Just when you think we’ve reached peak piano trio, a new recording arrives to demonstrate the infinite elasticity of the venerable formation. It happens so often as to become routine. Yet surprises still abound, and this is one, a digital-only EP from a hitherto unknown label – to me, at least – that is one […]
Mary Halvorson gives a wide range of effects and musical roles to her guitar, and the result is always idiosyncratic. The guitarist’s compositions have a complex, innovative edge, and Cloudward (Nonesuch, 2024) is more evidence as to why she deserves all the acclaim that comes her way. The intensity and progression of “Desiderata” is a fantastic display […]
There are recordings that dazzle you from the first few bars—or conversely, put you off—with their audacity. Then there are the agreeably conventional releases that, over time, yield their secrets by degree. Put Lucas Pino’s Covers (Outside In Music, 2023) in the latter category. Notwithstanding some evident drollery, the title proudly advertises Pino’s rejection of conceptual ambition. […]
On February 17, 2018, pianist Kris Davis played in the second of two concerts at Harvard University to honor the late jazz pianist Geri Allen. It was a fantastic night of music worthy of Allen’s tremendous talent. Davis took the stage in various ensembles, with some featuring drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, who had also curated […]
It takes daring for a producer to lead off a recording with a ballad. When that producer is Marc Free of Posi-Tone Records, a label known for scorching hard bop, the album particularly demands attention. With Green Thumb (Posi-Tone Records, 2023), pianist David Ake generously provides a varied program of surprising, even eccentric, choices that resolve with […]
For the last quarter of the 20th century, Italian labels Black Saint and Soul Note issued an influential series of recordings by Black American artists, including the World Saxophone Quartet and its members Hamiet Bluiett, Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, and David Murray. These records were hardly blowing sessions, but their loose-limbed vibe brought the expressive […]
For April, Brian Kiwanuka and Rob Shepherd provide capsule reviews of four recordings by saxophonists who are pushing music in new directions: Ingrid Laubrock’s The Last Quiet Place (Pyroclastic, 2023) [which you can also read more about here], James Brandon Lewis’ Eye of I (Anti, 2023), Ben Wendel’s All One (Edition, 2023), and John Zorn’s New Masada Vol. 2 (Tzadik, […]
For March, Brian Kiwanuka and Rob Shepherd provide capsule reviews of three recordings – Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Melusine (Nonesuch, 2023), Tomas Fujiwara’s March On (Firehouse 12, 2023), and Rubin Kodheli’s Departure (self-release, 2023)- and a SXSW performance venue – the Qobuz Sessions at KMFA Studios. Cécile McLorin Salvant- Melusine Cécile McLorin Salvant’s Mélusine is the first Salvant album […]
For February – just under the wire – we provide capsule reviews of recent works with an eye towards avant-garde expressionism. Two of the selections explore the contributions of legends of the music, while the others showcase the voices of younger practitioners of the craft. For this month, only one of these albums – Mat […]
The fourth cut on Thumbscrew’s Multicolored Midnight (Cuneiform, 2022) is entitled “Shit Changes.” You don’t have to be a climate scientist or Sam Bankman-Fried to appreciate the truth of that phrase, and it could just be another of bassist Michael Formanek’s cheekily subversive titles. Yet despite ten years of consistently provocative and satisfying music making, the cooperative […]
