[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk7NPU9jF3E&w=420&h=315] Jazz performed by large orchestras make up a big, important part of the history of jazz but the kind of big bands that get me fired up the most are ones who break from convention and behave like a rowdy, small band. You May Also Like: Satoko FujiiRead More

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di2EmyzCmdw&w=420&h=315] As one of jazz’s more restless saxophonists of his generation, Jeremy Udden has moved from the “melodic jazz-rock” of his Torchsongs ensemble to the country/folk-inflected jazz of Plainville. You May Also Like: Three-Layer Cake [Brandon Seabrook, Mike Pride + Mike Watt] – ‘Stove Top’ (2021)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqHhNayMJ5g&w=420&h=315] When you have three American musicians — two from Greenville, SC — interpreting Russian folk music, you might expect it to get a little wild and full of pastiche. You May Also Like: Ryan A. Miller – ‘Atrophy Torque Fly’ (2018)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YI2uN8NBuk&w=420&h=315] Sky Road Songs, Elliott Sharp’s latest record by his outfit Terraplane, is outwardly blues, but there’s enough eccentric, wild stuff going on to make me wonder if blues as rendered here is merely a delivery system for a freak show. You May Also Like: Ivo Perelman + ElliottRead More

When compiling my lists of best jazz records, broken up into 3 distinct areas of jazz, I used three criteria for inclusion on one of these lists: 1. Is it good enough? (duh) 2. Is it jazz? (duh) -and- 3. Have I already reviewed it in some form or another?Read More

<<< Part Two, Mainstream and Modern Jazz ||| Part 4, Fusion Jazz >>> In continuing with a long-held tradition, I’ve parsed out the jazz that goes avant-garde from the more conventional stuff. You May Also Like: Jimmy Haslip, jazz bassist: The Albums That Shaped My Career

Just when you think you’ve heard it all — literally — some really crafty cats come along and create sounds that hadn’t quite been previously contemplated. A couple of such musicians from Philadelphia’s fertile experimental music scene banded together to create some of this alien but strangely alluring noise. YouRead More

Fabrizio Sferra is a favored drummer of fellow Italian Enrico Rava, having appeared on Rava’s Full of Life (2003) and last year’s Tribe. In evaluating Tribe, Sferra stood out to me You May Also Like: Walt Weiskopf European Quartet – ‘Diamonds and Other Jewels’ (2022) Doogie White – ‘As YetRead More

Many are the jazz adventurers who have run aground on the rocky shoals of the Thelonious Monk sound. They either come off as gimmicky impersonators, the portrait of studied eccentricity, or as well-meaning but genuinely confused – unsure of what to do with all of that dissonance. You May AlsoRead More

Josh Berman follows up a debut album that brilliantly collided the very old with the very new, mainly by expanding the harmonic range of his band. Old Idea, which cleverly retrofitted trad jazz with a healthy dose of Bill Dixon, announced to the world that Chicago is big enough forRead More