Click here to [close]

Friday, August 31, 2012

Magda Mayas & Christine Abdelnour - Myriad (Unsounds, 2012) ****

By Stef Gijssels
    German pianist Magda Mayas and Lebanese saxophonist Christine Abdelnour are known for their sonic explorations that go way beyond the sound you can expect from their respective instruments. After last year's "Teeming", we find them back for this album. Again a short one, thirty-five minutes in total, yet as you can expect each one of them incredibly intense. Basically, the only thing you get on this CD are...

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Francois Houle 5+1 - Genera (Songlines, 2012) ****½

Normal.dotm 0 0 1 419 2389 Teachers College 19 4 2933 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; ...

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Maya Dunietz, John Edwards, Steve Noble: Cousin it (Hopscotch, 2011) ****

Normal.dotm 0 0 1 442 2524 Teachers College 21 5 3099 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; ...

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Max Johnson Quartet (Not Two, 2012) *****

By Philip Coombs
With the onset of fan donation pages all over the Internet, artists, musicians and inventors of all sorts can now speak directly with their fans and solicit funds for all types of projects. Some are fantastical like 'help me turn into a cat' fund or 'help make my paper clip rocket ship a reality', but more often than not it is a musician with a book of songs that means the world to them and are looking for a way to make...

Monday, August 27, 2012

Getatchew Mekuria + The Ex + Friends Y'Anbessaw Tezeta (Terp, 2012) ****

By Stef Gijssels
   Many years ago, when I first listened to the Ethopiques series, I was baffled by the musical quality, and the incredibly compelling power of the music, with long lyrical themes and hypnotic repetitive and highly danceable rhythms. The series gave a historical overview of Ethiopian jazz, with the ones with Mulatu Astatqe being my favorite.  The genre also captivated the attention of Western musicians, with Russ...

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Paul Rutherford & George Haslam with Samuli Mikkonen Trio – Raahe ’99: For Paul Rutherford (Slam, 2012) ****

By Daniel Sorrells A rumbling of piano chords delivers Raahe ’99, a recently unearthed meeting between British heavyweights Paul Rutherford and George Haslam and Finland’s Samuli Mikkonen Trio, a concert that might forever have existed only as a flickering memory of those who attended the Raahen Rantajatsit festival in July of 1999. This month marks five years since Rutherford’s passing, and it’s hard to imagine a posthumous offering that’s...

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Jerry Granelli Trio - Let Go (Plunge Records, 2011) ****

By Paul Acquaro
I've been a fan of drummer Jerry Granelli since I stumbled upon News from the Streets in the mid 90's. The double electric guitar line up and organic pulse of the music just bowled me over at the time. Over the ensuing years, Granelli's output has been consistently interesting and unique, like with the V16 group featuring electric slide guitarist David Tronzo, and he continues his high quality offerings with the recent trio...

Friday, August 24, 2012

John Zorn - The Hermetic Organ (Tzadik, 2012) ****

By Philip Coombs
There is no shortage of personalities. A seemingly endless list in fact of people whose voices are so distinctive in their chosen profession, that it is almost impossible not to hear that voice when they choose to delve into something else, something different. A prime example of this for me was when George Carlin decided to write books. Even though he is not on stage and you can't hear him, it is almost certain that it will...

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Luigi Archetti - Null II / III (Die Schachtel, 2012) ****½

By Paolo Casertano Some scattered thoughts from the upper deck of the “Stef Free Jazz Blog Summer 2012 Cruise” As with every summer, the entire Review Team is sailing the seven seas on a ghost vessel. The hold is full of albums to review, everyone is in his narrow cabin listening to a pile of records, sharpening his sabre and waiting for the pirate boarding - one of our favourite activities - the captain has fixed at 6.00 p.m. The following...

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Martin, Haynes and Driver: Freedman at Western Front (Barnyard Records, 2012) ***

By Martin Schray
One day, when Quentin Tarantino will shoot a remake of John Ford’s “The Searchers”, which will also be about a search party of righteous men, there will be a scene at a campfire out in the loneliness of the American prairie. The men are looking for the youngest daughter of a female left-wing African-American politician who was kidnapped by some KKK members to teach her a lesson. The area where they are is rather inaccessible,...

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Silke Eberhard & Alex Huber - Singen Sollst Du ... (Not Two, 2012) ****½

By Stef Gijssels
    Both German alto saxophonist Silke Eberhard and Swiss drummer Alex Huber belong to the young generation of highly trained and skilled musicians who are willing to create their own sound, while keeping the legacy of the past. Eberhard made previous albums in tribute to Ornette Coleman (with Aki Takase), to Dolphy (with Potsa Lotsa), and she even transcribed several of the latter's solos. Her great strength is the...

Dans Les Arbres - Canopée (ECM, 2012) ****½

By Stef Gijssels
    In April 2008, I guess I was the first reviewer to hail the unique musical vision of "Dans Les Arbres", the debut album of the French-Norwegian minimalist band with Xavier Charles on clarinet and harmonica, Ivar Grydeland on acoustic guitar, banjo and scruti box, Christian Wallumrød on prepared piano and harmonium, and Ingar Zach on gran cassa and percussion. I gave the album a five-star rating and rightly...

Foxes Fox – Live at the Vortex (Psi, 2012) *****

By Troy Dostert
This is the latest release from what has become something of a free-jazz supergroup, with Evan Parker (tenor saxophone) joined by John Edwards (bass), Steve Beresford (piano), and Louis Moholo-Moholo (drums), as well as a guest appearance by the great Kenny Wheeler on trumpet and flugelhorn. With such a stellar lineup, could anything whatsoever go wrong?  Well, no.  In fact: this is close to as good as it gets...

Monday, August 20, 2012

Fred Lonberg-Holm's Fast Citizens - Gather (Delmark 2012) *****

Posted by Joe Oddly enough in a world where the vast majority of 'big' names in jazz come from New York we here on the Free Jazz blog seem to review few groups, or musicians, coming from the 'big apple'! When writing about American improvised music in the past years my I notice that there seems to be less real experimentation coming out of New York centred scene (generally). At the present, and probably since longer, it's the Chicago scene...

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Joe Moffett - Ad Faunum (Not Two, 2012) ****½

By Paul Acquaro
Trumpeter Joe Moffett's group is described as a "microtonal free jazz quintet" which after listening to Ad Faunum seems pretty apt. However, what that tag doesn't convey is how they smolder with such intensity, releasing wisps of melodic smoke that hints at the powerful combustion within. The group features a somewhat unusual line up, joining Moffett is Noah Kaplan on tenor sax, Giacomo Merega on...

Friday, August 17, 2012

Hilary Hahn & Hauschka: Silfra (Deutsche Grammophon, 2012) ****

By Martin Schray
Yes, you are on the right website. No, we are not going mainstream now. But why then a review of a record on Deutsche Grammophon, the keeper of the Grail when it comes to classical music? And why an album by Hilary Hahn, the American Grammy Award winning violinist, who has hardly ever crossed the boundaries of classical music? Well, the answer is quite simple: The music on this album is completely improvised and Hahn, who improvises...

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Eri Yamamoto Trio – The Next Page (AUM Fidelity, 2012) ***½

By Tom Burris
Okay, I have to be honest. Initially, I had some real problems with this album – the first two tracks, actually.  I’d put it on, hear a gentle folk melody that sounded like it was being reinterpreted by the early Keith Jarrett trio, which is pleasant, & then it would turn a corner into Bruce Hornsby-land and I would grit my teeth and try to endure…  Well, after a few attempts I finally wised up and began listening...

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Various Artists - 13 Miniatures For Albert Ayler (RogueArt, 2012) ****

(***** for Joe McPhee's closing track) By Paolo Casertano Reviewing a compilation can be a hard work. Even when the compilation is a large excerpt of a well-matched tribute to such a seminal and groundbreaking free jazz figure as Albert Ayler. RogueArt gives us the chance to have a documentation of the influences and legacies of the great saxophonist.  Looking at the names of the artists performing in this concert, held in...

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Katharina Weber, Barry Guy, and Balts Nill – Games and Improvisations – Hommage a György Kurtág (Intakt, 2012) ****

By Steve Mossberg The great Hungarian composer György Kurtág intends his many short Játékok (games) as naïve art. Each short piano piece is made to sound as if written by a child experimenting at the piano keyboard for the first time. The air of pure, unfettered curiosity and experimentation in these works mirrors an atmosphere that also surrounds some of the finest free improvisation, which is why Katharina Weber’s new spontaneous spin...

Monday, August 13, 2012

Glas - Live at Brötz Gothenburg Sweden 2012 04 12 (Bandcamp,2012) ****

By Paul Acquaro
There was just a cryptic email and a link to Bandcamp for this short (35 minutes), inexpensive (free) and exciting album called Glas Live at Brotz.  The group, Glas, from Norway is Lars Larsson on saxophone, Gunnar Backman on guitar and live loops,  Peeter Uuskyla on drums, Niclas Rydh on trombone and Anders Berg on bass, and they are pretty dynamic collective. The first song 'Comb Jelly',...