Jazz Articles
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Shabaka Hutchings At Barbican Hall
by Chris May
Shabaka Hutchings Barbican HallPerceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its GraceLondon May 9, 2024 Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes ... London's Shabaka Hutchings has become best known for his incendiary open-the-gates work on tenor saxophone with Sons Of Kemet, The Comet Is Coming and the South African-based Shabaka & The Ancestors. But his April 2024 album, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace (Impulse!), performed for the first time at the Barbican, marks the start of a ...
read moreRon Rieder: Latin Jazz Sessions
by Jack Bowers
Even while pursuing a long and successful career in the physical sciences, Bostonian Ron Rieder never abandoned his life-long love for jazz, especially the tantalizing melodies and lively rhythms of Latin America, composing music at every opportunity before returning to writing full-time and at long last recording his debut album, Latin Jazz Sessions It was worth the wait. Rieder's colorful tunes ensnare the ears from the outset and never let go, while his septet plays Latin jazz about ...
read moreJunius Paul: Asé
by Scott Lichtman
Bass lovers unite! For those who adore the dexterity, the groove, the sheer plunk" of a crisply-recorded upright bass, check out Asé" by Junius Paul. The piece opens with an anthemic motif that quickly transforms into a beehive of motion. Paul continues this jaw-dropping flurry of sound until he shifts into a modal groove that welcomes drums and brass accompaniment. Asé" is off Ism, Paul's first full recording as bandleader. The acclaimed album demonstrates that free jazz can be catchy, ...
read moreMatt Lavelle, Jonathan Backstrom, Rob Mazurek & Helveticus
by Maurice Hogue
NYC multi-instrumentalist Matt Lavelle finally gets to see a dream fulfilled with the release of Crop Circles Suite Vol .1 by his 12 Houses Orchestra. Lavelle has been carefully crafting this very interesting album with its references to numerology and metaphysics for years. Finnish bassist Jonathan Backstrom has probably been carrying around his own dream: his debut as a leader, and his first release is exceptional. Other new recordings heard for the first time include Our Way by Helveticus, the ...
read moreShiver Meets Matthew Bourne: Shiver Meets Matthew Bourne Volume 2
by Glenn Astarita
In the enchanting realm of musical collaboration, Shiver Meets Matthew Bourne Volume 2 emerges as a tantalizing sequel to their inaugural rendezvous. This second installment in their creative escapade not only builds upon their initial fusion of jazz and electronic experimentation but also pushes the boundaries of sonic exploration with an audacious flair. Matthew Bourne, the maestro of keys, gracefully pirouettes between piano and Memory Moog, effortlessly blurring the lines between foreground and background. Each ensemble member, like ...
read moreNew Releases By Alliance, Judith Owen, Noel Preminger and Rob Garcia Present the Hildegard Project, Celebrating Shirley Horn & More
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast includes new releases from Jazz At The Ballroom, Alliance, Judith Owen and Kari van der Kloot plus Noah Preminger & Rob Garcia explore the music of Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th Century abbess and mystic, with birthday shoutouts to Shirley Horn, Connie Crothers, Andrea Brachfeld, Rebecca Martin, Tawanda and Liz Terrell, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music so they can continue to distract, ...
read moreChristopher Zuar Orchestra: Exuberance
by Katchie Cartwright
Exuberance is part of a long-form tonal conversation" between two award-winning artists in complementary fields, composer Christopher Zuar and animator Anne Beal. Zuar, a Long Island New Yorker, describes the work as a journey of personal growth," which began in 2017 when he and Beal met as fellows at the MacDowell Colony in the woods of New Hampshire. He explains that the album is a collaborative project that charts the last seven years of our lives." In Winter ...
read moreAndrea Wolper: Wanderlust
by Dan Bilawsky
Itinerant creatives manifest in both literal and figurative terms. Yes, they most clearly present in true formal fashion, traveling from place to place, sharing their art wherever they may roam. But their venturesome virtues extend to the interior, too. In fact, what's often of the greatest importance and interest is the roving surrounding and propelling their work--exploration of narrow paths, walks through obscured alleys and hideaways, and time spent in secret sanctums that offer peace and space to think in ...
read moreBrenda Earle Stokes: Motherhood
by Dan Bilawsky
Motherhood is a salient subject if ever there was one. Yet few jazz musicians ever touch on it in their work, never mind dedicating an entire record to the topic. The real or keenly felt need to keep up with the Joneses in a musical atmosphere that typically applauds and promotes standard bearers, hyper-masculine happenings, politically charged firebrands, and cutting-edge quests doesn't leave much room for an honest and open-hearted look at the scope of selflessness and self-discovery involved with ...
read moreDave Bass: Trio Nuevo
by Pierre Giroux
In a captivating showcase of musical virtuosity and creative synergy, pianist Dave Bass' latest album Trio Nuevo transcends the traditional confines of jazz by seamlessly weaving together a variety of genres from Bach to bebop and beyond. Accompanying Bass on this musical adventure are bassist Tyler Miles and drummer Steve Helfand who prove to be exemplary partners and imposingly proficient players. In this eleven-track outing, composed predominantly of original Bass compositions along with other numbers ...
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