jazz Archive
18 Apr 2021
Album Review – Gerald Gradwohl Group — Episode 6
What might it sound like if Metallica was influenced by Allan Holdsworth? The answer might just be Episode 6, the new album by the Gerald Grawhol Group. But then Metallica […]
21 Mar 2021
Album Review: Reggie Quinerly — New York Nowhere
As a jazz fan, my own particular tastes tend toward music that hits a sweet spot right between old and new. I dig specific jazz forms: bop, post-bop, some fusion […]
27 Feb 2021
Album Review: D-Town Brass — Demiurge
Much of what passes for avant garde music tends toward a kind of seriousness, a dour approach that screams, “this is art!” and all but insists that the listeners revel […]
24 Feb 2021
Album Review: Miles Davis’ ‘Jack Johnson’ at 50 (Part Two)
Continued from Part One … Side Two of Miles Davis’ Jack Johnson features the same players plus a different lineup, and in fact the aggregation wasn’t credited on the original […]
23 Feb 2021
Album Review: Miles Davis’ ‘Jack Johnson’ at 50 (Part One)
Much is made – and rightly so – of Miles Davis’ landmark 1970 release Bitches Brew. The album represented Davis’ adventurous foray into the (previously unoccupied) space in which rock […]
20 Feb 2021
Album Review: The David Angel Jazz Ensemble – Out on the Coast
Unless one was an aficionado of the style during its heyday in the 1940s, there was little reason to predict that the form would endure far into the future. It’s […]
18 Feb 2021
Hundred-word Reviews: February 2021, Part 3
These five are all archival, reissue and/or compilation releases. There’s even a vinyl release here. Wolfgang Lackerschmid & Chet Baker – Quintet Sessions 1979 I was only recently introduced to […]
13 Feb 2021
Album Review: The Justin Rothberg Group – Hurricane Mouse
Too often, when an artist makes music that starts with a jazz foundation and leans in an “accessible” direction, the result is smooth jazz. Ugh. It’s the rare artist who […]
03 Feb 2021
Album Review: The Ed Palermo Big Band — The Adventures of Zodd Zundgren
Frank Zappa’s body of work is massive. Even if one limits oneself to the music released during his lifetime, it’s a lot. Me, I have his first 45 or so […]
31 Jan 2021
Album Review: Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra — Bernstein Reimagined
Established in 1990, the 17-member Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra is the orchestra-in-residence at the National Museum of American History. Though it’s primarily a live act, since its formation the Orchestra […]