Countercurrents
October 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Live at Glenn Miller Café
Ayler Records
Charles Gayle has gotten too much ink for extramusical reasons and not enough for his playing. That’s a pity, since he is one of the few living saxophonists able to combine imagination and intensity on a level with past free-jazz greats. On this excellent...
October 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Edge
AsianImprov Records
Of the handful of semi-well-known jazz violinists out there (and let’s face it, even the best jazz violinists are, at most, semi-well-known), Jason Kao Hwang has long been one of my favorites. He is, along with Billy Bang and Charles Burnham, one of earthiest...
October 2006 By Chris Kelsey
The Celestial Answer
Xeric
The Celestial Answer asks implicitly: Can a free-jazz drummer (William Hooker) and a punk/ambient guitarist (Lee Ranaldo) share a CD without driving each other crazy? Of course they can. But should they? It’s possible this odd couple is absolutely comfortable...
October 2006 By Chris Kelsey
At the LeMans Jazz Festival
Leo Records
This two-disc package presents the dexterous bassist Joëlle Léandre in performance with five sets of free improvisers at the 2005 LeMans Jazz Festival. Disc one begins with a trio that includes vocalist Maggie Nicols and pianist Irene Schweitzer. The group’s...
October 2006 By Chris Kelsey
There's No Going Back Now
Cuneiform Records
Sure, it’s darn near as formulaic as bebop, but I can still get something out of a session like this—four monster improvisers, highly attuned to one another, free-associating together for the better part of an hour. Mujician is pianist Keith Tippett, bassist...
October 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Bardo Hotel Soundtrack
Made to Measure
Bardo Hotel is a painstakingly pieced together series of movements (“spontaneously conceived,” say the credits, though I strongly suspect some composed elements) that bring to mind such disparate music as Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way, Steve Reich’s theatrical...
June 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Trumpet Madness
Leo Records
I’ve a special regard for someone who can keep a big band together in this day and age. It’s hard enough getting four musicians in the same room for a gig, much less a rehearsal. I can barely imagine what it must be like for someone like Mark Harvey, Aardvark’s...
June 2006 By Chris Kelsey
The Beloved Music
Family Vineyard
Nine minutes into this album’s second track, saxophonist Paul Flaherty and drummer Chris Corsano come down from an extended period of hyperactive and extremely loud free playing. Flaherty then contributes a brief episode of clarity, a dynamically shaded...
June 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Strange Village
Muzak
Listening to this is a strange experience, not because the music is especially unusual, but because it runs so counter to what I expected when I saw the names Natsuki Tamura and Satoko Fujii on the cover. Granted, I haven’t heard either in awhile, but last...
June 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Isms Out
CIMP Recordings
Jazz is about taking chances. Generally, however, it’s better for a player to go into combat carrying a bazooka than a slingshot. In the proper context, Roy Campbell is one of the premiere jazz trumpeters. On this, however, he and co-leader Burton Greene...
