Lloyd Sachs
Lloyd’s Contributions
09/16/12 Albums
Everything Is Alive
Hank Roberts
It’s no slap at Bill Frisell to say you can miss one of his albums now and then without any real harm, so entrenched is the guitarist’s rootsy, texture-minded sound. But playing by someone else’s house rules, he can reveal fresh qualities in his twang and...
09/10/12 Albums
Three Things of Beauty
Bruce Barth
Pianist Bruce Barth and vibraphonist Steve Nelson, who have teamed up in various situations over the years, may never have clicked more winningly than they do on Three Things of Beauty , a quartet date that is Barth’s first non-duo or non-trio album in more...
08/09/12 Albums
Clean on the Corner
Mike Reed's People, Places & Things
The fourth album by Chicago drummer Mike Reed’s terrific People, Places & Things quartet departs the thematic framing of the first three, which celebrated postbop masters of the late ’50s, with a special focus on the Windy City. But while it’s a looser collection...
07/28/12 Albums
Down Here Below
Ran Blake & Christine Correa
Few contemporary singers are better suited to an Abbey Lincoln tribute than Christine Correa, who is equally at home in the classic jazz singer’s mode Lincoln started out in and whose art-song approach closely captures the pointed song-speak of Lincoln’s...
07/11/12 Albums
Wisteria
Steve Kuhn Trio
Pianist Steve Kuhn’s association with bassist Steve Swallow, with whom he reunites on Wisteria , goes back to the mid-’60s. That’s when they played together in Art Farmer’s band and then in Kuhn’s trio. And as long as we’re talking history, can we point...
07/09/12 Albums
Ad Lucem
Anders Jormin
With its utterly distinctive chamber sound, Anders Jormin’s Ad Lucem is a certain winner this year in the Latin jazz category—no, not the Latin jazz played by Eddie Palmieri, but the considerably rarer kind featuring lyrics in the language of Caesar. The...
06/24/12 Albums
Homage
Marcus Printup
Marcus Printup goes the tribute album route on Homage , saluting 11 trumpet kings who have influenced and inspired him. It’s the kind of project that must be hard to resist for young veterans like him who have had the time to absorb those influences and...
06/19/12 Albums
New Blues
Aki Takase
Few contemporary pianists embrace stride, swing and trad jazz with the creative spark of Aki Takase, who unerringly finds common ground between rambunctious traditionalism and freewheeling modernism. Gathering a group of her longtime regulars on New Blues...
06/13/12 Albums
Exception to the Rule
John Escreet
John Escreet’s partnership with the exceptional alto saxophonist David Binney has certainly been one of the keys to the young pianist’s success. Equally important, though, has been his choice of drummers. Since moving to New York from his native England...
05/11/12 Albums
Not So Fast
The Spokes
The instant upside of a clarinet-trombone-soprano saxophone trio is that it’s such an unusual grouping a fresh sound is pretty much guaranteed. But newness wears off quickly, leaving the players the challenge of making musical sense of the format. As soprano...
05/09/12 Albums
Bending Bridges
Mary Halvorson Quintet
One of the year’s most eagerly anticipated albums, the Mary Halvorson Quintet’s Bending Bridges has its work cut out for it in topping the band’s 2010 poll favorite, Saturn Sings . But the new recording, which benefits from the band’s first serious stretch...
04/20/12 Albums
A Family Affair
Ira Sullivan & Stu Katz
Ira Sullivan hasn’t lived in Chicago since 1963, when he moved to Florida to bask in the warmer climes, teach and perform with/mentor young players in the Miami area. But he is still regarded as a hometown hero in the Windy City, where he emerged as one...
03/28/12 Albums
Aeriol Piano
Kris Davis
In what was an exceptional year for solo piano albums, Kris Davis’ Aeriol Piano and Craig Taborn’s Avenging Angel were especially striking, the work of artists using the format not as a stylistic retreat, but as a way to boldly extend and heighten their...
02/27/12 Albums
Apparent Distance
Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet
Distance is certainly an active concept for this fascinating album, which spends much of its time keeping its six excellent contributors in separate corners, bringing them into the mix one or two at a time to fill in the spaces between solo passages. Well...
02/19/12 Albums
Novela
Tony Malaby
Novela is an ideal title for an album with so much narrative appeal. All sorts of stories are told through the music on this unusual retrospective, which consists of songs written by saxophonist Tony Malaby for trios and quartets over the past decade and...
02/04/12 Albums
Tribe
Enrico Rava Quintet
Tribe is another lovely, atmospheric ECM album by Enrico Rava, who has enjoyed a strong comeback since returning to the label in 2003 after a long absence. Once again, the trumpeter draws us with consummate control into his comfort zone of slow, languid...
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