Adam Rudolph and Tyshawn Sorey – Archaisms I (Defkaz, 2023)

Archaisms I is a document showcasing the maiden voyage duo performance of two veteran composer-performers, Tyshawn Sorey and Adam Rudolph. The duo engage with one another with the elan and subtle nuances of near age siblings throughout the 45-minute improvised set taken from a 2021 event at Zurcher Gallery. Neither performer is new to duo

Susan Alcorn – Canto (Relative Pitch, 2023)

One can scarcely think of another performer, composer or conceptualist that is as consistently diverse, expansive and experienced as pedal steel guitarist, Susan Alcorn. Her latest recording, as well as her fifth feature for Relative Pitch, is entitled Canto and evinces this brilliant quality of her work perhaps more than any of her albums to

Interview: Devin Brahja Waldman

Saxophonist and composer Devin Brahja Waldman has been working in New York for about a decade and has led bands, contributed to projects such as Heroes Are Gang Leaders, and had numerous collaborations including Radical Reversal, with poet Randall Horton. In July, I interviewed Waldman about the release of the record, Kadef. CB: How did

Review: D.Treut – Squid

The world needs people like Dave Treut. A powerful presence as a multi-instrumentalist/composer, he creates resolutely eccentric music that shows a sincere appreciation of life and its many absurdities. Treut (often credited as D.Treut) is a larger-than-life character and a force of positivity, and this all comes shining through in his music. But to date,

Review: James McKain, Caleb Duval, James Paul Nadien – Dancing

New England has long been a breeding ground for avant-garde jazz and other creative music, but it seems like right now the region – especially Connecticut – is having its moment in the spotlight of skronk. The local collective behind the record label firstname lastname has been busily releasing music throughout 2022; Dancing is the

Review: Singularity Codex (Matthew Shipp) by Clifford Allen

There has always been a dearth of quality writing on free jazz. Many mainstream jazz critics fundamentally have not understood the music and have distorted its reception, while in academia the music has often been shunned by conservative music programs. But in recent years, there have been a number of important books addressing some of

Review: Big Ears Festival

For years, I have been meaning to attend the Big Ears Festival which is held annually in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is one of the premier music festivals in the United States featuring cutting-edge, thought-provoking, and experimental music. This year was my first time at the festival and I was impressed by the range of music

Review: Mat Muntz – ghostly.ridiculous

I listened to “ghostly.ridiculous” the night before getting my first COVID vaccine shot. It was – somehow – the perfect situation to take in this album. The title is an apt summation of the unsettling reality of both this work and the absurd, spectral nature of the 2020s so far. ghostly.ridiculous is a (mostly) solo

Viktor Le Givens and Angel Bat Dawid at BRIC Jazzfest

Angel Bat Dawid and Viktor Le Givens Perform Suite Harriet at BRIC Jazzfest

After time spent visiting the estate of Harriet Tubman in Auburn, New York, Viktor Le Givens and Angel Bat Dawid presented a new work, Suite Harriet, on the main stage of BRIC Jazzfest in Brooklyn on the 21st of October. Le Givens’ work seeks to deepen and broaden our contact with the “etheric realm” through