Pianist/composer Jessica Williams is an elite musicians who is so well known that she needs little introductory or background verbiage to inflate reviews of her albums. Like many pianists, she began her studies with the classics and switched to jazz during her teens. Unlike most beginners, however ? who start out playing with unknowns ? Williams was associated with icons from the get-go; her first group was headed by Miles Davis drummer Philly... read more
Los Angeles saxophonist Kim Richmond's album Refractions involves a full orchestra of players and that was done for the orchestral effect rather than the big band idiom you would usually expect. Richmond likes to blend concepts from the classical realm with those from the jazz realm, and full classical orchestration is one part of that. The main thrust of this idea is to provide for a deeper, more cinematic sound that is capable of conveying the... read more
NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN OF 2007
Here's Joshua Redman again, on tenor saxophone, in a sporadic, long-running jazz trio led by the organist Sam Yahel, with Brian Blade on drums. This record overcomes old organ-and-tenor jazz clich�s so easily that you hardly think of them. The music is fluid, flexible, all parts running together, the groove... read more
Like a European jazzbo that just burnishes deeper with age, Friesen tucks 50 years of bass acery under his belt and heads off to Ukraine to visit his ancestor's stomping ground. Of course, along the way, he hooks up with some Ukraine musos and delivers the kind of state of the art performance that defies almost everything. A highly creative instrumental work, he takes it to places heretofore unexpected and delivers a tour de force that could... read more
A longtime member of ex-Pat Metheny Group drummer Paul Wertico's trio, enough has already been written about John Moulder's double life as jazz guitarist and ordained priest. Bifrost is Moulder's follow-up to the ambitious and eclectic Trinity (Origin, 2006), where the guitarist's spirituality became a touchstone for music ranging from the ethereal to the grounded, and from elegant folklore to potent, angst-driven fusion. What makes Bifrost... read more
Saxophonist Zaleski, a native of Boylston, studied as a teen at the Dave Brubeck Institute and now teaches at the New England Conservatory. His sextet includes brother Glenn Zaleski on piano, Mark Cocheo on guitar and Jon Bean on tenor sax, along with Mark Zaleski's alto and soprano saxes. Re-doing Brubeck music is a tall order, not least because of his long association with Paul Desmond, who had arguably the best tone of any saxophonist. They... read more
It's not often that seasoned jazz musicians find one of their own recordings truly revelatory in hindsight. Yet here's a striking example. As acclaimed veteran pianist Hal Galper recalls in his CD liner notes, he had no intention of releasing this live 2016 trio session with bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop until he heard a playback and found himself wondering, "Who is this pianist?" To Galper, the playback revealed such a heightened... read more
The acronym moniker stands for the four musicians in this quartet ? guitarist Bjarne Roupe, baritone saxophonist Ed Epstein, drummer Dennis Drud, and bassist Goran Schelin. This is northern European jazz, in that three of the players are based in Denmark and one in Sweden (though Epstein, father of saxophonist Pete Epstein, is an Oregon native). It also has that calculated feel that typifies jazz from the Scandinavian countries. But it is more... read more
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Maddie Vogler - While We Have Time
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Alon Farber Hagiga with Dave Douglas - The Magician: Live in Jerusalem
by Jim Motavalli, The New York City Jazz Record
John Bishop - Antwerp
by Dorothea Gangel, Jazz'N'More (Switzerland)
Benjamin Boone - Caught in the Rhythm
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Last Word Quintet - Falling to Earth
by Ferdinand Dupuis-Panther, Jazz'halo (Belgium)
Martin Budde - Back Burner
by Ferdinand Dupuis-Panther, Jazz'halo (Belgium)
John La Barbera Big Band - Grooveyard
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Martin Budde - Back Burner
by Paul Rauch, All About Jazz
Alon Farber Hagiga with Dave Douglas - The Magician: Live in Jerusalem
by Dan Ouellette, Jazz & Beyond Intel
John Bishop - Antwerp
by Ed Sapiega, Jazz Views (UK)