Tag: Jazz

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Artist Profile General Interviews Performances

AMN Celebrates Braxton 75: Part I

Braxton_anthony_moers_260507Welcome to AMN Celebrates Braxton 75, a multipart series focused on the work of American composer and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton. Braxton, who in 2020 will be celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday, is one of the most important and influential creative minds of the past fifty years. Each week this series will feature three to four links of live performances, interviews, and articles found on the web that should be of interest to both the curious and the longtime explorers of Braxton’s music.

In the last fifty years or so Anthony Braxton has composed hundreds of pieces and recorded well over one hundred albums. Navigating this vast amount of material can be a little bit intimidating. Seth Colter Walls’s article “Anthony Braxton: Ghost Trance Music” is a great place for all to start. This article is an excellent guide that provides a nice overview of Braxton’s work with clear high-level explanations of some of Braxton’s most prominent musical concepts and structures. It also includes links to suggested listening examples.

Among Braxton’s many innovations is his extensive work for solo saxophone such as his landmark 1969 LP “For Alto”.  Here is a short but excellent example of Braxton’s solo saxophone music. The clip is from Hamburg in 1981.

This thirty-minute clip features a 1973 performance from one of Braxton’s many quartets. This may be the first live performances of his compositions 23B and 23D. The quartet is Kenny Wheeler – trumpet and flugelhorn, Jean-François Jenny-Clark on Bass, Charles “Bobo” Shaw on drums and of course Anthony Braxton – flute, contrabass clarinet, and alto saxophone.

Join us again next week for another post as AMN Celebrates Braxton 75.

Chris De Chiara

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AMN Reviews

AMN Reviews: Brian Groder Trio – Luminous Arcs [Latham Records]

One of the traditional attractions of the pianoless jazz trio is the room it allows for harmonic and melodic inventiveness, absent a chording instrument. The Brian Groder Trio, a trio of trumpet/flugelhorn, double bass, and drums, is no traditional jazz trio, but it does take advantage of the format in ways that both recall and go beyond the harmonic freedom of other pianoless trios.

Luminous Arcs is the third release for the group, which in addition to Groder includes double bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Jay Rosen. Their experience together tells, as the tightly integrated playing on display on all eleven tracks gives evidence of a well-developed chemistry. Groder and Bisio work particularly well together and provide fine contrapuntal playing on Spanglin, on the free-fugue introduction to the moody ballad Until Eyes Met, and throughout Smoored. On Bonds of Now, a duet for trumpet and drums, Rosen’s relentless, free-pulse drumming coils tautly around Groder’s line until Groder drops out to let Rosen finish alone. Bisio gets a brief solo piece with Pirr, which balances on strummed chords and tart harmonies.

Adding to the album’s audio pleasure is the verbal pleasure of the vivid imagery and wryly kaleidoscopic observations of poet Randee Silv’s Wordslabs, which serve as an appropriate liner note to this ultimately poetic music.

http://briangroder.com/

Daniel Barbiero

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AMN Reviews General Performances Reviews

AMN Reviews: John Zorn at The Art Institute of Chicago

iconsquare1382315287-116932-zorn1On September 9, 2018 the Art Institute of Chicago presented performances of musical works by composer John Zorn. Zorn’s unique body of work draws on jazz, rock, punk, metal, classical, klezmer, sacred, mystical, experimental, film, cartoon and improvised music. Zorn is a musical alchemist able to transform this diverse material into something completely new. The program featured six hours of live performances plus documentary screenings. This concert provided listeners a rare opportunity to hear a variety of Zorn’s work expertly performed by many of the musicians that have been part of his universe for decades. John Zorn was also in attendance. He very briefly introduced each of the pieces and the musicians. He also performed in two of the day’s events. For the explorers of John Zorn’s musical universe this was a concert they will remember forever. For new comers and the curious, they were able to sample a very small part of the work of one of the planet’s most prolific and diverse contemporary composers.

The performances were situated in galleries that contained many of the museum’s most iconic art works. This provided an ambiance that allowed the pieces to be a “response” to the art works in the gallery.  The day began with the American Brass Quartet greeting visitors as they performed “Pulcinella” on the Grand Staircase of the Art Institute. It was a wonderful performance that echoed through the museum, announcing the beginning of the day’s events. This was followed by an absolutely sublime performance of the “Gnostic Preludes” by the Gnostic Trio – Bill Frisell(guitar), Kenny Wollesen(vibraphone) and Carol Emanuel(harp).  Hearing this music so beautifully played in a gallery containing some of the greatest art works of the Impressionist era was pure magic.

At noon it was off to the Dali room to hear members of the JACK quartet – Chris Otto(violin) and Jay Campbell(cello) with Michael Nicolas(cello) in a spectacular virtuosic performance of “Freud”, an intense spiky piece of sharp and sudden contrasts. This was followed by a stunning cello duo performance of “Ouroboros” another of Zorn’s intense virtuoso string works. Following this dramatic intensity was a performance of “Frammenti del Sappho” in the Sculpture Court by the voices of Rachel Calloway, Kirsten Sollek, Sarah Brailey, Eliza Bagg, and Elizabeth Bates. This is an incredibly delicate and beautiful work. The visual setting for this performance was wonderful and the performers were outstanding, but the acoustics didn’t work for me. This is an incredibly powerful piece that when performed in a space with acoustics similar to a church or temple would just wash over you and realign your molecular structure.

Next it was off to the Warhol room for a performance of a jazz inspired work, “Naked Lunch” with Sae Hashimoto(vibraphone), Shanir Blumenkranz(bass) and Ches Smith(drums). It was a very tight, high energy performance. Absolutely wonderful! I heard many people comment that it was their favorite performance of the day. Then it was off to the Joseph Cornell gallery for a solid performance by Erik Friedlander and Michael Nicolas of a series of “Bagatelles” for two cellos. By this point the audience had more than doubled.

At 2:00 John Zorn(saxophone) and Kenny Wollesen(drums) performed an improvisation in response to Jackson Pollock. At this point the size of the audience had greatly exceeded the capacity of the gallery and many listeners including myself had to hear the performance from one of the adjoining galleries. Despite being one room over the duo sounded fantastic and the crowd absolutely loved it. I have to say the crowd absolutely loved everything that was performed at this event.  Next it was off to the Picasso Gallery to hear Julian Lage and Gyan Riley perform selections from the “Midsummer Moons”. This music is similar in some ways to the music written for the Gnostic trio in that it’s a very beautiful melodic music.  Again, the crowd absolutely exceeded the capacity of the gallery. I along with many others had to listen from one of the adjoining galleries. It was another sublime performance!

At this point there were still four more performances and the documentary screening. Given the growing crowd I made the difficult choice to skip the documentary, the American Brass Quartet performance of “Blue Stratagem”, Michael Nicholas’s performance of “as Above, So Below”, and Chris Otto and Michael Nicholas’s performance of “Zeitgehöft”. This allowed me to get to the gallery where “Hockey”, one of Zorn’s game pieces was to be performed. John Zorn’s game pieces are a series of works for improvisers in which rules and strategies are interactively enacted upon by the improvisers during the performance of the piece. For this performance Zorn said that he chose the “wet” version of “Hockey”.  John Zorn, Kenny Wollesen and Sae Hashimoto performed the piece on little percussion instruments built and or modified by Kenny Wollesen. It was a spectacular performance that took place in a small dark gallery of contemporary Asian art works.

The final performance of the day was in the Kandinsky Room. The JACK Quartet performed “The Unseen”. At this point the biggest crowds had dispersed but the Kandinsky room and its semi-adjoining gallery were filled to hear the days final piece.  “The Unseen” is a delicate string quartet filled with shimmering harmonics that rise up from out of the silence, eventually disappearing. It was a great to end the day. The crowd really showed their appreciation for the JACK’s, John Zorn, all of the musicians that performed during this event and to the Art Institute of Chicago for programming such a rare and incredible musical event.

For me this was one of the best musical events I have ever attended.

Chris De Chiara

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AMN Reviews Releases Reviews

AMN Reviews: John Corbett – “Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium” [ Duke University Press – isbn:9780822363507 ]

978-0-8223-6366-8_prFreaks are those of us that harmlessly indulge our interests to the point of compulsion or obsession. When it comes to music, the most interesting people that I have met have been those that exuberantly talk about music almost to the point of proselytizing. As they talk about either their collections or their discoveries or a recent concert or a new release or a particular instrument, they invite us to share in their enthusiasm and in the process they turn us on to all kinds of great music that we may have been completely unaware of. While many of these people can be found on blogs, or in chat rooms, on mailing lists and in forums, a select few have managed to turn their obsessions into a career. Luckily for us John Corbett is that kind of freak.

When it comes to the outer limits of jazz and the realms of creative music and free improvisation, Corbett writes with unmatched exuberance and passion supported by his deep and wide knowledge of the music. In “Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium” John Corbett explores the mindset of record collecting and the rising popularity of vinyl records. He combines bits of memoir and criticism to explain what he and other collectors find so special about vinyl. The book contains seven new essays and the entire twelve years of the “Vinyl Freak” column that Corbett wrote for DownBeat magazine. Each “Vinyl Freak” column consisted of a one page essay/review of a rare primarily jazz record and are reprinted in their entirety, plus updated notes on reissue status. What was really interesting about the “Vinyl Freak” columns were the tangents that Corbett might take in describing the record, its music, the musicians, cover, style, etc. This would often reveal interesting external connections between the music, its makers and its history, and in the process expose us to related albums and musicians. Among the new essays is a chapter of vignettes on one hundred thirteen of his favorite rare free improvisation and creative music recordings. There is also one riveting essay that focuses on the tale of his uncovering of a cache of extremely rare Sun Ra items.

While many will view this book as just being about Corbett’s obsessive and unique view of record collecting and the recent vinyl resurgence, and that is definitely in this book, it’s really about how the format changes of recorded music impacts music history. There is so much great music that seems to have disappeared due to format changes. In writing about all of these rare records Corbett uncovers a lot of great and potentially forgotten music. John Corbett reminds us that as formats change we can lose great music. Think of the many records that you had in your vinyl collection that have yet to make it to CD or a digital download format. Well, consider that this has happened throughout the history of recorded music, as recordings moved from tapes and wires and cylinders and shellac to various forms, speeds and sizes of vinyl and then to various digital formats. Bottom line, we may have lost a lot of great music along the way and we would have lost even more great music, if it weren’t for collectors who turned their passion into the curating and production of reissues of old recordings in new formats. John Corbett has stepped up here as well with the many reissues he has been busy producing for his Corbett vs Dempsey label.

Clearly John Corbett is a vinyl freak. Who else would include a rare unreleased limited edition Sun Ra flex-disc in his latest book? He may truly love the vinyl medium but deep down he loves the music even more. Corbett really is an “equal opportunity ear filler” and is willing to acquire the music he really enjoys in any format. With “Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium” John Corbett invites us to join him in the pleasure of discovering new sounds to indulge our ears. So what are you waiting for? You’ve been invited. Highly Recommended!

Chris De Chiara

For more information: https://www.dukeupress.edu/vinyl-freak

Additional reviews of John Corbett’s books on AMN:

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AMN Reviews General Releases Reviews

AMN Reviews: Nate Wooley – Argonautica [ Firehouse 12 Records FH12-04-01-023 ]

 

Trumpeter, composer, and improviser Nate Wooley has performed regularly as a sideman with many of the leading musicians on the New York new music scene including icons such as Anthony Braxton and John Zorn. He has also collaborated with many of the brightest of his generation such as Chris Corsano, C. Spencer Yeh, Peter Evans, and Mary Halvorson. Embracing noise and drone aesthetics, Wooley’s unique approach to the trumpet is a combination of standard techniques, vocalization, extreme extended techniques and amplification. But Nate Wooley is not just another iconoclast; he is a curator, a writer, an editor and an explorer of all things sonic and musical. Check out his online quarterly journal Sound American  or his Database of Recorded American Music .

Argonautica is an ambitious work that takes its name from the ancient Greek epic poem which depicts the adventure of Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. The piece is in three parts with an introduction and scored for three pairs of instruments – trumpets, pianos and drums. This allows for various duos and trios to work together or separately as they explore the material. Wooley conceived the piece as a tribute to his mentor Ron Miles whom performs on this recording. Argonuatica opens with a “solo” from the trumpets. Here Wooley and Miles demonstrate their individual approaches to the instrument with Miles’s lyrical cornet to Wooley’s rougher more extended trumpet voice. This seeming opposition remains with all of the pairs of instruments – the acoustic piano of Cory Smythe paired with the Fender-Rhodes and electronics of Jozef Dumoulin and the free jazz drumming of Devin Gray with the more spirited precision of Rudy Royston. The pairs move from contrast to opposition to complement as the material is explored. There are written or scored elements that are precisely performed, followed by more open sections used by the performers to develop the material as they navigate to the next scored element giving this forty three minute piece a very organic feel. There is a continuous build up from sparse to dense, from slower to faster as various duos and trios emerge until the piece ends in a shattering climax.

Wooley cites the oblique influence of things like ambient tape music, dodecaphony, jazz-rock and the minimalist rock of Terry Riley.  With Argonautica he raises the question “… is this what jazz-rock can be in the twenty-first century?” However, do not take this to mean that Argonautica is “fusion” or sounds like any of these influences. To quote Wooley: “It’s easy sometimes to confuse being inspired by something with adhering to its principles.”

Argonautica is a solid piece of contemporary creative music performed by exceptional musicians. It is beautifully recorded and mixed. In addition to the MP3 and CD versions there is also a high-resolution audio mix available (would love to hear that). If you are not already a Nate Wooley fan then this recording is very likely to make you one.

Highly Recommended!

For more information: http://firehouse12records.com

Chris De Chiara

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AMN Reviews

AMN Reviews: Base 4 – Axes of Symmetry

a2591528024_2Base 4, the trio of Bruce Friedman (trumpet), Derek Bomback (guitar) and Alan Cook (drums), offers something old made new: A set of creatively dismantled jazz standards connected by freely improvised interludes.

The selection of standards is an eclectic one, encompassing the well-known (Afro Blue, Straight, No Chaser, My Funny Valentine) and the less familiar  (Lawns, Las Vegas Tango, Peacocks, If You Never Come to Me). Although these songs are played freely they remain recognizable through what’s retained of them: Fragments of melody, harmonic passages, and ambience. The improvised interludes provide context by conserving and extending the exploratory work set out in the standards.

The playing is engaging throughout. Friedman’s trumpet brings an introspective feeling to the music, eschewing quick runs and pyrotechnics in favor of a ruminative voice in the middle register. Bomback imparts a warm, round tone and knows when harmonies are best left implied, while Cook’s crisp drumming adds color and gentle support, never overwhelming the overall balance of sound.

http://derekbomback.bandcamp.com/album/axes-of-symmetry

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Performances Reviews

Undead Festival Live Review: Cinco DIY-Bring Your Own Mayo

An UNDEAD Improvised Music Review by Monique Avakian

Though I brought homemade chocolate-chip cookies for bait, sadly, I encountered no Zombies. However, there were several Other-Worldly moments that occurred at Brooklyn’s I-Beam on May 5, 2013, including a sighting of Elizabeth Reed making her way around the indeterminate and evolving wreckage near the 7th Street and 4th Avenue crossroads.

During the I-Beam portion of Search & Restore’s annual UNDEAD Festival, audience members were treated to a drum duo on two kits (Vinnie Sperrazza/Jeff Davis Duo); a trio of free-improv (Jesse Stacken Group with Mat Maneri and Devin Gray) and an electronica~trombone improv set with Brian Drye and Jacob Garchik. Big Eyed Rabbit (Max Johnson, bass; Jeff Davis, drums; Ross Martin, guitar) rounded out the evening, but, unfortunately, I had to leave before I got to hear them.

DRUM DUO:
Vinnie Sperrazza and Jeff Davis

These compositions and improvisations were based on the rudiments, and I felt happy when I heard a flam and got that. Not being solid myself with all the rudiments, though, I know missed a lot of conceptual drum~puns; BUT, I had a good time anyway, enjoying two jazz drummers’ takes on the essentials of the extras based on the essentials.

The first tune, “Imaginary Friend,” went by really fast. Strangely, I don’t have any notes on this. Probably because I was too distracted obsessing about Sperrazza’s suped-up, vintage kit — a 1948 black Ludwig (!).

Second up, we had an exploration of Ted Reed’s Syncopation, which was really enjoyable. All drummers know that book because of the dorky cover, which has become a doppelganger for all the cool stuff inside. Sperrazza and Davis made it all the more cool and super intricate, especially at the beginning when the pair started off and maintained a soft volume for a very long time. Later, there was a lot of low-down on the toms spiced with rim clicks and some spontaneous conducting and exclaiming on the part of Sperrazza that led to more joyful joint improv. The whole thing ended with a loud crescendo into a double forte. Ted, I’m sure, would have approved.

Tune #3 began with a lot of cymbal wash and soft toms and fingers brushing against skins. Here, the duo created a very jungle-like, adventurous landscape, conjuring up all sorts of benevolent pacing power animals that lent some heft to the evening. The tune continued to evolve and at one point Davis pushed the butt end of a wooden vibes mallet across his Ride to get a singular soft searing sound; an industrial sound, but mysteriously non-abrasive. This was quite beautiful and enticing—to all spirits, earth-bound as well as transdimensional.

Near the end, this tune took a further ethereal turn when someone’s phone softly made that melodic five figure corporate pattern we all now have annoyingly ingrained in our consciousness. Interestingly, this did not repeat, leading me to think that this must have been a riff offered by the Imaginary Friend Sperrazza encouraged us to wonder about earlier. Then, again, maybe it was Elizabeth Reed calling for Ted. Or, perhaps, it could have been YOU!

In any case, the musicians deftly incorporated this tiny communiqué, ending the piece with a Sperrazza witticism about the day being a DIY Have Your Own Fun kind of thing.

#4 “The Hard One”: This felt like opening a treasure chest of nesting boxes filled with 5s and 10s. Charming and spritely, this exploration expanded my understanding of what might be possible if you trade in unison, if you know what I mean. This piece scaffolded around a structure that felt simultaneously collapsible and expandable with a quick ending. Maybe too quick! Hey, we were enjoying that!

By the time we got to #5, “Heretics on the Theme of Heresy,” we had already learned that we could explore “militarism without the militarism,” so we were ready for this intriguing change-up into a time-based rock feel where the two took turns: one improvising, the other keeping time.

Davis, I noticed, has this sly way of sliding into a ripping fast run, and, in this tune, this really solidified the groove throughout in a very subliminal and pleasing way. You could learn a lot about how to get around the kit from watching this guy, especially when he’s playing soft and fast.

Something really cool happened in the middle of Heretics: somehow, these two managed a complete surfer feel for a minute even though both were playing only snare. Weight, depth, punch, harmony and melody were all evoked clearly, yet, the only sound was snare. Wow! How did they do that!?!

Sperrazza explored a lot of tom work inside of Heretics, moving around the kit deconstructing a bunch of ideas and at moments looking vertically somewhat like Keith Moon without sounding like him at all. And wasn’t Keith Moon into surfer music? Hmmmm…..more DIY magic to ponder, along with Sperrazza inserting a single measure of a swing beat near the end: charming!

TRIO OF FREE IMPROV – Jesse Stacken, Mat Maneri, Devin Gray

This group was the most abstract musically, but conceptually, and with great irony, they began with the most mundane kind of conjure: horns blaring, cars rudely zipping by dangerously close…. It’s the dead of night, and it feels like the end of the world. You realize you’ve been pinned against the cold white tile of the carbon-monoxide filled tunnel buried under the sad and lonely city. And serious choices have got to be made.

Yeah!

Whew!

Eventually, we crossed over into a more pastoral place, with rumbly drums and long bowed single notes from viola. Here, Stacken decided to make full use of the entire piano, moving up and down with really long, loud arpeggiated figures. Then he started pulling these sweet high pings out of the piano strings (literally), choosing next to alternate those with a classical sounding motif played straight up on the keys. At this point, Maneri started tapping the floor and instrument case with his bow while drummer Devin Gray scraped along on something….I think it was metal cookie cooling rack ?!?!?! (He also had a Ride made out of a piece of sheet metal and a hit hat with two mis-matched plates).

Anyway, before long, Maneri’s viola started to bend and Stacken started to pound into repetitive chords forged in sets of four tossed with sporadic rapid runs up and down. Furniture drawers in several adjacent buildings began to open and close in time to all of the sudden slamming sounds. Rugs turned into tigers and lamps flew around the room as various spirits passed through. I felt as if I might dematerialize at any moment!

I didn’t though, just became aware that Maneri was playing duple figures in what seemed like a familiar song turned upside down. Then he and the drummer galloped away, just briefly, before Maneri came back to move into a long drawn out series of single notes, bringing all of that intensity to distill into gentle piano into silence. We all hung there, suspended, for a
long time.

What a fierce experience!

Ooooh!

DUET~QUARTET ELECTRONICA TROMBONE
Brian Drye and Jacob Garchik

Here you had two who became four, with a lot of wires and gizmos and what the heck is going on, I wondered, as it dawned on me that Garchik’s trombone mute was electrified (!) and hooked up to a pedal.

Both trombonists had electric keyboards as well as the acoustic piano to play. Drye had a very simple yet powerful-looking turquoise box, which he arranged carefully on the floor. It soon became clear that this was for looping. Everything was wired into a big black box which at first they couldn’t get working; eventually it was determined that one switch had to be pulled, and we were off like Frankenstein:

Somehow, the duo created unusual loops live in the moment to improvise with. How they managed to make these live transitions so smoothly is unclear and amazing. The ostinatos became very trippy and playful, eventually pulling us into a room full of purring cats on acid, suspended in time like that famous photo of Dali jumping with cats and water. The sound of trombones against all the electronica was warmly intriguing.

At one point, Garchik used the volume switch like a scratch DJ and Drye rigged it so there were several layers of scratching syncopation with the sounds morphing from a tuba timbre to industrial clapslaps to straight up piano.

Then Garchik quoted himself from his new album, The Heavens (!) and Yeats’ little silver fish spoke to me directly, vowing an open musical secret. (*)

The UNDEAD music festival – essential and invigorating.
Catch it next year. I DIY~dare you!

(*) Yeats’ poem, The Song of the Wandering Aengus, I just found out, was originally published in a book entitled: The Wind Among the Reeds. HA!

For further exploration:

http://www.searchandrestore.com/
http://undeadmusic.com/news/
http://ibeambrooklyn.com/calendar/
http://www.vinniesperrazza.org/
http://www.jeffdavisdrums.com/
http://jessestacken.com/

Home


http://musicians.allaboutjazz.com/musician.php?id=9028#.UZGP1I5Rjud (Maneri)

Assembly


http://briandrye.com/
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/244302 Yeats poem

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Performances

Jazz Listings from the New York Times

Steven Bernstein live at Saalfelden 2009
Image via Wikipedia

From NYTimes.com:

STEVEN BERNSTEIN’S MILLENNIAL TERRITORY ORCHESTRA (Thursday) This brashly exuberant little big band, led by the slide trumpeter and arranger Steven Bernstein, dusts off assorted vintages, with an emphasis on dirty swing. The band’s ranks include serious improvisers, including the clarinetist Doug Wieselman, the saxophonist Peter Apfelbaum, the trombonist Clark Gayton and the drummer Ben Perowsky. At 10 p.m., 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village , (212) 929-9883, 55bar.com; cover, $10. (Chinen)20100128

ELEVATION (Friday) This reflective ensemble, conceived by the pianist Lucian Ban and organized around the playing of the tenor saxophonist Abraham Burton, further includes an adaptable rhythm section, with John Hébert on bass and Eric McPherson on drums. At 9 and 10:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, West Village , (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; cover, $12, with a $6 minimum. (Chinen)20100128

CHAD TAYLOR AND CIRCLE DOWN (Friday) Mr. Taylor, a versatile and texture-aware drummer, functions as the first of equals in this exploratory trio, which also features the lyrical pianist Angelica Sanchez and the responsive bassist Chris Lightcap. At 8 p.m., the Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, East Village , thestonenyc.com; $10. (Chinen)

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Coming up at An die Musik LIVE

Atomic
Image by svennevenn via Flickr

From DC’s An die Musik LIVE:

Friday, January 29, 8 & 9:30 pm
FOUR LIMONES

Tim Berne, saxophone
Rick Parker, piano
Mark Aanderud, trombone
Hernan Hecht, drums

Saxophonist/composer TIM BERNE has become one of the most renowned voices in the avant garde jazz community. Sleek and Modernistic” (David Adler) aptly describes the music of trombonist/composer Rick Parker. Pianist and Composer MARK AANDERUD, is one of today’s most important figures coming out of the Mexican scene. Originally from Argentina and now residing in Mexico, drummer, producer and composer HERNAN HECHT is one of the most exciting talents on the Mexican music scene. Sleek and Modernistic” (David Adler) aptly describes the music of trombonist/composer RICK PARKER. He has released 2 CD’s as a leader gaining him major notoriety by critics and publications such as Downbeat Magazine and Jazz Times. Parker is a 2 time winner of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award.

February 4, Thursday, 8 pm
LAPLANTE/FORMANEK/CLEAVER
A must-see for improvised jazz lover!

Travis Laplante is highly active in New York City’s experimental music scene, and at just 27 is already one of the most in-demand and unique young voices in improvisational sound. Michael Formanek’s singular approach to the acoustic bass has led to an impressive range of musical associations during his thirty-plus year career. Gerald Cleaver‘s 2002 “Adjust”, recorded for the Spanish label Fresh Sound New Talent, was nominated in the Best Debut Recording category.

February 18, Thursday, 8 & 9:30 pm
ETHNIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE
Celebrating Black History Month at An die Musik Live for their sixth consecutive year!

Internationally acclaimed line up:
Trumpet virtuoso Corey Wilkes
Saxophone Titan Ernest Kahbeer Dawkins
Multi/Percussion Wizard Kahil Elzabar

Formed 35 years ago upon Kahil El’Zabar’s return from the University of Ghana to combine concepts of African American music making with the earlier roots of traditional African music and make it something new. After 35 years, this legendary band is still serving the people worldwide with their special brand of 21st century Griot music that truly feed the soul!

February 20, Saturday, 8 & 9:30 pm
THE MAKANDA PROJECT FEATURING CARL GRUBBS

A dynamic pairing of one of Baltimore’s iconic jazz figures with Boston-based Makanda Project. Formed to play previously unrecorded compositions by the late multi-instrumentalist Makanda Ken McIntyre, a significant jazz composer with a unique voice. McIntyre student and sideman pianist John Kordalewski arranged the music for multiple horns. The group’s artists are among Boston’s leading jazz musicians.

March 3, Wednesday, 8 pm
ATOMIC

Fredrik Ljungkvist – reeds
Magnus Broo – trumpet
Håvard Wiik – piano
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – bass
Paal Nilssen-Love – drums

Atomic was established in 2000 and already after their first two studio albums Feet Music (2002) and Boom Boom (2003), both their growing audience and music reviewers alike began to perceive them as an original flavor with an entirely individual energy that few Scandinavian jazz groups could match. Even though initially thought of as a sort of rebellion to the quaintness of the “Scandinavian Sound” which had become exemplified by Norwegian artists on labels such as ECM, Atomic found themselves becoming a new sort of unique sound on their own. An explosive blend of American free-jazz with European characteristics is how some reviewers have described them. Or better yet, “part academic lecture, part a fun night out on the town”, is how the band describes themselves, and is what makes their sound truly Atomic.

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Reviews

All About Jazz Reviews

Dave Douglas at the North Sea Jazz Festival 2007.
Image via Wikipedia

From All About Jazz:

Positive Catastrophe
Garabatos Volume One (Cuneiform Records)
Reviewed by Raul d’Gama Rose

Dave Douglas Tiny Bell Trio
Constellations (Hatology)
Reviewed by Mark Corroto

Mostly Other People Do the Killing
Forty Fort (Hot Cup Records)
Reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard

Wadada Leo Smith
Spiritual Dimensions (Cuneiform Records)
Reviewed by Raul d’Gama Rose

Barry Guy / London Jazz Composers Orchestra / Irene Schweizer
Radio Rondo (Intakt Records)
Reviewed by Nic Jones

Grosse Abfahrt
Vanity (Emanem)
Reviewed by Raul d’Gama Rose

Larry Och’s Sax & Drumming Core
Stone Shift (Rogue Art)
Reviewed by John Sharpe

Chicago Underground Duo
Boca Negra (Thrill Jockey)
Reviewed by Chris May

Greg Burk
Many Worlds (482 Music)
Reviewed by Troy Collins

Myra Melford’s Be Bread
The Whole Tree Gone (Firehouse 12 Records)
Reviewed by Nic Jones

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