Steve Greenlee
Steve’s Contributions
03/10/10 Albums
Bifröst
John Moulder
Guitarist John Moulder’s new album belongs on ECM. It has the distant, icy sound of a Jan Garbarek record, and it builds its layers like one of Terje Rypdal’s. Bifröst is a vast, expansive piece of work—a landscape of wide-open spaces and big skies with...
March 2010 Albums
Place To Be
Hiromi
If you’ve seen Hiromi Uehara in concert, you’ve been waiting for this moment—her first solo album. Hiromi, as she’s known, has released five previous albums under her own name, but on each of them she’s been backed by a modern-fusion group—electric guitar...
May 2009 Albums
Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street
Jon Hassell
Good news: Jon Hassell has found the cure for insomnia, and he calls it Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street. To be fair, Hassell is a highly regarded trumpeter, composer and bandleader. His music is cinematic and ethereal. Hassell...
May 2009 Albums
Warblepeck
Tony Malaby Cello Trio
It’s not difficult to discern why Tony Malaby’s new album is called Warblepeck. Bird sounds are clearly referenced throughout, approximated less by Malaby’s tenor and soprano saxophones and more by the cello and electronic manipulation of Fred Lonberg-Holm...
May 2009 Albums
Tarbaby
Tarbaby
Warning: This album is a tease! With just 32 minutes of music, the self-titled album from Tarbaby, a sort of all-star band of jazz up-and-comers, leaves you wanting more—much more. That must be the point, for Tarbaby makes every second count. Here are five...
April 2009 Albums
Live at the Loft
Lotte Anker/Craig Taborn/Gerald Cleaver
The Beatles’ “Please Please Me” ran just two minutes and three seconds because that’s all John, Paul, George and Ringo needed to say what they had to say. This is the same reason “Magic Carpet,” from saxophonist Lotte Anker, pianist Craig Taborn and drummer...
April 2009 Albums
Tattoos and Mushrooms
Steven Bernstein, Marcus Rojas, Kresten Osgood
Unusual, yes, but also unformed
April 2009 Albums
Ancients Speak
Melvin Gibbs’ Elevated Entity
Attempts to bring rap into the jazz fold often result in frustration. The efforts can easily feel contrived, and they wind up disappointing both jazz fans and hip-hop fans. But when Chason Walker starts rapping the words to “Ancients Speak,” you think, Yes...
March 2009 Albums
Making Love to the Dark Ages
Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
With a name like Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, Greg Tate’s latest project conjures up everything from funk, jazz and rock to the avant-garde world of Sun Ra and the hard-hitting hip-hop of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Yet when...
March 2009 Albums
NYC
Kieran Hebden/Steve Reid
Droning white noise, electronic sounds, blips and whirs and scrapes, long passages and even songs built entirely on a single chord—this is the stuff of NYC, the fourth album by the duo of Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid. Reid plays the drums, and Hebden manipulates...
March 2009 Albums
The Dance Project
Cecil Taylor/William Parker/Masashi Harada
Why did it take 18 years to release this album? One could hazard a guess. First, the context: Pianist Cecil Taylor, bassist William Parker and percussionist Masashi Harada recorded these tracks in Berlin in July 1990, and only now do they appear on CD. Though...
March 2009 Albums
Love Is Real
Ulf Wakenius
Love Is Real was not intended as a memorial to Esbjörn Svensson—the disc was recorded in 2007—but it takes on added poignancy since the brilliant Swedish pianist died in a diving accident this past June. As it happens, the first album celebrating his music...
March 2009 Albums
Shakti
David S. Ware
Steve Greenlee on the latest CD from incendiary saxophonist David S. Ware.
December 2008 Albums
Road Shows, Vol. 1
Sonny Rollins
Before we sing the praises of Sonny Rollins, we should sing the praises of Carl Smith. Smith is a retired lawyer and businessman from Maine who has spent the past eight years amassing a huge archive of recordings from Rollins’ concerts. This project of his...
December 2008 Albums
Nonaah
Roscoe Mitchell
More than 30 years after it was originally recorded and released, Nonaah remains a difficult and wondrous listen. Remastered with several bonus tracks included, the album clocks in at two hours now and sprawls across two CDs. Throughout them, Roscoe Mitchell...
December 2008 Albums
Petit Oiseau
William Parker Quartet
Of all the projects that bassist William Parker has going—and there are many—his quartet with drummer Hamid Drake, alto saxophonist Rob Brown, and trumpeter Lewis Barnes may be his finest. Their debut, O’Neal’s Porch, ranks among the best jazz albums of...
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ReportAbout Steve Greenlee
Steve Greenlee is an editor and jazz writer with The Boston Globe. He grew up listening to Smiths, the Cure and Depeche Mode but eventually found religion in "Kind of Blue" and "Bitches Brew." He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and three children, annoying them with obscure recordings by Sun Ra and Last Exit. He plays keys in The Barn Goats groove-jazz quartet and also runs really fast.