Jon Davis: Changes Over Time

While there are no liner notes to accompany pianist Jon Davis' third date for the Posi-Tone imprint, there's a quote inside the package, attributed to author Anne Rice, that gets to the heart of the matter: "None of us really changes over time. We only become more fully what we are." So is personal... [ read more ]

CEO Experiment: CEO Experiment

CEO Experiment's eponymous debut, merging jazz's more traditional roots with a modern aesthetic, is proof not only of a fine trio in the making but also of Dublin's thriving cosmopolitan jazz scene. Born of a jam session in The International Bar--one of the city's most renowned jazz sanctuaries--in... [ read more ]

Gianni Marinucci: Live @ Bennett's Lane

Those aware will tell you that to listen to Gianni Marinucci's tonal expressions is to hear poetry of the heart. It is no different here with Live @ Bennett's Lane. From the first few pitches on this vividly unique performance--vulnerable, yet filled with emotional depth--to the joyous last few, the... [ read more ]

Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott: Return of the East-West Trumpet Summit

Seattle-based trumpeter m: Thomas Marriott plays well with electricity. Specifically, with the Hammond B3 organ. The most memorable of his now nine CDs on Origin Records feature either the Hammond B3 or some serious Moog synthesier/Fender Rhodes work: Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson (2... [ read more ]

Adam Pieronczyk and Miroslav Vitous: Wings

Based in Krakow, Poland, saxophonist m: Adam Pieronczyk crafted, in 2010, perhaps the finest recorded tribute to his countryman, m: Krzysztof Komeda, with Komeda: The Innocent Sorcerer (Jazzwerkstatt). Komeda was a seminal Polish jazz man who shifted his focus to soundtrack wo... [ read more ]

Tom Matta Big Band: Standards

What's in a name? After all, a big-band jazz album by any other name would sound the same. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that as the versatile m: Tom Matta has chosen the name Standards to define his second album as leader of the Chicago-based Tom Matta Big Band, only three... [ read more ]

Dave Wilson: There Was Never

Saxophonist Dave Wilson cuts an imposing figure on the cover of There Was Never, his fourth album in total and his first on the Zoho Music imprint. There's intensity fixed on his face, with eyes closed in concentration and embouchure set for attack. And then there's his tenor saxophone. It has a lar... [ read more ]

Chris Kelsey/Lewis Porter: Free: Kelsey/Porter Duo Plays Ornette, Vol. 1

Intrepid saxophonist and recovering jazz journalist Chris Kelsey went to his longtime friend, renowned author-educator-pianist Dr. Lewis Porter, with the idea of recording some of Ornette Coleman's music. That's how Free came to be, plain and simple. But nothing is really that simple. Kelsey and Por... [ read more ]

Peter Erskine: Dr. Um

It would appear that this project has awakened the Peter Erskine of yore, the drummer who became legend while cresting the waves of fusion with m: Weather Report and m: Steps Ahead. In recent years Erskine's drumming has been spare, elegant, open, and, in enough instances, lig... [ read more ]

Tomoko Omura: Roots And Branches

It's been a good year for New York-based, Japanese violinist/composer Tomoko Omura, whose second CD as leader, Roots (Inner Circle Music), has earned high praise from critics and peers alike. The roots of the title refer to Omura's heritage as she reimagines popular Japanese tunes through the prism...

Deborah Shulman: My Heart's In The Wind

My Heart's In The Wind is a modest and muted affair, understated in nature yet emotionally stirring in its own way. It's a collection of music that speaks directly to intimacy, loss, and the bends in life's road. The eleven tracks presented on this quiet beauty tap into a variety of emotions, with l... [ read more ]

Martha Egan -- My Life With Orrin Keepnews

The prolific record producer and label founder m: Orrin Keepnews passed away at his El Cerrito CA home on March 1,2015, a day before his 92nd birthday. The November 2015 memorial and benefit concert was a time for friends and family to come together to celebrate his full life and acclaim...

Myriam Alter: Crossways

There's a soulful melancholy to much of this music. Composer/pianist m: Myriam Alter has created yet another collection of her songs that have the potential to evoke feelings of yearning, sadness and perhaps a deep buried joy with Crossways. Akin to a previous outing on enja, the elegiac... [ read more ]

Various Artists: Detroit Jazz City

Blue Note president Don Was is a metro jny: Detroit native. He grew up exposed to the rich musical legacy of the city, as well as to the economic struggles of many of the city's residents. This celebrates both. As the press release states, "All proceeds from the album will be donated to Focus: H... [ read more ]

Free Jazz Group Wiesbaden: Frictions / Frictions Now

History is written by the victors. That holds as true for art as for war. When looking for pioneers from the formative days of free jazz in Germany, the names of reedmen m: Peter BrA tzmann and m: Gunter Hampel, trumpeter m: Manfred Schoof and pianist {{m: Alexander... [ read more ]

Kim Kashkashian Sarah Rothenberg Steven Schick Houston Chamber Choir Robert Simpson.: Rothko Chapel

On ECM's superb and captivating Rothko Chapel an elite group of musicians interprets Morton Feldman's sublime title piece and several others by John Cage and, the father of western musical modernism, Erik Satie. The disc explores the common conceptual and stylistic threads between the Feldman and Ca... [ read more ]

Vince Guaraldi: A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas is the corniest jazz-Christmas album ever made. And that's OK. It's even good. I know the dig. What m: Vince Guaraldi played wasn't jazz, it was lounge music. It was sentimental. It was lightweight. It was sappy. Yep. All of that. So what? Christmas time is about... [ read more ]

Edith Piaf: 1915-2015

2015 is the centenary of one of the best-loved, most charismatic singers of the twentieth century. For some that singer is m: Billie Holiday, for others it's m: Frank Sinatra: but for many more, especially in the French-speaking world, it's the legendary Edith Piaf. 1915-2015... [ read more ]

Kind of Purple: Jazz musicians on Prince

"Do you know who m: Prince kinda reminds me of, particularly as a pianist? Duke! Yeah, he's the m: Duke Ellington of the eighties to my way of thinking." --m: Miles Davis The tops of the pop charts isn't where we often expect to find genius. Brilliant performers som...

UMO Jazz Orchestra with Michael Brecker: Live in Helsinki 1995

If your fondness for big-band jazz includes searching for hidden treasures, here's a recently uncovered gem that should more than gladden your spirit: a concert recording from 1995 by Finland's superb UMO Jazz Orchestra featuring the renowned tenor saxophonist m: Michael Brecker who left... [ read more ]

Sonny Sharrock: Ask the Ages

Guitarist Sonny Sharrock had been recording since 1969, in a variety of formats. In 1991, he recorded his masterpiece, Ask the Ages for Axiom records. The recording was produced by Sharrock and MOD Technologies founder and bassist m: Bill Laswell. Axiom Records was a precursor to Laswell... [ read more ]

Kenny Clarke: The Golden 8

The first time I dropped a needle on a Music Matters 33 rpm test-pressing of m: Kenny Clarke and m: Francy Boland's The Golden 8 I was surprised to hear something quite unusual: a Blue Note record that was clearly not recorded in Hackensack. With only a few exceptions, most Blu... [ read more ]

Yaniv Taubenhouse Trio: Moments In Trio, Volume One

Pianist Yaniv Taubenhouse presents his second album as leader with the bold Moments In Trio, Volume One providing another fresh set of innovative new originals continuing the personal musical journey he began documenting with his highly-acclaimed debut Here From There (Fresh Sound Records, 2015). To... [ read more ]

Ligro: Dictionary 3

m: Ligro is yet another one of MoonJune Records' stellar discoveries from Indonesia. One says "Indonesia" with caution, as each member of this supremely energetic fusion power trio hails from a culturally different part the vast region: bassist, occasional pianist, and chief composer {{A... [ read more ]

Adam Rudolph - Go: Organic Guitar Orchestra: Turning Towards The Light

This acoustic-electric guitar summit by an upper-echelon congregation of modernists yields a polychromatic listening experience, conducted and organized by composer, percussionist, Adam Rudolph. And it should come as no surprise that the musicians' distinct styles and vernaculars create added value... [ read more ]

Discovering Wardell Gray: An Interview with Biographer Richard Carter

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 [This is one of two interviews and an article intended to bring readers' attention to the under-recognized tenor saxophonist, Wardell Gray, whose brief career spanned the transition from swing to bebop and whose life was cut short by sudden and tragic circumstances.] Richard...

Jon Armstrong Jazz Orchestra: Farewell

I am beginning to wonder if every jazz musician has, in some dark corner of their psyche, a suppressed ambition to lead a big band. Economically unfeasible, logistically impossible--but artistically gratifying--a big band is perhaps the ultimate way to make manifest one's greatest musical ambitions... [ read more ]

Wardell Gray, "Forgotten Tenor:" An Interview with Filmmaker Abraham Ravett

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 [This is one of two interviews and an article intended to bring readers' attention to the revered but neglected tenor saxophonist, Wardell Gray, whose brief career spanned the transition from swing to bebop and whose life was cut short by sudden and tragic circumstances.] Sw...

Ariel Pocock: Touchstone

What are the touchstones of jazz? Harmonic acuity? Internalization of swing aesthetics and advanced rhythmic language(s)? The ability to quickly parse a composition in real time? An understanding of the historical framework of the music? The ability to create and speak one's own mind using any numbe... [ read more ]

AndrA(C)a Wood: Kaleidoscope

m: AndrA(C)a Wood presents her second album as a leader with, Kaleidoscope. Devotees and newcomers alike should feel equally welcome when listening to Kaleidoscope. Wood has done an excellent job of compiling a twelve song program that is accessible in the deep history of jazz along with h... [ read more ]

Grateful Dead: Dick's Pick's Volume Three: Pembroke Pines, Florida 5/22/77

Given what's ensued--beyond the scope of the band itself-in the wake of the Grateful Dead's very first archive series, 'Dick's Picks,' it's hard to believe but well to remember this ongoing project had comparatively modest, humble beginnings. An offhanded conversation between bassist Phil Lesh and u... [ read more ]

Maria Schneider on "The Thompson Fields"

m: Maria Schneider is one of the most influential artists on the international jazz scene. Her open minded approach has led her to become a referent as a composer without being tagged to a specific genre. In the jazz panorama, she receives recognition for her impeccable, beautiful and mea...

Ben Monder: Amorphae

Veteran guitarist m: Ben Monder is at his most experimental and atmospheric in this collection of largely improvised performances, his sixth album as a leader, and his first for ECM. The genesis of the album came from Monder's 2010 duet sessions with m: Paul Motian, sadly abbre... [ read more ]

Matthew Muneses: Threshold

The fast-paced "Speech Perception" offers a dramatic and modal introduction to this album. Tenor sax and trumpet play vibrant solos all underpinned by the rhythm section and solid piano chords, redolent of m: McCoy Tyner. The mood changes with "Simple Times" which presents an ensemble op... [ read more ]

De Beren Gieren: One Mirrors Many

Still looking to breathe life into the venerable piano trio format, Belgian threesome De Beren Gieren (The Bears Shriek would be one translation) present their fourth album following The Detour Fish (Clean Feed, 2014), A Raveling (De Beren Records, 2013) and Wirklich Welt So (El Negocito, 2012). Lea... [ read more ]

Joe McPhee / Jamie Saft / Joe Morris / Charles Downs: Ticonderoga

The premise for this get together commenced with discussions by pianist m: Jamie Saft and bassist, guitarist m: Joe Morris who plotted to meld their influences from m: John Coltrane's Live at the Village Vanguard Again (Impulse, 1966) album, along with celebrated art... [ read more ]

Faces: Faces: Stay With Me Anthology

Something of a miniature cross between the 4CD hardbound set, Five Guys Walk Into a Bar (Rhino, 2004) and the five-disc box You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (1970-1975) (Rhino, 2015), this double disc package contains official album recordings, (in recently remastered form), singles and live... [ read more ]

Signe Bisgaard: Meander

A big ensemble often equals a big sound, but sometimes it is more interesting to think about the potential of sound rather than the idea of using all instruments at once. The Danish composer and pianist, Signe Bisgaard, thinks about the potential of sound on her album Meander. She does not use all i... [ read more ]

Bobby Matos Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble: Bobby Matos: Ritmo and Blues

Fate blessed m: Bobby Matos. For a kid who dreamed of growing up to be a Latin jazz musician, he could not have been born in a more fortuitous time and place. In the years after World War Two, Nueva York's Hispanic population exploded. Between the years 1940 and 1960, the number of Puerto... [ read more ]

LuA-s Lopes/Jean-Luc Guionnet: Live At Culturgest

All great art invokes the imagination. Think of your favorite movie and the two hours of viewing that transported you into a different world. Music can accomplish the same ends. Take this live date at Culturgest in Lisbon. The meeting between Portuguese guitarist LuA-s Lopes and French saxophoni... [ read more ]

Martin KA1/4chen/Jon Rune StrA m/Tollef A~stvang: Melted Snow

Not Quite All Included or Some Included might be appropriate names for the trio of Swedish saxophonist m: Martin KA1/4chen, and Norwegian bassist m: Jon Rune StrA m and drummer m: Tollef A~stvang. Reason being that the repertoire on Melted Snow partially replicates... [ read more ]

Scott Jeppesen: Wonders

Ancient history and current times collide on the sophomore release from California-based tenor saxophonist Scott Jeppesen: with Wonders, he offers up an intelligent, semi-programmatic look at the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as seen through a modern jazz lens. Jeppesen, a once-upon-a-time prot... [ read more ]

Ken Vandermark Resonance Ensemble: Double Arc

For the most part, we only follow the trajectory of an artist's career many years after his work has been completed. Looking back at the career of m: Miles Davis, you can now play connect-the-dots from bebop to m: Gil Evans to modal jazz to electric Miles. Certainly, back in th... [ read more ]

Five Play: Live at the Deer Head Inn

I haven't been to the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania in years. But if I make it there, I hope to time my visit to coincide with m: Five Play at thee: Deer Head Inn, which bills itself as the "oldest continuously running jazz club in the country." Long may it prosper, for t... [ read more ]

Didier Verna: Roots and Leaves

Don't judge a book a book by its cover or a recording by its first track. "Old Times" is certainly that, a paean to the swinging age of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France and guitarist m: Didier Verna displays his considerable talent with a nimble solo, as do each of the other members... [ read more ]

CA(C)sar Cardoso: Bottom Shelf

"AlA(C)m" starts unceremoniously, almost mid-tune, tenor sax and guitar evoking a sultry m: Stan Getz mood. The labyrinthine structure of the title track adds to its appeal and benefits from strong playing with a feisty guitar solo. m: CA(C)sar Cardoso's soprano on "A'nica" evince... [ read more ]

Dave Douglas Quintet: Brazen Heart

Leading a quintet whose debut recording, Be Still (Greenleaf Music, 2012) was an elegiac song cycle dedicated to his late mother, m: Dave Douglas' Brazen Heart, sadly, finds the trumpeter / composer in mourning once again. Damon Douglas, Dave's brother, passed away in June 2015. Yet, the... [ read more ]

Double Basse: This Is Not Art

Although the group moniker might suggest two bull fiddles, in fact it describes the French pairing of bassist m: Benjamin Duboc and contrabass clarinetist m: Jean-Luc Petit. No strangers to each other (Petit appears on the bassist's leadership debut under his own name on Prim... [ read more ]

Filip Jers Quartet: Filip Jers Quartet Plays Swedish Folk

A difficult one, this: harmonica player Felip Jers and his quartet the latest in a long line of artists attempting to put a jazz slant on Swedish folk music. It all started in the 1960s when pianist Jan Johansson scored a massive hit with an EP and later an LP titled Jazz PA Svenska (Jazz In Swedis... [ read more ]

Beat Funktion: Olympus

The seventies brought many things: bell-bottoms, Lee Majors, Farrah Fawcett, Disco, Nixon and Carter, The Godfather, the Ramones; Billie Jean King and Phyllis Schlafly to NOW and the ERA; from the Energy Crisis to Roe v. Wade. The Seventies is an incisively provocative and commonly misunderstood era... [ read more ]