Articles by: S. Victor Aaron

Vinyl

Bill Evans – Live At Art D'Lugoff's Top Of The Gate (2012)

As much as I enjoy piano trio jazz, such a trio playing the predictable fare of standards in their traditional arrangements does not get me very fired up. This here record is one of those affairs You May Also Like: Bill Evans – Another Time: The Hilversum Concert (2017) BillRead More

Vinyl

Orrin Evans – Flip The Script (2012)

With a new album release imminent, the productive, peaking pianist Orrin Evans again demands our attention with another bread-and-butter trio event, named Flip The Script. You May Also Like: Bill Evans – Time Remembered, The Life & Music of Bill Evans (2016, DVD)

Vinyl

Billy Martin & Wil Blades Duo – Shimmy (2012)

Medeski, Martin & Wood has cast such a long shadow over the whole acid jazz movement for so long that the MMW can no longer be considered merely a band, it’s a franchise. You May Also Like: Medeski Martin & Wood with Alarm Will Sound – ‘Omnisphere’ (2018)

Vinyl

Lettuce – Fly (2012)

Lettuce is funk powerhouse of a supergroup, a rare supergroup where the group was formed before many of its members became “super” from other projects. You May Also Like: WRD (Robert Walter, Eddie Roberts, Adam Deitch) – ‘The Hit’ (2021) Takuya Kuroda – ‘Fly Moon Die Soon’ (2020)

Vinyl

Steely Dan Sunday, “Time Out of Mind” (1980)

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen dug “Sultans Of Swing” like the rest of us did when this first Dire Straits hit was making hay on the radio in 1979. It was beginning with this song where Mark Knopfler made fancy fingerpicking — by way of Chet Atkins — cool againRead More

Vinyl

Sebastian Noelle – Koan (2011)

Jazz plectrist Sebastian Noelle arrived in New York ten years ago and has found his place within the more advanced modern jazz corner of the scene. You May Also Like: Michael Gregory Jackson – ‘Frequency Equilibrium Koan’ (1977, issued 2021) Other Barry (George Colligan, Enzo Irace, Micah Hummel) – ‘EscapeRead More

Vinyl

Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Americana (2012)

Chances are pretty good that you already know the basic lowdown on this album: 1) It’s the first Neil Young/Crazy Horse record since 2003’s Greendale 2) The songs are all covers and 3) The covers are so damned old that most are in the public domain. You May Also Like:Read More

Vinyl

Manuel Valera – New Cuban Express (2012)

Like another Cuban product Aruán Ortiz, Manuel Valera is a gifted piano player who is able to reconcile the rhythmically based Afro-Cuban jazz of his homeland with the harmonically complex modern jazz of New York. You May Also Like: Roberto Occhipinti – Stabilimento (2017) Aruan Ortiz, with Andrew Cyrille +Read More

Vinyl

Spectrum Road – Spectrum Road (2012)

Fusion jazz is a music form where there’s been very little out there truly fresh and new for a long while. Spectrum Road changes that.

Vinyl

October Tree – The Fairy's Wing (2012)

Guitarist and songwriter Greg Lounsberry knew that his wife Tammy was a good enough singer to merit an album of prog rock built around her voice, but he needed a worthy vehicle to do this right. You May Also Like: Brownout – Presents Brown Sabbath Vol. II (2016)