Craig Taborn
Two jazz albums whose uncompromising visions succeed.
The trio on hEARoes is enthralling; it doesn’t sound like anything I have heard.
Two new releases, led respectively by a saxophonist and a bassist, add to the growing mystique of trios in contemporary jazz.
I am not sure where the track titles come from, but I am guessing the problems the band had getting together under Covid must have something to do with them.
Solo performance is still a way ahead for jazz pianists, judging from four CDs released in 2021.
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.
A baker’s dozen of recordings worth hearing . . . maybe even owning.
On these two discs you’ll find masterfully played, engaging excursions into the tonal beyond.
Bill Frisell and his quartet performed a program of well-worn American hits whose juxtapositions allowed you to make your own cross-references and draw your own conclusions.
Dave Holland’s Prism tells stories, several of which are very effective. Scofield’s, like his earlier Überjam releases, extends the jam-band esthetic into jazz without completely giving in to it. And neither of them would be as they are without the great looming shadow of Miles Davis.
The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year: Warming Up a Riff — How It Happened, and Why It Matters