From the March 2013 issue of The New York City Jazz Record: — It can’t be easy to say the words “2013 could be my last year.” But that’s what the audience heard when Fred Ho’s Green Monster Big Band performed at Ginny’s Supper Club in Harlem (Feb. 9). Ho seemed in good spirits and conducted the band with vigor, but
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in The New York City Jazz Record, March 2013: Barry Altschul, The 3dom Factor (TUM) Ben Goldberg, Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues (BAG) Eric Hofbauer, American Grace (Creative Nation) Jonathan Kreisberg, One (New For Now) Jeremy Manasia, Green Dream (Cellar Live) David Weiss & Point of Departure, Venture Inward (Posi-Tone)
This review appears in the February 2013 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Curtis Macdonald Twice Through the Wall (ind.) By David R. Adler Twice Through the Wall, the second offering from altoist Curtis Macdonald, is an EP with a running time of just 20 minutes. Far from hurrying through it, Macdonald paces himself, devoting the first
From the February 2013 issue of The New York City Jazz Record: — Having endured as a working band for nearly a decade and a half, The Bad Plus doesn’t lack for material. The first Sunday set at the Village Vanguard (Jan. 6) featured pieces from the trio’s latest Made Possible but also others stretching back to Give (2004) and
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in The New York City Jazz Record, February 2013: Gregg August, Four By Six (Iacuessa) Ryan Blotnick, Solo, Volume 1 (ind.) Ken Hatfield Sextet, For Langston (Arthur Circle) Rudresh Mahanathappa, Gamak (ACT) Eric Revis, Parallax (Clean Feed) Wayne Shorter Quartet, Without a Net (Blue Note)
Happy New Year again! From the January 2013 issue of The New York City Jazz Record: — As a student of Lennie Tristano and a noted colleague of Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, tenor saxophonist Ted Brown provides a living link to the Tristano school — an intriguing area in jazz history, somewhere in the interstices between bop and “cool.”
Happy New Year! My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in The New York City Jazz Record, January 2013: Michaël Attias, Spun Tree (Clean Feed) Avishai Cohen, Triveni II (Anzic) Hal Galper Trio, Airegin Revisited (Origin) Jon Irabagon’s Outright!, Unhinged (Irabbagast) Reggie Quinerly, Music Inspired by Freedmantown (Redefinition) Sonic Liberation Front, Jetway Confidential (High Two)
This review appears in the December 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Dave King I’ve Been Ringing You (Sunnyside) By David R. Adler Trios loom large in drummer Dave King’s career: consider two of his best-known musical endeavors, the Bad Plus and Happy Apple. The piano, too, is central to King’s identity as a player and