Mike Shanley
Mike’s Contributions
05/19/13 Albums
Chants
Craig Taborn Trio
If jazz can really be described as the sound of surprise, it also involves trust on the part of the listeners. We need to approach the music trusting that the players are really trying to create something expressive rather than simply noodling away. The...
05/16/13 Albums
For People In Sorrow
Alex Cline
Too often tribute albums are based on reverence that leaves the heart and soul of the honoree behind. Other times, the subject’s material gets re-contextualized to the point of absurdity. Alex Cline approached Roscoe Mitchell’s “People in Sorrow” hoping...
04/20/13 Features
Curtis Hasselbring's Secret Agent Bands
The trombonist creatively melds two ensembles on 'Number Stations'
04/15/13 Albums
Sky Bleached
Dylan Ryan/Sand
Dylan Ryan is a drummer adept at combining his jazz skills with adventurous rock, resulting in music that maintains the cerebral and visceral qualities of both styles. A man of many projects, he’s probably best known for his work with Herculaneum, a Chicago...
04/14/13 Albums
Hammered
Ches Smith & These Arches
Even among today’s many ambitious drummer-composer-bandleaders, Ches Smith applies his skills to an especially dynamic array of brainy projects. Last year he appeared on Tim Berne’s Snakeoil , continued in Mary Halvorson’s quintet and released a solo percussion...
04/08/13 Albums
Never Let Me Go: Quartets ’95 & ’96
Thomas Chapin
To get a handle on the musical scope of Thomas Chapin, look no further than the second CD of this three-disc set. Taken from a 1995 live performance, it begins with Thelonious Monk’s rare waltz “Ugly Beauty,” followed by Charlie Parker’s equally deep cut...
04/05/13 Albums
John Tchicai
John Tchicai
The late Danish saxophonist John Tchicai lived and recorded predominantly in Europe, although he’s best known for several 1960s projects, some named for the American city that housed him during those heady seminal years of the avant-garde: John Coltrane’s...
03/30/13 Albums
Slippery Rock
Mostly Other People Do the Killing
Mostly Other People Do the Killing has taken on some pretty sacred cows in jazz over the years. While the group is ultimately out to have a good time rather than put anyone down, its prankish avant-jazz zeal can sometimes be a bit much. Knowing that the...
03/18/13 Albums
Look Up
Charles Gayle Trio
Look Up documents the period in Charles Gayle’s life when he first began to receive greater recognition. After years of living and playing on the streets of New York City, the tenor saxophonist began appearing regularly in nightclubs and in 1994 embarked...
03/13/13 Albums
Early Combinations
Art Ensemble of Chicago
The Art Ensemble of Chicago always seemed at ease when the tapes were rolling, even if focus wasn’t at the top of the priority list. Some of their early recordings revealed a band ready to go wherever inspiration took them, even if it meant noodling. That...
03/13/13 Albums
Greatest Hits
Matthew Shipp
The concept of greatest hits records began in the early days of albums as a way to compile an artist’s singles into one set, appealing to the consumer who otherwise only bought 45s. The idea that the adventurous pianist Matthew Shipp has a series of “hits...
02/11/13 Albums
State of Emergency!
Nat Reeves
The title State of Emergency! represents neither a political statement nor a fresh assessment of the first Tony Williams Lifetime record. Instead, it refers to the nor’easter that hit Connecticut in early 2011, during the sessions for this album. Despite...
01/26/13 Albums
Gather
Fred Lonberg-Holm's Fast Citizens
Fred Lonberg-Holm keeps himself so busy with such a vast number of projects that it seems nearly impossible to know what to expect from him. Will he be the vicious cello-scraping improviser of Ballister or the Fred Katz disciple of the Valentine Trio? On...
01/21/13 Albums
Unhinged
Jon Irabagon's Outright!
Saxophonist Jon Irabagon isn’t content to put all his eggs in one stylistic basket. Upon winning the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, this member of the irreverent quartet Mostly Other People Do the Killing released a fine straightahead...
01/13/13 Albums
Grass Roots
Grass Roots
When everyone in a band gets credit for an album track, it often means the music was the result of a spontaneous performance. It speaks to the strength of the group when those shared efforts contain the same sense of direction heard in the tunes written...
12/30/12 Albums
Floating Ice
Michael Bisio/Matthew Shipp Duo
Bassist Michael Bisio has recorded extensively in leader and sideman roles, including his current spot in Matthew Shipp’s trio. Although there were moments on the trio’s recent Elastic Aspects album when Bisio and Shipp didn’t seem to properly connect, the...
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ReportAbout Mike Shanley
Mike Shanley wishes there were more hours in the day to just sit and listen to music, probably with some coffee close at hand. A native of Pittsburgh, he served as arts & entertainment editor at two of that city's alternative newsweeklies, InPittsburgh and Pulp. In addition to JazzTimes, he freelances for Pittsburgh City Paper, Blurt and maintains a blog at www.shanleyonmusic.blogspot.com where he rambles on about whatever has landed on the turntable or disc player at that moment. His writing has appeared in Harp, Pittsburgh Magazine, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and on the website PopCity.com. He has also played bass guitar in a number of Pittsburgh indie rock bands over the past two decades.