In the new All About Jazz-New York: — While bassist Adam Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra is named to conjure up great size and bombast, at present it’s a compact sextet, and its sonic inventory includes passages of nuance and overall calm. With a Bay Area lineup, Lane has released No(w) Music (Cadence, 2001) and New Magical Kingdom (Clean Feed, 2006).
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in All About Jazz-New York, May 2010: Anat Cohen, Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard (Anzic) Jorrit Dijkstra, Pillow Circles (Clean Feed) Yusef Lateef & Adam Rudolph, Towards the Unknown (Meta) Olivier Manchon, Orchestre de Chambre Miniature – Volume 1 (ObliqSound) Wallace Roney, If Only for One Night (HighNote) Ralph Towner &
There’s been lots of derisive tweeting about pianist Eric Lewis, now known as ELEW, and his self-coined “Rockjazz.” I’m in agreement with Peter Hum. Lewis is hiding behind the specious argument that jazzers playing rock is new and controversial, something critics can’t handle. The truth is that the music stands or falls on its merits, and ELEW’s music falls hard.
Another NYC mega jazz fest to pair with Winter Jazz Fest. This one in June. Details here.
Oh, I do wish I could go. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has commissioned Shorter and the quartet to premiere a new work inspired by the museum’s Asian art collection. Details on the flyer below. Click to enlarge or go here for a clearer image.
In the new Philadelphia Weekly: Bill MaysSat., Apr. 24, 8 & 10pm. $20. Chris’ Jazz Café, 1421 Sansom St. 215.568.3131 www.chrisjazzcafe.com Bill Mays was once a Hollywood session hand, but he rose to become a fine jazz piano modernist, paying dues with the likes of Bud Shank and Shelly Manne and recently succeeding Bill Charlap in the eminent Phil Woods
In case you missed the last one… Samuel Blaser, Solo Bone (SLAM, 2009) Adam Rudolph & Ralph Jones, Yèyí: A Wordless Psalm of Prototypical Vibrations (Meta) John Blake, Jr. Quartet, Motherless Child (ARC) Earl MacDonald, Re:Visions: Works for Jazz Orchestra (Death Defying) Harris Simon, The Mastery of Passion (Resonance) Nick Hempton Band (ind.)
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been nominated for this year’s Helen Dance-Robert Palmer Award for Review and Feature Writing, given annually by the Jazz Journalists Association. My fellow nominees are Nate Chinen, Gary Giddins, Marc Myers, Doug Ramsey and Ben Ratliff. Full list of Jazz Awards semi-finalists, and details on the June 14 event, here.