Perry Tannenbaum
Perry’s Contributions
January/February 2009 Albums
Happy Together: Live at Birdland Volume 1
Ken Peplowski & Jesper Thilo
You might conclude that tenor, or clarinet, battles are brewing when producer Frank Nagel-Heyer brings Ken Peplowski and Jesper Thilo together, since both co-leaders double on the same two weapons. Peace prevails most of the time as Thilo cedes Peplowski...
January/February 2009 Albums
SFJazz Collective Live 2008
SFJazz Collective
The SFJAZZ Collective is an egalitarian wonder, equally concerned with where the music has been and where it’s going. Every year, the evolving octet of jazz all-stars concentrates on the compositions of an established pioneer—for 2008, it was Wayne Shorter...
January/February 2009 Albums
Jubilation
Warren Vaché-John Allred Quintet
Listen to Warren Vaché’s trumpet and John Allred’s trombone as together they dig into the lines of “Old Devil Moon” or “They Can’t Take That Away from Me.” The co-leaders sound like they share the same breath, even the same pulse. Problem is, when they reach...
December 2008 Albums
The Othello Syndrome
Uri Caine Ensemble
A 25-foot statue of Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi that stands at West 73rd Street and Broadway becomes the spiritual nexus of this fascinating new Uri Caine project. Taking his cue from Verdi’s Otello, the figure who faces eastward at the base of...
December 2008 Albums
What the World Needs Now
Five Play
Two familiar anthems are the bookends here, the album’s 1965 title tune opening the set and Helen Reddy’s huge 1972 hit, “I Am Woman,” serving as the chaser. The best of what the all-female quintet delivers, whether you’re listening for tight arrangements...
December 2008 Albums
Once Upon a Melody
Javon Jackson
Relaxed confidence oozes out of Javon Jackson as he launches into his solo on the opening track, “One by One,” showcasing the funkier compositional side of Wayne Shorter. The same self-assured swagger is evident in the ensuing mid-tempo swinger, “Will You...
December 2008 Albums
Force of Four
Joe Locke
When Joe Locke and pianist Robert Rodriguez slow the tempo, we get a tantalizing hint of what Gary Burton and Chick Corea might have sounded like if their famed duo sessions had been opened up to include bass and drums—and the notion that it wouldn’t have...
December 2008 Albums
The Mancini Project
Ted Nash
If you ever wondered what the John Coltrane Quartet of the Impulse! years might have sounded like on the compositions of Henry Mancini—or your face is contorted in horror at the thought—this new release offers more than a couple of hints. It’s on tenor rather...
December 2008 Albums
The Turning Gate
New Jazz Composers Octet
Like all the truly great jazz bands of the past, the New Jazz Composers Octet can turn on a dime from the sound of a roaring big band, breathtaking in its super-train precision, to a profusion of satisfying smaller units. The chemistry here, in mellower...
06/25/08 Concerts
Spoleto Festival USA
Alongside opera, theatre, dance and classical music, jazz has played an integral role in all 32 Spoleto Festivals since 1977, when Gian Carlo Menotti planted its New World offshoot in Charleston. The 17-day celebration has grown, in fact, to be the largest...
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