“Bending Bridges,” reveals Mary Halvorson, “is a title I came up with in a semi-conscious state”, the same as how most of the titles in her songs come about. You May Also Like: Mary Halvorson Octet – Away With You (2016) Tomas Fujiwara, Ben Goldberg + Mary Halvorson – TheRead More
Posi-Tone Records, the label that has done more than anyone else lately in putting out records by the brightest new talent in mainstream and modern jazz, introduced the pianist and composer Noah Haidu to the world last week. Slipstream went on sale March 22, a debut that doesn’t present mereRead More
by S. Victor Aaron Missoula, Montana’s own Nathaniel Smith has had a career as a jazz drummer and composer that took him from a mountain valley in the Rockies eastward to Appleton, Wisconsin’s Lawrence University (where Smith got to perform with the visiting Dave Holland and Maria Schneider), briefly westRead More
by S. Victor Aaron I don’t pay a great deal of attention to what other jazz critics say about records as I probably should; chalk it up to laziness, I suppose. But even my lazy ass couldn’t help but notice all the interest in media circles buzzing around guitarist MaryRead More
by S. Victor Aaron When Jon Irabagon signed with the mighty Concord Records after bagging the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition for saxophone, you might assume that he would have left behind his wild side to become a more “serious” player. But his continued involvement in the gangsta jazzRead More
by S. Victor Aaron Baltimore native Tim Kuhl has been a drummer all his life and since 2003, has plied his trade in the rough and tumble NYC music scene. But Kuhl has not only survived, he seems to revel in it. In addition to heading up his own jazzRead More
If you look at the list of past winners and finalists of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competitions, it’s quite impressive: Aaron Parks, Marcus Strickland, John Ellis, Sam Yahel and Miles Okazaki, just to name a few. In 2008, the winner was an alto and tenor saxophonist from the PhilippinesRead More
