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The Ullmann / Swell 4: News? No News!

by Troy Collins
The international partnership of German multi-instrumentalist Gebhard Ullmann and Downtown trombonist Steve Swell dates back to 2004, when they first recorded together as the co-leaders of a quartet on Desert Songs and Other Landscapes (CIMP, 2004)--the same year Swell joined Ullmann's renowned Basement Research ensemble. News? No News! is the sophomore follow-up to their CIMP debut, ...
Michael Musillami: Old Tea

by Troy Collins
In March 2009, guitarist Michael Musillami's son, Evan, took his own life at the age of 29. During the months that followed, Musillami composed a book of tunes inspired by and dedicated to Evan, which make up Old Tea, the fifth release from his veteran trio. Named after Lao Cha, a rare form of Taiwanese Oolong, ...
Mike Reed's People, Places & Things: Stories and Negotiations

by Troy Collins
Stories and Negotiations is the final chapter in Chicago-based drummer Mike Reed's People, Places & Things trilogy. Debuting with 2008's Proliferation (482 Music), Reed founded this piano-less quartet to investigate an often overlooked period of Chicago's jazz history--the mid-1950s to early 1960s--when the city's after-hours jam session culture flirted with avant-garde collectivism, eventually giving birth to ...
The Nels Cline Singers: Initiate

by Troy Collins
Called The World's Most Dangerous Guitarist" by Jazz Times and named one of twenty Guitar Gods" by Rolling Stone, Nels Cline's profile has expanded considerably since his collaborations with underground personalities like Thurston Moore and Mike Watt and recruitment by Wilco in 2004. Cline's roots in the West Coast jazz scene pre-date his newfound mainstream recognition ...
Jeff Davis: We Sleep Outside

by Troy Collins
The tightly knit Brooklyn scene has yielded a number of exceptional ensembles in the past few years, including Michael Bates' Outside Sources, Kris Davis' Quartet, Jon Irabagon's Outright!, Kirk Knuffke's Quartet, Eivind Opsvik's Overseas, the RIDD Quartet and Tone Collector. The common denominator uniting these various bands is drummer Jeff Davis, a former student of pianist ...
Ben Goldberg: Go Home

by Troy Collins
From the debut of his seminal New Klezmer Trio two decades ago to his current membership in the inimitable collective Tin Hat, clarinetist Ben Goldberg has gradually worked his way from the outer fringes of the avant-garde to the accessible center of the new jazz underground. Go Home is the inaugural release of his own label, ...
New York Art Quartet: Old Stuff

by Troy Collins
Despite their involvement in the seminal 1964 October Revolution in Jazz concert series and a few high profile gigs in Europe the following year, the short-lived New York Art Quartet remains under-sung but legendary, with only two official studio recordings to its name--the self-titled 1964 ESP debut and Mohawk (Fontana, 1965). For years the only other ...
Jorrit Dijkstra: Pillow Circles

by Troy Collins
An international summit meeting, Pillow Circles joins four American jazz musicians with four Dutch improvisers. Similar in feel to his Flatlands Collective, this effort finds Dutch expatriate and multi-instrumentalist Jorrit Dijkstra paying homage to a handful of artists who have inspired him, with each piece dedicated to an individual. Bringing an empathetic familiarity to ...
Edward Ratliff: Those Moments Before

by Troy Collins
The cover of Those Moments Before features a poster of Marlene Dietrich advertising Josef von Sternberg's 1931 film Dishonored. While this album--New York-based multi-instrumentalist Edward Ratliff's third as a leader--isn't a soundtrack like the earlier Barcelona in 48 Hours (Strudelmedia, 2004) was, this date unfolds with the same degree of wild eclecticism and globe-trotting impetuousness as ...
Kirk Knuffke: Amnesia Brown

by Troy Collins
Brooklyn-based trumpeter Kirk Knuffke's sophomore effort, Amnesia Brown is a far more esoteric affair than his conventional piano-less quartet debut, Big Wig (Clean Feed, 2008). Eschewing a traditional rhythm section, Knuffke is joined by fellow members of Butch Morris' Nublu Orchestra--legendary Downtown stalwarts Doug Wieselman (on clarinet and electric guitar) and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Through sixteen ...