Michael Ullman

Jazz Album Review: Christian McBride & Inside Straight: Live at the Village Vanguard

November 25, 2021
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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.

Jazz Album Review: Adam O’Farrill’s “Visions of Your Other” — Humanizing the Mechanical

November 8, 2021
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I find Visions of Your Other exciting. It is beautifully recorded: these are four musicians who care about their sound.

Jazz Album Review: A Solo Excursion by Master Pianist Edward Simon

October 28, 2021
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One of pianist Edward Simon’s strengths is his ability to be simultaneously romantic and clear-headed, precise and suggestive. 

Jazz Album Review: “Chick Corea Akoustic Band Live” — A High-Spirited Reunion

September 15, 2021
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A judicious mix of jazz classics, standards, and Corea compositions, Live is a blast.

Jazz Album Review: “Relief: A Benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America’s Musicians’ Emergency Fund”

August 18, 2021
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There’s a pleasing variety in this collection, which serves up valuable music that might not have otherwise been heard.

Jazz Album Review: Vince Mendoza’s “Freedom Over Everything”

July 14, 2021
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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.

Jazz Album Review: Sarah Wilson’s “Kaleidoscope” — Unrelievedly Optimistic

July 12, 2021
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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.

Jazz Album Review: John McLaughlin’s “Liberation Time” — Driven by the Spirit

July 4, 2021
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To my ears, veteran guitarist John McLaughlin is both a jazz and a rock player, and more besides.

Jazz Album Review: Barry Altschul’s 3Dom Factor — “Long Tall Sunshine”

June 25, 2021
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Long Tall Sunshine pulls off a delightful paradox: it combines in-your-face vigor with subtlety, probing free improvisations with appealing compositions.

Jazz Album Review: Superb Celebrations of the Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

June 19, 2021
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Vocalist Anaïs Reno and Mark Masters and his big band supply compelling homages to the brilliance of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.

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