Steve Futterman
Steve’s Contributions
October 2008 Albums
Journey Into Jazz
Gunther Schuller
If Third Stream music, the merger of classical music and jazz, never took hold within either musical world as it might have since its official inception in the late 1950s, the best examples of the genre still prove that it was more just than an academic...
September 2008 Albums
Depth of Emotion
Ed Saindon & David Liebman
Dave Liebman, the “name” musician on both of these collaborative albums, in fact, dominates neither. On Depth of Emotion the peripatetic saxophonist shares leadership with Ed Saindon, a skillful vibraphone, marimba and piano player who teaches at the Berklee...
September 2008 Albums
Rediscovery
John McNeil & Bill McHenry
By the evidence of their debut recording, trumpeter John McNeil and tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry may not have a grand plan for their Rediscovery project. Employing tunes associated with Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Russ Freeman, George Wallington and Wilbur...
September 2008 Albums
Just Between Friends
Houston Person & Ron Carter
Just Between Friends, bassist Ron Carter and tenor saxophonist Houston Person’s first studio duo encounter since Dialogues in 2002, boasts a spot-on album title. A palpable sense of intimacy, ease and near-telepathic intuition practically radiates from the...
June 2008 Albums
Louie & Clark Expedition 2
Louie Bellson & Clark Terry
Louie Bellson and Clark Terry have fostered a musical friendship that, if intermittent, has certainly been long lasting. A cursory discographical search finds the two recording together in 1949; after mutual membership in Duke Ellington’s band of the early...
May 2008 Albums
Twilight World
Marian McPartland
At 89 years old, pianist Marian McPartland sounds just as assured as she did at 79, or for that matter, anytime in the past six decades. The woman is a phenomenon, a classic stylist whose undiminished invention, sure technique and sophistication are cornerstones...
May 2008 Albums
E-Motion
Rich Perry Quartet
The key to satisfying group improvisation lies in the delicate dance between relaxation and tension. A comfort level has to be reached for players to successfully communicate, yet danger waits if, let us say, the couch gets too comfy. A few protruding springs...
April 2008 Albums
The Lost Bill Holman Charts
The Carl Saunders Exploration
The origin of this labor of love derives from long dormant charts that Bill Holman wrote for an aborted project in the 1980s. Resurfacing here, these never-before-heard scores display an overlooked aspect of Holman’s art, that of the small-group arranger...
March 2008 Albums
If You’re Passing By…
Alec Dankworth
In an era of hyperbole run riot, modesty can be a most becoming attribute. Alec Dankworth—yes, the son of British saxophonist John Dankworth and vocal icon Cleo Laine—fronts a delightfully restrained trio on If You’re Passing By … that mirrors the bassist’s...
January/February 2008 Albums
A Life In Time: The Roy Haynes Story
Roy Haynes
A Life in Time, three discs of music plus an accompanying DVD chronicling the nearly 60-year career of drummer Roy Haynes, sets a parlor game in motion: Name a major figure from the bebop and subsequent postbop era that Haynes hasn’t recorded with. Even...
December 2007 Albums
C’est Magnifique!
Ruby Braff And the Flying Pizzarellis
The excellence of Ruby Braff’s final studio album should come as no surprise to those who followed the cornetist’s remarkable autumnal recording career. Braff, who died of emphysema-related illness in 2003, had been regularly producing outstanding work primarily...
December 2007 Albums
Perfect Circularity
Gary Foster/Putter Smith
If, on listening to Perfect Circularity, you aren’t immediately reminded of I Concentrate on You, the 1974 duet recording uniting saxophonist Lee Konitz and bassist Red Mitchell, you’re forgiven. Yet those familiar with the crystalline beauty of that earlier...
November 2007 Albums
Fantasy
Bill Mays—The Inventions Trio
The improvisational element so vital to jazz may not be an a priori feature of classical music, but rare is the alert jazz musician who doesn’t appreciate the melodic and harmonic riches to be found within the earlier genre. Pianist Bill Mays is one such...
November 2007 Albums
The Unforgettable NHOP Trio Live
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
Although he spent his entire adult life playing bass with a swath of the most acclaimed jazz musicians of his time, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen also grabbed what opportunities he could to step out as a bandleader. On this posthumous live recording, Pedersen...
October 2007 Albums
Fleuve
Pierre Favre Ensemble
Drummer Pierre Favre displays such sensitivity to tonal nuance on his instrument that it’s little wonder his compositions burst with felicitous detail. Drawing on the resources of an unconventional ensemble (when was the last time the dragon, an unwieldy...
September 2007 Albums
Paz
Nino Josele
More than 25 years after his death, pianist Bill Evans maintains the power to draw musicians helplessly into his lyrical universe. Flamenco guitarist Nino Josele, his career already in full swing, came late to Evans, but when he did, the obsession hit hard...
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