We often hear about recordings ostensibly made without regard to rules, preconceptions and guidelines in pursuit of a mode of expression that’s pure and original. Marc Ducret’s ‘Palm Sweat’ actually sounds exactly like it was made that way.
Most may not put Wayne Shorter on the level of Sonny Rollins or John Coltrane, but I do. When surveying the impact he made over 50 years, it’s hard not to.
In greatly expanding the possibilities for vibraphone and marimba, Patricia Brennan’s ‘More Touch’ takes us to exciting new sonic territory fueled by exceptional musicianship and a lot of gumption.
Secret, secret – I’ve got a secret: Styx’s “Mr. Roboto” arrived 40 years ago today as a nonsensical band-busting hit. I turn it up every time.
Jose James is taking yet another big career leap forward with ‘On and On,’ a searching exploration of the music of Erykah Badu.
Perfectly self-contained, ‘OK Computer’ nevertheless reads as a watershed between what Radiohead was – and what they would become.
Musicians capable of anything deserve to play in a setting where anything goes. Thankfully, Tomas Fujiwara is allowing us to hear that with ‘March On.’
With ‘Recoil,’ Brad Henkel, Dustin Carlson and Samuel Hall set out and succeeded in making a freeform record that’s not just uncommon, but uncommonly good.
After a seven-year gap, Mike Keneally did thankfully resume answering his main calling in making adventurously catchy records, and ‘The Thing That Knowledge Can’t Eat’ shows no loss of mojo for him.
On ‘Triptych I, II & III,’ Ivo Perelman and Matthew Shipp never, ever wander aimlessly trying to figure out what to play next. It all comes out naturally and it comes in the form of actual melodies, even if those melodies are constantly shifting and mutating.
