Shelter, a new project from saxophonist Ken Vandermark, starts out on somewhat familiar ground – Nate Wooley’s trumpet and Vandermark’s sax hurtling a melody with an uptempo urgency. It all seems quite normal until they smack into the rhythm section, and the momentum is suddenly yanked in a different direction. An akimbo pulse takes precedence,…
About two weeks ago I had an unexpected opportunity to see In Order to Survive perform at Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn. The concert was a celebration of bassist and band leader William Parker’s new double album just released on AUM Fidelity, featuring the formidable quartet of pianist Cooper-Moore, bassist and leader Parker, drummer Hamid Dra…
Poet and activist Amina Baraka, has just released, I believe, her first recording on the storied ESP-Disk label. Her album of spoken word and inside/outside jazz is a spot-on debut, drawing deeply on her life, culture, and politics. Baraka is the widow of writer, activist, and music critic, Amiri Baraka, mother of current Newark, NJ mayor Ras B…
Pianist and poet Elliot Cardinaux floats into this set of music and poetry quietly and when the first track ’Thicket’ ends on the phrase “There never were any Indians in Columbus’ America” you know something is happening, even if you don’t know exactly what it is. Though it took me a while to get to this album, when I finally dove in,…
I’ve had this new release from the David S. Ware Trio on heavy rotation for the past week. I do have a pile of other new records and a bunch of CDs sitting on my coffee table, plus several digital albums to contend with too, but they’re going to have to patiently wait their turn – this one is just too good to interrupt. Recorded at the Blue …
Something that has always fascinated me is the many ways instrumental music – without the help of lyrics – can be used to carry a message, to protest, or to advance a cause. A group of musicians out of the Bay Area in California have found their way by creating a record label which donates all proceeds to Planned Parenthood. Founders Vijay And…
For some reason, I lost track of Sexmob after 2003’s Dime Grind Palace,and so aftercatching a show by another long-standing Steven Bernstein group “Spanish Fly” a couple of months back, I wondered why this was. Diving back in with Cultural Capital had me instantly a bit nostalgic for the late 90’s/early 00’s in New York when there were groups…
Ok, let’s not judge this one by its cover. These guys do not exactly look like happy jazzers, but crack the CD open and listen, this is intense music, vivacious, vigorous, and full of lively twists and turns.Happy Jazzdelves into free improvisation with zeal, electric guitar lines snake around expressive bass work while bass clarinet melodies…
Projected image by Bill Mazza
“We wish you peace and love,” said percussionist Kahil El’Zabar during saxophonist David Murray’s set, espousing the power of humanity globally to overcome difficult times. It’s an old refrain for sure, cliché perhaps, but in the depths of Judson Memorial Church’s great hall, a landmark of social activism and…
Michael Zerang, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Gebhard Ullman, and Steve Swell
I contemplated a midnight coffee to keep me up to write this review as I walked past McDougal and eyed the green faded elegance of Cafe Reggio’s awning. It had been a long evening, and well into the night, at Judson Church. I had heard a lot of music, ate a couple of dumpli…
Odean Pope Saxophone Choir
Thursday’s show opened with the Odean Pope Saxophone Choir. The Philadelphia-based band leader’s 10 piece band blasted open the doors to the evening with a hard hitting horn arrangement that played off big band tropes with visceral soloing that often ventured deep into free territory. Pope’s authoritative sound o…
Matthew Shipp, Matt Maneri, and Whit Dickey
The third night of the Vision Festival began with the Visionary Youth Orchestra, a volunteer orchestra or by Arts for Arts. Unfortunately, they started too early for me, but from what I was told, it was quite inspiring. Under the guidance of Jeff Lederer (woodwinds) and Jessica Jones (tenor saxop…
