Tag Archives: Jazz music

Jack DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane and Matthew Garrison’s In Movement

“We are on a journey and in movement at all times,” says Jack DeJohnette in the liner notes to this amazing album. It’s a statement of the drummer’s philosophy for sure, and it also applies to the musicians in this … Continue reading

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Bill Evans’ Some Other Time

The year is not half-over yet, but this could very well be the jazz release-from-the-vaults of 2016. The folks at Resonance, particularly musical sleuth Zev Feldman, have upped the ante with this beautifully produced and presented gem of a previously … Continue reading

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Nik Bärtsch’s Mobile’s Continuum

Swiss pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch makes what he refers to as “ritual groove music,” in at least a couple of different settings. One is his highly regarded electronic jazz ensemble Ronin or the Ronin Rhythm Clan, and the other … Continue reading

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Michael Formanek’s The Distance

This is an absolutely fabulous release of the kind not many musicians are making any more. Michael Formanek, better known for his quartet work, seems to have a huge and unusual musical vision. Inspired by the expansive jazz orchestrations of … Continue reading

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Ralph Alessi’s Quiver

Quiver is New York trumpeter Ralph Alessi’s second outing as a leader for the ECM label, following his highly successful 2013 title Baida. His quartet here keeps the same rhythm section, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits, both of … Continue reading

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Jackalope’s Dances with Rabbits 

Let me start this review off by saying that most of what the musician who created Jackalope, R. Carlos Nakai, plays leaves me terribly bored. Yes, bored. Bored quite stiff. Even the other Jackalope albums that I’ve heard over the … Continue reading

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Sarah Vaughan’s Live at Rosy’s

Sarah “Sassy” Vaughan and her trio booked a run at Rosy’s Jazz Club in New Orleans in May 1978. The renowned producer Tim Owens recorded two sets of that run for National Public Radio’s weekly syndicated program Jazz Alive! and … Continue reading

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Stan Getz’s live recordings from the vaults

Resonance Records continues its unparalleled string of historic jazz releases with two packages that document a week of shows at San Francisco’s Keystone Korner in 1976 by Stan Getz and his quartet, with special guest João Gilberto. Stan Getz and … Continue reading

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Avishai Cohen’s Into The Silence

Israeli-born jazz trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s first ECM outing as a leader is this meditative album inspired by the death of his father in late 2014. This recording was one of those that slowly grew on me as I listened to … Continue reading

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My favorite recordings of 2015

It’s a tradition for reviewers to draw up a Top 10 at the end of a calendar year. It’s also a tradition in an online music community that I’ve belonged to for about as long as I’ve been writing for … Continue reading

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