In a town overflowing with guitarists, Will Brahm showed the full house at Sam First that he is one of the few six stringers to stand out by successfully having one foot in the tradition and one in the future…
Month: January 2024
****RINGER OF THE WEEK****The Palomar Trio: The Song In Our Soul
The early days of “Hotcha” jazz are delivered by the trio of Dan Levinson/cl-ts, Mark Shane/p and Kevin Dorn/dr on this fun revisitation of songs from The Depression. Levinson is a knockout here, with his tenor sounding like it has…
Bill Anschell: Improbable Solutions
Playing piano and electronics, Bill Anschell brings together a team of Chris Symer/b-eb, Jose Martinez-KJ Sawka/dr, Brian Monroney/g, and Jeff Busch/perc for some exciting originals that veer from progressive rock to hip fusion. There are hints of Weather Report with…
The Adam Deitch Quartet: Roll The Tape
Leading a team of Ryan Zoidis/sax, Eric Bloom/tp, Wil Blades/org-clav and guest John Scofield/g, Adam Deithc plays drum and percussion in a soulful and funky atmosphere of originals. Scofield joins the boogaloo of “Mushroom Gravy” while Bloom bops through a…
Pharoah Sanders: Pharoah
Recently departed tenor sax legend Pharoah Sanders is captured in a collection of 1977 recordings in Germany on this record with Tisziji Munoz/g, Clifton Chase/org, then-wife Bedria Sanders/-harmonium, Greg Bandy/dr and Steve Neil/b. The musicians mix and match throughout, with…
Mareike Wiening: Reveal
Drummer Mareike Wiening brings together a team of Rich Perry/ts, Glenn Zaleski/p, Alex Goodman/g, Johannes Felscher/b and guest Dave Douglas/tp for a collection of varied originals. Douglas joins in the mellow tones with Perry following Felscher’s lead on “Encore”, and…
Jasper Hoiby: Earthness
Bassist Jasper Hoiby’s 3 Elements band brings together Noah Stoneman/p and Luca Caruso/b for a mix of intuitive trio works and some solo forays. The songs divide into quick vignets of 1-2 minutes or complete pieces in the 5-7 minute…
The Gurdjieff Ensemble: Zartir
It’s difficult to be objective in assessing music that one has grown up listening to. Being of Greek heritage, I was weaned on folk music akin to the music directed by Levon Eskenian and performed by The National Chamber Choir…
Susan Alcorn Septeto Del Sur: Canto
A mix of free jazz and Peruvian undertones takes place with Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar teamed with Luis Alvarea/g, Claudo Araya/dr-cuat, Francsco Aray/charango-quena, Rodrigo Bobadilla/flute-quena-zampona/voc, Amanda Irarrazabel/b-voc and Danka Villanueva/vi-voc. Many of the pieces have a free form,…
ROAD KILL ROCK…Blood Brothers: Live In Canada, Randy Lee Riviere: Blues Sky
The front line of Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia sing and play rocking guitar teamed up in a pair of gigs in Canada with Doug Byrkit/b, Lewis Stephens/p-org ad Matt Johnson-Ephraim Lowell/dr. The pair growl on “You’re Gonna Burn” and…