As if we couldn't tell you enough, we really do love the new album from Stephan Crump's Rosetta Trio, Outliers. It's a new album of the sweetest jams that have impeccable synchronized exploration. Crump, Liberty Ellman, and Jaime Fox have sounded great together for years, like pure magic, and the release of their new video for "Synapse", we get a glimpse of the magic in action … [Read more...]
Stephan Crump’s Rosetta Trio – ‘Outliers’ (Album Review)
Stephan Crump has an impressive resume. In just the past two years, the bassist has been a part of mesmerizing feats of collective improvisation (Planktonic Finales with Ingrid Laubrock and Cory Smythe) and one of the most impressive post-bop outfits in modern jazz (Far From Over with the Vijay Iyer Sextet). Much of Crump's work as a sideman and collaborator shows that he works … [Read more...]
Vijay Iyer – ‘Far From Over’
There has always been an air of adventure about his music, but since Vijay Iyer has started releasing records on ECM, the acclaimed pianist has really been exploring. Iyer's ECM debut came in the form of the hard left turn that was Mutations in 2014 - the only Iyer album which features him composing for a string quartet. In his 2015 ECM release he reconnected his long-running … [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...]
Nextbop’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2016
There's no universal theme or overall consensus in jazz this year. No overblown hype machine, no clamoring for a seemingly agreed upon savior, no important trendsetting bucking of past conventions to take on new ones. Artists made art this year, as they do every year, and in the realm of jazz, they made art together. Collaborators collaborated, improvisors improvised. We, … [Read more...]