Reviews

Review: Tobago Jazz Experience

06/13/13    Concerts    By Aidan Levy

Review: Tobago Jazz Experience

Jazz, world music and steel pan in a rum-soaked, boozy and laid-back atmosphere

Time Travel Dave Dougas

06/10/13    Albums    By Geoffrey Himes

Dave Dougas
Time Travel
Greenleaf Music

When Dave Douglas unveiled his new acoustic quintet last year, it was with an atypical project: Be Still , a pastoral collection of folk songs and hymns that his mother had requested for her funeral, and the first-ever Douglas album to feature a vocalist...

Joshua Redman at the Town Hall

06/09/13    Concerts    By Zach Hindin

Joshua Redman at the Town Hall

Saxophonist’s masterful orchestral gig highlights Blue Note Jazz Festival

The Orchestrion Project Pat Metheny

06/09/13    Albums    By Mike Shanley

Pat Metheny
The Orchestrion Project
Nonesuch Records

Pat Metheny’s setup for his Orchestrion tour looked like a cross between a ransacked orchestra pit and an elaborate stage show from the excessive ’70s. For those late to the game, the Orchestrion is based on the elaborate, century-old contraptions of the...

The Heart of the Matter Jane Monheit

06/09/13    Albums    By Christopher Loudon

Jane Monheit
The Heart of the Matter
Decca Records

There are distinctive Jane Monheit traits—the stretched notes, the dusky mewing, the ever-present tear in her voice—that can be her best or worst assets. Across the 14 tracks that fill The Heart of the Matter , her eighth studio album, the vote is split...

A Different Time John Medeski

06/07/13    Albums    By Jeff Tamarkin

John Medeski
A Different Time
OKeh

For his debut solo piano recording—also the first release on the newly revived OKeh label, now a Sony imprint—John Medeski does something of a 180. Performed on a 1924 French Gaveau piano in an old church in upstate New York, late at night so as to minimize...

Signs of Life Rondi Charleston

06/06/13    Albums    By Christopher Loudon

Rondi Charleston
Signs of Life
Motema

That Rondi Charleston is a superb interpreter of everything from Johnny Mercer to Stevie Wonder has been proven time and again over the past dozen years. But her four previous albums have only hinted at what the remarkable Signs of Life fully reveals: that...

Concert Review: D’Angelo Rocks Montreal

06/05/13    Concerts    By Sharonne Cohen

Concert Review: D’Angelo Rocks Montreal

New album due in September

Aquarius Nicole Mitchell's Ice Crystals

06/05/13    Albums    By Michael J. West

Nicole Mitchell's Ice Crystals
Aquarius
Delmark Records

“Ice crystals” is a good visual metaphor for the sound Nicole Mitchell’s flute and Jason Adasiewicz’s vibes make together. The latter, especially, evokes ice (or glass, thus “crystal”) with a crisp, nimble attack that’s mindful of his instrument’s hard surface...

Skull Sessions Rob Mazurek Octet

06/04/13    Albums    By Mike Shanley

Rob Mazurek Octet
Skull Sessions
Cuneiform Records

Sometimes Rob Mazurek’s compositions begin quietly and move slowly. Recent works by the Chicago Underground Duo and the Exploding Star Orchestra have been as much about the journey as the destination. The trio Starlicker and the Pulsar Quartet are marked...