Live Reviews
Seeing Terry Riley, one of the most impressive modern composers and performers, in an intimate setting, was very special.
This dig-deep quartet with vocals swings hard. Their sold-out show at Sometime was just the right place to hear them.
In the summer of 1957, at the Five Spot jazz club in Manhattan, the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane created daily queues almost halfway around the block of jazz aficionados eager to hear that modern music.
Listening to this trio is like standing at the confluence of three large, surging rivers. The three musical currents flow together into a powerful new music that rises over the banks and floods the senses. The trio’s show at Koen-Dori Classics was a testament to how musicians with such different backgrounds and approaches can create truly masterful improvised music.
What makes this big band special is not just the stellar musicianship and intriguing arrangements, but the original approach to tunes based on, adapted from and influenced by Japanese music. That multi-cultural approach to creating music is, after all, at the heart of jazz.
Brazilians artists have this incredible ability to build a full party from what is supposed to be a live concert.
Though the evening was a CD release party for his latest work, “From This Moment On,” what was nicest about the evening was the birthday vibe.
The trio layers on delicate musical tissues, waiting to be teased apart into fuller imaginings.
Palmieri and his orchestra are, as the phrase has it, a genuine force of nature. But really, the band is a force of culture!
King Cake Baby is a superb unit dedicated to New Orleans music and the great culture the music sprang from. Don’t miss them.
...bringing in their Middle Eastern roots together with European harmonies, pop tunes, jazz standards and modern jazz in a mélange that felt less mixed than fluid.
Tatopani has not only traveled the musical roads, but lived in the villages along the way.
Inside Fujii's and Tamura’s world of magical improv, time flows with its own wild currents and the title of any song is suffused with multiple ironies.
Jane Siberry is one of Canada’s greatest national resources, a life-affirming singer-songwriter who cooks up catchy, quirky melodies and compelling, often-wry, always moving stories.
Aramaki handles the bass like it’s a ukulele. He makes it seem small and easy to control. His muscular approach to the wood and strings creates a tough, hard-driving jazz that is all his own. Whether he’s popping an opening riff or stretching out on a solo, he makes the bass sound like it should—deep, strong and rock solid.
It’s always a pleasure to hear jazz from another country, but with Kireyev that seems like several countries, all of them filled with the passion and energy of jazz.
Geila rides the deep grooves SSJ sets down, but also knows how to step aside and let each member show their talent with tasteful soloing.