In 2009, Cuban pianist Omar Sosa collaborated with eight East African musicians, making field recordings in seven countries during a tour of the continent with … Read More “Omar Sosa: An East African Journey (Otá)”
The thematic approach to Tough Baritones is about as subtle as a two-by-four upside the head, and listeners are better off for it. For decades, … Read More “Ronnie Cuber/Gary Smulyan: Tough Baritones (SteepleChase)”
The lead video for Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa’s latest album, Te Lo Dije, is an out-of-character dazzler. As López-Nussa works through a tune in the … Read More “Harold López-Nussa and the Lure of the Street”
After four decades of explorations with his New Jungle Orchestra, Danish bandleader/guitarist Pierre Dørge hasn’t forsaken the art of playfulness. The NJO’s planned 40th-anniversary celebration … Read More “Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra: Bluu Afroo (SteepleChase)”
If you’re going to make a tribute album that’s more meaningful than just reminding the listener to go play the original, it helps to highlight … Read More “Lionel Loueke: HH (Edition)”
A longtime renegade who refused to move from his native Baltimore to New York in order to avoid the groupthink of a jazz scene, self-taught … Read More “Lafayette Gilchrist: Now (Lafayette Music)”
The No Tears Suite is a sweeping tribute to the Little Rock Nine, young heroes of the civil rights movement, who integrated Little Rock Central … Read More “Christopher Parker & Kelley Hurt: No Tears Suite (Mahakala)”
Sometimes big lives require big bands. That’s what Cuban composer/pianist Manuel Valera discovered after he’d completed his 2013 Chamber Music Jazz Works commission for the … Read More “Manuel Valera/New Cuban Express Big Band: José Martí en Nueva York (Greenleaf)”
Let the record show that Oneness of Juju founder James “Plunky” Branch fostered charismatic musical ambitions. With varying degrees of success, Branch attempted to reflect … Read More “Oneness of Juju: African Rhythms 1970-1982 (Strut)”
Guitarist Miles Okazaki is in a sweet-spot phase of his career. It began in 2017 with a new quartet and its eponymous album, Trickster (2017), … Read More “Miles Okazaki: Trickster’s Dream (Pi)”
Ray Mantilla, who died in March of lymphoma at 85, knew Rebirth would be his final album. Yet there was no need for the master … Read More “Ray Mantilla: Rebirth (Savant)”
This phenomenal 41:24 piece of spontaneous improvisation is rooted in the bonding of outcats in the ’70s Deep South. Drummer Alvin Fielder, a founder of … Read More “Kidd Jordan/Joel Futterman/William Parker/Hamid Drake: A Tribute to Alvin Fielder, Live at Vision Festival XXIV (Mahakala)”
Pianist Micah Thomas has been able to play what he’s heard since the age of two, but his debut, Tide, demonstrates that this is a … Read More “Micah Thomas: Tide (Self-released)”
Trumpeter Dave Douglas doesn’t perform tributes so much as he fences with the music of jazz artists who are criminally underrated (Booker Little), towering in … Read More “Dave Douglas: Dizzy Atmosphere (Greenleaf)”
Belgian-born, German-based vocalist Sophie Tassignon has issued more than a half-dozen records since 2006 as a member of various ensembles and duos, as well as … Read More “Sophie Tassignon: Mysteries Unfold (RareNoise)”
Throughout his now five-album catalog for Posi-Tone, pianist Art Hirahara has often filtered his music through the emotional touchstones of his life, creating what amounts … Read More “Art Hirahara: Balance Point (Posi-Tone)”
“This from That” sounds like a flashback of Wayne Shorter writing for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the mid-’60s. An initially knotty opening passage straightens … Read More “Falkner Evans: Marbles (Consolidated Artists Productions)”
The narrative seems as clear-cut as an elevator pitch: Rising, still-young saxophonist felled by an illness that required extensive dialysis is now blowing with a … Read More “Dayna Stephens: Liberty (Contagious)”
Best known for his membership in the pioneering jazz-rock ensemble Tortoise—and now the elder statesman among a crew of 21st-century Chicago renegades bringing a fresh … Read More “Jeff Parker: Suite for Max Brown (Nonesuch/International Anthem)”
The serenity of Brazilian vocalist/composer Milton Nascimento is one of the most reliable virtues in all music. These two soundtracks for ballets—originally recorded early in … Read More “Milton Nascimento: Maria Maria/Ultimo Trem (Far Out)”
When you peruse the song list of Eric Alexander With Strings and notice “Lonely Woman” and “The Thrill Is Gone,” you naturally think of Ornette … Read More “Eric Alexander: Eric Alexander With Strings (HighNote)”
The evolution of New Yor-Uba, pianist Michele Rosewoman’s painstaking synthesis of modern jazz and ancient Afro-Cuban folkloric traditions, has been a journey of slow-motion magnificence. … Read More “Michele Rosewoman’s New Yor-Uba: Hallowed (Advance Dance Disques)”
