Clik here to view.
DAVID VIRELLES - Continuum (2012)
A young, prodigious Cuban born-and-raised pianist and composer recasts the folklore and culture of his homeland, filtered by the teachings of some of jazz’s greatest living avantists.David Virelles...
View ArticleClik here to view.
LARRY CORYELL·PHILIP CATHERINE - Twin House (1977)
The first of two fine guitar duet recordings with Phillip Catherine. Of the two, Catherine's sound is more rooted in the tradition of Django Reinhardt and tends to be more introspective. Coryell is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
JOHN ABERCROMBIE & JOHN RUOCCO - Topics (2007)
Tracks01. Embraceable You (George & Ira Gershwin) 02. Slides (Abercrombie/Ruocco) 03. Sometime Ago (Sergio Mihanovich) 04. Phrases (Abercrombie/Ruocco) 05. I Can't Get Started (Vernon Duke/Ira...
View ArticleClik here to view.
DEWEY REDMAN·CECIL TAYLOR·ELVIN JONES - Momentum Space (1998)
This came as something of a shock one day back in 2000 when I walked into a local record store and saw this on the display shelf. Was this really new? Is that seriously Elvin Jones playing with Cecil...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ANDREW HILL - Divine Revelation (1975)
For this quartet date, the great and innovative pianist/composer Andrew Hill performs "Here's That Rainy Day," and his powerful 25-minute opus "Divine Revelation," and three more concise originals...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ANDREW HILL - Invitation (1974)
After a flurry of recordings for Blue Note during the 1960s, Andrew Hill didn't make another album as a leader until this Steeplechase studio session in 1974. Not that the pianist was inactive during...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ANDREW HILL - Nefertiti (1976)
Originally recorded for the Japanese East Wind label and only made available domestically on a 1979 Inner City LP, this trio outing by pianist Andrew Hill also features bassist Richard Davis and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ANDREW HILL - Eternal Spirit (1989)
Andrew Hill returned to the Blue Note label (where he made many significant releases during 1963-80) for a stimulating quintet date with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, altoist Greg Osby, bassist Rufus...
View ArticleClik here to view.
JOHN ABERCROMBIE·DAVE HOLLAND·JACK DeJOHNETTE - Gateway 2 (1978)
Unlike the first Gateway album, this CD reissue puts more of an emphasis on the rockish side of guitarist John Abercrombie's style. Abercrombie (who also plays some electric mandolin) still indulges...
View ArticleClik here to view.
JOHN ABERCROMBIE·JAREK SMIETANA·HARVIE SWARTZ·ADAM CZERWIŃSKI - Speak Easy...
Tracks01. Water Games (part One) (Smietana/Abercrombie)02. Forest Power (Smietana)03. Speak Easy (Abercrombie)04. Tightrope (Smietana)05. Water Games (part Two) (Abercrombie)06. Follow The Fellow...
View ArticleClik here to view.
BILL CONNORS - Swimming With A Hole In My Body (1979)
Bill Connors’s follow-up to his solo debut, Theme To The Guardian, is more than the latter’s other half; it is a deeper look inward. From the moment we step “Feet First” into this veritable sonic...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CURTIS FULLER - Four On The Outside (1978)
While Curtis Fuller may have reached his peak in the 1960s, he continued to be an important voice well into the 1970s and beyond. This delightful set features him in a front line with Pepper Adams,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
PAUL BLEY TRIO - Blood (1966)
Paul Bley has long offered avant-garde pianists an alternative approach to improvising than that of Cecil Taylor. Bley has been able to use melody and space in inventive ways while performing fairly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
DAVE PIKE & CHARLES McPHERSON - Bluebird (1988)
Jazz experts love to speculate on the types of music that Charlie Parker might have embraced had he not died in 1955. Had Bird lived to see the 1960s and 1970s, would he have embraced modal jazz,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NILS LANDGREN·ESBJÖRN SVENSSON - Swedish Folk Modern (1998)
Contrary to Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch, jazz is no longer an American or, even more specifically, Afro-American art form. Jazz has, in fact, always been about incorporating music from various...
View ArticleClik here to view.
MANUEL VARELA - New Cuban Express (2012)
I have waited for a few decades for this recording. Back when GES, Emiliano Salvador, Afrocuba, Irakere and a select few similar groups were the state of the art, I heard things in all of these...
View ArticleClik here to view.
NICOLE MITCHELL - Intergalactic Beings (2014)
Intergalactic Beings forms the second chapter in flutist Nicole Mitchell's science fiction derived discographical strand. Like the first, Xenogenesis Suite (Firehouse 12, 2008), it showcases Mitchell...
View ArticleClik here to view.
MARY HALVORSON QUINTET - Bending Bridges (2012)
The widely celebrated 2010 debut of Mary Halvorson's Quintet, Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12), confirmed the young guitarist's growing reputation with a selection of urbane compositions as impressive as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
MARY HALVORSON - Reverse Blue (2014)
In the past few years, Mary Halvorson, already an acclaimed member of New York's Downtown improv scene, has been earning widespread recognition as a bandleader and composer of note. Her writing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
PAOLO FRESU·ANTONELLO SALIS·FURIO DI CASTRI - P.A.F. Morph (2004)
In nineteen short to fairly short pieces, this trio often makes pleasant music. The opening is surprising, with unclear sounds, some piano notes, Italian voices. Then trumpeter Paolo Fresu immediately...
View Article