J.D. Considine has been writing about jazz and other forms of music since 1977. His work has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Musician, Spin, Vibe, Blender, Revolver, and Guitar World. He was music critic at the Baltimore Sun for 13 years, and jazz critic at the Globe and Mail for nine. He has lived in Toronto since 2001.
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Even though they’re often neighbors in the rhythm section, piano and guitar are not typically a good fit for jazz duets. Some of that has … Read More “Sylvie Courvoisier/Mary Halvorson: Searching for the Disappeared Hour (Pyroclastic)”
Recorded somewhere along the 3Dom Factor’s 2019 reunion tour, Long Tall Sunshine is the sort of album that will leave listeners wondering why these guys … Read More “Barry Altschul’s 3Dom Factor: Long Tall Sunshine (Not Two)”
When Lee Morgan’s Live at the Lighthouse was originally released, in March 1971, it was a double-LP set with four sidelong selections. When it was … Read More “Lee Morgan: The Complete Live at the Lighthouse (Blue Note)”
As a bandleader, Orrin Evans seems remarkably egoless. He doesn’t write to showcase his instrumental gifts, or turn solos into marathons; hell, he doesn’t even … Read More “Orrin Evans: The Magic of Now (Smoke Sessions)”
In Japanese folk music, it’s common to find women singing while accompanying themselves on the shamisen (a fretless, three-stringed lute). In jazz, not so much, … Read More “Emi Makabe: Anniversary (Greenleaf)”
As she made plain on her 2018 debut Fullmoon, Canadian-born, New York-based Steph Richards is a virtuoso of otherworldly trumpet sound. So when Supersense, her … Read More “Steph Richards: Supersense (Northern Spy)”
Making electronic music is very different from live improvisation—so much so that few musicians have even tried to bring the two together. On one side, … Read More “Junk Magic: Compass Confusion (Pyroclastic)”
Is it right to consider an album a success when you don’t get enough of the main artist? That’s the question some listeners will have … Read More “Quinsin Nachoff: Pivotal Arc (Whirlwind)”
Recorded live “somewhere” in 2014, Pre-Apocalyptic is the third and most impassioned album by bassist Michael Formanek’s quartet. The release itself is almost offhand, part … Read More “Michael Formanek Quartet: Pre-Apocalyptic (Out of Your Head)”
The name “Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut” is both joke and genius. The “butt” of the humor should be obvious to anyone over age seven, while … Read More “Joe Fiedler’s Big Sackbut: Live in Graz (Multiphonics)”
For many in North America, Transylvania is less a land on the map than an imagining of Hollywood, a spooky place of crumbling castles and … Read More “Lucien Ban/Mat Maneri/John Surman: Transylvanian Folk Songs (Sunnyside)”
Star turns can be awfully distracting at times. Take, for example, “Four Questions,” the title track of the sixth album Arturo O’Farrill has made with … Read More “Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra: Four Questions (Zoho)”
On the surface, Three seems an utterly prosaic title. As students at Berklee, guitarist Lionel Loueke, bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth formed a … Read More “Gilfema: Three (Sounderscore)”
For the first 28 seconds of Last Desert, all we hear is Liberty Ellman’s guitar, stating the principal theme to “The Sip” as bassist Stephan Crump … Read More “Liberty Ellman: Last Desert (Pi)”
However much the trombone palette has grown elsewhere, in jazz it’s as if we never left the Tommy Dorsey era, in which the lead tone … Read More “Audrey Ochoa: Frankenhorn (Chronograph)”
“Cat Walk,” the first track on Crazy Time, opens with a four-chord minor-key progression over a pedal bass, driven by an insistent shuffle beat. It’s … Read More “Shuffle Demons: Crazy Time (Stubby)”
Just as he has two roles musically, as a trombonist and singer, Nils Landgren has two sides stylistically: the upbeat and the sedate. Kristallen, his … Read More “Nils Landgren & Jan Lundgren: Kristallen (ACT)”
When a drummer composes something called “Free Time,” many jazz listeners will leap to the conclusion that it’s unmetered chaos, the sort of sonic hurly-burly … Read More “Mareike Wiening: Metropolis Paradise (Greenleaf)”
Leo Sherman has the qualities many bandleaders look for in a bass player. He’s technically adept; he keeps solid time; he can be depended on … Read More “Leo Sherman: Tonewheel (Outside In)”
Musicians are also usually music fans, with favorite songs and private enthusiasms that don’t always obviously connect to the music they make. Much of what’s … Read More “Florian Hoefner Trio: First Spring (Alma)”
Although traditional folk songs have been a favorite source for classical composers from Brahms to Bartók, they don’t have a corresponding place in the jazz … Read More “Eri Yamamoto Trio & Choral Chameleon: Goshu Ondo Suite (AUM Fidelity)”
To say that Randy Weston was underappreciated is not the same as saying he wasn’t appreciated; instead, it’s to acknowledge that the honors he received, … Read More “T.K. Blue: The Rhythms Continue (JAJA)”
Although jazz guitar players have been amplified since the days of Charlie Christian, for the most part they’ve been fairly cautious about how they used … Read More “Olli Hirvonen: Displace (Ropeadope)”
If you look inside the CD package of Ragmala, the Go: Organic Orchestra’s collaboration with Brooklyn Raga Massive, you’ll find a Carnatic music proverb: “Shruthir … Read More “Adam Rudolph: The Matrix Reloaded”
Two years ago, tabla master Zakir Hussain assembled a sextet he called Crosscurrents, which brought together Indian and Western musicians to explore the jazz content … Read More “Dave Holland/Zakir Hussain/Chris Potter: Good Hope (Edition)”
Strings are the connectors on bassist Ben Wolfe’s Fatherhood. Not heartstrings, mind, but violins, viola, and cello. Wolfe’s father Dan was a violinist, and the … Read More “Ben Wolfe: Fatherhood (Resident Arts)”
In a strange way, the best thing about Diego Rivera’s third album, Connections, is the extent to which we don’t hear him. Not that there’s … Read More “Diego Rivera: Connections (Posi-Tone)”
“Intuit,” the title tune from Australian expat Jonathon Crompton’s debut, opens auspiciously, with Crompton’s alto squeaking the shreds of a melody between squealing harmonics, as … Read More “Jonathon Crompton: Intuit (New Lab)”
On his third album, drummer Curtis Nowosad celebrates his move from Winnipeg, Manitoba to New York, N.Y. by updating his sound. Where his first two … Read More “Curtis Nowosad: Curtis Nowosad (Sessionheads United)”
As album concepts go, guitarist Eric Hofbauer’s Five Agents project is pretty solid. Taking inspiration from Wu Xing, an ancient Daoist precept that sees the … Read More “Eric Hofbauer: Book of Water (Creative Nation)”
