Tag: Free Jazz Blog
We were looking through some recent releases and noticed that members of the band Cortexhave been pretty busy lately. Following Wednesday’sLive in New YorkandThursday’sFriends and Neighbors, we thought we’d end this rather trying week with three albums loosely and lightly connected through the vortex of Cortex ….
Damana (Dag Magnus Narvesen O…
Earlier this fall, in what seems like another lifetime now, I had the opportunity to see Norway’s Friends and Neighbors in concert. It was a beautiful Saturday night in New York City, on the night before a big storm was supposed to hit, and myself and a small appreciative audience were essentially treated to a private show.
Friends and Neig…
Towards the end of his life, saxophonist David S. Ware reunited with pianist Cooper-Moore for a set of brilliant recordings with a quartet called Planetary Unknown, (two recordings released on AUM Fidelity in 2011 and 2012). Yesterday, Martin reviewed AUM’s re-release of Ware’s first recording, Apogee(1977), that also featured Cooper-Moore. I…
I was hooked by Yoni Kretzmer’s new quintet from the start. First hearing the group in concert an Arts for Arts event last April, then at a show in the tight subterranean headquarters of the DowntownMusicGallery, and finally on their debut recording, Five, to my ears, is the clearest example of saxophonist and OutNow label head Kretzmer’s mus…
Vijar Iyer, Stephan Crump, and Tyshawn Sorey at Miller Theater, Columbia University
It’s probably best to be forthright about this: while I have read all of the reviews of pianist Vijay Iyer’s releases on the Free Jazz Blog, and enjoyed the profile on him in the New Yorker before his appearances at the opening of the Met Breuer, aside from th…
Wrapping up solo week (and yes, you can expect a Duo week coming soon) we have two folks known to the blog: Catherine Sikora andPaulo Chagas.
Catherine Sikora – Jersey (Relative Pitch, 2016) ****
Saxophonist Catherine Sikora spent some time living in the Garden Stateand knows about the unbridled joy of waking up to a New Jersey sunrise and…
Florida-based drummer, composer, Buddhist, and martial artist, Abbey Rader earned his avant-garde creds coming through the late loft scene in New York City, then through an extensive tenure playing and teaching in Europe, and back in the US since ’89, playing and touring with musicians including David Liebman, Frank Lowe, and Billy Bang. He recen…
It has all the makings of biopic: Peter Kuhn, a promising young musician in the late 1970s living in New York City and taking part in the vibrant downtown loft scene – friends and collaborators with Billy Bang, Lester Bowie, Frank Lowe, William Parker and many others – plunges into the depths of addiction…
“The loft I had on Prince Street was …
Craig Taborn and Kris Davis @ Roulette
Pianists Kris Davis and Craig Taborn’s first night of a two-week tour in support of Davis’ new release Duopoly (review coming soon) at Brooklyn’s lovely Roulette was preempted by a critical piano tuning. Against the austere stage backdrop, the two concert grand Steinway’s on the theater’s stage …
Touch My Beloved’s Thoughtis an audacious undertaking that draws inspiration from the drama, passion, and presentation of Charles Mingus’ 1963 recording Black Saint and Sinner Lady. Chicago based saxophonist Greg Ward typically leans toward edgy modern jazz, with nods towards classic hard bop and free jazz, but on Touch My Beloved’s Thoug…
This year, Chicago-based saxophonist Dave Rempis began a download-only series on his Aerophonic label. While I’m passionately dedicated to the physical medium, the digital releases of side projects, live shows, and the like, is not something I’m complaining about!
Rempis/Johnson/Ochs – Neutral Nation (Aerophonic, 2016) ****
In Spring 2015,…
Ehran Elisha – Kindred Spirit: Quintets (Out Now, 2016) ****
NYC based drummer and composer Ehran Elisha’s double album Kindred Spirit: Quintetsis a rich trove of music hewn from close listening and deep personal/musical connections.
The first disc, Kindred Soul features the late Roy Campbell (1952-2014) on trumpet, and the second disc, t…
