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To take on Peggy Lee phrase-for-phrase, squeak-for-perky-squeak, with those soft sexy whispers, would be by far the easier course. Callaway, wise in the ways of … Read More “Ann Hampton Callaway Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration (Palmetto)”
All hail Bill Frisell—the Man, the Myth, the Marksman—but this set had me from “Johnathan Blake.” Gigging in Ravi Coltrane’s band a few years back, … Read More “Bill Frisell: Four (Blue Note)”
Pianist Masaru Imada is still alive at 90 and living, I presume, somewhere in the Tokyo he’s called home for most of those 90 years. … Read More “Masaru Imada Trio + 1: Planets (BBE)”
Lionel Loueke’s original HH went far enough—keeping in mind that “far enough” depends greatly on the direction(s). Loueke, bless him, found a few new directions … Read More “Gilles Peterson/Lionel Loueke: HH Reimagined (Edition)”
With Hart, Formanek, and Sanchez representing three generations of avant-garde playing, I’m tempted to call this date historical—especially since it got cut at the Van … Read More “Angelica Sanchez Trio/Michael Formanek & Billy Hart: Sparkle Beings (Sunnyside)”
“I’m sorry, but your friend didn’t make it.” And with that, a small group of friends, loved ones, and co-workers knew the death of William … Read More “Joe La Barbera and Charles Levin: Times Remembered: The Final Years of the Bill Evans Trio (University of North Texas Press)”
Figure guitar-playing newcomer (to this band) Paul Bollenbeck as the most common provocateur to the leader. Over seven tunes swinging as a suite, Bollenbeck first … Read More “Stan Killian: Brooklyn Calling (Sunnyside)”
Aaron Seeber’s cymbals don’t mix—at least not in this mix. As presented in audio by the drummer himself and co-producer Kevin Sun, the ride and … Read More “Aaron Seeber: First Move (Cellar)”
“Sweet,” said my friend Henry Boy, 20 years ago, “but she had no edge.” I chuckled, agreeing. We were young(er) and (in)secure in our hipness. … Read More “Norah Jones: Come Away With Me (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe) (Blue Note)”
Scottish native Fergus McCreadie ignites his new trio album with a flurry of precisely placed notes, rich harmonies in forest-fire motion. The pianist has stated … Read More “Fergus McCreadie: Forest Floor (Edition)”
As pianist Helge Lien announces proudly in the publicity material, he put this album together as “a hybrid of studio- and concert-recordings. Miraculously, however, you … Read More “Helge Lien Trio: Revisited (Ozella)”
Giuseppe Pucciarelli is an Italian guitarist who got started playing his native folk music; his father bought him a classical guitar for his fifth birthday. … Read More “The Pucciarelli Group: Uplift (Ubuntu)”
While not the first to mingle jazz streams with fado—the Portuguese tradition of passion, loss, and suffering in song—pianist Júlio Resende stamps a personal, powerful … Read More “Júlio Resende: Fado Jazz (ACT)”
Sati, Hersch writes in his liner notes, is a word in the Pali language meaning “mindfulness” or “awareness.” The pianist’s meditations helped him through “this … Read More “Fred Hersch: Breath by Breath (Palmetto)”
Matthew Shipp’s new album (I’m guessing even he doesn’t know the number of this release) showcases solo piano, and liner notes, in the form of … Read More “Matthew Shipp: Codebreaker (Tao Forms)”
Mid-March, 2020. France is about to begin its first COVID-19 lockdown. Originally set for 15 days, it would end up lasting into May. Cellist Vincent … Read More “Reverso: Live (OutNote)”
Jane Ira Bloom on soprano sax. Allison Miller on drums. Recorded remotely from each player’s home studios, because that’s 2021 for musicians. Five Tuesdays in … Read More “Allison Miller / Jane Ira Bloom: Tues Days (Outline)”
First published in 1997, now republished with a new introduction, Jackie Kay’s Bessie Smith unrolls less like a formal study of the singer and much … Read More “Jackie Kay: Bessie Smith: A Poet’s Biography (Vintage)”
This U.K. quintet—Gibbs on trumpet plus tenor man Riley Stone-Lonergan, pianist Rob Brockway, bassist Calum Gourlay, and drummer Jay Davis—crashes into the opener, “Internal Conflict,” … Read More “Sean Gibbs: When Can I See You Again? (Ubuntu)”
You can tell the heat of the trio by the laughter boiling over. Not in all cases, admittedly, but for this session, the exhortations and … Read More “Kevin Hays/Ben Street/Billy Hart: All Things Are (Smoke Sessions)”
Bill Evans, like the shark (and like the shark in only this manner), emerged into the ethos fully and fundamentally formed. Part of the exhilaration … Read More “Bill Evans: Behind the Dikes: The 1969 Netherlands Recordings (Elemental) / Bill Evans Trio: On a Friday Evening (Craft)”
Bill Kwan flew through medical school at USC, hung out a shingle as a dermatologist, then decided in middle age to go for broke, for … Read More “Bill Kwan: No Ordinary Love: The Music of Sade (Ikeda)”
The CODE foursome never find anything missing in “chordless” music; nor do they launch those wild, deep-cosmos explorations of many sans-piano free-jazz bands. They treat … Read More “CODE Quartet: Genealogy (Justin Time)”
At his peak, Frank Sinatra never seemed to make a bum call. He sang ahead of the beat, on the beat, behind the beat, rendering … Read More “Geoffrey Littlefield With Christopher Riddle: Nelson Riddle: Music With a Heartbeat (Grosvenor House)”
Toronto trio TuneTown’s second album begins with what sounds like a loose drag across a snare: saggy tire chains, let’s say, spinning but failing to … Read More “TuneTown: Entering Utopia (Three Pines)”
You wouldn’t guess, from the distilled elegance enclosed here, that the pianist was sick, unsure of himself, so weary in body and mind that he … Read More “Masabumi Kikuchi: Hanamichi: The Final Studio Recording (Red Hook)”
A dignified, though not quite refined, elder statesman for what was once dubbed the “New Thing,” Gary Bartz, at 80, finds himself at home in … Read More “Gary Bartz, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge: Gary Bartz JID006 (Jazz Is Dead)”
The Jazz Worms—Andy Weyl on piano, Keith Oxman on tenor saxophone, Paul Romaine on drums, Ron Miles on cornet, and Mark Simon on bass—haven’t cut … Read More “Jazz Worms: Squirmin’ (Capri)”
Bill Evans she isn’t, but Yoko Miwa conjures some of that same two-hand-chording majesty, sustain, and a sense of slowly stirring stars. She’ll let rip with … Read More “Yoko Miwa Trio: Songs of Joy (Ubuntu)”
I dove into this without checking the liner notes first, which left me gaping at the supple interplay between, and I quote, “piano, keyboards, electric … Read More “Chris Potter: There Is a Tide (Edition)”
