CD reviews
On Herculaneum
This review appears in the January 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Herculaneum UCHŪ (ind.) By David R. Adler On releases such as Orange Blossom, Herculaneum III and Olives and Orchids, the Chicago sextet Herculaneum fashioned a sound full of urgent, percolating rhythm and well-placed dissonance — a horn-heavy aesthetic with echoes of Blue Note’s ’60s avant-garde
On Ben Allison, Sonny Rollins
In recent print issues of Stereophile magazine, my reviews of Ben Allison’s Action-Refraction and Sonny Rollins’s Road Shows, Vol. 2.
On Eric Harland, Owen Howard
This review appears in the August 2011 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Eric Harland, Voyager: Live By Night (Space Time/Sunnyside) Owen Howard, Drum Lore (BJU) By David R. Adler There’s no one way for a drummer-bandleader to approach a recording project, and these two highly dissimilar outings make it plain. Eric Harland, one of today’s most celebrated
On Aaron Goldberg/Guillermo Klein
This review appears in the August 2011 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Aaron Goldberg and Guillermo Klein Bienestan (Sunnyside) By David R. Adler As pianists, Aaron Goldberg and Guillermo Klein couldn’t be less alike. Goldberg is a leading virtuoso soloist of our day. Klein’s chops are far more modest, and his main artistic canvas is his extraordinary
On Pedro Giraudo
This review appears in the July 2011 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Pedro Giraudo Jazz Orchestra Córdoba (Zoho) By David R. Adler If one sound in bassist Pedro Giraudo’s music stands out the most, it is that of Tony De Vivo’s cajón. Somehow this box percussion instrument cuts through the rambunctious reeds and brass of Giraudo’s 12-piece
On Ralph Alessi
This review appears in the July 2011 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Ralph Alessi & This Against That Wiry Strong (Clean Feed) By David R. Adler There’s a good deal of continuity between Wiry Strong, the latest release from trumpeter Ralph Alessi’s This Against That, and previous efforts such as Look, a 2007 outing with the same
Reviews: Angelica Sanchez, Feldman/Courvoisier
My review [pdf] of A Little House, Angelica Sanchez’s marvelous solo piano disc, is in the May 2011 issue of Stereophile. Here’s an older one [pdf], from the June 2010 Stereophile — a tandem review of Oblivia and To Fly To Steal, by Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier. Took a little while to get my hands on that issue.
On Billy Hart
This review appears in the May 2011 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Billy Hart, Sixty-Eight (SteepleChase) Brian Landrus Quartet, Traverse (BlueLand) Mads Vinding Trio, Open Minds (Storyville) By David R. Adler At 70, Billy Hart is an icon of modern jazz drumming, and his work is far from done. Fueled by a restless creativity, he’s taken