Danny Fischer

James Sherlock: The Verb Not The Noun

by Ian Patterson
December 7, 2023

James Sherlock's eighth album as leader sees the Melbourne-based guitarist return to the trio format for the first time since Domestic Arts (Jazzhead, 2010). Where that album was predominantly standards-weighted--a gorgeous version of The Strangler's “Golden Brown" apart--this one, Sherlock's first with bassist Sam Anning and drummer Danny Fischer, showcases his songwriting chops as much as his stellar guitar playing. All originals, the eight compositions encompass swing and blues alongside Sherlock's more contemporary frameworks. The results are uniformly satisfying.

Tamil Rogeon: Son Of Nyx

by Chris May
January 22, 2021

An energetic, modal, fusion release coming out of the alternative jazz scene in Melbourne, Australia, Son of Nyx is a good album which almost succeeds in being more than that, but, frustratingly, does not achieve lift-off until the closing track, “Horns No Eyes." Tamil Rogeon first surfaced as co-leader of the jazz and hip hop-influenced, orchestral-electronic group The Raah Project, which debuted on disc in 2009 with Score (Knowfoowl Music), recorded with a cast of thousands (well, ...

SPOKE: (r)anthems

by Ernest Barteldes
November 25, 2014

On (r)anthems, the New York-based ensemble takes various pop classics and favorite World Music tunes and reinvents them into their own flavor, either going into a New Orleans-tinged feel or just improvising around the melody. An example is Stevie Wonder's “Tell Me Something Good," which is re-purposed here into a marching band-like vibe. The Beatles' “Blackbird" (incorrectly credited solely to Paul McCartney) begins with the original guitar line as a duet. The ensemble then improvises freely around the melody.

SPOKE: (r)anthems

by Dan Bilawsky
October 25, 2014

According to the members of SPOKE, this album--the band's third to date--"is both musical rant and anthem." So what does that mean? Well, it means that there's an intentional balancing act between the raw and refined, the focused and the untamed, and the grand and rowdy. Nothing ever goes off the rails and nothing is ever too sedate or bland, as the members of SPOKE continually switch gears and change hats. There's also enough stylistic diversity at play--pop, bop, spicy ...

Spoke: Spoke

by J Hunter
May 21, 2009

In his liner notes to Spoke's self-titled debut disc, Matthew Lima wrote that this Brooklyn-based quartet is “constantly refining the art of the compromise... not into a concession or lowering of standards, but an intermediate between different things." He's half right: There are no concessions whatsoever on Spoke; however, the differences are what it's all about.

The thought that went into the set's twelve pieces is literally mind-bending. Classical music isn't just one of the musical sub-cultures Spoke visits on ...