Aaron Steinberg
Aaron’s Contributions
May 2006 Albums
Remember: A Tribute to Wes Montgomery
Pat Martino
Wes Montgomery’s music fundamentally influenced Pat Martino not once but twice. Martino built on Montgomery’s style as a young guitarist and returned to Montgomery’s records to relearn the guitar after suffering a brain aneuryism in 1980. With a nod to symmetry...
December 2005 Albums
The 80th Birthday Concert
George Russell and the Living Time Orchestra
Sadly, George Russell did not celebrate his 80th birthday in America. Unable to get funding in the U.S. to stage these concerts, Russell took his music to Europe, which has long revered the composer and theorist. The 80th Birthday Concert is culled from...
November 2005 News
James Carter and Cyrus Chestnut: Hit the Pavement
The indie-rock explosion of the 1990s charmed a generation of college hipsters and even reached out to the mainstream, but it didn't inspire too many jazz musicians. Indie vets Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth may like to play with jazz musicians, but you don...
November 2005 Albums
Low Tide Digitals II
Luigi Archetti and Bo Wiget
The sober title may seem better suited to a book of art photography, but the graceful, electro-acoustic soundscapes that Italy's Luigi Archetti (guitar) and Switzerland's Bo Wiget (cello) craft on this CD earn the name. In fleeting moments, you can actually...
November 2005 Albums
Phonetics
Benoit Delbecq Unit
Pianist Benoit Delbecq claims a wide range of unusual influences, both musical and extramusical. One of the odder sources he has mentioned is Oulipo, the French-speaking literary movement that creates works using constrained writing techniques, and Delbecq...
November 2005 Albums
Winter Bird
John Lindberg
Bassist and composer John Lindberg had already recorded with this group on the forebodingly titled Ruminations Upon Ives and Gottschalk, but he enjoyed playing with them on tour so much he sent them back into the studio. The graceful Winter Birds opens with...
November 2005 Albums
Foremen
Don Peretz
Late on Foremen "A Theme" comes on like a blast of urban cacophony and ends just as abruptly. With this small slice of Ornette Coleman, Don Peretz's band seems to be saying, "Yeah, we can be tough if we wanna." Most of the time the drummer's quartet fronts...
November 2005 Albums
The Color of Memory
The Vandermark 5
Ken Vandermark hasn't been shy about documenting his projects-least of all his longstanding quintet, the Vandermark 5. Hardcore fans have surely snatched up the V5's recent 12-CD box, Alchemia (or at least thought about it). With this double-disc release...
October 2005 Albums
Longitude
Groundtruther
Drummer Bobby Previte and guitarist Charlie Hunter perform and record together as Groundtruther. Their ongoing collaboration has spawned a sophomore effort that, like its predecessor, Latitude, features a guest player-in this case, DJ Logic. They've also...
October 2005 Albums
Norrkoping
Gush
Gush is Mats Gustafsson (reeds), Sten Sandell (piano) and Raymond Strid (drums), a Scandinavian free-improvising trio that's been around since the late '80s. It's clear from this recording that they've learned a thing or two in their time together. On three...
October 2005 Albums
Overseas II
Eivind Opsvik
Norwegian bassist Eivind Opsvik and his Overseas band deliver a sequel to their 2003 debut. Opsvik gives steady support to a set that consists almost entirely of his warm, pop-informed music. On "Planned Future," for example, drummer Jeff Davis, Opsvik and...
October 2005 Albums
Senderos
Dino Saluzzi/Jon Christensen
Tomasz Stanko put Dino Saluzzi and Jon Christensen in his band for his 2000 CD From the Green Hill, so their association isn't out of left field. But the decision to perform as a duo-bandoneon, percussion and that's it-is a strange one. Called in to add...
September 2005 Albums
Way Back When
John Surman
“What you are hearing accurately reflects the sound of the ’60s.” That’s saxophonist John Surman on the long-lost jam session tapes just released as Way Back When. Seems he’s talking about the recording quality—neither he nor Cuneiform opted to remaster...
July/August 2005 Albums
Special Encounter
Enrico Pieranunzi, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian
Liner note author Ira Gitler writes that this was originally conceived as a ballad session. In its slightly more varied final form, Special Encounter maintains that twilight mood. Italian pianist Pieranunzi splits song credits with his bassist, Charlie Haden...
July/August 2005 Albums
New Folk, New Blues
Scott Rosenberg/Jim Baker/Anton Hatwich/Tim Daisy
The photo on New Folk, New Blues' front cover shows a scene of industrial disaster. In the center of an amusement park, an electrical tower seems to have broken at the base and hangs at a perilously low angle. It's an apt image for a band that mixes fun...
July/August 2005 Albums
One Block from Planet Earth
Mick Rossi
Recorded live at the Knitting Factory in 2002, this is the sort of sharp, manic session that a few years ago would have turned up on the the club's label, where pianist Mick Rossi's previous quintet recording, They Have a Word for Everything, found a home...
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