A single fully-improvised piece of over an hour in length, percussionist Tyshawn Sorey and pianist Marilyn Crispell’s The Adornment of Time is a challenging work. It is not simple, danceable, easily listenable, or intended as background music. It is highly unlikely the listener will fully grasp its importance upon first approach. However, further delving into its depths … [Read more...]
Pianist Gabriel Zucker Releases Visuals for “the stones in my pockets” (Video Premiere)
Pianist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Zucker is a Yale graduate and Rhodes scholar who is quickly becoming a prominent voice in the New York avant-garde music scene. Zucker has won awards from ASCAP and the American Composers Forum and has performed in 18 countries in a various formats ranging from No Reference For Taste, his rock-jazz duo, to Underorder, his … [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...]
Matt Mitchell – ‘A Pouting Grimace’
On A Pouting Grimace (Pi Recordings), Matt Mitchell’s fifth outing as a leader, the pianist has created, along with producer David Torn, an otherworldly musical ecosystem through a uniquely orchestrated large ensemble and seemingly endless rhythmic, melodic, and textural invention.The ensemble consists of Mitchell on piano, synthesizer, & electronics, Kim Cass on double … [Read more...]
Stephan Crump – ‘Rhombal’
As a composer, Stephan Crump knows how to build. His Rosetta Trio has managed to construct a moving sound as calm as a flowing river that's still powerful enough to erode the rocks in the river's bed. The smoothness of his bass anchors as much as it flies off. When dealing with Liberty Ellman and Jaime Fox's guitars, the fullness and richness is there. When playing, in all … [Read more...]