Saxophonist Caroline Davis (whose Heart Tonic definitely wowed us last year) is keeping things moving in fascinating, adventurous directions with her new album,Alula, out May 10th on New Amsterdam Records'. Davis is taking on electronic influences and bringing along Matt Mitchell in tow on synthesizers (and interesting change from his work on piano) and drummer Greg Saunier to … [Read more...]
Anthony Dean-Harris’ Favorite Jazz Albums of 2016
I had love and specific passion this year. I felt more detached, as many of my dispatches have noted over the last year but particularly in this week of assessment. I felt a listlessness about even completing this list, yet the need to communicate was still there. The need for completeness (in a task that can never be completed) still gnaws at me. I still had to express my … [Read more...]
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society – ‘Real Enemies’
If there's one thing I find reassurance in within the midst of a depressing world, it's the nerdery of Darcy James Argue. The man can go in hard about coffee, about bagels, about politics, about the music industry, about every nut and bolt necessary to compose his music. On his latest release with his big band, Secret Society, out now on New Amsterdam Records called Real … [Read more...]
JOBS’ ‘killer BOB sings’ Out June 30
We've had run-ins with killer BOB before, at least that's what they used to be. In one of the more epic moments of Nextbop's history, percussionist Max Jaffe joined multi-instrumentalist Adam Schatz in an 10-piece group playing all improvised music to start off one of our SXSW day parties. In essence, we trust Max Jaffe around these parts to make always interesting music, so … [Read more...]
Nextbop/The Art of Cool Project’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2013, #20-12
One major reason why I so enjoy this time at the end of the year is not only to reassess what this past year has looked like musically, not only to be able to look at a multitude of truly great works from great artists and say stuff like "oh, wow, Darcy James Argue gave us another album this year" or "hey, Wayne Shorter came back to Blue Note" and "how do David Weiss and Point … [Read more...]