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Article: Album Review

Meridian Trio: Triangulum

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by Troy Dostert
June 20, 2017

2017 is proving to be something of a breakout year for alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella. He recently released Signaling, a superb freely-improvised duo recording with cellist Tomeka Reid, and now he's followed it up with this excellent outing from the Meridian Trio, where he is joined by his colleagues Matt Ulery on bass and Jeremy Cunningham ...

Article: Album Review

Steve Coleman's Natal Eclipse: Morphogenesis

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by Troy Dostert
June 12, 2017

After his 2015 masterpiece, Synovial Joints, alto saxophonist/composer Steve Coleman left his listeners wondering how he could try to top that extraordinary project. With 21 musicians and an ambitious melding of classical and jazz instrumentation with intricate compositional decisions, Coleman used that record to reveal yet another dimension of his constantly-evolving musical concept--one that's been changing ...

Article: Album Review

Jason Kao Hwang: Sing House

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by Troy Dostert
June 11, 2017

Violinist/violist and composer Jason Kao Hwang has explored the intersections of avant-garde jazz and classical music for some time, and his commitment to drawing inspiration from the well of Asian musical idioms gives his pieces much of their distinctive character. Here he's working once again with bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Andrew Drury, longstanding partners from ...

Article: Album Review

Fabian Almazan: Alcanza

by Troy Dostert
May 25, 2017

When his debut record, Personalities, was released in 2011, pianist Fabian Almazan put everyone on notice: this was a musician unafraid to take some big chances with his craft. That album began with a piece by Shostakovich (augmented with a string quartet and electronics, no less), and it effectively established the trajectory Almazan has continued ever ...

Article: Album Review

Berta Moreno: Little Steps

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by Troy Dostert
May 20, 2017

When first seeing the title of Berta Moreno's debut record, one might be tempted to interpret it as a self-effacing gesture. Perhaps the tenor saxophonist is acknowledging her debt to the giant steps of the master of the tenor, John Coltrane himself? Upon further investigation, however, Moreno makes clear in her notes to the album that ...

Article: Album Review

Nick Mazzarella and Tomeka Reid: Signaling

Read "Signaling" reviewed by Troy Dostert

by Troy Dostert
May 11, 2017

On this captivating, fully-improvised duo recording by alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella and cellist Tomeka Reid, we find a superlative example of two leading-edge musicians who continue to draw vital inspiration from their forbears. Reid, a contributing member of the hugely influential Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), has previously paid tribute to some of ...

Article: Album Review

Brian Adler: Radioactive Landscapes EP

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by Troy Dostert
April 24, 2017

As was evident on his previous EP releases from 2016, Binary and Mysteries of the Deep, percussionist Brian Adler enjoys working with conceptual frameworks for his compositions. On Binary, he explored the possible interactions between human-and computer-based creativity, and on Mysteries he drew thematic inspiration from the world of Eastern spirituality. These investigations allowed him to ...

Article: Album Review

Billy Jones: 3's a Crowd

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by Troy Dostert
April 21, 2017

Duo records involving drummers aren't that common in the world of straight-ahead jazz. While it's never been an infrequent option for avant-gardists (and there are some truly legendary examples, not the least of which are John Coltrane and Rashied Ali's Interstellar Space, Max Roach and Cecil Taylor's Historic Concerts, and Peter Brötzmann and Hamid Drake's Dried ...

Article: Album Review

Pappenheim: Bekkenjordet

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by Troy Dostert
April 15, 2017

Pianist Oscar Grönberg and drummer Tor Haugerud are Scandinavian improvisers who have in recent years both been active in the remarkably fertile jazz scene in Trondheim, Norway. There they have collaborated with folks like Paal Nilssen- Love, Kim Myhr, and Eldbjørg Raknes, as well as being active in groups like Friends and Neighbors (Grönberg) and the ...

Article: Album Review

Viriditas: Viriditas

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by Troy Dostert
April 14, 2017

Saxophonist Ben Cohen is currently based in Brooklyn, but it doesn't take long to figure out that he hails from elsewhere: rural Tennessee, to be exact. His rootsy, earthy tenor sound reveals a background as steeped in folk music and the blues as in avant-garde jazz, giving his voice an accessible edge that should serve him ...