by S. Victor Aaron It’s been hard to get my head out of the jazz idiom lately. That hadn’t limited the variety in my listening that much, since “jazz” covers so much musical ground. For this go-around of Quickies, the first two selections aren’t all that dissimilar but then theRead More

This week my contributions to the pile of music reviews got a little bit off the road with William Parker then Bill Frisell. Since we’re already off the pavement, I might as well head straight into the culvert with a panegyrist over a Tom Cora performance. Tom Cora, you ask?Read More

by S. Victor Aaron Bill Frisell is a guy I’ve been a huge fan of for about six or seven years, but the sheer volume, originality and wide range of his music has made it impossible for me to know where to begin when writing about him. There is notRead More

William Parker is in many ways like fellow double-bassist Dave Holland: nimble, quick, creative, accurate and full of ideas. He is also one of the rare bassists whose notes manage to capture attention even in a strictly supportive role. Village Voice calls him “the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassistRead More

by S. Victor Aaron The thing that amazes me when exploring Brazilian music is that while there are usually a lot characteristics you can find in most music out of that country, overall the music is much more diverse than the Brazilians get credit for here in America. That reallyRead More

S. Victor Aaron Evidently, the word “constellation” in your CD title means you’re gonna stretch people’s ears. But while Roseman does it with trippy reggae-jazz, Eisenbeil gets it done with good old fashioned free (read: whack) jazz. Eisenbell is clearly influenced by that godfather of free form guitar, Derek Bailey,Read More

by S. Victor Aaron I remember trombone player Josh Roseman from his notable appearance on my favorite Charlie Hunter album. He had a certain sass in his sound that stood out and made me think he wasn’t content with being a run-of-the-mill bone player. But that thought never got muchRead More

by S. Victor Aaron From the first two words of this group, you already know that it’s a combo that features King Crimson’s all-everything rhythm section of Bill Bruford (drummer extraordinaire) and Tony Levin (bassist extraordinaire). This side project of theirs produced just a self-titled studio album in 1999 andRead More

by S. Victor Aaron A lot of hay has been made of Porcupine Tree’s 2007 release Fear Of A Blank Planet, and yes, I’ve joined in the fray. It’s a solid effort from a band that hadn’t stumbled much to begin with. But PT’s leader Steven Wilson is just tooRead More

by Pico When it comes to jazz crooners, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Harry Connick, Jr. are the usual suspects most people think of. Do they all have to be the big, showy types, though? Do they have to have the big, swing orchestras, wear tuxedos, appear in movies andRead More