Category: Artist Profile

Source: The Quietus. Ahead of his appearance at the Barbican, backed by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, on May 5, Sean Kitching suggests ten points of entry into the back catalogue of the 85-year-old Brazilian composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer known as ‘O Bruxo’ (the Sorcerer)

Source: extended techniques. This episode is dedicated to the 90th birthday of Sofia Gubaidulina. Based on archival documents, historical publications and her interviews from the 1990s to present, the episode discusses Gubaidulina’s spiritual philosophy of music and positions her work alongside some of her most prominent contemporaries – Andrei Tarkovsky, Gennady Aygi, Valentin Silvestrov and…

Source: Nowe idzie od morza. From lyrical minimalism and soft melodies to black metal, free music and the landscape of everyday rituals. I have chosen five most interesting records released last year by Patrick Shiroishi – one of the most active musicians of 2021.

Source: Bandcamp Daily. Jack DeJohnette is a clear contender for greatest jazz drummer alive, but as far as living jazz legends go, he’s sometimes taken for granted. It’s easy to get a grip on musicians with a clear career arc: starting with straight-ahead acoustic material in the ’50s or ’60s, progressing into avant-garde or fusion…

Source: The New York Times. Just as profits were rising, however, Pitre bought a cheap bass, realized his true love was making music, and bid skating farewell. “I was getting paid to do this thing I did not want to do,” Pitre, now 47, said recently on a call from his home outside of Ann…

Source: PostGenre. Many people, as they get older, tend to slow down and reduce their workload. Some even step aside and retire entirely. Wadada Leo Smith takes the opposite approach. Over the past year, Smith has been perhaps more productive than ever. 2021 has found him behind a 3 CD solo trumpet box set (Trumpet…

Source: uDiscoverMusic. Ornette Coleman is regarded as one of the great pioneers of free jazz, a genre that emerged in the late 1950s and continues to influence music today. Perhaps his most famous record is The Shape of Jazz to Come, a prophetically titled album that remains an essential listen for anyone looking to learn…

Source: The Wire. In her interview with Bill Meyer in The Wire 454, Chicago based artist Olivia Block describes the long and diverse journey she’s taken through her work with sound. She recalls her early experience of recording indie rock demos and four-track experimentation, to writing orchestral scores and collecting found audio. Most recently Block…

Source: Meta Bulletin. For the past 60 years, the saxophonist Pharoah Sanders has been a steady force in progressive music, a sideman who’s played on some of the most noted arrangements in jazz and a stalwart bandleader whose unique style of play confused critics who preferred a more traditional sound. These were the same people…

Source: Bandcamp Daily. A solo album is one of the most personal statements a jazz musician can make. They can be documentations of technical achievement, or a means to get compositions down on tape and hopefully inspire others to record them later; they can be sonic experiments, using the space in which they’re recorded as…

Source: The New York Times. The composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who turns 90 on Sunday, lives in a humble brick bungalow in this small town outside Hamburg. She receives guests in the dining room; to get there, they are led through the kitchen to a small round table decked out with a spread of strong tea,…

Source: The Quietus. Free improvisation is to music what poetry is to writing – not only is there a lot that is prosaic or downright terrible due to the inherent risks of the form, but there’s also a lot of people who think they don’t ‘get it’. Derek Bailey is one antidote for anyone who…

Source: The Boston Globe. Composer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith’s 80th year has been a busy one. Two three-CD box sets of his music, “Trumpet” and “Sacred Ceremonies,” were released by the Finnish record label TUM in May, with a four-CD box set (“The Chicago Symphonies”) and a single-disc album (“A Love Sonnet for Billie…

Source: I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. Darius Jones has created a recognizable voice as a critically acclaimed saxophonist and composer by embracing individuality and innovation in the tradition of African-American music. Jones’ new album, Raw Demoon Alchemy (A Lone Operation), will be released on Northern Spy Records in Fall 2021. Darius’ music is a confrontation…

Source: ListN Up. jaimie branch is an improviser, composer, and trumpeter based in Brooklyn, NY. Earlier this year saw the acclaimed Fly or Die Live (International Anthem), a singular epic of raw cosmic brilliance from her quartet performing the previously released Fly or Die and Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise. branch’s works…

Source: Milner on Music. This is just one of many recent articles (another is here), and even a book chapter, in which the author is torn on Zappa – between his brilliance, his low-brow humor, and his consistently many less redeeming qualities. Zappa is being revisited and his ugly side explored. There’s no genius pass…