Lloyd Sachs

Lloyd’s Contributions

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...

01/05/12 Albums

Family
3 Cohens

Lloyd Sachs reviews the new collaboration by the Israeli-born siblings

01/04/12 Albums

Orvieto
Chick Corea and Stefano Bollani

Lloyd Sachs reviews Chick Corea and Stefano Bollani's piano duets album

12/21/11 Albums

Mary Joyce Project: Nothing to Lose
Claire Daly Quintet

Mary Joyce, a cousin of baritone saxophonist Claire Daly’s father, was a Wisconsin native who made history as a long-distance dogsledder in pre-statehood Alaska. On this beautifully realized album, Daly captures Joyce’s adventurous spirit, determination...

12/18/11 Albums

This Is Jazz
Donald Harrison, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham

This Is Jazz is the most consistently enjoyable of the three albums Donald Harrison has recorded with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Billy Cobham. Alto saxophonist Harrison, a standout player in settings ranging from the Jazz Messengers to his own neo-bop...

10/25/11 Albums

Lines of Oppression
Ari Hoenig

Lloyd Sachs reviews drummer Ari Hoenig's unpredictable new release

10/13/11 Albums

Awakening
Nicole Mitchell

Nicole Mitchell’s emergence as the jazz flutist of the moment—and Jeff Parker’s continuing ascension as one of improvisational music’s great young guitarists—is only furthered by their work together on Awakening . Featuring bassist Harrison Bankhead (Mitchell’s...

10/11/11 Albums

The Incredible Honk
Roswell Rudd

An international flavor permeates the trombonist's latest

09/07/11 Albums

Recombination
Taylor Haskins

More than 40 years after In a Silent Way , the fusion genre is as ripe for updates as ever, what with musicians growing savvier in the application of electronics and ever more willing to approach jazz-rock less as a departure from the mainstream than an...

09/01/11 Albums

Invades Vancouver!
One For All

Formed in 1996, the hard-bop consortium One for All has been an ongoing concern three times as long as any edition of their legendary role model, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Familiarity has a way of breeding stagnation, but as this live recording demonstrates...