Entries from December 2014
David Gibson: Boom!
Trombonist David Gibson’s Boom!–his sixth leader date, and third release on the Posi-Tone imprint–is something of a fresh start. His two previous releases–A Little Somethin’ (Posi-Tone, 2009) and End Of The Tunnel (Posi-Tone, 2011)–were cut from the same cloth, as each largely focused on funk, s…
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·Chamber 3: Grassroots
Do different geographies create different sounds? New York-hard and brassy, in your face and boppish; the Nordic countries–cool and reflective, spacious and dreamy; the American Midwest, Chicago and Detroit–soulful and hip with a hard urban edge.
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·Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Oliv and Familie
Issued twenty years after his death, aged just fifty-four, Oliv and Familie serves as a fitting reminder of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble’s charismatic and controversial drummer and leader, m: John Stevens . Not only does this release return to circulation the two “Oliv” tracks that constit…
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·Jonathan Parker: Interloper
Saxophonist Jonathan Parker has covered quite a lot of ground since graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2008: Shortly thereafter, he relocated to Shanghai, China, carving out a performing life for himself there. Then, he was accepted into the Kennedy Center-sponsored Betty Carter’s…
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·Colin Trusedell: Quartet of Jazz Death
Bassist Colin Trusedell made his recording debut with the very fine Some of My Best Friends Are… Divas. This recording, by relative unknowns, late of Armed Forces service, put together a cogent and well-focused jazz vocal recording that intelligently surveyed the American Songbook. Scoring such a…
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·Sonny Simmons: Leaving Knowledge, Wisdom and Brilliance / Chasing the Bird?
American alto sax and English horn (Cor Anglais) player m: Sonny Simmons needs no introduction. Now 81 years old, Simmons was a key player in America’s free jazz eruption in the 1960s. He released his first solo albums on ESP- Disk, the exponent label of free jazz and recorded or played w…
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·Shawn Maxwell’s Alliance: Bridge
The eponymous debut from Shawn Maxwell’s Alliance was a giant step forward for the saxophonist/composer; his previous albums all had musical merit, but all were built with limited color schemes, hewing, for the most part, to jazz norms. With Shawn Maxwell’s Alliance (Chicago Sessions, 2014), Maxwell…
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