Michael Ullman
The rewards of these and other recordings provide ample proof that, with its shape-shifting qualities, the string quartet will continue to be a powerful asset for talented jazz composers.
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Whether playing together or apart, on this 1981 recording the two saxophonists couldn’t sound more gracefully inspired or more compatible.
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The trio shares Cecil Taylor’s love of rational freedom and adventure, but it doesn’t try to reproduce the pianist’s rip-roaring intensity.
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As serious a musician as he is, and as virtuosic as he can be, the naturally extroverted Christian McBride knows how to entertain, a talent generously evident in this live performance.
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I find Visions of Your Other exciting. It is beautifully recorded: these are four musicians who care about their sound.
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One of pianist Edward Simon’s strengths is his ability to be simultaneously romantic and clear-headed, precise and suggestive.
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A judicious mix of jazz classics, standards, and Corea compositions, Live is a blast.
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There’s a pleasing variety in this collection, which serves up valuable music that might not have otherwise been heard.
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There’s a contrast here, an understandable impatience with current events placed alongside belief in MLK’s vision of the long arc of the moral universe. Neither cancels the other.
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On this disc, trumpeter, singer, and composer Sarah Wilson serves up music that is warm, a little funny at times, and very well played in an unassuming manner.
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Music Commentary: New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest versus French Quarter Fest