Photo by Steve J. Sherman by S. Victor Aaron When reviewing Vijay Iyer’s sublime piano-only disc Solo last year, I tossed out my personal maxim that “when a great, small combo jazz pianist makes a solo record, it usually doesn’t signal that pianist’s arrival, it means he’s solidifying his legacy.” Well, Alone at the Vanguard is Fred Hersch’s fourth solo piano [...]
by Mark Saleski Time to return to one of my favorite topics: Why do I like that? Have you ever engaged in this kind of self-debate? There are all sorts of ways to play. There’s the Top-40 angle: “Come On Eileen…Bawitdaba!? Hmmm…I better not tell anybody,” the Angle of Pure Nostalgia: “People might look down on Boston’s so-called corporate rock, [...]
by S. Victor Aaron I don’t pay a great deal of attention to what other jazz critics say about records as I probably should; chalk it up to laziness, I suppose. But even my lazy ass couldn’t help but notice all the interest in media circles buzzing around guitarist Mary Halvorson’s record released earlier this month, Saturn Sings. The jazz [...]
by S. Victor Aaron Recently, Wilco lead guitarist Nels Cline reconvened his scary good Nels Cline Singers and last spring the group released Initiate, an ambitious, 2-CD affair. So what does Cline do next? Why, he follows up today with another 2 CD release that’s pushing the boundaries even further than Initiate. Say hello to Dirty Baby. Dirty Baby is [...]
photo: Jason Quigley by Pico Although we don’t really cover indie rock on our little corner of the blogzine world, I’m often intrigued by musicians who approach jazz from the indie angle. They don’t swing and they usually don’t try to dazzle with labored technique. Most times the compositions aren’t these tedious, multi-sectioned pieces with the intricacies of classical music [...]
Don’t Miss A Thing
Bad Behavior has blocked 4323 access attempts in the last 7 days.
RSS
E-mail
Twitter
Facebook
Myspace
Something Else loves these 
Comments