JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Stefon Harris really set himself up as a target calling this release The Grand Unification Theory. The title implies that Harris’ ambition was to bring all of the strands of jazz together under one roof and tie them together so we can see the connections, much the way that Mingus used […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Most of life’s surprises tend to not be all that great, but A Little Night Waltz is a definite exception.
Before A Little Night Waltz, I had never heard of pianist G. F. Mlely. My loss. The guy swings like mad, has impeccable phrasing and technique, and doesn’t really sound like […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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The SFJazz Collective has a pretty unique history. The genesis of this octet came from the organizers of the SFJazz Festival and the Artistic Director of the festival, saxophonist Joshua Redman.
The idea was to have a more or less permanent ensemble that would pay tribute to influential composers of […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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With a cast of characters like bassist John Patitucci, David Sanchez on tenor, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and drummer Ignacio Berroa, I couldn’t very well afford to ignore Codes, the debut of drummer Ignacio Berroa as a leader.
On Codes, Ignacio Berroa is not content to do the usual thing Latins do when playing […]

JAZZBONOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Season Of Changes is an very innovative release, flying in the face of prevailing fashion in the jazz world.
Most jazz releases from young musicians these days are slavishly devoted to hip hop rhythms. There’s nothing of the kind to be found on Season Of Changes, which is doubly surprising considering that the […]

JAZZBONOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Floating Point is one heck of an odd album. John McLaughlin has said that on Floating Point, he is paying tribute to his fusion roots, but he’s being too modest.
In a way, the band he’s fielding on Floating Point is the inverse of Shakti. To prepare for Shakti, McLaughlin immersed himself in […]

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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By the time Beyond The Sound Barrier was released, Wayne Shorter’s fans knew what to expect from his quartet, which included pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and Brian Blade on drums. All the pussies who couldn’t handle the cerebral deconstruction of tunes that weren’t all that simple to begin […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Footprints Live!, Wayne Shorter’s first recording in eight years, represents a complete about face from his previous date, High Life. On High Life, for the first time, Shorter moved perilously close to the smooth jazz that his detractors had been accusing him of ever since he left Weather Report. Unless you […]

WORTH A LISTEN
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Symbols Of Light is too intelligent to be summarily dismissed, but it isn’t satisfying either.
That’s kind of a painful verdict to render because I really wanted to like Symbols Of Light. It has many of the qualities I most value in jazz. Symbols Of Light is adventurous and original to a fault. […]

NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
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As implied by the title, A Paris is a concept album featuring mostly French songs, with the occasional non-French tune that has associations with Paris.
Keyboardist Jacky Terrasson strives for stylistic variety throughout A Paris. Some tunes are straight ahead trios, but listen to what Terrasson does on Narcisso Yepes’ Jeux Interdits, […]