Chris Kelsey
Chris’s Contributions
December 2007 • Albums
For
The Claudia Quintet
John Hollenbeck’s compositions draw upon various types of vernacular and art music, not the least pronounced of which is Reichian minimalism. Good for Hollenbeck. Minimalism shares with certain forms of jazz an obsession with groove-based repetition; too...
December 2007 • Albums
Spark!
Marty Ehrlich and Myra Melford
Saxophonist Ehrlich and pianist Melford are two of the more refined musicians to have come out of the Downtown New York scene of the ’80s and ’90s. In contrast to many of their less-gifted cohorts of that era—for whom irony was a first language and porous...
December 2007 • Albums
Two Rivers
Amir Elsaffar
Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar blends the Iraqi maqam (“the music of his father’s ancestral past,” or so it says in the press notes) with jazz, creating some fresh, deep, intensely performed music. ElSaffar’s band (Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto sax;...
December 2007 • Albums
Hunter-Gatherers
The Rempis Percussion Quartet
There are two ways of looking at this recording. On the one hand, it’s great to hear Dave Rempis develop as a saxophonist. At first he appeared to be a promising player, although after his work with the Vandermark Five, that promise dissipated somewhat...
December 2007 • Albums
Basement Research: Live in Münster
Gebhard Ullmann
For many years now, the German multi-reedist Gebhard Ullmann has kept fires burning on both sides of the Atlantic, employing some of the finest European and American jazz artists to realize his demanding and stylistically varied music. With Live in Münster...
December 2007 • Albums
Rob Wagner Trio
Rob Wagner/Hamid Drake/Nobu Ozaki
Multi-instrumentalist Rob Wagner has lived in New Orleans for 15 years, performing and recording in varying styles, from funk to klezmer to the modal/free jazz he presents here. He’s joined by bassist Nobu Ozaki and drummer Hamid Drake. Wagner seems to take...
November 2007 • Albums
Early and Late
Steve Lacy-Roswell Rudd Quartet
Any and all documentation of the Lacy/Rudd partnership is valuable, but listening to this two-CD set is a particularly moving experience, since it captures the two men near the beginning and the end of their time making music together. The album includes...
November 2007 • Albums
Corn Meal Dance
William Parker/Raining On The Moon
William Parker’s Raining on the Moon sextet features the talents of vocalist Leena Conquest, alto saxophonist Rob Brown, trumpeter Lewis “Flip” Barnes, pianist Eri Yamamoto and drummer Hamid Drake. Brown and Barnes shine in their solos and ensemble work...
October 2007 • Albums
Anything Else
Rosario Giuliani Quintet
Rosario Giuliani proves himself here as a hard-swinging, technically adept post-bop alto and soprano saxophonist. His music is less a personal concept than it is a composite of modern jazz sax and compositional styles—the requisite “old master” touches seem...
July/August 2007 • Albums
Summer Snow, Volume 2
William Parker & Hamid Drake
A duo album by a bassist and drummer might not seem like a good idea, unless you consider that William Parker and Hamid Drake aren’t just a bassist and a drummer—they’re master improvisers with a jazz bias, prone to styles that encompass an assortment of...
June 2007 • Albums
Renunciation
David S. Ware Quartet
Renunciation documents this now-defunct quartet’s “farewell performance,” at the 2006 Vision Festival in New York City. As is usual with this group, the most satisfying moments occur when Ware plays to his sidemen’s strengths. “Renunciation Suite II,” for...
June 2007 • Overdue Ovation
Frank Foster: Jumpin’ at 78
Jazz musicians who worked with Thelonious Monk, comic Jerry Lewis and society bandleader Peter Duchin would surely form a select club. So select, in fact, that Frank Foster might be its only member. “I’ve played with just about everyone,” the 78-year-old...
June 2007 • Gearhead
Vandoren V16 Sax Mouthpieces
You don’t have to be much of a detective to discern the meaning in Vandoren’s statement that its V16 Series sax mouthpiece “captures the famous jazz saxophone sounds of the ’50s and ’60s.” The V16 is obviously modeled after the classic Meyer of that era—what...
June 2007 • Saxophonics
Poetica
Anat Cohen
On Poetica, multi-reedist Anat Cohen convenes a group of fine young New York jazz players that includes, among others, pianist Jason Lindner and bassist Omer Avital. Cohen herself concentrates solely on clarinet. The album’s jazz content is, however, overshadowed...
June 2007 • Saxophonics
Veneration: Live at Smoke
Wayne Escoffery
Wayne Escoffery is a thirtysomething Coltrane- and Brecker-derived tenor player possessed of heavy-duty chops and musicality, with a fondness for modern jazz as it existed around the time of his birth. Joined here by vibist Joe Locke, bassist Hans Glawischnig...
June 2007 • Saxophonics
Keep on Rollin': A Tribute to Sonny Rollins
Denis Gabel
A Sonny Rollins tribute if there ever was one, Keep On Rollin’ has a pairing of young (Jasper Blom) and younger (Denis Gäbel) tenor saxophonists playing tunes from two of the master’s most famous late-’50s albums: Freedom Suite and Way Out West. You’d be...
E-mail
Share
RSS
Report