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New York's 24th Annual Vision Festival
by Frank Rubolino
Although Europe has a plethora of creative improvised music festivals throughout the year, drawing on a large audience base of appreciative fans, one festival in the USA stands out as the beacon of hope and encouragement for this music in its native land. Now in its 24th year, New York's Vision Festival, presented by Arts for ...
Stephanie Richards: Creative Music
by Kevin Press
Calgary's Stephanie Richards has been rubbing shoulders with some of the world's finest jazz players since putting down roots in New York City. The trumpeter has a passion for testing boundaries and an intuitive approach to her work. Her latest, Take the Neon Lights, is a tribute to her new home. All About Jazz: ...
Celebrating Andrew Cyrille at the 2019 Vision Festival
by Dave Kaufman
The 2019 jazz festival “high holy" season opened with the sounds of the 24th Vision Festival, the longest running jazz festival in New York City. The festival is dedicated to free jazz and improvised music, but it is an expansive celebration of art in its many guises. Dance performances, poetry and visual art forms are an ...
Andrew Cyrille/Dave Douglas/Uri Caine: Devotion
by Mark Corroto
The aptly titled Devotion by trumpeter Dave Douglas, pianist Uri Caine and drummer Andrew Cyrille is both a prayer and a dedication. Like a prayer, the trio resolves to maintain a virtuous approach to their celebration of personal heroes, both musical and cultural. The disc opens with “Curly," dedicated to the iconic guileless Stooge, who along ...
Bill Frisell, Tom Harrell, Wadada Leo Smith and Other Great New Releases
by Bob Osborne
A show packed with new music featuring new releases from Chuck Deardorf, Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan, Matt Brewer, Josh Lawrence, Tom Harrell, and Wadada Leo Smith. Playlist Chuck Deardorf “Lullaby" from Perception (Origin Records) 00:00 Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan “You Only Live Twice" from Epistrophy (ECM) 07:23 Josh Lawrence “We're Happiest ...
Wadada Leo Smith / Sabu Toyozumi: Burning Meditation
by John Sharpe
The Japanese concept of ma—a celebration of the space between things—is one to which trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith can readily subscribe. Space and silence are as important as sound in his conception. The weight given to the pauses between phrases stands out on this live recording from 1994 with Japanese drummer Sabu Toyozumi, which forms another ...
Wadada Leo Smith: Rosa Parks: Pure Love
by Jerome Wilson
Wadada Leo Smith has been on a roll in the 2010s, recording and composing in several formats, including ambitious, long-form works such as the Pulitzer-nominated Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneiform, 2012,) which dealt mostly with the history of race relations in America. His latest work concentrates on one specific figure mentioned in that suite, Rosa Parks, the ...
Alexander Hawkins: Iron Into Wind
by John Sharpe
On his second solo album pianist Alexander Hawkins creates an adventurous and deeply personal synthesis which draws from both jazz and classical wellsprings. One of the foremost representatives of an exciting younger generation of British musicians, his talents are on display not only on his own projects, like Uproot (Intakt, 2018), but with growing circle of ...
The OGJB Quartet: Bamako
by Dan McClenaghan
Finland's TUM Records started out the year 2019 with two compelling releases, Around Again, an innovative piano trio set from Finish pianist Iro Haarla exploring the compositions of Carla Bley, with bassist Ulf Krokfors and drummer Barry Altschul; and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith's terrific Rosa Parks: Pure Love. They follow up this opening salvo with the ...
ECM @ 50
by Mark Sullivan
2019 marks the 50th anniversary of German record label ECM Records. Since its founding by Manfred Eicher the label has maintained unwavering standards of excellence, characterized by an unmistakable visual identity and rigorous production values. In addition to some 20 concerts featuring ECM artists, the 2019 Big Ears Festival (full review here) also hosted an “ECM ...
