Countercurrents
March 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Rotten in Rodby
Ilk
This quartet of young Danes combines a disparate mix of styles and influences: postrock, free jazz, cool jazz, nonidiomatic free improv, serialism, microtonalism, laptop-based sound sculpting. Attempts to fuse on such a scale often result in an inorganic...
March 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Day of the Race
Nine Winds Records
There are times when a pessimist could propose to me, without fear of rebuttal, that jazz sunk everlastingly into the depths of posthistoricism at the precise moment Wynton Marsalis signed his first recording contract. Recently, though, I've come across...
March 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Lugano
VICTO
If you're at all familiar with the past work of the musicians who make up Quartet Noir (Marilyn Crispell, piano; Joelle Leandre, bass; Urs Leimgruber, saxes; Fritz Hauser, drums), you can probably draw a pretty accurate mental picture of how this sounds...
March 2006 By Chris Kelsey
El Payaso
Nine Winds Records
I'm always amazed when I get a disc like this to review: a big-band set not backed by a major record label or arts presenter. Forget whether or not it's any good. Just the fact that an independent bandleader can get such a thing done--in a world that's seemingly...
March 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Live at Glenn Miller Café
Ayler Records
Ornette Coleman gave saxophonists permission to explore the infinite, opening things up to such an extent that another sax player might obviously be inspired by him yet sound completely different. It's a stretch to say Swedish alto saxophonist Lars-Goran...
March 2006 By Chris Kelsey
Vesuvius
SLAM
This sort of free-associative collective improvisation used to be a blow against jazz convention; today it's a convention in and of itself. Vesuvius consists of two long free blows. Tenor saxophonist Paul Dunmall has sheets-of-sound chops and a subtle manner...
December 2005 By Chris Kelsey
Nothing, Knowing
482 Music
It does Greg Burk no disservice to say his music descends from the line of white-guy progressive pianists that began with Bill Evans. It's a distinguished bunch--Paul Bley, Keith Jarrett, etc.--and while Burk doesn't blaze any new formal or stylistic trails...
![Other Stories [Three Suites] Taylor Ho Bynum & Spidermonkey String](/images/content/albums/0001/4986/taylor_ho_bynum-other_stories_span3.jpg?1234933576 "Other Stories [Three Suites] Taylor Ho Bynum & Spidermonkey String")
December 2005 By Chris Kelsey
Other Stories [Three Suites]
482 Music
Experience has made me pretty adept at discerning which parts of any given performance are composed and which are improvised. It's generally easier to tell than it should be. Not that it necessarily matters; it's the end result that counts. Chances are...
December 2005 By Chris Kelsey
The Soul and Gone
482 Music
Drummer Harris Eisenstadt's post-tonal compositions for sextet are interesting, yet his band never seems entirely comfortable with the material on The Soul and Gone. There's a great deal of quiet shambling in place--quick exchanges of random, noisy gestures...
December 2005 By Chris Kelsey
Live at Sangha
bmadish
The Gift is a trio of New York-area improvisers: drummer William Hooker, trumpeter Roy Campbell and violinist Jason Hwang. The album consists of a single hour-long free improvisation, recorded live in medium-fidelity at a concert in Takoma Park, Md. Those...
