Category: Recordings
By
Colin Green
Such are the flood of releases from British reeds-man Paul Dunmall that it
sometimes feels like you can never quite catch-up. 2018 saw him feature on
eight albums, all on Trevor Taylor’s FMR label which has done so much to
support free jazz and improv over the years.
The Rain Sessions
…
‘Bast’ is a blast – a kinetic opener to say the least – a musical can opener that removes the lid from the Brooklyn based trio Bloor’s first recording Drolleries. Sam Weinberg’s saxophone playing is fierce and unforgiving, Jason Nazary’s percussion work, while at moments feels frenetic, is quite deftly applied, and Andrew Smiley (like Nazary, f…
As I began writing this, I took a quick look back at my post from 2015 about the Ken Vandermark (woodwinds) and Nate Wooley (trumpet) duo’s first recording, East by Northwest. At the time of writing, I was still thinking about the show I had just seen of theirs. Before that experience, I had been a little skeptical about what two wind instrume…
It’s feeling a bit urgent, isn’t it? Autocracy and corruption, intolerance and extremism, hash-tag wisdom and anti-critical thinking all seem to be in high fashion. So, a good dose of free thinking music is, to my ears, a welcome respite from this unthinkable Zeitgeist. Microscopic Sextet founding member, and long-time member of NYC downtow…
Before dropping the needle on this beautiful color vinyl pressing ofSpinning Song: Duck Baker plays the music of Herbie Nichols, I must admit that I wasn’t too familiar with the composer. Herbie Nichols (1919 – 1963) was interested in an adventurous mix of Caribbean folk, dixieland, and bop, and was a contemporary (and friend) of Thelonius …
DuringWinter Jazz Fest 2018, I caught a whiff of saxophonist James Brandon Lewis’group that recorded AnUnRuly Manifesto. At the time, I thought it was one of the best set that I caught at the festival and the recording does not dispel the notion.
Last year Lewis released a duo recording called ‘Radiant Imprints’ (see review below), that demon…
Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog – YRU Still Here? (Yellowbird, 2018) *****
Guitarist Marc Ribot is a long standing favorite of mine. In all of his guises – whether the folk and blues solo work, his always spot-on accompaniment, the ‘fake’ Latin band, or the raucous Ceramic Dog with bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith, he always has…
We received an unusual guest contribution for guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel’s latest ECM release Where the River Goes.The writer, Marinella Barigazzi, offers a poetic take on this music, capturing in words images of the sounds flowing from the speakers, plus adds some additional words from the guitarist.
Where The River Goes
ByMarinella Barigaz…
I was introduced to the playing of Olaf Rupp by my Free Jazz Blog colleague Martin Schray. He described Rupp’s playing in a 2016 review, explaining that his “hallmark is that he plays the guitar in an upright position, reminiscent of Chinese pipa players. This way it’s easier to integrate flageolets, tremolos and arpeggios so as to create overt…
Wolfgang Fuchs/Bernhardt Arndt/Hans Schneider: Fuchs – Arndt –
Schneider (FMP, 1984/2018) ****½
By
Martin Schray
Although Wolfgang Fuchs might not be the first name that comes to your mind
when you think of FMP, the saxophonist and clarinetist was a typical artist
of the famous Berlin free ja…
It’s hard to keep up with all of the music that (fortunately) keeps coming out, and one musician who seems to be both tireless and ever inspired is saxophonist Jon Irabagon. I was first introduced to his playing by Stef’s rview of the saxophonists’ Foxy and the non-stop blast from that album hasn’t slowed yet.
Jon Irabagon -Dr. Quixotic’s Tra…
I was between concerts at the Kongsberg Jazz Festival this past summer when I wandered into the cinema where Open Land was playing. From the opening moments, I was transfixed from the opening shots of the New York skyline across the Hudson River as the blue winter-light of the brittle upstate winter and the dark reds and browns of the city …
