jaimie branch knows music has to be wild and dangerous and beautiful to cut through all the distractions of our times.
Jazz
Jazz Album Review: “Zigsaw: Music of Steve Lampert” — A Complex Dream
For many listeners, Zigsaw will serve as a welcome introduction, not only to a virtuoso jazz ensemble led by an innovative leader, but to the music of composer Steve Lampert.
Jazz Review and Perspective: Stan Getz (and Everyone Else) in 1961 – “Getz at the Gate”
Saxophonist Stan Getz knew whom to listen to and whom to borrow from, and the repertoire for the 1961 Village Gate gig was particularly satisfying.
Arts Remembrance: Emily Remler — The Short Life and Sad Death of a Jazz Guitarist
Emily Remler took a particularly clear-eyed view of her work. She didn’t want to be judged by a lesser standard because she was a woman in the overwhelmingly male world of jazz.
Jazz CD Review: Miles Davis’ “Rubberband” — Stretch Your Ears
Heard as a Miles Davis record pure and simple, Rubberband is one of the strongest from the comeback period.
Jazz CD Review: Pianist Erroll Garner — Remastered Sessions from His Prime
Octave is issuing twelve sessions (“newly restored and expanded”) of Erroll Garner material from the ’60s and ’70s, when the popular pianist was at the height of his career.
Jazz Recording Review: “Jazz and Art” — Paying Musical Homage to Painting
For me, about half of the compositions here successfully reflect the artistic visions of the painters that inspired the music.
Jazz CD Review: A “Lost” John Coltrane Recording — “Blue World”
Blue World is valuable for its pellucid recording of takes of tunes Coltrane’s fans already love. They will have to have it.
Book Review: “Rabbit’s Blues” — The Reserved Tenderness of Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges was originally a Cambridge/Boston guy, and one of the most interesting sections of Con Chapman biography is his knowledgeable description of the local jazz scene in the 1910’s and ’20s.
Jazz CD Review: Two Quartets Discover Exhilarating New Terrain
The powerful quartets on The People I Love and Terra Incognita work toward locating places beyond notation where, in each moment, new vistas may emerge.
