Left of center ideas abound which mix modern classical harmonies with jazzy solos on this collection of originals by Nicole Mitchell/fl, Marty Ehrlich/cl-bcl, David Morales Boroff/v, Michael Dessen/tb, Joshua White/p, Jim Black/dr-perc and Mark Dresser/b. Dresser’s bass keeps the pulse…
Month: January 2017
Moutin Factory Quintet: Deep
Bassist Francois Mouton teams up with his long time partner and brother Louis Moutin/dr, Christophe Monniot/as-sss and Jean-Michel Pilc/p, Manu Codjia/g for some deeply penetrating originals and a tribute. Of the latter, a “Fat’s Medley” has the leader delving into…
OLD SCHOOL AND DIRT ROADS…Big Dave McLean: Better The Devil You Know, The Mavericks: All Night Live Volume 1
Here are a couple albums that have dirt under their nails, blisters on the fingers and a limp in their walk. In other words, NO POSERS! Big Dave McLean sings and plays like he lived by travelling on buses and…
Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad: Make It Better
The team of James Searl/b-voc, Chris O’Brian/dr-voc, Dylan Savage/g-voc, Dan Keller/banj-p-voc and Tony Gallicchio/g team up for some funky reggae grooves. The B3 is up front in a lot of the material, whether it’s with the acoustic guitar on the…
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****Yelena Eckemoff Quintet: Blooming Tall Phlox
Pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff delivers a charming two disc album that delivers sonic pictures of summer and winter. The band of her with Verneri Pohjola/tp-fh, Panu Savolainen/vib, Antti Lotjonen/b and Olavi Louhivuori/dr-perc create audible impressions of various seasonal associations. For instance,…
Frank Carlberg’s Word Circus: No Money In Art
Well, there may not be a lot of money to be made in this album, but there sure is a lot of art. Christine Correa’s voice is wide ranging and flexible; she uses it like a madcap cabaret chanteuse along…
Yussef Kamaal: Black Focus
Lead by keyboardist Henry Wu, Yussef Kamaal includes Yusseff Dayes/dr, Tom Driessler-Kareem Dayes/b and guests Mansur Brown/g, Shabaka Hutchings/ts, Yelfris Valdes/tp and Gordon Wedderburn/voc. The team is groove friendly, but not in an overblown way, as the hip keyboards slide…
Ian Faquini & Paula Santoro: Metal Na Madeira
Modern Brazilian sounds mix with traditional samba on this fresh and sophisticated release by vocalist Paula Santoro and guitarist Ian Faquini. The remaining support mixes and matches, sometimes with simple accordion, other times with percussion and bass, and even once…
Supersilent: 13
From Norway, the group Supersilent consists of Helge Sten, Arve Henriksen and Stale Storlokken. The various sounds on this disc combine synthesizers, electronics and possibly other keyboards. Some have electronic ambience, others have spaciousness mixed with plugged in percussion. Lots…
Brian Kastan: Roll The Dice On Life
Here’s one that will be tough to categorize. Is it rap? Funk? Rock? What you have is guitarist Brian Kastan with a flexible team of Steve Rust/b and Peter O’Brien/dr. The ringer is vocalist Miles Griffith, who uses his nasally…