If it's an exaggeration to say that Leni Stern's gone native after her life-shaping time in Senegal, it's probably not by much. 3 isn't the result of merely studying and and learning a few new forms, but an unrestrained immersion in the life and ...

Sons of Kemet: Your Queen Is A Reptile

by Karl Ackermann
June 14, 2018

There is nothing quite like the Sons of Kemet. In a genre that struggles with the perception that it too often becomes mired in sameness and safety, this is a group that embraces the African roots of jazz while skirting the very essence of the genre. Eye-opening deviations come from unexpected places and in the case ...

Mimika Orchestra

Mimika Orchestra is an avant-garde concept jazz-world ensemble formed in London (UK) and currently based in Zagreb (Croatia). It was formed by the Croatian multi-instrumentalist and composer Mak Murtić in 2010. Murtić´s original compositions for the ensemble are strongly influenced by the Balkan folk traditions, using their specific modalities and rhythms in a contemporary jazz expression. Through music and stage appearance alike, every project explores a different theme. The pieces are conceptually and stylistically bound by a narrative highlighted by costumes and performance. So far, Murtić has introduced the audiences with a utopian society on Mars, a prehistoric migration from Africa into the world and a pagan Slavic funeral ceremony

Donder: Untitled Album

by Dan McClenaghan
June 3, 2018

The Belgian piano trio Donder released their debut album in 2016. Entitled Still (Self Produced), the music is spacious and oddly beautiful, inspired in part by “cries and whispers of the world." It proved to be an adeptly-crafted piano trio outing, remarkable for the mix of avant-garde sensibilities and an overall prediction of Donder's dawning profundity. ...