Reviews

Passion of a Lonely Heart Jana Herzen

05/01/13    Albums    By Christopher Loudon

Jana Herzen
Passion of a Lonely Heart
Motema

Though Jana Herzen is best known in the jazz community as founder and president of Motéma Music, currently home to the likes of René Marie and Gregory Porter, the respected label was actually established so that Herzen could release her debut album, Soup’s...

Heels Over Head Billy Martin's Wicked Knee

04/30/13    Albums    By Sharonne Cohen

Billy Martin's Wicked Knee
Heels Over Head
Amulet Records

Here, drummer Billy Martin, of the inimitable Medeski Martin & Wood, leads his compact avant-brass group through its second release. Its name derived from Shake Your Wicked Knees (a compilation of piano rags, blues and stomps of the ’20s and ’30s), the quartet...

Elvin Chico Freeman

04/29/13    Albums    By Britt Robson

Chico Freeman
Elvin
Jive

Saxophonist Chico Freeman credits the innovative drummer Elvin Jones for taking him on his initial tours of Europe and the major jazz clubs of the U.S., and for procuring and appearing on his first recording as a leader, Beyond the Rain , in 1978. It’s a...

Museum Vol. 1 Kevin Harris Project

04/29/13    Albums    By Michael J. West

Kevin Harris Project
Museum Vol. 1
Kevin Harris

There’s no suggestion in pianist Kevin Harris’ liners that Museum Vol. 1 is in any way an exercise in minimalism. The soulful postbop record is crowded with repetition, however, certainly in Harris’ otherwise-admirable originals. Vamps, riffs, phrases and...

Nilson Matta's Black Orpheus Nilson Matta

04/28/13    Albums    By Steve Greenlee

Nilson Matta
Nilson Matta's Black Orpheus
Motema

Growing up in Brazil, bassist Nilson Matta was obsessed with the music from the 1956 play Orfeu da Conceição and, later, from the film based on it, 1959’s Black Orpheus . Both featured songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá, and that music would be...

Straight From the Heart Izzy Chait

04/28/13    Albums    By Christopher Loudon

Izzy Chait
Straight From the Heart
Winds of Change

Hitchcock Media Records

If you want to disprove F. Scott Fitzgerald’s adage that there are no second acts in American lives, look no further than Izzy Chait. Though his love for music dates to his youth and he sang with the Marine Corps while stationed in Vietnam in the mid-’60s...

Bringing It Back Home Robben Ford

04/27/13    Albums    By Mike Joyce

Robben Ford
Bringing It Back Home
Mascot

There’s a lot to like about this rootsy excursion. First off, the lineup assembled by Robben Ford, the veteran, Grammy-winning guitarist, is top drawer, with trombonist Stephen Baxter, organist Larry Goldings, bassist David Piltch and drummer Harvey Mason...

Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom No Morphine, No Lilies

04/26/13    Albums    By Lloyd Sachs

No Morphine, No Lilies
Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom
The Royal Potato Family

True to its name, Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom wastes no time revealing its fondness for shaking, rattling and rolling. On the opener, “Pork Belly,” we’re greeted by Todd Sickafoose’s huge, bottom-heavy bass tones and the leader’s deep, voluptuous groove...

Glass Song Yelena Eckemoff

04/25/13    Albums    By Thomas Conrad

Yelena Eckemoff
Glass Song
L&H

Yelena Eckemoff was born in Moscow and studied at the prestigious Gnessin Academy and the Moscow State Conservatory. She has lived in the United States since 1991, and was a classical pianist until about 2009, when she reinvented herself as a jazz musician...

Canto Tania Maria

04/25/13    Albums    By Christopher Loudon

Tania Maria
Canto
Naive

Though Canto is being promoted as Brazilian pianist and vocalist Tania Maria’s 25th release, its 10 tracks, culled from 2005 and 2008 studio sessions in Paris and São Paulo, actually pre-date 2011’s Tempo , her cozy pairing with bassist Eddie Gomez. In addition...