10 Apr
Tabligh by Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet
Thursday, 10 April 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
This 2008 release led by progressive jazz trumpeter and early member of Chicago’s cutting-edge AACM consortium, Wadada Leo Smith will certainly reside near the …
04 Apr
Lifelines by Bruno Raberg
Friday, 04 April 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Bassist/composer Bruno Raberg has released a new double CD called Lifelines on his label Orbis Music. The album showcases an eclectic world of music carrying an a…
04 Apr
Control Room by The Remote Viewers
Friday, 04 April 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Get them while they last as they say. Since this five-CD set is a limited numbered edition of only 200 pressings. With five releases for Leo Records, followed by the duo…
02 Apr
The Beautiful Enabler by Mauger (Mahanthappa / Dresser / Hemingway)
Wednesday, 02 April 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Drummer Gerry Hemingway and bassist Mark Dresser are progressive jazz pioneers via performances and recordings with legendary multi-reedman/composer Anthony Braxton. Ult…
01 Apr
Music From Europe by Gunter Hampel Group
Tuesday, 01 April 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
German vibist Gunter Hampel is among the early pioneers of Europe’s progressive jazz realm. Recorded in Holland on December 21, 1966, this reissue of the original LP sou…
29 Mar
European Jazz Factory by Koppel Piromalli Kornazov Andersson Humair
Saturday, 29 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Benjamin Koppel is a Danish saxophonist. On this recording European Jazz Factory he is the composer of all but three of the songs and fills the role of producer. The…
28 Mar
This Is Our Moosic by Mostly Other People Do The Killing
Friday, 28 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Mostly Other People Do The Killing - one of the more creative group monikers I've encountered in many years - is an extremely energetic quartet of young virtuoso musicia…
18 Mar
Tabligh by Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Published in
Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Wadada Leo Smith is a trumpeter, composer, teacher, and theoretician best known for his association with Chicago’s seminal Association For The Advancement of Creative Mu…
11 Mar
Heat Wave by Satoko Fujii’s Ma-do
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii has made a name for herself as a prophet of eclectic modern jazz. Her latest quartet, Ma-do features herself on piano, her husband Natsuki …
11 Mar
Zul Zeb by Jorge Lima Barreto
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
I am not intimately familiar with Jorge Lima Barreto’s output yet per the album notes, the title of this 2008 effort indicates the modus operandi of his ongoing musical …
10 Mar
Explosions by Bob James Trio
Monday, 10 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
How many of you would believe that keyboardist Bob James - one of the founding fathers of smooth/contemporary jazz - recorded a now, minor-classic free-jazz and experime…
09 Mar
Dry Bridge Road by Noah Preminger Group
Sunday, 09 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Jazz saxophonist Noah Preminger takes classic jazz and free style to new melodic heights on his latest release, Dry Bridge Road. The 22-year old composer/saxoph…
08 Mar
Free Zone Appleby 2007 by Paolo Angeli - Evan Parker - Ned Rothenberg
Saturday, 08 March 2008
Published in
Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
These duo and trio performances at St. Michael’s Church, culled from the 2007 Appleby Jazz Festival in Appleby, England., signify the freely improvised component to the …
08 Mar
Kenbillou by ESATrio
Saturday, 08 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Per the album notes, these three artists have respectively appeared on almost fifty CIMP recordings. Needless to state, they’re very busy folks and seldom - or perhaps n…
06 Mar
Renewal by David Liebman – Ellery Eskelin – Tony Marino – Jim Black
Thursday, 06 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
This 2008 release presents some of the more intense tenor sax work you’ll likely hear. It’s a coherent and structured endeavor, where song-form and furious improvisation…
04 Mar
Stories & Grooves by Augusto Monk
Tuesday, 04 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Augusto Monk’s self-produced DVD, Stories & Grooves, is a rather curious and somewhat atypical production, to say the least. Here again is another form of (I gu…
03 Mar
Boustrophedon by Evan Parker - Transatlantic Art Ensemble
Monday, 03 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Saxophone giants Roscoe Mitchell and Evan Parker have reaped numerous benefits by employing the multinational Transatlantic Art Ensemble. And as the press release it…
01 Mar
Clear by Conveniens
Saturday, 01 March 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Clear is the rerelease of a 1987 album by a group known as Conveniens. It contains some of the most atypical free jazz arrangements that I have heard to date, if …
29 Feb
Leef by Industrial Jazz Group
Friday, 29 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
The Industrial Jazz Group (IJG) is a group based in Los Angeles with a taste for the very, very atypical. A critic once described the free jazz group as "cerebral, swing…
28 Feb
Caetitu (2007) by Yedo Gibson - Veryan Weston - Marcio Mattos - Martin Bl
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Published in
Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Music improvisation is a language unto itself as this multi-national unit proves that point to the highest degree. Recorded live at a venue in Cologne, Germany., this qu…
26 Feb
Chicken or Beef? by Reptet
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Kinda contemporary, kinda free/avant garde, kind of a serious melting pot of styles often defying classification in many ways, Reptet has released its third album, C…
26 Feb
One More Time by Borah Bergman & Giorgio Dini
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Italian bassist Giogio Dini and legendary and prominent pianist Borah Bergman present us an exceptional memento with One More Time. Their counterpoint is shaped o…
25 Feb
Light And Darkness by Ivan Valentini
Monday, 25 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Ivan Valentini’s jazz quintet is an avant garde ensemble whose latest release, Light And Darkness is an active display of contrasting lyrical configurations and j…
23 Feb
Cosmic Suite by Matthew Shipp Quartet
Saturday, 23 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Modern day piano hero Matthew Shipp adds to his voluminous discography with this curiously interesting 2008 date, that at times, sketches out (less physical) parallels t…
23 Feb
Cloudy Then Sunny by Satoko Fujii's Junk Box
Saturday, 23 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
The avant garde trio of Junk Box have released their second effort, Cloudy Then Sunny on Libra Records. The trio comprises of pianist Satoko Fujii, her husband an…
23 Feb
Trace A River by Satoko Fujii
Saturday, 23 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Freestyle jazz pianist/composer Satoko Fujii expresses on her website that for her ultimate goal, "I would love to make music that no one has heard before."Her la…
21 Feb
Alone by Denis Beuret
Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
The title of this CD might imply a sense of isolation or perhaps an introspective type of musical paradigm. On the contrary, Swiss bass trombonist Denis Beuret professes…
21 Feb
Seraphic Light by Saxophone Summit
Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
In Seraphic Light three great musicians, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman and Ravi Coltrane get together as Saxophone Summit to further the legacy of the great jazz innovato…
13 Feb
Mimidokodesuka by Osorezan
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Osorezan is not exactly a band per se, but a configuration of three musicians who routinely blur the distinctions between composition and improvisation, between rock, ja…
13 Feb
Trio & Triangle by Spontaneous Music Ensemble & Orchestra
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Producer Martin Davidson’s interesting liner notes detail the Spontaneous Music Ensemble’s post 1976 change in direction and the events surrounding these tracks that hav…
07 Feb
Piano Music (1968-2000) Performed by Genevieve Foccroulle by Anthony Braxton
Thursday, 07 February 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
This attractively packaged and priced, nine-CD set provides an outside looking in glimpse of multi-reed performer/composer and occasional pianist, Anthony Braxton’s comp…
27 Jan
Absolute, absolutely by Stephen Gauci Quartet
Sunday, 27 January 2008
Published in
Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Per the liners, saxophonist Stephen Gauci has accelerated his group-led and sideman based career, largely since 2004 through the present. His new 2008 release with estim…
24 Jan
Solace by Jamie Baum
Thursday, 24 January 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
When one thinks of the flute, pastel tones come to mind conjuring up images of fluttering winged creatures and dancing figures belonging to the fae world. Jamie Baum is …
20 Jan
Long Ago Today by Sumi Tonooka
Sunday, 20 January 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Jazz pianist Sumi Tonooka has released her fifth studio album, Long Ago Today featuring her long-time bass player Rufus Reid and her drummer Bob Braye who passed …
17 Jan
Method To The Madness by Celia Whiren + Ryan Meisel Creative Music Ensemble
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Published in
Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
There've been many important, fascinating, entertaining, and sometimes even perplexing duo-performers in jazz: Bill Evans/Jim Hall, Ellington/Blanton, Marilyn Crispell/E…
03 Jan
Live at the Kerava Jazz Festival: Finland by Kali Z. Fasteau / Kidd Jordan
Thursday, 03 January 2008
Published in
Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Multi-instrumentalist and improv-wizardress Kali Z. Fasteau -- the artist formerly known as Zusaan Kali Fasteau -- is an amazing musician/performer, one that ought to be…
01 Jan
Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra by Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra
Tuesday, 01 January 2008
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Legendary free-jazz trumpeter/educator and stylist Bill Dixon doesn’t record much, but thankfully, he connected with cornetist/composer Rob Mazurek and founder of the
31 Jul
Boink by Matt Rippetoe
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
From listening to the title track of this 2007 debut Matt Rippetoe release you get the distinct impression Rippetoe doesn’t take himself too seriously. Boink is at t…
30 Jul
Letter From America by Paul Hemmings Trio with John Tchicai
Monday, 30 July 2007
Published in
Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Paul Hemmings is a talented guitarist who is as deft a distortionist as he is an outside tight-rope experimenter, offering an aural painting that is as bold as it is exc…
28 Jul
Each Part A Whole by The Macro Quarktet
Saturday, 28 July 2007
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
This, as far as I know, is the common formula for making music: you take several distinct sounds and intertwine and mix and blend them until you have one definitive over…
24 Jul
The Crab by Joe Fiedler Trio
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
You see a lot of jazz trio recordings with either piano, guitar, or saxophone accompanied by bass and drums. A trombone-led trio recording really stands out, simply by virt…
24 Jul
Connections by Kevin Frenette 4
Tuesday, 24 July 2007
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Using the conventional instrumental lineup of bass, piano, guitar, and percussion, the Kevin Frenette 4 - a Boston-based free jazz quartet - manages to produce some mighty …
21 Jul
Samsingen by Samsingen
Saturday, 21 July 2007
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Samsingen is an unlikely collaboration between Swedish classical vocalist Anna-Kajsa Holmberg and a group of Italian improvising musicians led by the Serrapigli…
20 Jul
Both Far and Near by Kioku
Friday, 20 July 2007
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
The past few years have spawned a plethora of unlikely musical hybrids. The New York-based trio Kioku is surely one of the most unlikely that I've ever encountered. Compris…
20 Jul
Just Like This by Keefe Jackson's Project Project
Friday, 20 July 2007
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Multi-reed artist, composer, and Arkansas native Keefe Jackson is one of the leading lights of the ever-burgeoning, always fertile Chicago improvised music scene. Also a me…
19 Jul
Live In Lugano - 2006 by Ganelin Trio Priority
Thursday, 19 July 2007
Published in
Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
Lithuanian keyboardist Vyacheslav Ganelin was the leader of the Ganelin Trio, the first avant-garde jazz ensemble from the Soviet Union to achieve notoriety on the other si…
16 Jul
...its another Miller Time' by Miller Time
Monday, 16 July 2007
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
.... it’s another Miller Time is an interesting and expressive album that categorically embraces "free jazz." While not terribly impressive, there’s something e…
11 Jul
Inner Constellation, Volume 1 by Bruce Eisenbeil Sextet
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
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Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
It's hard to believe that more than ten years have passed since guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil burst on on to the avant-jazz scene with two remarkable recordings released almost…
11 Jul
Piccoli Numeri by Walter Beltrami / Roberto Bordriga / Emanuele Maniscalco
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Published in
Free Jazz / Avante Garde - CD Reviews
"Piccoli Numeri" ('Small Numbers') is a rather unassuming sort of title for a jazz CD, but it fits right in with Walter Beltrami's less-is-more approach. His bandmates incl…
Trumpeter and composer Cuong Vu has been a stalwart on the Downtown NYC scene since his arrival in the mid-1990s. A veteran of numerous genre-bending musical projects that …