It was easy to find jazz records that deserved a year-end salute; maybe ‘too’ easy. The heavy lifting came from figuring out which stood above the rest for this Best of 2017 list.
Varied, inviting, unpredictable but never jarring, the Mark Zaleski Band’s ‘Days, Months, Years’ is anything but boring.
The pianist, composer, conductor and ethnomusicologist Mehmet Ali Sanlikol knows a lot about music from around the world, be that British prog rock or traditional Ottoman music that’s connected to this Bursa, Turkey native’s ancestry. But he fell in love with jazz as a teen You May Also Like: AliRead More
An ambitious debut featuring seven original titles, George Lernis’ Shapes of Nature is a great new example of how Tony Williams’ legacy continues to play out in jazz. You May Also Like: Herbie Hancock – ‘Maiden Voyage’; Eric Dolphy – ‘Out to Lunch’ (2021 vinyl reissues)
by Mark Saleski One of the markers of high-level instrumental interplay is the perception of intimacy. We see this again & again in review language — that the musicians seemed as though they were “of one mind,” that their communication was “telepathic.” There are plenty of recorded examples that comeRead More
