The New York City Jazz Record
On Kenny Garrett
This review appears in the April 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Kenny Garrett Seeds from the Underground (Mack Avenue) By David R. Adler Alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett took an electric turn on his 2008 Mack Avenue debut Sketches of MD, a live album that harked back to his ’80s apprenticeship with Miles Davis. He ventured
New York @ Night: April 2012
From the April 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record: — Drawing on material from his superb new Palmetto disc An Attitude for Gratitude, drummer Matt Wilson fronted his Arts and Crafts quartet in an inspired late Saturday set at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (March 3). Wilson is a funnyman in the finest Gillespie tradition, but watching him harness the
Six Picks: April 2012
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in The New York City Jazz Record, April 2012: Josh Ginsburg, Zembla Variations (BJU) Billy Hart, All Our Reasons (ECM) Brad Mehldau Trio, Ode (Nonesuch) Michael Musillami Trio + 4, Mettle (Playscape) Gregory Porter, Be Good (Motéma) Ben Wendel, Frame (Sunnyside)
On Jeremy Pelt
This review appears in the March 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Jeremy Pelt Soul (HighNote) By David R. Adler If working bands are a rarity in jazz today, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt seems not to have gotten the memo. Soul is his fourth album to feature the same steady quintet lineup, with JD Allen on tenor,
On Johnathan Blake
This review appears in the March 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Johnathan Blake The Eleventh Hour (Sunnyside) By David R. Adler It’s always worth noting when a respected sideman ventures out as a leader. But debuts are sink-or-swim affairs, so what of Johnathan Blake’s The Eleventh Hour? It swims, and thanks primarily to a sideman’s
New York @ Night: March 2012
From the March 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record: — When bassist Ben Allison dedicated his Zankel Hall concert (Feb. 3) to New York City as a whole, he was glancing back at all the chameleonic work he’s done in town: music that has involved top jazz improvisers as well as figures like Joey Arias, the performance
Six Picks: March 2012
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in The New York City Jazz Record, March 2012: Juhani Aaltonen & Heikki Sarmanto, Conversations (TUM) David Berkman, Self-Portrait (Red Piano) Tim Berne, Snakeoil (ECM) Hans Glawischnig, Jahira (Sunnyside) Luis Perdomo, Universal Mind (RKM) Tom Warrington Trio, Nelson (Jazz Compass)
Andrea Centazzo, Peter Paulsen (and Dave Ballou)
This review appears in the February 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record: — Andrea Centazzo, Moon in Winter (Ictus) Peter Paulsen Quintet, Goes Without Saying… (SquarePegWorks) By David R. Adler These two discs are worlds apart in some ways, but there’s a link to be found in the acute, versatile trumpet of Dave Ballou. Both sessions feature