Marc Masters
Marc’s Contributions
July/August 2006 Albums
Live in Japan
Satoko Fujii Four
Pianist and composer Satoko Fujii has released over 20 albums in the past decade, and Live in Japan 2004 is one of her best. Teamed with trumpeter (and husband) Natsuki Tamura, bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Jim Black, Fujii crafts ripe compositions that...
June 2006 Albums
Phenomena of Interference
Steve Dalachinsky and Matthew Shipp
New York City poet Steve Dalachinsky has performed his verse for decades, collaborating with downtown legends like William Parker, Daniel Carter and Vernon Reid. But his recorded output is sparse: Phenomena of Interference is only his third album and his...
June 2006 Albums
Avanti Galoppi
Lou Grassi Quartet
The sound of drummer Lou Grassi’s quartet on Avanti Galoppi is pure Ornette Coleman: snaky melodies, soulful horn tones and the kind of aching melancholy Coleman injected into every note. Not that Grassi and his cohorts are imitators. Rather, they cleverly...
June 2006 Albums
Songs for Samuel
Jay Rosen
After appearances on 39 CIMP titles in the last 10 years, drummer Jay Rosen poses alone for snapshot No. 40. Songs for Samuel offers 12 exploratory solo pieces in honor of Rosen’s father, who passed away three months before the album was recorded. Rosen...
March 2006 Albums
Wishing You Were Here
Chris Kelsey Trio
After a self-imposed two-year break, soprano saxophonist and JazzTimes contributor Chris Kelsey stormed back in 2004 with the stellar Renewal, leading a quartet with trombonist and longtime cohort Steve Swell. Wishing You Were Here features the same group...
March 2006 Albums
First Look/Chicago Duos
Roscoe Mitchell and Tatsu Aoki
Bassist Tatsu Aoki is a Chicago jazz veteran, having appeared on 70 albums as a sideman and another 30 as a leader. On First Look, AACM legend Roscoe Mitchell joins Aoki in a masterful series of sound explorations. Both musicians roam comfortably around...
March 2006 Albums
Fur
Natural History
Through more than two decades of tireless activity, Joe Morris has become free jazz's preeminent guitarist. In 2000 he added acoustic bass to his arsenal, and he plays it exclusively in Natural History, his trio with saxophonist Joe Sexton and drummer Croix...
March 2006 Albums
Live in Helsinki
Klaus Suonsaari
Klaus Suonsaari is a Finnish drummer and composer with a strong grounding in many styles, from bop to orchestral to free jazz. On Live in Helsinki, a stunning set pristinely recorded by the Finnish Broadcasting Company, he leads his trio through a broad...
March 2006 Albums
The Sugar Hill Suite
Trio X
Here are three more excellent albums from the tireless mind of Joe McPhee. The multi-faceted horn master recently turned 66, but his creative vault remains bottomless. Two sets by his group Trio-X (with bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen) come from...
January/February 2006 News
The Immeasurable Sun Ra
Sun Ra's passion for words was no secret. His mythic lyrics played a huge role in his music, and his aphoristic proclamations ("History is his story; my story is mystery!") are still quoted frequently. But he was also an extremely prolific poet. Between...
January/February 2006 Albums
The Sugar Hill Suite
Trio X
Here are three more excellent albums from the tireless mind of Joe McPhee. The multi-faceted horn master recently turned 66, but his creative vault remains bottomless. Two sets by his group Trio-X (with bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen) come from...
January/February 2006 DVDs
Live at the River East Art Center
Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio
Delmark's first-ever DVD offers a sensational 2004 live set from percussionist Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio, filmed in a Chicago art space as painters and sculptors worked around the group. Expanded to a quartet with guest violinist Billy Bang, the band...
January/February 2006 DVDs
The Magic Sun
Sun Ra and Phill Niblock
In 1968, filmmaker and minimalist composer Phill Niblock shot the Sun Ra Arkestra performing on the roof of a New York City apartment building. Capturing extreme close-ups (fingers striking keys, lips blowing air, cymbals vibrating rapidly) on high-contrast...
January/February 2006 DVDs
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise
John Zorn and Ken Jacobs
In 2004, John Zorn and filmmaker Ken Jacobs collaborated on four nights of audiovisual improvisations at NYC's Anthology Film Archives, a selection from which is presented on this bracing DVD. Jacobs uses a "Nervous Magic Lantern" to create strobing images...
November 2005 Albums
Kaivalya Volume 1
Paul Flaherty and Marc Edwards
"Free music players are born, not made," writes saxophonist Paul Flaherty in the liner notes to Kaivalya Volume 1. "Why else would someone travel this road, if they didn't have to?" Since first heeding improvisation's call in the 1970s, Flaherty has hurtled...
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