Even without the benefit of no expectations this time around, Julia Úlehla and Aram Bajakian’s ‘The Book of Transfigurations’ manages to captivate like that first Dálava album.

A Mirror to Machaut isn’t Samuel Blaser doing a quick follow-up to As The Sea issued a mere five months ago. Rather, it’s the successor to his 2011 Third Stream collaboration with the late, great Paul Motian, Consort In Motion You May Also Like: David Ake – Humanities (2018)

King Crimson, of all things, was the ensemble that first demonstrated (to the wider public, at least) the greater possibilities introduced by a double trio. And now, a Frenchman and an American extend this thrilling concept into jazz. You May Also Like: Illegal Crowns [Tomas Fujiwara, Mary Halvorson, Taylor HoRead More

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB7aWTFGcuI&w=420&h=315] Vancouver native and saxophonist Michael Blake came back to this Canadian city after residing in NYC for a quarter century, and brought home a wealth of ideas with him. You May Also Like: Ryan Blotnick – Kush (2016)

Experimental drummer Sean Noonan describes his latest record A Gambler’s Hand this way: “New chamber music project for String Quartet and Drums.” What? You think this might be boring? C’mon man, relax, this is Sean Noonan. You May Also Like: Ivo Perelman, Mat Maneri, Mark Feldman, Jason Hwang – ‘StringsRead More

When you peel away all chordal instruments, the rhythm section gets exposed. That can be a delight or a disaster, but in the case of Toronto’s October Trio, it’s the former. Evan Arntzen’s sax or clarinet has a lot of character, a product of his expressive articulation, but Josh Cole’sRead More

Growing up in Manhattan down the street from famed bassist Bob Crnashaw gave pianist Danny Fox a rich education in jazz that the great music conservatories in the Northeast just can’t quite match. But Fox’s deep interest in classical music shaped his conception of jazz as well and both ofRead More

by S. Victor Aaron They say that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, and if that’s true, then writing about whack jazz can be more like swimming about psychiatry. Often, you can’t describe a melodic or rhythmic structure because there are none. Saying so-and-so sounds like some otherRead More

photo: The Picture Booth by S. Victor Aaron Last year came the debut of a promising young guitarist, composer and bandleader Ryan Blotnick, who was already thinking beyond conventional melodic structures and places intelligence over cheap licks. We took notice at the time, and Music Needs You received our praise,Read More