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…
Author: George W. Harris
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…
Maria Grapsa Sextet: Life
Pianist and composer Maria Grapsa brings together a team of Becca Wilkins/voc, Matthew Kilner/ts, Liam Brennan/as-cl-bcl, Tommy Fuller/dr and Tom Pountney-Torin Davies/g for a collection of post bop originals. The themes are melodic and impressionistic, with Grapsa in fluid form…
Tania Giannouli: Solo
Pianist Tania Giannouli puts together a 24 song solo recital on this collection of originals. The pieces range from 44 seconds to just over seven minutes, with her approach going from ivories to plucked and strummed strings to a mix…
****WHO IS THIS GUY?!?***RINGER OF THE WEEK***Tommy Wolf: Wolf At Your Door/Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
I’ll tell you right now that piano man/singer Tommy Wolf is so obscure that he’s not even mentioned in Will Friedland’s encyclopedic book Jazz Singers. Give homage to Fresh Sound records for digging this one up, as Tommy Wolf is…
Jun Iida: Evergreen
Trumpeter Jun Iida has a sweet Kenny Dorham-style to his horn on this paste-laden album with Aubey Johnson/voc, Masami Kuroki/g, Josh Nelson/p-key, Jonathan Richards/b and Xavier Lecouturier/dr. The genius here is the melding of Iida’s horn with the ethereal voice…
Tobin Mueller: At The Piano, Volume 1
Best known for his ensemble works at the keyboards, Tobin Mueller shows his talent at solo arias (with a duet here and there) on this collection of piano performances. All of the songs are his own, and the album is…