My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in The New York City Jazz Record, December 2013: Ben Allison, The Stars Look Very Different Today (Sonic Camera) Jamie Baum Septet +, In This Life (Sunnyside) Marco Cappelli Acoustic Trio, Le Stagioni Del Commissario Ricciardi (Tzadik) Myra Melford, Life Carries Me This Way (Firehouse 12) Billy Mintz, Mintz Quartet (Thirteenth Note) Colin
From the August 2013 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — One of bassist Ben Allison’s recent obsessions is the music of Jim Hall, which he’s explored live with the gifted Steve Cardenas on guitar. In a four-night run at Dizzy’s, Allison maintained a focus on Hall at least in part while changing up the personnel. Saxophonist Ted Nash and drummer
From the December 2012 issue of The New York City Jazz Record. — Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt’s quintet, arguably one of the strongest working bands in jazz, has held together long enough to record four albums: November, Men of Honor, The Talented Mr. Pelt and this year’s Soul. There were new faces onstage, however, when Pelt arrived for a special birthday
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
In recent print issues of Stereophile magazine, my reviews of Ben Allison’s Action-Refraction and Sonny Rollins’s Road Shows, Vol. 2.
My monthly list of recommended CDs, as published in The New York City Jazz Record, May 2011: Ben Allison, Action-Refraction (Palmetto) Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra, Hothouse Stomp (Accurate) Joe Fiedler Trio, Sacred Chrome Orb (Yellow Sound) Peter Paulsen Quintet, Goes Without Saying… (SquarePegWorks) Ralph Peterson’s Unity Project, Outer Reaches (Onyx) Kenny Werner, Balloons (Half Note)