New discs from James Brandon Lewis and Vijay Iyer merit serious attention from admirers of improvised music.
ECM
Arts Remembrance: At 40, Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays’s “As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls” Still Enthralls
Nothing that guitarist Pat Metheny had done previously hinted at this sprawling 1981 masterpiece.
Jazz Album Review: Nik Bärtsch’s “Entendre” — Zen Funk
To my ears, the pieces in Entendre are fascinating, if not particularly funky.
Jazz Album Review: “Garden of Expression” — Virtuosic Meditations
It’s easy to single out each of these musicians, but listeners will hear the three as nearly one, which is surely what this trinity intended.
Jazz Album Review: Keith Jarrett’s “Budapest Concert” — Crystalline Endgame
My guess is that Keith Jarrett probably wasn’t satisfied with this performance. I wouldn’t change a note, a gesture, or a shading.
Jazz Album Review: Wolfgang Muthspiel’s Superb “Angular Blues”
The precision and inventiveness of Angular Blues more than meets our high expectations for this terrific trio.
Jazz CD Review: John Scofield’s “Swallow Tales” — Steve Swallow’s Quirky Romanticism
This is an intelligent, inventively performed, be-boppish tribute to a composer I now know better than ever.
Film/Jazz Review: “Open Land: Meeting John Abercrombie”
This fascinating documentary should be compelling to guitarists and to jazz fans in general.
Fuse Concert Review: Creative Music Convergences, Concert One
Live, the experience of a cosmic rhythm with every stroke is both more intense and more intriguing than on record.
Jazz CD Review: Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith — Exploring Cosmic Possibilities in Sound
Pianist Vijay Iyer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith produce music that is precise and quietly evocative, peaceful and gently probing.