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 Thursday, 23 May 2013 |
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AAJ CD reviews |
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All About Jazz Album Reviews
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Album Reviews
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Eliane Elias: I Thought About You: A Tribute to Chet Baker
It is tempting to consider Chet Baker hommages like m: Jeff Baker's excellent Baker Sings Chet (OA2, 2004) or m: John Proulx's sublime Baker's dozen: Remembering Chet Baker (MAXJAZZ, 2009) superior to the real item. So fractured is our picture of Baker that our full appreciation of him is clouded by his extra-musical proclivities. But it is not exactly that. Baker's vibratoless trumpet and vocals, as well as, his limited technical abilities are acquired tastes, but once acquired are generally rewarding to the listener. It is not simply one thing, but the whole package that is Chet Baker. What better legacy to leave than a constant recapitulation of your famous book every-so-many years...
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Terence Blanchard: Magnetic
One of today's foremost jazz musicians and composers Terence Blanchard's achievements have soared since his formative days in m: Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers to a trajectory of successful bands, recordings and award winning film scores such as 2007's A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina) (Blue Note). He's still pursuing new challenges with the upcoming June 2013 premiere of his first opera-- entitled Champion, "An Opera In Jazz"-- based on the life of world champion boxer Emile Alphonse Griffith...
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FUSK: Super Kasper
How does a band introduce freedom to its music? Does the band play free jazz or, to paraphrase saxophonist m: Joe Lovano, does it play its jazz free? Danish Drummer and leader of the Danish-German quartet m: FUSK, m: Kasper Tom Christiansen's, answer to this question is simple: "Who cares?" FUSK defines its own freedom, between contrapuntal springboard melodies, sometimes bordering on serial techniques, and catchy themes that employ hard-swinging rhythms, joint improvisations and expressive deconstruction of patterns, all performed with passionate playfulness and wise irony...
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Nigel Mooney: The Bohemian Mooney
The island of Ireland has a long and impressive history of great blues singers--m: Van Morrison, m: Rory Gallagher, Phil Lynott all brought a raw, bluesy, intensity to their performances. Singer and guitarist Nigel Mooney has been on the Irish blues scene since the '80s and his jazz-inflected take on the genre is shown to enjoyable effect on The Bohemian Mooney...
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Lucian Ban / Mat Maneri: Transylvanian Concert
It's been six years since m: Mat Maneri last appeared on ECM, collaborating with singer m: Robin Williamson on the British traditionalist's exploratory The Iron Stone (2007); even longer since the violist shared a marquee for the German label, on 2004's Angles of Repose, with his now-deceased father, microtonal reed player m: Joe Maneri, and bassist m: Barre Phillips; even longer, still, since he last released an album as a full leader, with his solo recital Trinity (2001). All of which makes Maneri's return to the label for this intimate live recording with pianist Lucian Ban (on his first-ever ECM appearance) something to celebrate...
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David Arnay: 8
Los Angeles pianist/arranger/composer David Arnay releases his third recording as a leader in the theme-minded 8. Eight signifies both the number of selections on the disc as well as the sequential sum of instruments added to each performance, from solo to octet performance. So, the premise is Arnay adds one instrument to each piece as he ascends from one to eight...
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Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette: Somewhere
It's been four years since a recorded peep has been heard from pianist Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio, despite continuing to perform a few select dates each year. But even its last few ECM releases--2009's Yesterdays, 2007's My Foolish Heart and 2004's The Out-of-Towners--were all culled from a clearly fruitful 2001, making it well over a decade since a new recorded note has been heard from Jarrett's longest-lasting group. Fine albums all, the dearth of anything since that time has nevertheless begged the question, even amongst some of his most ardent fans, as to whether this undeniably fine trio had anything new to say...
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Lisa Young Quartet: The Eternal Pulse
Melbourne jazz singer m: Lisa Young has been a mainstay of the Australian jazz scene for over two decades, whether leading quartets or as a member of Coco's Lunch, the award winning a cappella group she co-founded in the mid-1990s. The Eternal Pulse--her fourth album as leader--marries konnakol with Young's personal take on vocal improvisation in an all-acoustic setting, accompanied by some of Australia's top jazz musicians. Young is undoubtedly in fine voice on these original compositions, her silky vocals earning her a nomination for Best Australian Jazz Vocal Album 2012, in the country's prestigious Bell Awards...
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Larry Corban: The Circle Starts Here
Guitarist m: Larry Corban keeps a picture of m: Django Reinhardt (1910-1953) on the wall of his practice room. The Belgium-born Gypsy guitarist/swing pioneer was a master of tripping from single note melodies to crisp chords--and keeping it all swinging in his collaborations with violinist m: Stephane Grappelli...
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Christian McBride and Inside Straight: People Music
Musicians create bands for many things: To gather like-minded artists together, or to achieve some grand artistic vision; m: Christian McBride created Inside Straight to get a gig. It seems Village Vanguard owner Lorraine Gordon loved McBride but wouldn't book him with his regular, fusion-heavy outfit--or, as Gordon put it, "that rock 'n' roll band." Necessity is the mother, as they say, so McBride built Inside Straight. The thing is, he might have overreacted a tad, because the group's first release Kind of Brown was pure vanilla from end to end. Thankfully, McBride found the right mix of spices in time for Inside Straight's follow-up People Music...
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Sudo Quartet: Live at Banlieue Bleue
Such is the strength and conviction with which the Sudo Quartet performs that thoughts immediately turn to how they developed such a cohesive group sound. With no liners and no information on the web, the genesis of the unit remains a mystery, though the same foursome feature on four tracks on bassist m: Joelle Leandre's At the Le Mans Jazz Festival (Leo, 2005). But when uniting four virtuoso stylists from the European free improvisation scene, it's a near certainty that their paths have crossed many times during their careers...
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Laszlo Gardony: Clarity
Pianist m: Laszlo Gardony's Clarity is a single, composed on the spot, piano sonata comprising ten movements. The contemplative and intimate music bears marks of his various life experiences, from his classical training in his native Budapest to his career as a jazz educator at Boston's Berklee College of Music...
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