Album Reviews

Feminist Jazz Review: Finding Abbey

There’s something I’ve always believed about maintaining one’s innocence, and there’s a benefit of maintaining a healthy level of aloofness that I’ve always cherished: when a dream comes to true, or when you work so hard towards something and you cannot see the outcome in sight, the manifestation of the your desired outcome is much

Review: Jaimie Branch Quartet – Fly or Die

Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die, released in May, has been on repeat for the past few hours (it still echoes through the speakers in front of me, competing with the sound of computer keys). I was bombarded with color immediately after the first track’s opening. Branch works with Tomeka Reid (cello), Jason Ajemian (bass), and

Review: Hear in Now – Not Living in Fear

Consisting of Americans Mazz Swift (violin) and Tomeka Reid (cello) and Italian double bassist Silvia Bolognesi, the contemporary string trio Hear in Now infuse classical forms with jazz sensibilities. Collectively, the trio’s resume of projects include work with Anthony Braxton, Whitney Houston, D’ Angelo, Roscoe Mitchell, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Butch Morris, and William Parker in

Review: Ras Moshe, Paula Shocron, Pablo Diaz – Cooperative Sound #1

Nendo Dango Records is a fairly new record label that records free jazz. In the words of the musicians behind it, they describe the music and the record label’s mission: “Nendo Dango arises to gather not only our music, but also to show a way to reach it, a way of construction in favor of

Feminist Jazz Review: Geri Allen for Beginners (The Printmakers)

I became a listener of jazz composer, Geri Allen when the news of her passing broke in June 2017. Her name and face suddenly flooded mainstream media, music publications and social media timelines at a rate that made me realize that I had been missing out on listening to a staple in the free jazz

The Air Is Different (2012)

482 Music (CD/DL) Recorded Oct 3, 2011; Released Apr 27, 2012 Personnel: Tomas Fujiwara (drums, compositions) Trevor Dunn (bass) Mary Halvorson (guitar) Brian Settles (tenor sax) Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet) Track List Lineage, 7:47 Double Lake, Defined, 3:30 For Ours, 5:09 Cosmopolitan (Rediscovery), 6:07 Smoke-breathing Lights, 10:52 Postcards, 11:44 Review A complaint often leveled against modern musicians

Bending Bridges (2012)

Mary Halvorson Quintet Firehouse 12 Music LP/CD (2013/2012) Recorded: Jul 30-31, 2011; Released: 2012 (CD), Mar 26, 2013 (LP) Personnel: Mary Halvorson (guitar, compositions) Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet) Jon Irabagon (alto sax) John Hebert (bass) Ches Smith (drums) Track Listing: Sinks When She Rounds the Bend (no. 22), 7:48 Hemorrhaging Smiles (no. 25), 7:59 Forgotten Men

The Destructive Element (2013)

Clean Feed Records (CD) Released: June 20, 2013 Personnel: Harris Eisenstadt: drums, compositions Ellery Eskelin: tenor sax Angelica Sanchez: piano Track List: Swimming, then Rained Out, 4:23 Additives, 6:20 From Schoenberg, Part One, 7:41 Back and Forth, 7:01 Ordinary Weirdness, 6:19 The Destructive Element, 2:36 Cascadia, 6:47 From Schoenberg, Part Two, 4:23 Here Are the

Continuum (2012)

Relative Pitch Records (CD) Released: June 2013 Personnel: Taylor Ho Bynum: cornet John Hebert: contrabass Gerald Cleaver: drums Track List: Comin’ On, 7:14 Aware of Vacuity, 10:15 Henry, 6:51 Open City, 6:09 Jamila, 7:15 Journal Square Compilations, 9:25 Precoda/Henry, 9:43 The much-awaited second release by Book of Three, a collaborative trio, witnesses the band opening