Jazz & Blues Music Reviews (Free subscription) | 10/28/2009
I am known at work for (among other things) having a esoteric taste in music. Sharing an office with four other people in close proximity, I carve out my own little niche in the maelstrom by playing music as much as possible. So when a colleague whose musical interests extend as far as Coldplay came in, handed me a list and asked "Do you have any of these CD's?" I was taken aback, to say...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 10/23/2009
Mats Gustafsson and the word "accessible" are rarely found in the same sentence. For over two decades, this Swedish reed player has been mining the extreme end of free improvisation and cued composition with like-minded players including {{Peter Brotzmann = 5331}}, {{Ken Vandermark = 11015}}, and The Thing, his ongoing collective with bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and drummer {{Paal Nilssen-Love...
Destination: Out (Free subscription) | 10/14/2009
MONOCEROS 2 MONOCEROS 4 Evan Parker Monoceros Incus : 1978 EP, soprano sax. In the pantheon of saxophone colossi, there is a special place reserved for Evan Parker. Taking late Coltrane as his jumping off point, Parker has expanded the language of the saxophone as much as anyone over the past three decades. A central figure in the European Free Improv scene alonside [...]
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 10/07/2009
Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader Ken Vandermark is widely known for paying homage to artists of various disciplines, regularly including dedications in his song titles to those who have inspired him. On 35mm, the studio debut of his newest ensemble, The Frame Quartet, Vandermark reveals his longstanding debt to cinema, not only in name, but in approach...
Consequence of Sound (Free subscription) | 10/05/2009
It's definitely a name to take note of.
Cobwebs and /Strange (Free subscription) | 10/02/2009
Most of the guys involved here (Peter Brötzmann specifically) as date leaders don't really do it for me. It's mostly nonsense - as is the clip below. For whatever reason on Last Exit's first release, the live set Köln, the ensemble is able to hit a groove every once in a while...The tracks are still noisome and all, but there're some well placed breaks in the action. BLOGLOAD: Köln
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 09/19/2009
Han Bennink Trio Parken Ilk Music 2009 One of the most iconic players from the European free-music scene, Han Bennink's 50 plus year career has seen the Dutch master drummer traverse through a multitude of musical settings. Bennink's journey has embraced revolutionary, avant-jazz recordings such as saxophonist {{Peter Brotzmann = 5331}}'s ferocious Machine Gun (FMP, 1968) and accompanying reed player...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 09/09/2009
Chicago drummer and composer {{Frank Rosaly = 1238}} is coming to St. Louis to perform on Thursday, October 1 at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center.Rosaly, who is touring to promote his forthcoming LP Milkwork, is a a frequent participant in Chicago's diverse improvised music scene, performing with g...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 09/05/2009
Darren Johnston The Edge of the Forest Clean Feed 2009 Luis Lopes/Adam Lane/Igal Foni What Is When Clean Feed 2009 Daniel Levin Quartet Live at Roulette Clean Feed 2009 Avram Fefer Ritual Clean Feed 2009 Since its 2001 beginning in Lisbon, Portugal, Clean Feed Records has amassed a mind-numbingly large catalogue, with nearly 150 releases to their credit. Though initially the label skewed towards Portuguese...
Stereogum (Free subscription) | 08/31/2009
Ancestors' second full-length Of Sound Mind isn't out until October, but the Los Angeles quintet's packed these eight new songs with enough layers of progressive doom expansiveness that you should start listening now. The group name checks Neurosis, King Crimson, Eric Dolphy, Miles Davis, and Peter Brotzmann, which is all fairly lofty, but Of Sound , a triumphant prog-metal ride, breaks the one-hour...
Undercover Black Man (Free subscription) | 08/15/2009
Jazz drummer Rashied Ali , who replaced Elvin Jones in Coltrane’s band, died on Wednesday. He was 74. The New York Times obituary is here . After his legendary free-jazz recordings with Trane, Rashied Ali collaborated with other outstanding avant-gardists such as Frank Lowe, Arthur Blythe, Joe McPhee, Peter Brötzmann, William Parker and James “Blood” Ulmer. Click here to hear...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 08/06/2009
Best known for his decade-plus with the {{Branford Marsalis = 9095}} Quartet, bassist Eric Revis has also thrived in trio settings with Avram Fefer, {{Peter Brotzmann = 5331}} and most recently {{Kurt Rosenwinkel = 3921}}, playing everything from pure straight-ahead to absolutely free. He debuted as a leader in 2004 with Tales of the Stuttering Mime (11:11), and he imbues his sophomore release with...
Lerterland (Free subscription) | 08/04/2009
This review appears in the August 2009 issue of All About Jazz-New York . --- Eric Revis Laughter’s Necklace of Tears (11:11) David R. Adler Best known for his decade-plus with the Branford Marsalis Quartet, bassist Eric Revis has also thrived in trio settings with Avram Fefer, Peter Brötzmann and most recently Kurt Rosenwinkel, playing everything from pure straightahead to absolutely free....
Lexicon Devil (Free subscription) | 08/02/2009
Taking a sabbatical. Juggling work/home life is kinda exhausting right now. No time, no energy for this blog. Some folks will be happy w/ that announcement, but it's not a permanent shift: I'm hangin' around this music ghetto 'til the wheels fall off. I'm likely the last guy on earth to realise this, but the two albums Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald recorded together in the late '50s are pure...
All About Jazz (Free subscription) | 07/19/2009
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 Planet Dream / Fred Anderson Trio / Michelle Rosewoman and Quintessence / Whit Dickey/Eri Yamamoto/Daniel Carter / Peter Brotzmann's Full Blast Trio 14th Annual Vision Festival Abrons Arts Center New York City June 14, 2009 Chapter Index Planet Dream Fred Anderson Trio Michelle Rosewoman and Quintessence Whit Dickey/Eri Yamamoto/Daniel Carter Peter...
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