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Fabio Ragnelli
Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra: Tidal Currents: East Meets West
by Jack Bowers
When it comes to appraising contemporary big bands, Canada's Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra is on equal footing with the best of them. For its seventh album, Tidal Currents, the WJO has engaged two of that country's leading jazz composers, Jill Townsend and Christine Jensen, to present in musical terms impressions of places that have a special meaning to them, in particular the bodies of water that inspired them in their younger years and up to this point in time.
read moreAllison Au: Migrations
by Dan McClenaghan
Canadian saxophonist Allison Au says she was drawn to the simplicity of a jazz quartet as a vehicle for realizing the visions of my original compositions." Charlie Parker must have felt the same way; Art Pepper, too. And John Coltrane. Au stuck to this format for her Wander Wonder (Self Produced, 2018) and 2017's self-produced Forest Grove (review here). Both were terrific outings that spoke to the young artist's potential. But as with the noted giants mentioned above, Au must ...
read moreJon Gordon: Stranger Than Fiction
by Angelo Leonardi
Più noto come eccellente sax contralto e leader di un apprezzato quartetto, Jon Gordon torna a incidere un disco orchestrale per la ArtistShare, dopo l'album Evolution del lontano 2009. Registrato nel mezzo della pandemia, con tutte le difficoltà e restrizioni che sappiamo, il nuovo lavoro rinnova la collaborazione col trombonista e arrangiatore Alan Ferber che partecipa al progetto nel triplice ruolo di co-produttore, arrangiatore di un brano ("Havens") e solista di trombone. Il medio organico include anche il clarinetto basso ...
read moreJon Gordon: Stranger Than Fiction
by Hrayr Attarian
Saxophonist Jon Gordon's superb 13th release as a leader, Stranger Than Fiction, consists of 10 cinematic and captivating originals. Gordon leads a large ensemble of mostly Canadian musicians through his vibrantly textured compositions. The focus is more on dynamic interplay of different band members and orchestral segments than on individual expressions. There are, however, brilliantly virtuosic soloists who seamlessly emerge out of these vividly ebullient works making them even more electrifyingly alive. Opening with delightfully dissonant staccato woodwinds ...
read moreJon Gordon: Stranger Than Fiction
by Jack Bowers
New York-bred alto saxophonist Jon Gordon has come a long way since he was hailed as something of a prodigy in the mid-1980s and earned first place in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1996. The music performed by Gordon's nonet on Stranger Than Fiction, we are told, reflects [his] realization that reality takes twists and turns [that are] far more unpredictable than any author would dare write." There are indeed many twists and turnsmost ...
read moreDaniel Fortin: Brinks
by Dave Wayne
Toronto-based bassist Daniel Fortin is best known for his work in MYRIAD3, a dynamic, forward-looking piano trio whose work superficially resembles that of The Bad Plus and the Esbjörn Svensson Trio in that they're young guys in a piano trio who don't play jazz the way most piano trios play jazz. Fortin's solo debut, Brinks is just as forward-looking as MYRIAD3, though his musical persona seems a quite a bit more introspective. Sort of in the ECM mold, but not ...
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Music
Rock Skipping Under the Half Moon
From: Tidal Currents: East Meets WestBy Fabio Ragnelli
Racing Across the Land
From: MigrationsBy Fabio Ragnelli
Guiding Light
From: Change Of PlansBy Fabio Ragnelli