Laurie Antonioli and Richie Beirach: Varuna

This absorbing release--an album that's something of a sequel to The Duo Sessions (Nabel Records, 2005)--finds vocalist m: Laurie Antonioli and pianist m: Richie Beirach painting one divine musical tableau after another. There are vivid numbers that place Antonioli's seraphic v... [ read more ]

Phil Woods: 1931-2015

In memory of NEA Jazz Master, Phil Woods. This article was previously published in November 2002. All About Jazz: Looking back on the almost three decade history of your Quintet, one question springs immediately to mind. You've had the same rhythm section of m: Steve Gilmore on bass and...

Christian Artmann: Fields Of Pannonia

Flautist Christian Artmann's work seems to be rooted in the notion that art can and will stretch as far as the imagination will take it. And in his case, that's quite a distance. With Fields Of Pannonia, Artmann presents an album-length fantasia, bringing jazz language, baroque influences, impressio... [ read more ]

Alberto Vilas Quinteto: CrA^3nica CromA tica

There might be something to the theory that separation brings about greater creative awareness. The region of Galicia, on the northwest corner of Spain, though not geographically isolated, does pride itself in its unique cultural traits as music and language, differentiating itself from the rest of... [ read more ]

Keith Rowe and John Tilbury: Enough still not to know

It was back in late 2011 that the last collaboration between m: Keith Rowe and m: John Tilbury was issued, E.E. Tension and Circumstance (Potlatch, 2011), having been recorded live in Paris in December 2010. As that was their second duo recording, following the double CD Duos... [ read more ]

Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown: Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown: The Devil to Pay

John Mayall may remain the so-called 'Godfather of British Blues," but if that's so, then Kim Simmonds is certainly his consigliere. After all, Simmonds did mentor three members of Foghat, among other stalwarts of the the British blues boom of the late Sixties. And like Mayall, Simmonds has followed... [ read more ]

The Staple Singers: The Staple Singers: Freedom Highway Complete

Music has always been the perfect medium over which people expressed their dissatisfaction and protested social injustices. As such it has a tremendous ability to show the world from the perspective of the oppressed. During the '60s in US the revival of protest music was propelled as a reaction to t... [ read more ]

Shemekia Copeland: Outskirts Of Love

The Blues. Much has been written about how it has influenced countless artists in a variety of genres, but few can claim to have been born into the blues. Blues singer m: Shemekia Copeland, as daughter of Texas bluesman m: Johnny Copeland, has this unique distinction, and has b... [ read more ]

Thomas Fonnesbaek: Where We Belong

Aficionados increasingly see Danish bassist Thomas Fonnesbaek as a successor to the late, great Nils-Henning Orsted Pedersen. He is heard here as part of a trio featuring Swedish pianist Lars Jansson, the format that established his reputation. The album consists primarily of Fonnesbaek's own compos... [ read more ]

Derek Nash Acoustic Quartet: You've Got To Dig It To Dig It, You Dig?

You've Got To Dig It To Dig It, You Dig?: not just a groovy album title, but wise words of advice. Saxophonist and bandleader Derek Nash clearly takes this advice to heart, crafting an album that's filled with eminently dig-able music. The advice that inspires Nash and his fellow players, as well as... [ read more ]

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood: Betty's Blends Volume Two: Best from the West

Even before the final fracture of the Black Crowes, the Chris Robinson Brotherhood proved their prolific nature and hearty work ethic. To date they've produced three studio albums, accompanied by regular roadwork, that's now given birth to two live collections in what looks to be a series of such ti... [ read more ]

John Schott: Actual Trio

San Francisco Bay Area guitarist John Schott presents the debut recording of his long-running jazz trio, and third album for New York City-based producer, composer and saxophonist m: John Zorn's Tzadik record label. As expected, Schott doesn't solely adhere to the tried and true within t... [ read more ]

Shelton / Lonberg-Holm / Rosaly: Resounder

There is no connection whatsoever between the improvised electro-acoustic music of Resounder and Carl Stalling's musical accompaniment and his adaptations of music composed by Raymond Scott for Warner Brothers' Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoon. Except that, the music of {{m: Aram Shelton = 1... [ read more ]

Nick Mazzarella Trio: Ultraviolet

m: Nick Mazzarella's first trio recording Aviary in 2009, clocked in at just 30 minutes. Although brief, the compelling force of the saxophonist's presence signaled a new unblemished voice in jazz. He has gone on to become a strong presence in the Chicago jazz scene, performing with {{m... [ read more ]

Leap of Faith/Thomas Heberer: Solution Concepts

The twenty year history of Leap of Faith includes an eleven year hiatus that is noteworthy more for the cooperative's ability to seamlessly pick up the pieces than for an uber-extended break. Cellist m: Glynis Lomon--a one-time student of m: Bill Dixon--was working the Boston... [ read more ]

Dale Head: Swing, Straight Up

Vocalist and trumpeter Dale Head is an unheralded local guy and a staple sideman from the Bay Area who performs the music of m: Frank Sinatra, m: Joe Williams to Harry James and others as he plays the classic to standards for audiences throughout southern California and elsewh... [ read more ]

trio \ DEF -- Take Five with Wayne Eagles of trio \ DEF

Meet Wayne Eagles: m: Wayne Eagles is Canadian guitarist/educator known for his unique guitar style, which incorporates diverse influences from textural soundscapes and free jazz to old school fusion and progressive rock. Wayne has played live and in the studio with a long list of local...

John Ellis: Charm

Through the course of more than a half dozen albums under his own name, increasingly less traditional with each successive release including Dance Like there's No Tomorrow (Hyena, 2008) Puppet Mischief (Oblique Sound, 2010), saxophonist/composer John Ellis has developed and refined his own sound, pa... [ read more ]

Richard Nelson / Aardvark Jazz Orchestra: Deep River

If the name of this new CD by guitarist m: Richard Nelson and Boston's intrepid Aardvark Jazz Orchestra sounds familiar, that's because it is the same as a spiritual of unknown origin that has been sung for perhaps hundreds of years in churches and other venues and recorded a number of t... [ read more ]

Fernanda Cunha: Olhos De Mar

The Brazilian sounds, Samba and Bossa Nova, washed over the United States like a wave in the early sixties. American saxophonist m: Stan Getz, in his collaborations with Brazilian artists m: Antonio Carlos Jobim and m: Joao Gilberto, on Getz/Gilberto (Verve Records... [ read more ]

Chick Corea and Bela Fleck: Chick Corea and Bela Fleck: Two

The collaboration of pianist/composer Chick Corea and banjoist/composer Bela Fleck is a magnificent meeting of the minds, one as unlikely as jazz of any era is likely to see and hear. The ever-so-serious and often precious approach of the former is largely contrasted by the playful, though occasiona... [ read more ]

Oran Etkin: What's New? Reimagining Benny Goodman

Those looking to preview some of the most interesting jazz offerings due to arrive in any given year know that New York's Winter Jazzfest is the place to do it. For more than a decade, this annual January happening has had its finger on the pulse of the jazz world, giving the press, the fans, and cu... [ read more ]

Sonar: Black Light

By virtue of its experimental and often convoluted definition, progressive jazz seems to require an increasingly larger umbrella. Under that broadly encompassing category, the Switzerland- based quartet SONAR is a noteworthy and unconventional standout. Black Light is their fourth release (but only... [ read more ]

Mark Weinstein: In Jerusalem

Flutist Mark Weinstein has made a career of fusing world music elements with jazzy sensibilities with finesse and style. On In Jerusalem he tackles the rich Hasidic heritage of song. He and his band interpret both secular and religious tunes as well as original compositions with delightful spontanei... [ read more ]

Tania Giannouli Ensemble: Transcendence

Athens-based composer-pianist m: Tania Giannouli's main area of interest is mixed-media--combining music with poetic texts, visuals, theater plays or art installations. Similarly, Giannouli compositions for her sophomore album Transcendence (after Forest Stories, a duet with Portuguese r... [ read more ]

Lars Vogt: Johann Sebastian Bach: Goldberg Variations

With widely performed compositions, I will usually listen to closely to the introductory section to begin formulating my thoughts overall. Consistently, I do this with Handel's Messiah, paying close attention to the opening Sinfonia. Its pacing and grandeur often give clue to what is to come later i... [ read more ]

Matt Haimovitz: Orbit: Music for Solo Cello (1945 a€' 2014)

The solo cello repertoire is dominated completely by Johann Sebastian Bach's Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, BWV 1007-1012. While there exists much more solo cello music than this, the majority of commercial media releases are of Bach's mountain. So, what a about a sampler of solo cello music ot... [ read more ]

Orchestre National de Jazz: Europa Berlin

When guitarist-composer Olivier Benoit was appointed in 2014 as the new artistic director of the prestigious French Orchestre National de Jazz (ONJ) some local neo-cons expressed their worries that this orchestra may lose its jazzy touch. Benoit composed before music for orchestras like the Lille-ba... [ read more ]

Van Morrison: The Essential Van Morrison

Here is a compilation that truly lives up to its name--a generous collection of 37 singer Van Morrison's classic gems, covering a period of several decades of immense creativity and musical journey, from his earliest classics with the band Them up until songs from his later recordings like Magic Tim... [ read more ]

Oscar Peterson: Exclusively For My Friends

An 8-CD set of recordings from the great Oscar Peterson, beautifully recorded, sumptuously packaged and accompanied by a 60-page booklet full of informative writing: Exclusively For My Friends is a treat for ears and eyes. All of the recordings on this set were made between 1963 and 1971. The sessio... [ read more ]

Yoshie Fruchter: Schizophonia: Cantorial Recordings Reimagined

A stalwart of New York City's astoundingly creative Judaic music scene, multi-instrumentalist and composer m: Yoshie Fruchter specializes in one thing: moving on from what he's already accomplished. Though he has two genre-smashing albums of edgy, Judaic jazz- rock-prog fusion on {{m: Jo... [ read more ]

Josh Maxey: Celebration of Soul

Celebration of Soul is the tenth and final album in a series of recordings made in just three years by guitarist/composer m: Josh Maxey. Such a uniquely prolific output did not happen by accident. Maxey says "The key to the series has been having a goal beyond what I would have considere... [ read more ]

Arvo Part: Musica Selecta: A Sequence by Manfred Eicher

Of all the longstanding relationships built between its artists and m: Manfred Eicher, the musical partnership of ECM Records' founder/primary producer and Estonian composer Arvo PA rt--who turned 80 years old on September 11, 2015--has to be one of the label's most important and fruitful... [ read more ]

Liberation Music Collective: Siglo XXI

Siglo XXI ("21st Century" in Spanish) is big-band jazz with a conscience, cerebral music capably performed by the Indiana-based Liberation Music Collective, a successor to m: Charlie Haden / m: Carla Bley's similarly high-minded Liberation Music Orchestra from the '70s and beyo... [ read more ]

Gary Burton: On ECM and Playing With Pat Metheny

Vibraphonist Gary Burton was a busy man at the 2015 e: Detroit Jazz Festival. He was a member of the Mack Avenue Superband (organized by Mack Avenue Records, his current record label), and joined Artist-in-Residence m: Pat Metheny for two shows. The Pat Metheny/Gary Burton Qu...

Kendrick Scott Oracle: We Are The Drum

While drummer Kendrick Scott's namesake outfit--Kendrick Scott Oracle--has been around in some form since 2006, it's a band that's really come into its own in the last few years. With the arrival of Conviction (Concord Records, 2013), Scott made a major statement on a high-visibility label; jazz lis... [ read more ]

Spirits Rejoice! An interview with Jazz and Religion Author: Dr. Jason Bivins

When contemplating the connection between jazz and religion, many short pieces have been written about it, yet no American scholar has released an exhaustive and comprehensive book on such an important topic. Dr. Jason Bivins, a well-respected religious studies and philosophy professor, has brillian...

Kait Dunton: trioKAIT

Pianist Kait Dunton's previous album--Mountain Suite (Self Produced, 2012)--was an impressive and nuanced affair that brought drummer m: Peter Erskine, bassist m: Darek Oles, saxophonist m: Bob Mintzer, and trumpeter m: John Daversa into her orbit. Here... [ read more ]

Gabriel VicA(C)ns: Days

A rising jazz guitarist who graduated from Conservatorio de MA sica de Puerto Rico and currently serves as a Professor at Universidad Interamericana in San Juan, Gabriel Vicens's sophomore release Days exuberantly articulates the soundtrack of his life. This follow up to his 2012 self-produced Point... [ read more ]

Tom Lawton: Jazz and the Modern Art of Man Ray

In his book, Jazz Modernism: From Ellington And Armstrong To Matissse And Joyce (Yale University Press 2004), author Alfred Appel depicts the numerous but easily overlooked parallels between jazz music and modern art and literature. Many jazz musicians are art aficionados, and many of the twentieth...

Noa Lur: badakit

m: Noa Lur is a force of nature. From Bilbao, the Spanish singer/song writer is a dreamy feminine soul that celebrates the majesty of jazz through a proud demeanor and a dominating voice. With such character Lur's phrases are suave, feathery and strong. In her debut album badakit, she ma... [ read more ]

Nicole Glover: First Record

If for some reason Portland-native Nicole Glover's First Record ended up being her only one, she would still have made a lasting impact on the jazz world. The 24-year-old saxophonist's debut is an ambitious one that lays a lot on the table and seeks not only to establish her as a capable player, but... [ read more ]

Karl Berger -- Take Five with Rob Saffer of the Creative Music Foundation

In this installment of Take Five we hear from Executive Director Rob Saffer of the Creative Music Foundation, an organization founded in 1971 by m: Karl Berger, m: Ingrid Sertso and m: Ornette Coleman. CMS has brought together leading innovators in the jazz and world...

Michel Nirenberg: Retrato/Portrait

It only takes a few seconds of listening to "Chorinho Em Aldeia/Na Gloria"--the album-opening track on Retrato/Self Portrait--to realize there's something special about Michel Nirenberg's playing. This young multi-reedist--a native of Rio de Janeiro who's currently based in Washington D.C.--marries... [ read more ]

Randy Brecker: RandyPOP!

This album gives new meaning to the idea of rewriting history. Before trumpeter Randy Brecker had ascended to the top rung on the jazz ladder he was making his mark as a hired gun in studios and on stages. His horn can be heard on numerous classic recordings, including those of James Brown, Donald F... [ read more ]

Mike Barone Big Band: La Fiesta

m: Mike Barone has been writing outstanding big-band arrangements for more than half a century. After listening to La Fiesta, Barone's ninth album as leader of the Los Angeles-based Mike Barone Big Band (counting Live at Donte's, recorded back in 1968), the logical question arises: does... [ read more ]

Pete McCann: Range

Wisconsin-born guitarist Pete McCann has been a mainstay in the New York City jazz scene for over 25 years, yet mysteriously continues to elude widespread recognition, despite his impressive virtuosity. McCann's enviably diverse skills are well-documented on the aptly titled Range, the fifth release... [ read more ]

The Lost Trio: Monkwork

In the academic world, it's not unusual for someone to devote their scholarly energies to the study of a single, galvanizing individual and their life's work. Take Abraham Lincoln, for instance: the number of college professors and independent historians who've devoted their lives to thinking, speak... [ read more ]

Stuart McCallum: Stuart McCallum: City

Much of what passes for progressive radio programming, whether that be traditional live to air or internet stations, has been pushed into genre ghettos in recent times--where a record can be enormous within a particular scene but invisible to 99.9% of the world at large. Even in Europe, where the ge... [ read more ]

Eugenie Jones: Come Out Swinging

The last we heard from Seattle-based Renaissance woman Eugenie Jones was on her quite excellent debut recording Black Lace Blue Tears (Self Produced, 2013). On that recording Jones demonstrated great accomplishment as a vocalist, composer, and arranger. She was in the process of transitioning from a... [ read more ]