instrumental Archive
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 […]
21 Jan 2021
Album Review: Bill Evans — Live at Ronnie Scott’s
Perhaps the most celebrated lineup of the Bill Evans Trio is the one featuring bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. Sadly, and because of LaFaro’s death in an auto […]
19 Jan 2021
Album Review: Sonny Rollins – Rollins in Holland
There are people out there doing important archival work. Dedicated music lovers like Zev Feldman connect with archivists, collectors, fans and like-minded individuals across the globe, seeking to unearth previously-unheard […]
18 Jan 2021
Hundred-word Reviews: January 2021 #2
Here’s five more brief reviews; this time we’ve got progressive rock, powerpop, indie chamber pop, goth rock and one album that’s simply beyond easy classification. What they all have in […]
09 Jan 2021
Album Review: Dave Brubeck — Lullabies
If someone had asked me a few years ago if I thought I’d be writing a week’s worth of content in 2021 about Dave Brubeck, I would have shot them […]
08 Jan 2021
Album Review: The Dave Brubeck Quartet — Time Outtakes
Released in 1959, The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Time Out is a landmark album. An accomplished synthesis of West Coast and cool jazz, it’s remarkable for combining “unusual” time signatures – […]
17 Dec 2020
Kronos Quartet on Thelen’s “Circular Lines” and Kronos’ 50 for the Future
Zürich, Switzerland composer Stephan Thelen has composed four new modern classical works, collected on a new album, World Dialogue. Three of the string pieces are performed by Polish all-female ensemble […]
09 Dec 2020
Album Review: Chicago Soul Jazz Collective – It Takes a Spark to Start a Fire
On their first recording, the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective tackled a collection of familiar genre standards, and the results were impressive. For their newest release, however, the group applies its […]
07 Dec 2020
Album Review: The Whit Boyd Combo — Party Girls OST
Admittedly, it requires a certain kind of sense of humor to appreciate such a thing, but as fate would have it, I’m just such a person. So as out-there as […]
23 Nov 2020
Doug McKechnie’s ‘San Francisco Moog: 1968-1972’
In the late ’60s, the Moog modular synthesizer was still very much an experimental tool. While there had been some ambitious attempts to use the Moog as the centerpiece of […]