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Arild Andersen: Landloper
by Neil Duggan
The stark elegance of Arild Andersen's bass playing has been inspiring and entertaining audiences since the 1970s. He first gained prominence as a member of the Jan Garbarek Quartet, performing alongside Jon Christensen and Terje Rypdal, and was among ECM's first recording artists. Throughout his career he has performed and recorded with jazz luminaries including Sonny ...
Freysteinn Gíslason: Að einhverju/To somewhere
by Glenn Astarita
Emerging from Iceland's volcanic landscape--a land where glaciers and geysers conspire to create heavenly magic--Freysteinn arrives with their third sonic missive, Að einhverju/To somewhere. This is not your grandmother's jazz album; it is a musical expedition that pirouettes between traditional Icelandic folk whispers, rock and a progressive jazz swagger. Along with the melodic complexities ...
Alain Bedard Auguste Quartet: Particules Sonores
by Dan McClenaghan
The experience of bassist Alain Bedard's Partcules Sonores begins--for those who read liner notes--with a rumination on sound waves that interact with every particle of matter they encounter. The energy created is transported and diffused, becoming sound particles." Hm. A bit cerebral for some tastes, perhaps. But then jazz guys are known to go ...
Paul Downing: Social Control Mechanism Number One
by Christopher Wheatley
Bassist Paul Downing is an artist with an eclectic taste whose music covers many grounds. In previous records, he has explored free improvisation, heavy funk, and, on Flight Through Cloudless Sky (Paulos Records, 1994), produced a fascinating suite of solo pieces performed using the meta-'cello, an instrument tuned in fourths. Social Control Mechanism Number One is ...
Tracy Yang: OR
by Angelo Leonardi
Il percorso biografico e artistico di Tracy Yang ha molte affinità con quello di Jihye Lee, l'ormai nota arrangiatrice e bandleader coreana che s'è imposta con i significativi album Infinite Connections e Daring Mind. Tracy Yang viene da Taiwan, dove lavorava come radiologa. Come Jihyie Lee ha appreso in un decennio le tecniche dell'orchestrazione ...
Enrico Rava: Fearless Five
by Giuseppe Segala
Dote dei grandi veterani è quella di portare con sé una bella fetta di storia e di renderne partecipi gli altri con generoso senno. È il caso di Enrico Rava, che con Fearless Five centra ancora l'obiettivo di alimentare il talento della mirabile squadra che certamente, è risaputo, non manca di estro, preparazione e fantasia, ma ...
The Nano Brothers: Ascend Flowers
by Glenn Astarita
The Nano Brothers' Ascend Flowers is a bold journey into free improvisation. The duo behind this daring experiment--pianist Jürgen Friedrich and saxophonist-educator Johannes Ludwig--defy expectations with their spontaneous yet meticulously crafted compositions. As the press release notes, Everything is improvised even if it doesn't sound like it." The Nano Brothers, unburdened by preconceived notions ...
Scott Colley, Edward Simon, Brian Blade: Three Visitors
by Mike Jurkovic
There are the many moments to hold and savor on Three Visitors, the second trio offering from pianist Edward Simon, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade. Like their 2017 eponymous debut Steel House (Artist Share), Three Visitors is artful, understated, elegant and so soul deep. A late night disk to rest with and to reflect upon days in the distance ...
Ben Markley: Live at Nocturne
by Pierre Giroux
Ben Markley's Live At Nocturne encapsulates a rare alchemy that emerges from nightly performances in an intimate collaborative setting. Over two uninterrupted months, Markley and his cohorts guitarist Steve Kovalcheck, alto saxophonist Will Swindler, bassists Domi Edson (tracks 1-5), Matt Smiley (tracks 6-7) and drummer Andy Wheeler, transformed Denver's Nocturne into a crucible for creativity that ...
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Exit) Knarr: Breezy
by Rob Garratt
When news of Jaimie Branch's passing broke in 2022, there was an understandably huge outpouring of tributes from different corners of the jazz community. While an eternal punk rocker at heart, Branch was also a distinctly millennial musician, and a fitting figurehead for the recent wave of borderless improvised music that came out of Chicago's International ...