Yesterday was about Satoko Fujii looking forward with her next small combo project, today is about one last glance back on her previous one.

It’s often said, when one door is closed, another one is opened. That’s how Satoko Fujii viewed the end of her ma-do quartet brought on by the sudden death of the bassist, Norikatsu Koreyasu.

When Pascal Le Boeuf set out to make a record with his young, dynamic trio Pascal’s Triangle, the intention was to produce an electronic-styled crossover jazz album, involving a layered recording process, programmed beats and the like.

Amazon.com Widgets Very soon, Jonathan Finlayson will lose his distinction as jazz’s best trumpet player on the scene today without a record under his name.

The Bay Area guerrilla thrash-jazzers the Splatter Trio were only together for five or six years during the first half of the 90s, but that managed to leave a path of destruction in their wake.

For most musicians and singers alike, mining those great American standards can only get you so far before it begins to sound tired and rote. For thirty years running, the greatest living jazz trio is still mining that gold vein while keeping it fresh and vital.

Forty years after first bursting into the avant-rock scene with his band Heldon, the music of guitarist/composer/philosopher Richard Pinhas remains as intriguing, mysterious and ahead of it time as it did then. And naturally, music that’s so far ahead can sound like something else altogether for the uninitiated.

It’s clear from his latest recorded offering Bridges that the pianist and composer David Ake has a lot to say musically, but this being only his third record over a period of fifteen years, he hasn’t had much time to say it.

Patrick Cress’ brainchild Mercury Falls is back again three years after they debuted with a project I previously opined that in their alchemy of jazz and alt-rock, “these guys figured it out right from the start.”

<<< BACKWARD (“Bodhisattva [Live]“) ||| ONWARD (“Josie [Live]“) >>> *** STEELY DAN SUNDAY INDEX *** Going back to Skunk Baxter-era material with “Bodhisattva” was cool to hear from the 90s Steely Dan band, but the first real surprise on Alive In America came on the following track.