JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Double Edge was to be David Liebman and Richie Beirach’s last great duet performance together, meaning that it has their characteristic combination of uncommon lyricism and intense swing. After this, as a duo, they leaned too far into 20th Century classical music harmony for me, at the expense of communication.
If you’re […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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80/81 is the first record that hinted that Pat Metheny might be more than just a smooth jazz punk that composed insultingly poppy ditties like Phase Dance and Jaco.
Here, he’s surrounded with jazz heavyweights like saxophonists Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman, bassist Charlie Haden, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Metheny […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Oddly enough, the most engaging composition on Secrets was composed by Gary Husband. (He’s not listed as playing on the track, either.)
Maybe it’s not all that surprising, though. I’ve found that Allan Holdsworth’s compositional ideas are as otherworldly as his guitar playing. The combination of the two can sometimes be too much […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Chant represents the logical end point of the duet recordings of saxophonist Dave Liebman and pianist Richie Beirach. Over the course of fifteen years, Liebman and Beirach have been moving closer to concepts of 20th century classical music in their playing and further away from swing.
In Chant, the result is a sort […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls is barely jazz. The main influences are pop structures, folk, a hint of bluegrass, and a little Brazilian. So why am I reviewing it?
Well, first of all, it’s a Pat Metheny recording, and through sheer hard work and dedication over the years, Pat […]

JAZZBO NOTE RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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There are three main things wrong with Joy Ryder — keyboardists Patrice Rushen and Geri Allen, and drummer Terri Lynne Carrington.
First off, Patrice Rushen and Terri Lyne Carrington don’t even belong in the same room with Wayne Shorter. They may not be terrible musicians, but Shorter is easily in the […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Mosaic Select: Dave Liebman & Richie Beirach is a tough box set to review. It features three distinct periods and styles of music, and not all of them are equally pleasurable to listen to. First, there’s Lookout Farm, Liebman’s first band. Then there’s Quest, the 80s group that evolved out […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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While I was listening to Jigsaw, I was remembering what I wrote about Time In Place, perhaps Mike Stern’s best single release. I wasn’t kind.
Basically, what my criticism amounted to was that the music was dated. That’s true, I suppose.
I also might have mentioned that Mike Stern’s strategy as a composer […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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When I first picked up Tango Palace, I fell in love with it. Over the years, I got sick of it, and it dropped to the bottom of my rotation, to the point that I think I began to undervalue it.
There’s a reason for that.
Tango Palace is mostly free improvisation, but […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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It’s easy to listen to Atlantis and dismiss it, but that’s a bit of a kneejerk reaction by people who wish that Shorter had gone back to playing the post bop of his years with the Blue Note label after his years with Weather Report.
Instead, Atlantis sounds a lot like Weather […]