Jazz /
Ornette On Tenor
Ornette Coleman’s "Ornette On Tenor" marks a pivotal moment in jazz, featuring his switch to tenor sax and the addition of Jimmy Garrison on bass. The album’s earthy, darker soundscape, collective improvisation, and absence of fixed themes highlight Coleman’s ongoing musical revolution.
Itinerary
1991 release ** "Recorded at the Listen to Lacy festival in Vienna, 1990, this large ensemble recording is really the Steve Lacy Sextet plus ten. One of the dectet members is Franz Koglmann. Although some of Lacy's other large group experiments met with mixed results, it is not so here. Itinerary, with its seven selections, is an orchestral work on par with at of Gil Evans' (to whom this record is dedicated) Out of the Cool sessions for Impulse, and of course the Gil Evans and Ten recordings tha…
35th Reunion
2000 release (no OBI) ** "It may be unfair to compare this recording to the seminal album recorded on ESP almost 35 years earlier, but such comparisons are hard to resist. In truth, the group -- now with Amiri Baraka (formerly LeRoi Jones) assuming an expanded role and bassist Reggie Workman substituting for the late Lewis Worell -- sounds as fresh and, yes, revolutionary as it did back in the heyday of 1960s radicalism. To be sure, each member has changed, but the sounds here are surprisingly r…
Through Acceptance Of The Mystery Peace: The Music Of William Parker
1998 release ** "This recording is an important part of bassist William Parker's early discography and comprises four ensemble pieces. The sound quality is slightly subpar, but the raw, 1960s feel of this album should appeal to those who appreciate the unassuming brilliance of this giant of the string bass. Each of the four tracks features different groups, with Parker composing all the pieces and appearing on all four. The two larger ensembles presage some of the large bands Parker was to lead …
The Environmental Control Office
2003 release ** "An important release is not necessarily a great release, and while the rare Environmental Control Office recording of legendary Swedish saxophonist and clarinetist Bengt Frippe Nordström is a significant contribution to the discography of Swedish jazz, his lengthy improvisations remind the listener of Albert Ayler on an off day, which when you think about it is a complement of sorts. Nordström squeezes a primitive sound from his horns, his tenor sounding precisely how drummer Pe…
Take Some Risks
1989 release ** "On November 23, 1986, at the Galerie Maximilien Guiol, a small art space in Paris, Alan Silva, Roger Turner, Misha Lobko, Didier Petit, and Bruno Girard shared the stage for the first time. They knew each other well, since they had all performed alongside one another in various groupings, but as a quintet, as this quintet, it was their first concert. From the moment Turner starts hitting his metal scraps, they all dive in and begin to Take Some Risks. A satisfying session, focus…
Diriaou
Diriaou (“Thursday” in Breton) captures the singular collaboration between Kristen Noguès-pioneering Celtic harpist and explorer of Breton tradition-and legendary British saxophonist John Surman, renowned for his atmospheric jazz on ECM. Recorded live in 1998 at the Dre Ar Wenojenn festival, this album presents the duo weaving together original compositions and traditional melodies into a tapestry of free folk, modal improvisation, and ambient soundscapes.
Noguès, deeply rooted in Breton music y…
Drum Sketches
2007 release ** "Susie Ibarra is a percussionist, but she doesn’t hit you over the head with the fact. Rather, her powerfully delicate, insistent sounds seem to emanate from the landscape of drums and tuned gongs by themselves. Drum Sketches, Ibarra’s first solo CD following several Tzadik ensemble releases, is inspired by various images and sounds of her native Philippines. Among her glowing array of percussion are tuned bronze Kulintang gongs and a Surunay xylophone that blend with field recor…
Tout De Suite
1994 release ** "This is the logical companion to Tout Court. The lineup has been hardly changed. The only newcomer is Alfred Spirli, who alternates percussion duties with Xavier Desandre. Yves Robert also sticks to the same formula with an emphasis on musical vignettes. The relationship with Tout Court is also underlined by the deliberate choice of opening with the composition that concluded its predecessor, "Epilogue" -- several other pieces are also revisited. It would be a mistake, however, …
The Firmament / Fury
1994 release ** "Hooker's music is good, unabash ed free-jazz improvising. He and Lawrence make an effective duet: Hooker's rolling bed of drumming avoids direct comment on Lawrence's strong, Lyons-inflected alto. Of the trio and quartet tracks on the album, Pralaya and Radiance are probably the strongest. The horn players get their solo moments and do well with them, but the music is framed to emphasize the group, and that's where a listener's ears are drawn. There's good group improvising to b…
Jazzbühne Berlin '82
1990 release (RARE) ** Recorded live at Volksbühne East Berlin on June 13, 1982.
Honig Und Asche
1998 release ** "A cosmopolitan synthesis of visionary music and outstanding poetry" is the concept and program of "Honey and Ashes," according to the press release. This claim naturally raises many questions about the work of German saxophonist Michael Riessler: Is it jazz—what constitutes "jazz"? There is little improvisation, as "Honey and Ashes" is largely through-composed. Is it contemporary classical music? Can you find pounding bass drums in classical music? "Honey and Ashes" is a speech …
Rough Ride
2002 release ** "The drummer and band leader Lucas Niggli, with his trio ZOOM and quintet Big ZOOM, provided the big surprises at many festivals last year: the band's concerts in Moers, Saalfelden, Willisau, Münster, Schauffhausen count among these festivals' highlights. «Unbelievable how the genre-idioms from blues, rock and jazz styles are paired up among each other in the controlled gesture of new music,» said the journalist Marcus Maida after the performance at the Moers Festival. «Everythin…
Nil
1995 release **
In Full Flail
1989 release ** An early Available Jelly Quartet; the instrumentation scaled down to two horns, bass/tuba, and percussion. Original compositions and covers of Brian Wilson and Misha Mengelberg. "The 1989 album from Available Jelly, In Full Flail narrowed down the band's physical lineup while extending its musical reach. Down to a quartet, the band included Michael Moore on saxophones and piano, Gregg Moore on tuba, trombone, electric bass, and mandolin, Michael Vatcher as master drummer, and the…
The Lotus Palace
Orchestrated by legendary producer Alan Lorber, this talented cast of musicians weave their way through Eastern-influenced and psychedelic interpretations of pop gems and some way-out-there originals, in an album touted as the first in the fusion of raga and jazz.
Brimming with the sounds of sitar, tabla, and Gamelan percussion, this eccentric blend of Eastern and Western music includes four originally unissued bonus tracks! Packaged in a gorgeous replica of the original gatefold jacket, featuri…
The Middle Eastern Soul Of Carlee Records
The Middle Eastern Soul of Carlee Records collects the early works of Baronian who's probably best known as a key contributor on John Berberian's Middle Eastern Rock. This set includes his early 50s work with the Nor-Ikes, and his early 70s albums Hye Inspiration and Middle Eastern Soul. This monster is a barrage of middle eastern clarinet, oud, dumbek, kanun, sax, tambourine, wild percussion, and kaval, along with finger cymbals and the occasional vocal from some of his favorite belly dancers. …