Aaron Parks is an altogether beautiful person, as if his aura just colors whatever he touches, particularly pianos. Billy Hart is a legend and a giant and gets to do …
Erik Truffaz is 56 years old. He plays the trumpet. He’s on Blue Note… France. He’s not hyped in the United States much. I only knew of him from copping …
I learned long ago from my mother that if you can help it, don’t work on your birthday. There are some who don’t exactly hold that sentiment. Bassist Orlando le …
Bilal brings it, but he always had. His Wednesday, July 6th set at Club Soda as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival didn’t have the Patti Labelle-esque rolling on …
Taking the lead on harmonica is tricky. The instrument is prone to a chirpiness that doesn’t typically sustain for a whole album. However in the right hands (and with the …
Most modern producers/songwriters seek to highlight the triumphs of American culture; Jaimeo Brown Transcendence’s Work Songs invokes the way music was influenced under the most dire of circumstances. The follow …
For years, I have known a certain truth– don’t sleep on Warren Wolf. the master vibraphonist has snuck up on me one too many times on releases of his own. …
Brian Eno’s 1978 album Ambient 1: Music for Airports is Capital “I” Important. It’s a landmark album for what was at the time a fledgling genre, ambient. It’s an album …
Okay, let’s just be real. I have to ask. Is Bobby Avey tone-deaf? Is the young pianist, praised in certain jazz circles as an innovator and a sharp voice, just …
I was worried a couple years ago when Chris Schlarb, the band/cult-leader of the Psychic Temple, told me he was going in a more folk/pop direction in the next album. …
On Emily’s D+Evolution (pronounced “D-plus-evolution”), Esperanza Spalding is a badass black punk rock frontwoman making her jazz musicianship work for her in a way that it didn’t on her last …
In a conversation between Dave Douglas and Marc Ribot on the “A Noise From the Deep” podcast, Ribot explained the difference between jazz and rock artists: jazz artists always give …
It would be reductionist to call Shift a Pat Metheny album. Yes, his signaturely chameleonic guitar is one of the most pronounced sounds all throughout saxophonist Logan Richardson’s latest album, …
Ben Monder’s Amorphae is an ECM release. It’s contemplative, expansive, tumultuously beautiful and beautifully tumultuous. It sounds positively gorgeous. It’s sparse in ways that never leave the listener wanting more …
Spocket’s self-titled and first release represents the best in funk rock coming from the younger side of the Chicago jazz scene. It manages to be clean and slick without being …
David Bowie gave us one last masterpiece: ★ (pronounced “Blackstar”). And true to form, it leaves us with more questions than answers. I began writing this review before Davie Bowie …
Comedian H. Jon Benjamin is releasing a jazz album this week on Sub Pop Records. The album features Scott Kreitzer on saxophone, David Finck on bass, Jonathan Peretz on drums, …
Their day began at 3am. The day before, BADBADNOTGOOD, the quartet of keyboardist Matty Tavares, bassist Chester Hansen, drummer Alex Sowinski, and tenor saxophonist Leland Whitty, had been rehearsing in …
The most powerful storm I’ve ever seen was at the Big Bend National Park in the isolated elbow of Texas. A tremendous set of clouds marched toward our site in …
“Glitchy” is probably the best word for the latest release from Mary Halvorson, a solo guitar album she titled Meltframe. This is not to say there’s something wrong with the …
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah plays three different horns on his new album, Stretch Music (Introducing Elena Pinderhughes)— the siren, the sirenette, and the reverse flugelhorn. They’re horns by his own …
One can never tell what Will Holland will do next. The producer for the last fifteen years has never ceased to amaze with the music he has made that seems …
It’s pretty amazing how such an unassuming piano trio album works so well. In their self-titled album from earlier this year, the trio known as ARK of pianist Carlos Homs, …
There exists a certain pocket of jazz — somewhere in that R&B, funky ether, if you hit smooth jazz, you’ve gone too far — where great things can happen. In …
Trombonist Nick Finzer’s second album as a leader is a straight-ahead jazz album with some punch to it. It’s a pleasure to hear these original compositions exhibit the traits of …
The big band format can be a hard sell. It’s a large machine and the moving parts frequently don’t have a lot of room. Very often, as a reviewer, I …
It seems everyone wants to tell and talk about Benjamin Clementine‘s life story. However, no one does so better than Clementine himself on At Least For Now; so, let’s leave …
Frailty can be deceptive. Something’s perceived weakness could in fact wield some hidden strength, forged from withstanding the elements. Like an insect’s exoskeleton, eggshells, or a Brooklyn-based jazz quintet, sometimes …
The Ron Carter Quartet took the stage on Saturday, July 4 (the penultimate night of the 2015 Montreal International Jazz Festival) at the historic Monument-National, Quebec’s oldest operating theater. Carter …
Solo concerts are some of the most difficult and revealing situations for musicians, but they can also be the most rewarding and profound for both the performer and the audience. …
Eliane Elias enjoys a reputation as a musician who can swing as convincingly as she can samba, and she did not disappoint the crowd who filled the Monument National at …
Prolific trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas was the proud father introducing his brand new baby to Montreal jazz festival fans at le club l’Astral Tuesday, June 30. His new venture, …
It’s hard to believe June 30th, 2015 was Snarky Puppy’s first time performing at the Montreal Jazz Festival; they filled the 2300-capacity Métropolis Theatre like a veteran act. That’s not …
On Monday, June 29, 2015 at the 36th edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, I went to hear two quartets led by two of the most influential guitarists of …
The collaboration between Joshua Redman (sax), Reid Anderson (bass), Ethan Iverson (piano), and David King (drums) is one of the most musically successful enterprises in recent memory. The band has …
The crowd was already riled up by the time Christian Scott and his sextet stepped onto the stage of a packed Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill on June 28th for …
On Henry Threadgill’s latest record In For A Penny, In For A Pound, the saxophonist/flautist/composer and his longstanding band, Zooid, merge the ethos and improvisation of jazz with the compositional …
“The Subliminal and the Sublime is based on the concept that, under the surface of our apparent reality, there are subliminal layers of patterns, detail and depth. When we look …
On his debut solo album Embracing Clarity, 21-year-old Dubai-born guitarist Juan Dhas displays a musical sensibility well beyond his years. The album consists of seven original compositions that flow, flutter, …
I was a bit skeptical upon first hearing of The Bad Plus Joshua Redman (Nonesuch). BP members Reid Anderson (bass), Ethan Iverson (piano), and Dave King (drums) have asserted in …
It was no surprise that Ethan Iverson and Ron Carter’s performance last Thursday was sold out: a partnership between one of the most innovative and contemporary pianists in jazz and …
Steve Coleman has always been a musician who could find the rhythm in anything. His compositions would seem to indicate his soul is a metronome. Steve Coleman’s work has always …
Saxophonist Kyle Nasser recently released a more than serviceable album alongside Jeff Miles on guitar, Dov Manski on piano, Chris Van Voorst on bass, and Devin Drobka on drums that …
Pianist Javi Santiago is a graduate of the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and a product of the prestigious Brubeck Institute Fellowship Program. The young musician recently released …
A collection of disparate thoughts from 2015’s South By SouthWest Music Festival in Austin, Texas ContentsPreludeOn the Day Of…On Bicycle InfrastructureEnding the BoycottBADBADNOTGOOD’s PocketThe Resources You Never Think OfArt and …
Music is wide and music is expansive. It has pockets and nooks and crannies where some of us may never trod. We face it with open ears but there’s just …
I heard a lot about Juan Pastor before I got a chance to finally hear his music. After listening to Chinchano, I can totally understand why he’s a favorite to …
This time around I’ll look at a few different versions of some contemporary tunes, rather than older tunes. The first tune I’ll look at is Daniel Freedman’s “All Brothers,” off …
There are times when I receive some odd, angular, challenging album and find it so off-putting it’s downright unlikeable. I find it to be some sort of problem with jazz– …
It’s been two years since bassist Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner released his debut album on Steve “Flying Lotus” Ellison’s indie label Brainfeeder, The Golden Age of Apocalypse. In that time, Thundercat’s …
Kurt Rosenwinkel doesn’t raise much of a ruckus. In fact, the last ruckus I remember him raising was a Facebook plea with musicians to stop raising ruckuses and get on …
Houston-native drummer Jamire Williams gets around a lot. He’s part of Christian Scott’s quintet. He’s part of legendary organist Dr. Lonnie Smith’s current trio. He’s head of his own group, …
Stanley Clarke is able to bring out an interesting cross section of folks. I personally attended the Stanley Clarke Band’s June 2 performance at the Jo Long Theater of San …
A couple of weeks back I wrote up a capsule review for the San Antonio Current–the prototypical alternative weekly in town –on Esperanza Spalding’s latest record Radio Music Society. You …
I’ve always had a tendency to try to tether myself to crazy, inspired people. I always have a eye for these sorts of things. That’s the draw of the artisans …
With the sudden and astounding success of singer Gregory Porter’s Grammy-nominated debut album, Water, just fifteen months ago, there’s presumable pressure for his follow up, out this month, to do …
The Rick Rosato Quintet existed on stage for two nights, four sets, from October 22 to October 23, at Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill here in Montreal. Well, that often …