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Oreglo: Opedge
by Scott Lichtman
This writer was persuaded to switch from trumpet to tuba in high school and, ever since has been looking for a modern, hard-grooving quartet underpinned by tuba on which to hang his fanboy hat. The moment has arrived: the band is oreglo and the song featured here is “opedge." Guitarist Linus Barry, drummer Nicco Rocco, keyboardist c-sé and tubaist Teigan Hastings lock in the listener's attention from start to finish by seamlessly switching between fusion, reggae, electronic groove, big band ...
Continue ReadingJohn Scofield: Aileron
by Scott Lichtman
For decades, John Scofield has stood on one of the pedestals labelled “greatest bop/groove guitarist of his time." He's achieved this through a combination of blistering alt-scale solos, clever compositions, and world-class groups. Yet, not everyone listening to his work today knows just how skilled and intense he was as a post-bebopper early on. Take the album Rough House (Enja Records, 1978)--his second as leader --and the song “Aileron." Scofield's warm, distorted tone penetrates the soundscape while the band, comprising ...
Continue ReadingRemembering Roy Haynes: Modern Jazz Giant
by Ian Patterson
When Roy Haynes sat down at the tiny kit on the stage of the Everyman Theatre, during the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival in 2005, he shook his head ruefully and said, “Man, I feel like a midget!" Rising above the audience laughter, somewhere in the depths of the theatre, a voice replied, “Roy, you're a giant!" And so he was. Roy Haynes might not have had such a big, powerful sound as Art Blakey or Elvin Jones but ...
Continue ReadingLucy Woodward & the Rocketeers: Plain Gold Ring
by Ludovico Granvassu
Here is a song that is striking for how well it combines beauty and complexity without any need for compromise between these two traits. “Plain Gold Ring" is the opening song of the self titled album by Lucy Woodward and the Rocketeers. Woodward has a track record of tackling iconic songs tightly associated with musicians like Willie Dixon, Terence Trent D'Arby, Blind Willie Johnson or, like in the case of “Plain Gold Ring," Nina Simone and not make ...
Continue ReadingChemical Clock: Donut Cat
by Mike Jacobs
The now-defunct experimental Seattle-based combo Chemical Clock sure left some intriguing musical markers before departing. Makes their absence all the more vexing. ...
Continue ReadingDhafer Youssef: 39th Gulay (To Istanbul)
by Mike Jacobs
Dhafer Youssef's live tour de force, “39th Gulay (to Istanbul)" vibrates with the electrifying hallmarks the oud master's work is known for: beautifully odd matrices spun with harmonic and instrumental eclecticism with participation from a wide variety of A-listers. Featured here are Kristjian Randalu on piano, Eivind Aarset on electric guitar, Phil Donkin on upright bass, Chander Sardjoe on drums, Hüsnü Senlendiriçi on clarinet, and Aytaç Dögan on qanun. ...
Continue ReadingIbrahim Maalouf: True Sorry
by Scott Lichtman
AAJ's Ian Patterson has written A Brief Guide To Lebanese Jazz, in which trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf is a highlight. Maalouf was forced to migrate from Beirut to jny: Paris during the Lebanese Civil War and has since become known worldwide for his melding of world, jazz, pop and classical genres. One of his most moving pieces is “True Sorry," an anthem to peace that steadily sweeps up the listener into a vision of a better world. Listen to Maalouf's use ...
Continue ReadingKenny Wheeler: Smatter
by Scott Lichtman
The song “Smatter," from trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, offers the chance to hear several grandmasters of jazz concoct high-energy music together. For Wheeler's debut on ECM Records, Gnu High (ECM, 1976), he gathered the creative forces of Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland on the album's three tracks. Gnu High would quickly be deemed a classic. Wheeler displays a tone that is equal parts warm and penetrating. His solos are uber-musical, transcending lyrical lines to create pure ambience. ...
Continue ReadingD.D. Jackson: I Call
by John Chacona
"I Call," is a poem about the immigrant's dilemma of identifying with two places but fully inhabiting neither, using the refrain, “a place that doesn't exist" to name this condition. Yet Quebec-born Toronto poet Choucri Paul Zemokhol's family came to Canada from the Middle East, a place that, even in the interval since the poem's publication in 2009, doesn't exist, metaphorically or in fact. On Poetry Project (Self Produced, 2024) D.D. Jackson's setting begins in a swirl of piano before ...
Continue ReadingBranford Marsalis & Joey Calderazzo: Face on the Barroom Floor
by Scott Lichtman
On “Face on the Barroom Floor," the duo of Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo pay tribute to Wayne Shorter by distilling one of Shorter's most beautiful pieces into its essentials. The sentiment might be interpreted as “a lovelorn individual drinks himself into forgetfulness. We hope for a happier future for him." Marsalis and Calderazzo take the original arrangement, performed by Weather Report, and leave only the piano and soprano saxophone, playing them plaintively with sparse block chords and a honking ...
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