Here is a fun exercise for a reader’s consideration. Consider these two quotes: “[It is] just a bunch of notes thrown together without melody or soul—hardly what I’d call music” and “[It’s] not music… [it] doesn’t require musicianship….” What genre of music are they referring to? Here is a hint- the music grew organically through […]
Although instruments like the Teleharmonium plugged in as early as the late Nineteenth Century, it was not until the 1970s that electronic sounds would meet the depths of human improvisation-based music by the name of jazz. At the height of fusion, synthesizers added to the works of Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, and others. […]
Despite its jagged start, listen to Cantica Profana – The Béla Bartók Field Recordings (Sunnyside, 2025) its whole way through as it evolves into gorgeously flowing music. On the album- those who purchase the two LP set will also receive The Athenaeum Concert (Sunnyside, 2025) by the same artists – pianist Lucian Ban, violist Mat […]
Fresh off their appearance at the Big Ears Festival, which this author unfortunately missed, the trio Fieldwork return with their first album in almost two decades, Thereupon (Pi, 2025). You will likely not find three more decorated individuals in any trio than those in this band: Vijay Iyer, Steve Lehman, and Tyshawn Sorey. Pianist Iyer […]
Caelan Cardello is breaking out. As part of vocalist Tyreek McDole’s backing quartet at this summer’s Newport Jazz Festival, the pianist-composer impressed the audience with his comfort with hard swinging numbers and his duetting with McDole on the standard “Lush Life.” Few in attendance knew Cardello’s forthcoming debut, Chapter One (Jazz Bird, 2025), would arrive […]
Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music, 2025) is alto saxophonist-composer Miguel Zenón’s first live album with his quartet and eighteenth overall. Its eight tracks were recorded over two nights in September 2024 at the hallowed jazz shrine in Greenwich Village. Zenon employs his longstanding quartet of pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, […]
There is a particular power in the creation that comes out of long-term artistic relationships. While there is an excitement in the novelty of working with new collaborators, often it is within the comfort of the familiar that artists are most able to expand and conquer new realms. It is within this space with a […]
Strap yourself in for an exhilarating ride. Trombonist and composer Jacob Carchik’s Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (Yestereve, 2025) is the follow-up to the first Ye Olde (Yestereve, 2015) from a decade earlier. The older album imagined a band of heroes journeying through an imaginary medieval Brooklyn. For the second voyage, many […]
The comparison of a familiar hell to a strange heaven drives Australian-born bassist and composer Linda May Han Oh’s thinking for her trio album Strange Heavens (Biophilia, 2025). It is far too easy to be lulled by society into complacency and benign acceptance of social and political conditions. Strange Heavens stands opposed to this status […]
The well-decorated Cuban-born, Brooklyn-based pianist Aruán Ortiz has developed his reputation in the avant-garde or free jazz world. Typically, when thinking of a free jazz pianist, Cecil Taylor, or more recently, Matthew Shipp, comes to most people’s minds. Ortiz only barely resembles either, rarely taking free-form rollicking excursions on this album. He is far more […]
