Tag: Free Jazz Blog
Sitting at a bar stool in a crammed West Village club during Winter Jazz Fest this year, I knew I had a dilemma on my hands after only the first few minutes of Myra Melford’s appearance with her group Snowy Egret. The trouble, I reckoned, would be that I would want to write about the group’s upcoming release for the Free Jazz Blog, and while w…
The music of Boston’s Leap of Faith is both easy and difficult to describe. I suppose I could string together some words like ‘cathartic’, ‘intriguing’, ‘harrowing’ and phrases like ‘nightmarishly enthralling’ and ‘unexpectedly beautiful’ and call it a day, after all, Leap of Faith is a fascinating and utterly unique group and those words …
Soft Machine – Switzerland 1974 (Cuneiform, 2015) ****
I feel I owe a good deal of thanks to Soft Machine – it was many years ago now that Thirdblew my mind and led me circuitously to the tangentially relatedEl Skid,which just led me deeper and deeper. My collection is now well stocked with Soft Machine, various Soft Heap and Head projects, …
Though this isn’t Evan Parker’s album- which is obvious from the title – his work on it adds a thoroughly new dimension to the already excellent trio of pianist John Escreet, drummer Tyshawn Sorey and bassist John Hebert.
The opening bars of Part I, finds Escreet delivering a rousing and percussive introduction that is wonderfully bolster…
The Broken Trap Ensemble didn’t capture me right away. The first couple times, I just did not give it the concentrated listening it deserved. Though their music does not challenge the listener with harsh tones or calamitous cacophony, it requires holding onto snippets of ideas and fragmented motifs, which can be difficult to grab onto and follo…
The Sunshine Don’t Mind My Singingby guitarist Dom Minasi and woodwind player Blaise Siwula is an effortless conversation between musicians who have their positions and points of view and enjoy making them. A confidence exudes from their playing and a camaraderie really comes through in their interactions, all in all, it adds up to a deligh…
The opening bars of Lucidity reminded me of something. The refined relaxed piano and unison melody on the trumpet and sax invoked a sound that was at once classic and unique. From what I readhere,structure, sound, and attitude referencing classic post-bop / free-jazz, mixed with free passages and virtuosic playing is the winning formula that…
I’m glad I had the opportunity to write about Tim Daisy and Jason Stein’s duo album Alive at the Woodland Book Center. I have an unfettered bias to all things bass clarinet and have enjoyed Stein’s woodwind work in his other recordings includingThe Story this Time.Daisy’s discography is excellent as well, as the reviewers from this blog will ea…
The blog has covered some of the music coming from a somewhat intertwined scene in Sweden that includes the groupsGlas,HeadJive,Baptet, and some of the solo material from guitarist Gunnar Backman. GuitCussion is another permutation, in which we find Backman joined by second guitarist Stefan Thorpenberg and drummers Henrik Wartel and Per Ander S…
ByPaul Acquaro
Brooklyn based drummer Andrew Drury is a phenomenon to watch perform as his playing often transforms the instrument itself. His kit will be disassembled during a show as unorthodox methods and unexpected equipment, such as violin bows and actually blowing into the instrument, are used to play the drums. It is little surprise then to…
This one snuck in the back door, under the radar, if it wasn’t for a mention on Facebook, I wouldn’t have known this gorgeous recording of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and bassist Bill Laswell existed. The Stone is recording of a live date at the Stone in NYC during Bill Laswell’s week long residency in date. Another date with Milford Graves is a…
Kali Z Fasteau is pianist, flutist, cellist, vocalistwho has traveled extensively, and lived abroad, and has an impressive vita that includes work free jazz luminaries likeArchie Shepp, Oliver Lake, Joe McPhee, Hamid Drake and Noah Howardjust to name a random few. This I’mgleaning from her website. Yes, as you can tell, I’m newto her mus…
