Carlo Wolff
Carlo’s Contributions
05/08/13 Albums
Rubidium
Verneri Pohjola & Black Motor
Picture a band on a street corner in the very Nordic north. It’s winter. To keep warm, they spool out blowsy melodies of grave gait and linearity, their authority not immediately apparent. Then, as trumpeter Verneri Pohjola and Black Motorists Sami Sippola...
05/01/13 Concerts
Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland
Loueke, Lovano, Frisell, Cole, Feinstein and more highlight this sprawling week-long fest
04/15/13 Albums
The 3Dom Factor
Barry Altschul
Barry Altschul’s first album as a leader in more than 25 years is a mischievous affair showcasing his irreverent drums, the magisterially sassy tenor saxophone of Jon Irabagon and the twangy (and occasionally bowed) bass of Joe Fonda, Altschul’s colleague...
04/01/13 Albums
The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of
Various Artists
This double-CD, packing 23 tracks per disc, is loaded with music as far from corporate as can be. A sequel to the acclaimed roots rarities compilation from 2006, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of , Return is heavy on country styles—Appalachia seems to dominate...
03/23/13 Albums
Re:connect
Rudy Linka
Dynamics are critical to Czech-American guitarist Rudy Linka’s latest album, which is dominated by sneaky originals, a sharply tailored cover of Monk’s “Bye-Ya” (titled “Bay-Ya” here) and a quietly pulsating take on “So Weary,” a knowing tune by one of Linka’s...
02/20/13 Albums
Inheritance
Todd Marcus
On Todd Marcus’ second album, the bass clarinetist switches between a quartet showcasing his drive and one stressing his more thoughtful side. The tracks featuring pianist George Colligan and Warren Wolf (here on drums rather than vibes) are denser, if no...
02/08/13 Albums
Bronze Nemesis
Scott Robinson Doctette
If Charlie Haden’s Quartet West is jazz-noir, Bronze Nemesis is pulp-jazz. Scott Robinson’s protean and flexible group delivers 12 tracks celebrating proto-superhero Doc Savage, a figure who dominated hundreds of pulp novels in the Depression and war years...
02/05/13 Albums
Junction
Hot Club of Detroit
Drumless as ever and ever more eclectic, the Hot Club of Detroit chooses freshness over predictability on its fourth album. Sparked by the slight yet compelling vocals of French thrush Cyrille Aimée, the tough pop sensibility of new saxophonist Jon Irabagon...
02/04/13 Albums
Departure
Felipe Salles
São Paulo native Felipe Salles blends the visceral and the cerebral on his fascinating fifth album, infusing classical modernist strains with the buoyant rhythms of his Brazilian homeland. And that’s by no means all. Departure spans a hard, shape-shifting...
01/24/13 Undertones
Mzansi
Adam Glasser
Adam Glasser’s playful yet plaintive style makes him one of the harmonica’s new masters. As debonair as Toots Thielemans, as soulful as Stevie Wonder and as romantic as Gregoire Maret, he’s also distinctively pungent. As a pianist, Glasser is percussive...
01/14/13 Albums
Soul Classics
Maceo Parker
Longtime James Brown horn foil Maceo Parker reanimates soul and funk tropes in this beautifully produced, rocking collection of tunes from the ’60s and ’70s. Backed by the supple WDR Big Band, this spirited collection is anything but archival. Not only does...
12/26/12 Albums
Live
Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin
Live, this deeply continental and assured sextet is a jam band with the precision of a Swiss watch. Like a sophisticated mechanical timepiece, it’s all in the complications. Where in a watch a complication is a function, like a power reserve indicator or...
12/21/12 Albums
Wherever You Are: Midnight Moods for Solo Piano
Denny Zeitlin
Denny Zeitlin’s sequel to 2010’s Labyrinth finds the Bay Area pianist in solo mode again, this time exploring standards and rejuvenating originals, foremost among the latter the sunny “Time Remembers One Time Once.” Zeitlin, who has recorded in various formats...
10/08/12 Albums
Howie 61
Wayne Krantz
No doubt “Howie,” the detached boomer of this ironic album’s title track, drives the cool vintage Jaguar on its cover. The stylish song correlates to the arresting image. Style, too, informs many of the metaphors in the vocal numbers master guitarist Wayne...
10/02/12 Albums
Newark 1953
Hank Mobley Quintet
Recorded on one hard-swinging late-September evening at Newark’s Piccadilly Club, the two-disc Hank Mobley set showcases the talented tenor saxophonist evolving into a major force, alongside the transitional and complicated piano stylings of Walter Davis...
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