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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)”
Fred Hersch, who has calmly, sensibly, and passionately bequeathed us some of the most lyrical jazz of the past few decades, was lucky enough to … Read More “Fred Hersch: Songs from Home (Palmetto)”
I found this facile on its surface at first—before realizing that seeking only surface, on a few spins at that, made me facile. That left smooth, … Read More “Melody Gardot: Sunset in the Blue (Decca)”
The bass clarinet makes it for me. Hazar deserves mad praise first for his virtuosity on the saz (a lute-like Persian instrument), then for switching over … Read More “Hazar: Reincarnated (Immersive Audio Network)”
“Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota,” read the cover and the title of her last album for Capitol Records in 1972. Her real name … Read More “Peggy Lee: The Capitol Transcriptions 1946-1949 (UMe/Capitol)”
I sometimes keep listening to this record after it finishes. No, I’m not on those drugs you’re thinking of. But from my living room I can’t quite … Read More “Jason Kao Hwang: Human Rites Trio (True Sound)”
Billie Holiday got knocked down. But she got up again. Actually, she had to get knocked down and get up again several times, according to … Read More “Kevin Whitehead: Play the Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories on Film (Oxford University Press)”
“Empty your mind,” Bruce Lee said famously (by way of his friend, screenwriter Stirling Silliphant). “Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a … Read More “Christian Sands: Be Water (Mack Avenue)”
Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and sax man Walter Smith III wander in and out of this set, anchored by the leader’s piano and Rhodes, Ivan Taylor’s … Read More “Connie Han: Iron Starlet (Mack Avenue)”
Sara Serpa’s new album started out as the soundtrack for a film she assembled to chronicle, and critique, Portuguese nationalism in Angola. The film consists … Read More “Sara Serpa: Recognition: Music for a Silent Film (Biophilia)”
The best album of the year (so far) crept up and caught me on the cusp of the virus, but thankfully in time to keep … Read More “Peter Campbell: Old Flames Never Die (Peter Campbell)”
I met Chris Speed in my ancient youth, in a summer jazz program—he among the best, me among the worst. Even then, things came easily … Read More “Ben Perowsky/John Medeski/Chris Speed: Upstream (Self-released)”
Hard to believe that after all of Joey Alexander’s accolades at the tender age of 16—Grammy nominations, a Grand Prix at the Master-Jam Fest, and … Read More “Joey Alexander: Warna (Verve)”
“In accordance with the new fairness-in-broadcasting doctrine,” ran a long-ago edition of Nicole Hollander’s Sylvia comic strip, “we are giving the next five minutes of … Read More “Jo Jones: The Drums (Hudson Music)”
You glean Brian Blade’s ecstasy from his huge smiles behind the drum kit, but you need close listening to glean his genius. He exposes the … Read More “Jeff Denson/Romain Pilon/Brian Blade: Between Two Worlds (Ridgeway)”
