Music
On Ilhan Ersahin
This review appears in the January 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul Sessions Night Rider (Nublu) By David R. Adler As founder of the club Nublu, tenor saxophonist Ilhan Ersahin has had a notable impact on live music in New York, increasing the creative traffic between jazz improvisers, beatmakers, world music bands and avant-gardists of
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
New York @ Night: January 2012
In the January 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record: — In a cheerful and loquacious introduction at Bar Next Door (Dec. 4), guitarist Peter Mazza announced his plan for the evening: arrangements of standards, reflecting a passion for rich and intricate harmony. Flanked by Marco Panascia on upright bass and Roggerio Boccato on a scaled-down percussion kit, Mazza
On Michael Feinstein
My feature article on Michael Feinstein, in the December 2011 print issue of JazzTimes, is now online.
Six Picks: January 2012
Happy New Year! To start us off, my monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in The New York City Jazz Record, January 2012: Dan Blake, The Aquarian Suite (BJU) Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet, Apparent Distance (Firehouse 12) Emmet Cohen, In the Element (Bada Beep) Dave Douglas & So Percussion, Bad Mango (Greenleaf) Adam Rudolph’s Go:Organic Orchestra, The Sound of a
Best of 2011
The JJA has started posting Best-Of lists for the year 2011 — my entry here.
Nicholas Payton and “jazz”
Inevitably, a firestorm erupted on Twitter and Facebook after trumpeter Nicholas Payton published this post, titled “On Why Jazz Isn’t Cool Anymore.” And then this follow-up, “An Open Letter To My Dissenters.” In the second post Payton writes, “‘Jazz’ is an oppressive colonialist slave term and I want no parts [sic] of it.” This sounds similar to Fred Ho’s assessment:
New York @ Night: December 2011
In the December 2011 issue of The New York City Jazz Record: — There was much to digest while watching Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society perform “Brooklyn Babylon,” an hourlong work programmed by BAM’s Next Wave Festival (Nov. 10). Danijel Zezelj, standing on a catwalk, painted haunting images in black and red, using a small roller on a wide and narrow canvas as