Tag: Free Jazz Blog
Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz’s interpretations of John Zorn’s second Masada book is a raucous one that is full of energy and urgency. In fact, the Tzadic website describes it well as the “most primal and tribal installments in the Book of Angels series”
This power quartet of sorts is Blumenkranz on the gimbri – a bass-like instrument from Morocco,…
By Martin Schray
Once upon a time there was one of these hip clubs in Brooklyn. Some in-crowd people were lolling on expensive shabby lounge sofas, some of them were enjoying the retro ambience after a hard day in an advertising agency sipping at their over-priced beers. A local DJ played discreet house and ambient music so that the crowd was no…
Steve Lacy’s music seems to be cropping up often in the Free Jazz Blog, from the group Ideal Bread (here and here) to a set of recent Lacy issues and reissues on Emanem and Clean Feed, and now The Whammies.
The Whammies’ debut album, Plays the Music of Steve Lacy, is a captivating interpretation of the saxophonist’s music. During the course o…
I thoroughly enjoy orchestral music, big bands, symphonic adventures and daring arrangements, but I sometimes wonder, how do you pull offbalancingwriting and arranging with the spontaneity and subtle interactions found in smaller ensembles?
To present an entirely non-scientific and inconclusive answer, I offer two case studies, the 30 piece rat…
Consider me a fan of Ross Hammond’s earthy tone and free but ‘composed’ approach. I first heard the Californian guitarist when I had a chance to review the free-jazz-rockAdored this past winter. This new release, which is a document of a recent but now dormant project, The Revival Trio finds Hammond exploring African music, but still well withi…
Saxophonist, composer, band leader and figure on improvisation scene in western Canada, Coat Cooke is a player with a command of a wide range of styles and approaches. He recently released two very different and intriguing duo albums, one paired up with percussionist Joe Poole and the other with guitarist Rainier Weins.
Conversations w/ Joe …
Alexander von Schlippenbach – Plays Monk Piano Solo (Intakt, 2012) ****½
Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach’sPlays Monkbegins with pianist’s own tune ‘Reverance’. The song fits wonderfully into the Thelonious Monk oeuvre in that it feels, well, reverent. But what does reverence with Monk mean? His playfully angular compositions are so open …
I find myself returning again and again to Elliot Sharp’s Trio recording Aggregat. Sharp is hit or miss for me, but I’ve enjoyed cherry picked albums like Monk/Sharpe and his duo recording with Scott Fields. Aggregat however, turned my ears on end.
Sharp, usually an unusually inventive guitarist is heard here on both guitar and saxophone….
There is almost too much to write about here. From the over the top send-up cover to the smorgasborg of styles and sounds, saxophonist Jon Irabagon’s group Outright! has unleashed a musical tour de force on Unhinged.
A follow up to 2008’s eponymous Outright!, the only carryover is Irabagon himself. Replacing the large cast on that album is…
A few months back I wrote a review about Nate Wooley’s album The Almond. It was interesting recording in which there was one note, and slight variations, stretched across 75 minutes. This one note was layered and changed slightly over time, but essentially it was one note.
This new album from Jon Irabagon, Mike Pride, and Mick Barr is exactly …
Trumpeter Ben Holmes’ Anvil of The Lord kicks off with the song ‘A Doodle for Rhapsody’. It builds slowly while the intertwining lines shared between the trombone and trumpet mix alluringly. The longing melody is of mysterious origin and inspiration.
Thus it makes sense that the elusive mixture of styles and sounds is first foremost in Hol…
The mythology of the blind soothsayer Tiresias, expressed in numerical relationships, undergirds the compositions in Jason Robinson’s Tiresian Symmetry. However, I must admit I’ve paid less attention to this aspect than the music, which is delightfully rife with clever melodic passages, rich harmonies, vibrant rhythms and fantastic playing.
‘S…
