I was recently asked to define what trend ran through jazz in the past year and I found I couldn’t think of anything definitive about that other than the fact that I like how definitive that was. This all came about when I was thinking about my picks fo best album of the year. Did my list lean more toward rock influences? European? Electronic? Black-influenced? I realized that i … [Read more...]
Nextbop’s Best Albums of 2011: Marc Antunes’ Jazz Picks
The Nextbop staff is compiling its lists of the best albums of 2011 in jazz and all other genres. We’ll release our mass lists during the last week of December but we want to make sure everyone’s individual lists have the chance to shine.10. Austin Peralta - Endless Planets (Brainfeeder)This album is heavy, and it takes stomach to digest it. But it is this kind of “di … [Read more...]
Nextbop’s Best Albums of 2011: Anthony Dean-Harris’ Jazz Picks
The Nextbop staff is compiling its lists of the best albums of 2011 in jazz and all other genres. We’ll release our mass lists during the last week of December but we want to make sure everyone’s individual lists have the chance to shine.10) Terri Lyne Carrington - The Mosaic Project (Concord Jazz)I think of drummer Terri Lyne Carrington’s The Mosaic Project like a con … [Read more...]
An Interview with Tigran Hamasyan
I met Tigran Hamasyan at a Starbucks here in Montreal a few hours before his solo piano show at L’Astral on February 11. Tigran seemed quite composed, and he answered my sometimes-erratic questions with patience and intelligence. In the past few months, I have interviewed several jazz musicians between sets, and I’m always surprised at how composed they are. But this was bef … [Read more...]