Tag: Free Jazz Blog
Our tribute to Cecil Taylor, who passed away on April 5th, through his discography continues.
On Cecil Taylor Segments II (Orchestra of Two Continents)—Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants) (Soul Note, 1985)
Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)
is one of the central moments in my education in free jazz and
improvised music. I was born in E…
Guitarist Nick Millevoi has for some reason dropped his name off his most recent release – the last time we heard the group in 2016, the group was named after himself and title was Desertion, now the group is ‘Desertion Trio’ but with a prominent call out to band member Jamie Saft. So, what’s in a name? I don’t really know, but I can say what’s…
Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach’s position in jazz is well secured. He was a founding/integral part of the development of the European avant-garde, leader of the highly regarded and long standing Schlippenbach Trio with Evan Parker and Paul Lovens/Paul Lytton, leader of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a dedicated interpreter of the music o…
Last year, the Haus der Kunst in Munich presented FMP: The Living Music, an exhibition detailing the work of the renowned German record label from its establishment in the late 1960’s to its end in 2010. The imposing three room floor of the building was filled with posters, videos, display cases of letters, record covers, the famous Cecil Ta…
It’s difficult for me to imagine ‘Jazz’ without Charlie Parker. He, along with the likes of Monk, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, etc.re-fashioned jazz with the advanced harmonics, intricate melodies, and asymmetrical syncopation that is typically associated with the genre today. Inventing or discovering how extended scales could be…
I’m a little late to break this news, but Jose Lencastre’s Fragment of Always is a seriously good listen. The mid-2017 release captures a series of inspired improvisations ranging from quietly sublime to eruptively ecstatic. With half of the RED trio along, Hernani Faustino on bass and Rodrigo Pinheiro on piano, and Lancastre’s brother João …
Last week at the Jazz Gallery in Midtown Manhattan, Reverso served up an aural feast to a receptive crowd. The gallery space, located on the top level of an older compact five story building along Broadway at 27th street, may have been considered a loft back in the day, and still retains some rustic industrial charm, like the elevator whe…
A few years back Pennsylvania based pianist Ron Stabinsky joined the Pennsylvania-philic Mostly Other People Do the Killing. Around the same time, long term member trumpeter Peter Evans left and the group began featuring expanded line-ups (though not all recorded) with musicians like guitarist Brandon Seabrook, trombonist David Taylor, slide tr…
Berlin based pianist Madga Mayas takes the concept of prepared piano seriously. I have seen her in concert a few times and I cannot recall her sitting at the keyboard and playing, rather there have been implements and attachments applied to it and she is pulling sound from them. Jim Denley, whom I have not seen play, is an Australia based sax…
This year’s 14th annual Winter Jazzfest – now a sprawling eight day affair featuring over 600 musicians – was themed “Social Justice Engagement,” and indeed, there was a sense of urgency in the air. The message was carried by the musicians in projects like Marc Ribot’s Songs of Resistance, captured in talks like “The Long March” with Archie …
Part two of my guilty pleasure. There just may be a third on the way too, but not before I get to a few other items on my list.
Ross Hammond – Mason Lawn (Prescott, 2016) ****½
Typically when I am listening to an album for review, I am on the way somewhere, maybe to work, maybe to a concert, on a train, in a car, on the go, in the busy thr…
Oh, I’ve been taken to task for my Guitar Weeks. They say, “why single out the guitar? Why not have sax weeks? Why not a euphonium fortnight?” Well, I have no excuse except that I love the instrument and have a bunch of albums with the guitar at the center that I’d like to share with you…
Miles Okazaki – Trickster (PI Recordings, 2017) *…
