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Entries from December 2012

Dice Factory: Dice Factory

London-based quartet Dice Factory gets its name at least in part from Luke Rhinehart’s 1971 novel The Dice Man, a work which seems to have found new fans among the current generation of emerging musicians, writers and artists. Dice Factory contains four such emerging players, each a member of at least one other major UK group–saxophonist m: Tom Challenger (Ma, Outhouse), pianist m: George Fogel (Ma, Andre Canniere Group), bassist m: Tom Farmer (Empirical) and drummer m: Jon Scott (Kairos 4tet)…

Date: Dec 31st, 2012 · No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews

Joachim Badenhorst: The Jungle He Told Me

Belgian reed player Joachim Badenhorst has been busy in the last five years. He is a member of the forward-thinking outfits of Dutch drummer m: Han Bennink , American saxophonist m: Tony Malaby , German trumpeter m: Thomas Heberer , and many other working bands. His first solo album, a limited edition vinyl, reveals Badenhorst as a versatile musician well-versed in the history of modern jazz, free jazz and free improvisation, with his own personal sound–searching and thoughtful yet warm and emotional…

Date: Dec 31st, 2012 · No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews

Jaiman Crunk: Encounters

Seattle-based guitarist Jaiman Crunk hasn’t taken half measures on Encounters, his debut as leader. In addition to marshalling over 20 top jazz musicians–cherry picked for specific roles–Crunk employs fourteen brass, woodwind and string musicians from the Seattle Symphony Orchestra on half the compositions. These four numbers in particular underline Crunk’s notable compositional and arranging skills and he succeeds, as few do, in marrying the classical and jazz idioms. Crunk’s guitar playing is an added bonus, but it’s the strength in the writing and the diverse yet cohesive contours of the music that really capture the ear…

Date: Dec 30th, 2012 · No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews

Duke Ellington Orchestra: Big Bands Live

By 1967, the heyday of the big band was over. Rock and Roll ruled as the popular music of the day, and the financial challenges of keeping a large ensemble together for recording–and especially touring–were huge. But m: Duke Ellington –one of American’s finest bandleaders, pianists, and composers–was more than just a genius in the field of music.

Date: Dec 30th, 2012 · No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews

Myriad3: Tell

Tell is the debut of Myriad3, a young, Toronto, Canada-based trio formed in 2011 after its members met on local gigs. Recording the album over just two days the following year, the trio’s interplay and sense of togetherness belie both its members’ youth and the relatively recent establishment of Myriad3 as a unit. There’s a very democratic feel to the trio’s work with no obvious leader, no obvious follower, and each player taking the role that best suits the music at any particular point in time…

Date: Dec 29th, 2012 · No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews

Christian Spering: Inside Bach

The arrangement of violin sonatas and partitas, and the cello suites of Johan Sebastian Bach for solo double bass is a tasking and rare challenge, especially for improvising bassists. Classically trained bassist like m: Edgar Meyer have transposed Bach’s cello suites to double bass on the critically acclaimed Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites Performed on Double Bass (Sony, 2000), but it is still an exceptional achievement. Now, Swedish bass master Christian Spering offers a different insight into the composer’s timeless music…

Date: Dec 29th, 2012 · No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews

The Doors: Live At The Bowl ’68

The Doors’ Live at The Bowl ’68 is a remarkable piece of work, as much for the technical wizardry of the recording it comprises as for the pointed restraint on the part of the iconic band as it performs. Arguably at the height of its popularity at the time of this July 5, 1968 performance at the famed Los Angeles venue, The Doors was about to peak in commercial terms, at which point its music suffered as much as the attitude of lead vocalist Jim Morrison. On this recording, however, the dumbed-down single from its then current album, Waiting for the Sun (Elektra, 1968) is the only vestige of the lack of imagination that would afflict its work in the years to come

Date: Dec 29th, 2012 · No Comments · Categories: Jazz CD Reviews