Rick Parker/Li Daiguo: Free World Music

Multi-instrumentalists Rick Parker, of Brooklyn, and China's Li Daiguo are practitioners of psychoacoustic science in an experimental duo format. Understanding the interaction of wave dissemination, physical experience and endless scientific studies is hardly necessary; as listeners we still hear, i... [ read more ]

Elisabeth Lohninger: Eleven Promises

New York-based Elisabeth Lohninger and Walter Fischbacher have evolved into a solid power-center in the city's jazz community. They operated Lofish Recording Studios until 2015, when gentrification forced them to close door. The pair have been prolific with recordings, including: Beneath the Surface... [ read more ]

Peter BrA tzmann/Full Blast: Risc

The Full Blast trio of saxophonist m: Peter BrA tzmann, Marino Pliakas, and Michael WertmA1/4ller get an injection of fervency with the electronics of Gerd Rische. As if they needed any more ferocity. Risc is the fifth official release by the trio, and follows the ambitious Sketches And Bal... [ read more ]

Carla Bley: Shoe Leather, Mystery and Moxie

With the passing of time. That's roughly how the title of Carla Bley's second trio album for ECM translates. Bley turned eighty a few months before the release of Andando el Tiempo but the passing years, if anything, have sharpened her composer's claws and whetted her playing appetite, judging by th...

Chris Cain: King of the Blues

Presumably, the title of singer / guitarist m: Chris Cain's new CD, King of the Blues, refers not to Cain himself but to one of his idols, the legendary bluesman m: B.B. King, who passed away in May 2015. Cain, who was born and raised in San Jose, CA, attended his first B.B. Ki... [ read more ]

DamiA^3n Reid: On Drum Artistry, The Robert Glasper Trio, and Beyond

International drummer DamiA^3n Reid has crafted a style that is inimitable without sacrificing the ardor of modern jazz and its traditional stylistic approaches to drumming. Listening to Reid is like a history lesson on the drum--he can play everything with artful dexterity from Be-Bop to Hip Hop. Ad...

: Guitars Galore: Major Vistas, Joe Policastro Trio, Dan Arcamone, Charlie Ballantine, Sound Underground, Kay-Ta Matsuno

A brief overview of several notable 2016 contemporary jazz releases featuring guitarists. Major Vistas Minor Anthems Self Produced 2016 A fresh approach to the jazz trio, and the debut release from Madison, Wisconsin's Major Vistas. Keyboardist Mike Weiser says he thinks of it as a modern "organ" tr... [ read more ]

Daniel Kramer: Bob Dylan, In Pictures

Photography may not bring back what has long gone, but for many, it can provide a passage to explore important happenings or moments from people's personal histories. A simple photograph can encapsulate deep-rooted emotions and memories of people, events and times that have long gone. Photographer D...

Mike Baggetta: Spectre

Mike Baggetta has produced a number of quality recordings over the years yet Spectre may be his most compelling project to date. The guitarist delves into some "live" sound processing which include an array of delicate textures, sampling and loops undoubtedly influenced by ECM recording artist {{m... [ read more ]

Karavika: Of Earth And Sky

Can't find a musical genre that fits the needs of your means of artistic expression? Then create your own. That's What m: Karavika did, with their gorgeous and provocative debut, Sunrise ( Self Produced, 2012). Call it raga/chamber/folk music if you will, a blend of multiple influences f... [ read more ]

Dominic Duval: Follow Your Melody

In memory of Dominic Duval: 1945-2016. This article was first published in October 2010. Bassist Dominic Duval is a mystery to many--even to those interested in free music. Seemingly emerging out of nowhere in the mid-1990s, over the course of 15 years he has built a formidable discography, firmly e...

University of Missouri Concert Jazz Band: Open Window / Flying Colors

Here are two recent studio recordings by the well-disciplined University of Missouri Concert Jazz Band under director m: Arthur White, the first (Open Window) from 2014, the second (Flying Colors) from 2016. Tenor saxophonist m: Jimmy Greene and trumpeter {{m: Sean Jones = 134... [ read more ]

Glauco Venier: Miniatures

Italian pianist m: Glauco Venier presents a delicate program of "Music for piano and percussion" on his first solo album for ECM. The approach came out of music Venier made for a documentary film about sculptor Giorgio Celiberti, which involved piano plus playing on "sonorous sculptures... [ read more ]

The Fred Hersch Trio: Sunday Night At The Vanguard

Reach up to the CD shelf and pull a handful of m: Fred Hersch CDS down. You'll find that the pianist has a good thing going with the Village Vanguard. Alive At The Vanguard (Palmetto Records, 2012) a stellar two CD set, and terrific solo set, Alone At the Vanguard (Palmetto Records, 2011)... [ read more ]

The Danny Fisher-Lochhead Large Ensemble: On Ceremony

Given his absorbing ensemble work on Tools of the Abstract (Fishkill Records, 2015) and his critical role on the m: Will Mason Ensemble album Beams of the Huge Night (New Amsterdam Records, 2015), composer/alto saxophonist/pianist Danny Fisher-Lochhead would neatly fit into the subjectiv... [ read more ]

Take Five With Lisa Dae

About Lisa Dae: Lisa Dae's distinctive vocals have earned her a loyal and rapidly growing fan base. Classically trained she can sing what she hears. Considered the preeminent jazz vocalist in the NW, Lisa is well on her way to a long and successful music career. Look for an LP soon. Instrument(s): V...

Tony Banks: A Curious Feeling

UK-based Esoteric Recordings has compiled a treasure trove of prog rock gems from the past via top-notch remastering efforts, extensive liners, bonus tracks and / or DVDs that offer the same track list and film shorts processed in Surround Sound. Hence, an added benefit to this reissue by famed Gene... [ read more ]

Miguel Crozzoli / Pablo DA-az: Tierra

There is a poem by the Swedish poet Gunnar EkelA f (1907-1968) called "Den svarte bilden" (The black image) in which he tells about an icon whose image is kissed away. It is a spiritual act of love where the image of representation is transgressed. Interestingly, EkelA f's poem could be an illustrat... [ read more ]

Lefteris Kordis: Mediterrana

Jazz's ability to absorb new musical traditions and take advantage of novel instrumentation is one of its most notable features. Fans of this form of experimentation will appreciate pianist m: Lefteris Kordis' forays into merging jazz with traditional Greek and other Mediterranean lineag... [ read more ]

Scott Hamilton: Jan Lundgren: Swedish Ballads... and More... Quietly There

Are Scott Hamilton and Harry Allen, two American saxophonists playing technically accomplished and downright enjoyable jazz, the m: Zoot Sims and m: Al Cohn of our day? The answer must be Very Likely, to judge from an excellent two-album reissue by Danish company Stunt Records... [ read more ]

Tony Williams: Tony Williams: Life Time

By now, it's an irrefutable fact that drummer m: Tony Williams was the youngest preeminent figure within the avant-garde movement of the mid-'60s. Every jazz fan seems to know the events that led to his international fame: after intriguing trumpeter m: Miles Davis with his cut... [ read more ]

Harry Beckett: Still Happy

Barbados-born Harry Beckett was known across the jazz world, respected as a major player on the UK scene for many years, winning the Melody Maker Trumpeter of the Year award in 1972 and recording or performing with a host of musicians including m: Louis Moholo, {{m: John Dankworth = 6085... [ read more ]

Nina Simone: Montreux Through The Decades: Blues, Soul and Funk Recordings, Part 1

As part of All About Jazz' tribute to Montreux Jazz Festival, which is celebrating its 50th edition in 2016, and to its founder, the late Claude Nobs, this second batch of live recordings features ten memorable blues, soul and funk concerts captured between 1973 and 2004. The first batch featured te... [ read more ]

Dan Cray: Outside In

Encounters with the wonders of nature have a way of snapping everything into perspective and tamping down humanly worries and concerns. Too often we spend time absorbed and obsessed with working from the inside out, projecting ourselves into the world. But sometimes it's better to simply go the othe... [ read more ]

Joe Lovano Quartet: Classic! Live at Newport

It's safe to say that many years from now, when the critics and historians have the benefit of distance to help focus their thoughts, many if not most will continue to hail much of saxophonist Joe Lovano's presently-admired body of work on the Blue Note imprint. But what will stand tallest in said d... [ read more ]

Ron Thomas/Paul Klinefelter: Duo

Pianist m: Ron Thomas' talents range widely, from his Karlheinz Stockhausen-influenced electric outings like Elysium (Vectordisc, 2009), through his fluid free association piano trio sets, Music In Three Parts ( Art Of Life Records, 2006) and Doloroso (Art of Life Records, 2006), to his... [ read more ]

Sergio Krakowski: PA ssaros: The Foundation of the Island

PA ssaros: The Foundation of the Island is the second release on the noteworthy Brooklyn label, Ruweh Records. It is a special release in many ways. First and foremost, the leader of the date, m: Sergio Krakowski, is playing an instrument that is very rare in jazz: the pandeiro. The pand... [ read more ]

Dick Sisto/Steve Allee Quartet: Earth Tones

While Earth Tones is the first album credited to the Dick Sisto/m: Steve Allee Quartet, it's not this foursome's first rodeo. This group has been at it as a working band for quite a while now, and it previously released Spirit of Life (Jazzen, 2013)--a date under Sisto's name that concent... [ read more ]

Bob Mintzer: All L.A. Band

Even though saxophonist m: Bob Mintzer's name rests alone atop the marquee, the All L.A. Band is actually a mutual collaboration with acclaimed drummer m: Peter Erskine, one of Mintzer's colleagues in the Jazz Studies department at the University of Southern California. Besides... [ read more ]

Erik Friedlander: Rings

Repetition is sometimes seen as a bad thing. The mundane cycle of everyday life involving the same actions. However, it is only through repetition that differences can occur. A weekend is only special because it stands out as a difference from the ordinary week. But repetition is not only useful as... [ read more ]