Wadada Leo Smith’s ‘Sacred Ceremonies’ is a divine communion among legends, but it’s also yet another ambitious statement from an artist who produces lofty works with so many different accomplices on a regular basis.
Teeming with guitars, Wadada Leo Smith’s ‘Najwa’ is one of those particularly bright moments in a catalog full of them.
With fearless players like Jon Irabagon and Joe Fonda at his side, that old school guy Barry Altschul remains on the edge of jazz as much as he ever was.
A summit meeting of progressive jazz titans, themed around the Great Lakes.
Wadada Leo Smith and his band of free jazz icons show the young guys how it’s done.
When Billy Bang walked into a Helsinki studio in February of 2011 with trombonist Dick Griffin, pianist Andrew Bemkey, bassist Hilliard Greene and drummer Newman Taylor-Baker, he would be recording for the last time. You May Also Like: Matthew Shipp Trio – ‘World Construct’ (2022)
Paul Motian’s death in late 2011 was a big loss, to be certain, but the still-vibrant 70-year-old Barry Altschul has for four decades demonstrated mastery over the finer points of jazz drumming, using its full range not just as a time keeping device but as a richly tonal instrument. YouRead More
An album applying some of the Eric Dolphy conception of out-jazz to the cinematic creepiness of David Lynch’s classic films can only be rightfully called Out To Lynch, right? You May Also Like: Dan Cavalca – Cinematic (2016)
In his relentless pursuit of unique sounds with real emotional depth, Wadada Leo Smith has for nearly five decades experimented with so many approaches, both in styles and configurations You May Also Like: Wadada Leo Smith – Najwa (2017) Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith – a cosmic rhythm withRead More
Two major figures from the first generation of Finland’s modern jazz musicians saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen and pianist Heikki Sarmanto have played together for nearly fifty years, recording some thirty albums together in a variety of settings along the way. With that much history between them, you’d think that they’d haveRead More
