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Article: Album Review

Mikko Innanen / Cedric Piromalli / Stefan Pasborg: This Is It

Read "This Is It" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 10, 2021

When a Finn, a Dane, and a Frenchman take on the organ trio genre expect it to be funky and supercool. And This is It is just that. This new group pivots around Cedric Piromalli's Hammond organ in ways you might expect if you are a fan of the Blue Note 1960s sounds of Big John ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Anna Weber, The Resonators & Anthony Joseph

by Maurice Hogue
July 7, 2021

Two products of the jazz program at McGill University in Montreal have new releases to sample this week: saxophonist and composer Anna Webber's Idiom is easily her most ambitious project to date featuring her Simple Trio (Matt Mitchell and John Hollenbeck) and a large ensemble of improvisers and new music specialists. Drummer Mark Nelson continues to ...

Article: Album Review

Step In: Voilà La Tendresse

Read "Voilà La Tendresse" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 28, 2021

Step In is the international trio of Italian pianist Carlo Morena, Chilean drummer Felix Lecaros, and the renowned New York bassist Joe Fonda. Morena and Fonda started playing together in 1990, later adding drummer Jeff Hirshfield and adapting the current trio name. George Schuller later replaced Hirshfield before Lecaros took over the throne. Voilà La Tendresse ...

Article: Multiple Reviews

Wadada Leo Smith: Aesthetic Apex

by Doug Collette
June 21, 2021

It would be difficult to find a musician more loyal to his muse than Wadada Leo Smith. From projects with his Golden Quartet/Quintet such as America's National Parks (TUM Records, 2016) to the more expansive ensemble effort Najwa (TUM Records, 2017), then on to the stringent focus of Solo: Reflections and Meditations on Monk (TUM Records, ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

James Brandon Lewis, Jaimie Branch, & Dave Rempis

by Maurice Hogue
June 16, 2021

Chalk up another great recording from saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis. Jesup Wagon for Tau Forms marks another step on what seems to be a steady climb to the top of current saxophonists. Like last year's great Live At Willisau, JBL has drummer Chad Taylor with him along with Kirk Knuffke, Christopher Hoffman and the ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Wadada Leo Smith, The Red Microphone & Clean Feed Releases

by Maurice Hogue
June 9, 2021

Trumpet master and composer Wadada Leo Smith continues to produce astonishing original music. Zeroing in on the age of 80 seems to have no impact. There are two new releases from the Finnish Tum label to show Smith's creativity: Sacred Ceremonies with Bill Laswell and Milford Graves and the other a solo set. Some of Clean ...

Article: Album Review

Mario Pavone / Dialect Trio +1: Blue Vertical

Read "Blue Vertical" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
May 27, 2021

Bassist and composer Mario Pavone died on May 15, 2021, after a seventeen-year battle with cancer. The Connecticut native had many interests and earned a degree in engineering, a Doris Duke Foundation grant and, for a quarter-century, shared his wisdom and talent with kids at the Litchfield Performing Arts Jazz Camp, where he also served as ...

Article: Album Review

Wadada Leo Smith: Trumpet

Read "Trumpet" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
May 25, 2021

In a half-century of recording, he has never stopped exploring the parameters of the form and instrument. Listening to composer/trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is demanding but rewarding. His inspirations are classical in the small 'c' sense: the AACM, Persian music, August Wilson, Stravinsky, spirituals, and so on. Before the masses woke, Smith's music had incorporated political, ...