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OLIVER LAKE QUINTET - Expandable Language (1985)
Tracks01. Tracks02. Expandable Language03. Comous04. N.S.05. Page Four06. Soons07. Everybody Knows ThatFRED HOPKINS bassPHEEROAN AKLAFF drumsKEVIN EUBANKS guitarGERI ALLEN pianoOLIVER LAKE alto...
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ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO - Sirius Calling (2003)
After trumpeter Lester Bowie's death in 1999, it looked as if the Art Ensemble of Chicago was finished. With multi-reedist Joseph Jarman having left the group in the early 1990s, the unit was down to a...
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WEASEL WALTER·MARY HALVORSON·PETER EVANS - Electric Fruit (2011)
Percussionist and improviser Weasel Walter often uses the term "face rip" to describe a particularly intense musical experience. In improvised music, you often don't get a "blood and guts" approach;...
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JEAN-MICHEL PILC·FRANÇOIS MOUTIN·ARI HOENIG - Threedom (2011)
Jean-Michel Pilc has often been criticized for falling into the technical demonstration with a certain coldness and a lack of musicality. None of that here!The proposed themes are relatively short but...
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THE UNITED JAZZ + ROCK ENSEMBLE - Live Im Schutzenhaus (1977)
The United Jazz & Rock Ensemble sought to blend the best elements of avant-garde jazz with rock when it was formed in the 1970s. With the presence of such talented musicians like keyboardist...
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GIANLUIGI TROVESI·GIANNI COSCIA - Radici (1995)
Gianluigi Trovesi has distinguished himself as one of the leaders of the small, but active, Italian jazz avant-garde. Although he is often heard on saxophone, here he plays ten duets on clarinet with...
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GERI ALLEN - The Life Of A Life (2004)
Considering this disc's title, it might seem an irony that the improvising displays a good deal more dazzling life than most of the compositions. But with the personnel on this session, that isn't much...
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DAVID LIEBMAN QUINTET - If They Only Knew (1980)
Originally put out by Timeless, only to be issued in the U.S. on Impulse! eight years after the session, the phrase "if they only knew" at one time was conceived as a riposte to Liebman's critics. But...
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DAVID BINNEY - Free to Dream (1998)
Alto saxophonist Binney (a member of the band Lost Tribe) explores many frameworks within modern jazz with a mostly larger ensemble, at times as many as twelve pieces, or splintered. They include some...
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DAVE DOUGLAS - Magic Triangle (1997)
This intriguing quartet consisting of trumpeter Dave Douglas, tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist James Genus and drummer Ben Perowsky features free bop, some sound explorations, and straight-ahead...
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DAVE DOUGLAS - Mountain Passage (2005)
There is no current major jazz musician with an oeuvre more diverse than trumpeter Dave Douglas’. He has recently been associated with at least 10 very different working ensembles. Now there’s another,...
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DAN TEPFER·LEE KONITZ - Duos With Lee (2009)
This record is reminiscent of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959)—not historic, like that legendary record, which set modal jazz in motion—but very likely similar to that session, that must...
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TRIO TRANSITION - Trio Transition with Special Guest Oliver Lake (1988)
This session with guest saxophonist Oliver Lake joining the collective Trio Transition -- bassist Reggie Workman, pianist Mulgrew Miller, and drummer Frederick Waits -- represents a free bop...
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ARCHIE SHEPP - Soul Song (1982)
An overlooked treasure from Archie Shepp – a set recorded for the Enja label with a profile that's not as bold as some of his other albums, but a great later session that has some surprisingly...
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ARCHIE SHEPP·DOLLAR BRAND - Duets (1978)
A somewhat surprising pairing at the time, the former firebrand of the tenor sax and the wonderful South African pianist found a pleasant and relaxed meeting point. By 1978, Shepp had largely abandoned...
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ARCHIE SHEPP - I Know About The Life (1981)
Recorded in 1981 in a quartet setting featuring the great drummer John Betsch, bassist Santi Debriano, and pianist Ken Werner, I Know About the Life doesn't so much explore these standards as...
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MICHAEL BLAKE SEXTET - Amor de Cosmos (2007)
Canadian musicians make music differently than the rest of the world, whether it be due to the extreme weather conditions, their generally peaceful nature, or that they appreciate freedom in a unique...
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OREGON - Northwest Passage (1997)
Oregon's first recording in a while features the three surviving original members (Ralph Towner on guitar and keyboards, bassist Glen Moore, and Paul McCandless, who switches between soprano, English...
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JACOB YOUNG - Sideways (2007)
Born of an American father and Norwegian mother, Jacob Young's 2004 ECM debut, Evening Falls, may have introduced him to a more global audience, but he'd already been active on the Norwegian scene for...
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TOSHIKO AKIYOSHI·LEW TABACKIN BIG BAND - Kogun (1978)
As a writer known for her incorporation of traditional Japanese music into idiomatic big band writing, it is only on the title track of this 1974 recording that this propensity is exhibited. The rest...
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