by Pico Within the realm of improvised music saxophone players, Anthony Braxton has few peers, but David S. Ware has to be considered a lifetime member of that exclusive club. A free jazz saxophonist who is also a technician of the highest order, Ware has that rare ability to blurRead More

by Mark Saleski A variant of the “I remember exactly where I was when I first heard this” thing is the phenomenon of incomplete Déjà Vu. This occurs when you hear a piece of music and it seems totally familiar … except … hmmm … what was it? The musicRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Cello virtuoso Erik Friedlander must have found a second wind at 50 years old because yesterday he released his second album of all new material as many months. The album, incidentally, is called Fifty: 50 Miniatures For Improvising Quintet and in Friedlander’s typically atypical fashion, itRead More

photo: Jason Quigley by S. Victor Aaron Although we don’t really cover indie rock on our little corner of the blogzine world, I’m often intrigued by musicians who approach jazz from the indie angle. They don’t swing and they usually don’t try to dazzle with labored technique. Most times theRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Two years is not a long time between albums, and Charles Lloyd has maintained a steady output of an album every couple of years and sometimes every year since hooking up with ECM Records in the late 80s. It’s impressive when keeping in mind that LloydRead More

by Mark SaleskiOver the years, there have been a lot of musical hybrids that have surprised our ears by revealing hidden commonalities in melded musical genres. For instance, I’m fairly certain that my only exposure to hip-hop back before the mid-1980’s was with Sugar Hill’s “Rapper’s Delight,” and Blondie’s “Rapture.”Read More

When we last visited the music of the brilliant bassist and composer William Parker three years ago, he was putting his poetry to his music on Corn Meal Dance. Yesterday, he introduced a new album that again revolves around poetry but this time it’s based on the poetic music ofRead More

Maybe it’s just me, but I think we’re in the midst of a full-fledged revival in jazz organ, led by a newer generation of players who have gone beyond mimicking the tried and true voicings of Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff and Richard “Groove” Holmes. In that group of innovative newRead More

by Mark Saleski So they were picking up the band instruments, holding them high in the air, and looking for interested faces. When I saw that gleaming trombone, I just knew that I had to learn it. It was seventh grade and the middle school music teacher was looking forRead More

by Mark Saleski These kind of pairings are not supposed to work. It goes against the laws of pop music nature. Take any number of well-known and successful musicians, put them together, stir, and what you usually get is something not even worth the time it takes to watch theRead More