This album finds rising jazz star and saxophonist Miguel Zenon delving into third stream arenas with his augmentation of the base quartet by adding a strings quar…
22 Jan
Stratostrophic by Empty Cage Quartet
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
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Progressive - CD Reviews
This West Coast USA-based quartet brings quite a bit to the proverbial table. With a seamlessly integrated bag of concepts and methodologies, the unit merges staggered u…
Swiss composer and pianist Nik Bartsch has led the quintet Ronin for a number of years. Holon, the ensemble’s second recording, is full of music not easy to diges…
13 Jan
Life In Leipzig by Ketil Bjornstad and Terje Rypdal
Sunday, 13 January 2008
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Norwegian pianist Ketil Bjornstad is one of those few men left in the world to which the title eclectic truly means something. Not just a performer of classical and impr…
13 Jan
Rabo De Nube by Charles Lloyd Quartet
Sunday, 13 January 2008
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This 2008 release coincides with modern jazz master, Charles Lloyd’s seventieth birthday. Nonetheless, his legacy should be considered common knowledge among many jazz a…
10 Jan
Invisible Baby by Marco Benevento
Thursday, 10 January 2008
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Thirty-year old keyboardist Marco Benevento follows up his widely-acclaimed three-CD set Live at Tonic with a wondrous extension of his musicality on this 2008 st…
10 Jan
Standard Orbit Quartet by Ted Kooshian
Thursday, 10 January 2008
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On this self-titled release, pianist/arranger Ted Kooshian and his Standard Orbit Quartet explore an intriguing set of tunes inspired by pop culture and the sounds of ma…
09 Jan
Live DVD by Elvin Jones Jazz Machine
Wednesday, 09 January 2008
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Taken from a 1991 performance at Theaterhaus in Stuttgart, Germany, legendary jazz drummer Elvin Jones and his quintet Jazz Machine are filmed during a show-stopping per…
08 Jan
Stories Before Within by Jason Kao Hwang/Edge
Tuesday, 08 January 2008
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No instruments have greater dramatic possibilities than the bowed strings. Violinist Jason Kao Hwang knows this well, and he exploits it: Everything from the compositions t…
07 Jan
The Third Man by Enrico Rava and Stefano Bollani
Monday, 07 January 2008
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Thoughtful jazz, truly thoughtful jazz, might be the rarest art form. For it to be successful there can be no moments when the artist, or artists, involved are not total…
04 Jan
In Two Minds by Bill Bruford and Michiel Borstlap
Friday, 04 January 2008
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Drummer-percussionist Bill Bruford powerful percussive rhythms drove some of the best progressive rock bands during that genre’s heydays in the 1970s. He was the authoritat…
04 Jan
Stories From The Shed by The Wrong Object
Friday, 04 January 2008
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This young Belgian quintet does indeed intimate inferences from jazz/prog-rock heavyweights Soft Machine, King Crimson and other seminal bands. Unlike many…
Paris-based French pianist, composer and film scorer Olivier Calmel designed Empreintes to be a concept album. Formed around the more modern classical composers C…
Gest8 is the creation of saxophonist and composer Sandy Evans, and composer and bandleader Tony Gorman. The eight-member ensemble is, in some ways, an Australian quasi-e…
50 year-old Swedish saxophonist Cennet Jonsson is well known in his native country from work with the Tolvan Big Band, the Peter Danemo orchestra, the Jonsson/Karlzon du…
02 Jul
As We Know It by Brian Patneaude Quartet
Monday, 02 July 2007
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Born in Schenectady, New York and now regionally based in the Albany, New York and surrounding counties area, saxophonist and composer Brian Patneaude has performed at j…
This music draws its inspiration from the holographic principle in nature, the universe and existence itself...that is, just as the vastness of the...
Loose Wig is a Bay Area based, contemporary jazz quartet that plays ground-breaking original compositions mixed with a few choice jazz standards. L...
The Loud Jazz Band, founded and led by guitarist and composer Miroslaw "Carlos" Kaczmarczyk, today uses Oslo, Norway as their home base. This version of the ensemble was…
Brooke Sofferman, a former student of John Abercrombie's, is an 'emerging' tour-de-force in neo-bop jazz. As you will sense immediately when you spin Fine Whines,…
12 Jun
Namesake Caution by Time Of Orchids
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
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These New Yorkers abide by a unique approach to the progressive rock idiom. With their inaugural album for this eminent prog-rock/jazz record label, they communicate a h…
11 Jun
Homecoming – Live at the Iridium by Eddie Daniels
Monday, 11 June 2007
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Legendary clarinetist/saxophonist Eddie Daniels, who has made his home in New Mexico for more than fifteen years, made a triumphant return to his hometown of New York in…
Swiss reedman Lucien Dubuis is a well-seasoned Swiss artiste who communicates youthful vigor with maturity well beyond his thirty-three years. As this 2007 trio date enc…
10 Jun
Gentle Path Highway by The Spacious Mind
Sunday, 10 June 2007
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Gentle Path Highway is the 10th release by Swedish psychedelic jam-rockers The Spacious Mind. Unlike a lot of bands working in this vein, TSM has an unusually f…
Upon listening to this 2007 release, it would seem unlikely that composer/guitarist and sound-sculpting wiz Steve MacLean performed with jazz trombone great Roswell Rudd…
Multi-reed ace Craig Yaremko’s third outing as a leader provides a rather intense and multifaceted glimpse of modern jazz. With his foil and trumpeter Nathan Eklund, the…
He’s a serious-minded jazz musician who casts a distinct voice among the horde of post-boppers who are seemingly flooding the somewhat overcrowded jazz market. Alto saxo…
18 May
Amor De Cosmos by Michael Blake Sextet
Friday, 18 May 2007
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New York area saxophonist/composer and Vancouver, B.C., native Michael Blake aligns with some of the major young voices of the Canadian progressive jazz scene on this al…
17 May
Follow The Red Line – Live at the Village Vanguard by Chris Potter Underground
Thursday, 17 May 2007
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Tenor sax ace Chris Potter’s surging climb to the pinnacle of that select area of jazz greats picks up steam with this hard-hitting live date featuring his bass-less qua…
15 May
Knight Of The Blue Communion by Peter Ivers Band
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
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Peter Ivers is the writer of "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)," for director David Lynch’s cult-classic 1976 film Eraserhead. And while I’m not familiar wit…
12 May
Dedicated To You...But You Werent Listening - The Music Of Soft Machine by Delta Saxophone Quartet
Saturday, 12 May 2007
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Formed in 1984, the modus operandi of this saxophone quartet is rooted within performing a select sampling of a given artist/composer’s discography. They’ve tackled and …
Iraqi-American trumpeter and visionary Amir ElSaffar is weaver of genres here on this altogether, enticing progressive-jazz effort. Enveloping the world music vibe amid …
A hip friend and music critic recently advised (or demanded) that I check out this very hip and young quintet. Long story short, the band’s latest album will sure be cou…
Since his fabled British Canterbury progressive rock days with Soft Machine, Matching Mole and as a preeminent solo artist, composer/vocalist Robert Wyatt’s reverence is…
It’s not a revelation that trumpeter Wallace Roney’s mode of attack and overall sound has been compared to Miles Davis. Yet few will doubt his enviable technical acumen,…
The moniker identifies the trio as an inter-oceanic entity, featuring a Japanese and Argentinean contingent. As they merge a worldly perspective into an upbeat jazz-guit…
01 May
Rain Falls In Grey by Radio Massacre International
Tuesday, 01 May 2007
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For my money, there are few prog/space-rock bands that can measure up to this U.K., based unit’s aptitude, focus and overall methodology within a genre that is apt to be…
30 Apr
Song For Anyone by Chris Potter 10
Monday, 30 April 2007
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Saxophonist Chris Potter’s spiraling relevance within global jazz circles as a brilliant improviser who seamlessly merges power with finesse, shines here. But the differ…
28 Apr
When Your Fingers Find The Shapes by Lowercase p
Saturday, 28 April 2007
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This New England-based trio merges a few retro ‘70s era prog-rock type innuendoes with jazz-rock, house beats and other genres. But more importantly, they pronounce a un…
28 Apr
Between The Lines by Mike Moreno
Saturday, 28 April 2007
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The list of modern jazz artists that Mike Moreno has recorded with would gobble up too much space here. In any event, this new release marks the New York City based guit…
Boston area drummer/composer Brooke Sofferman’s fourth release as a leader features more of the pop, zip and vitality witnessed in the past. And he always aligns himself…
Drummer Manu Katché picks up where he left off on his inaugural 2004 solo release for this Germany-based record label titled Resurrection. Well-regarded for his s…
Danish multi-instrumentalist Robin Taylor’s latest progressive-rock extravaganza might loom as one of his finest recorded hours to date. Featuring an armada of keyboards…
20 Apr
The Book Of The Storm by Rob Reddy
Friday, 20 April 2007
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This recent venture represents something of a transformation for New York City based, and mega-talented reedman/composer Rob Reddy. Abetted by grants and other artistic …
19 Apr
Wishful Thinking by Wishful Thinking
Thursday, 19 April 2007
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Featuring mega-talented pianist Alex Maguire, this supremely talented European quintet generates some high-heat throughout this rather extroverted progressive-jazz date.…
17 Apr
Big Four Live by Max Nagl - Bernstein-Akchote-Jones
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
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Given the respective discographies of these superb musicians and visionaries, we’ve learned to assume the unexpected. This European-American quartet finds alto saxophoni…
16 Apr
Sound Of The Apocalypse by Black Bonzo
Monday, 16 April 2007
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Leave it to our brothers across the pond in Scandinavia to absorb, morph and help re-stylize the tried and true, whether we’re talking jazz, classical or in this case, p…
Welcome Chicago trumpeter/composer Greg Duncan to the growing list of jazz artists. His compositional style, paired with his astounding playing will send Duncan toward t…
King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto and multi-instrumentalist Markus Reuter along with guest artists, elicit a largely pulsating storybook mindset via a progressive-rock…
29 Mar
Altered Realities by Erdem Helvacioglu
Thursday, 29 March 2007
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Turkish guitarist Erdem Helvacioglu recorded these largely ambient acoustic-electric works in an Istanbul studio. As a habit, I rarely peruse liner notes till I preview …