DuBois’s desire to blur the lines between creative jazz, chamber music and folk forms is a quest others before him have taken on, but the challenge of putting it all together both coherently and provocatively is where many have fallen short. Not so with ‘Autumn Wind,’ it excels at that.
‘I Called Him Morgan’ is a compelling, up-close documentary chronicling of the self-destructive lifestyle of jazz prodigy Lee Morgan.
For ‘Masonic Lawn,’ Hammond uses Resonator guitars to hold an extemporaneous musical dialogue with Bafus.
After the septet outing ‘Loafer’s Hollow’, Moppa Elliot makes “less is more” the mantra for the trio feature ‘Paint’. Which only goes to show that size really doesn’t matter with Mostly Other People Do The Killing; only gumption does.
Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition’s the original mission of melding modern group-level stream-of-consciousness with contemporary raga remains intact, ‘Agrima’ builds on those original ideas, too.
Chris Comb’s ‘Combsy’ is strongly recommended for those who like the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, but this fuller impression of Combs’ offbeat musical personality is a treat all unto itself.
The things that an autistic person like Noah Jack can achieve can astound you. Listening to “Neighborhood” is all the proof you need of that.
Hiromi and Edmar Castaneda’s ‘Live in Montreal’ is a revelation about the enchantment that can come from combining world-class piano with an unconventionally inventive harp.
The substantive ‘Respect My Art’ by Organ Freeman grooves, rocks and makes you feel good without that nasty guilty pleasure aftertaste.
Philipp Gerschlauer and David Fiuczynski getting together for ‘Mikrojazz: Neue Expressionistische Musik’ took microtonal music to new places, and there’s never a dull moment.
