Category: Recordings
The strike of a string, a sudden atonal spark, a jarring rhythmic motif — in the hands of some this could be a recipe for an improvised disaster. However, under the guidance of two restless and experimental master chefs, the result is a setting of new expectations.
Guitarist’s Nels Cline and Elliot Sharp are both uncompromising musicians, pus…
Saxophonist Jon Irabagon’s playing is a treat on this recording with RED Trio members Hernani Faustino and Gabriel Ferrandini. His sax work is restained and searching at times and scorching and scathing at others throughout this focused but free program. Unlike the hearty swinging from the get go, on say his album Foxy or the recent 3Dom Fac…
Hailing from Rome, percussionist Claudio Scolari is the leader of the multi-layered Scolari Project. He is joined by percussion-oriented multi-instrumentalist Daniele Cavalca and trumpeter (and son) Simone Scolari for Synthesis, and intriguing blend of electronics, synthesizers, and acoustic instruments including the vibraphone and melodica.
F…
Recently, I had the luck to catch a duo show of Mary Halvorson and Ingrid Laubrock at the intimate JACKArts space in Brooklyn. I was struck by how well their melodic ideas and abstract inclinations played off each other so well. I assume that their various associations, like their work with the Tom Rainey Trio, has helped them develop these t…
3Dom Factorstarts with a big slide down a bass string, a couple clashes of percussion, and then the sax kicks in with an infectiously upbeat theme. The strong syncopations and vivacious melody are the work of free jazz drum legend Barry Altschul on his first outing as a leader in a long while.
The song, ‘The 3Dom Factor’ quickly leaves the …
The reviews today are, in a sense, opposites. Tusk by Sean Moran is a set of compositions of some forward thinking songs for a quintet. Birmingham, 02-15-11by Han-Park-Earl is avant jazz trio with two European free jazz luminaries. These two New York based guitarists have different approaches to expressing their creative energy and their efforts ar…
Our guitar week enters it second day, this time checking out some recent ‘power trio’ efforts. There is something wonderfully elemental with the combination of the guitar, bass and drums delivering a pared back but typically power packed jazz/rock.
Nilsson/Fonda/Nilsson – Powers (Konnex, 2013) ****
Scandinavian guitarist, and current Brook…
Over the course of the week, the Free Jazz Blog is taking stock of some recent recordings featuring the guitar. We begin today with a focus on solo guitar; Tuesday, the delicious fire of the power trio; Wednesday some other configurations; Thursday it isexperimental and noise; and Friday, a couple of guitarists who are pushing the boundaries of the…
As 2013 barrels along, the Free Jazz Blog is still hoping to sneak in some mentions of albums that came out over the past year that somehow slipped past. However, I will actually begin with a new release that is at once fresh, frightening and fascinating.
Matt Turner/Hal Rammel- Fractures and Phantoms (Penumbra Music, 2013) ***½
Matt Turne…
Halfway through Dom Minasi’s The Bird, the Girl and the Donkey IIthe theme of Yankee Doodle spills out of Minasi’s guitar. You can faintly hear appreciative laughter and then after a tiny pause, the band explodes, rapidly deconstructing the theme into shreds of musical confetti. The episode ends with the sax chattering and Minasi hitting elemen…
Well, it seems to have happened again, a double review by the Paolo’s of the Free Jazz Blog…
Joe Morris, Agustí Fernández, Nate Wooley – From the Discrete to the Particular (Relative Pitch, 2012) ****
By Paolo Casertano
Being perfectly aware that a trio featuring Joe Morris on guitar, Agustí Fernández on piano and Nate Wooley on…
I’m obviously late to the Mostly Other People Do the Killing party. I have covered several of the individual musicians on their own recording and in other groups, but while IknewMOPDtK was out there, I was not in theknow. But, I’ll stop this now, this review isn’t about me, it’s about New York based group and their unique approach to creating …
