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Jongkuk Kim
Jahari Stampley: Still Listening
by Hrayr Attarian
Chicago-based pianist Jahari Stampley is a definite prodigy. Raised in a musical family, Stampley, like his mother, also composes and plays other instruments. His debut Still Listening is a mix of four solo and five ensemble tracks, all his originals, which also showcase his leadership skills. The unaccompanied pieces are gems of musical virtuosity. “Evanescent," for example, is a bittersweet ballad with Americana motifs. Stampley's simultaneously effervescent and melancholic chords hint at times at folk and at other ...
read moreSimon Moullier Trio: Countdown
by Geno Thackara
Simon Moullier declares that one of his goals with his second recording is “to make the vibraphone disappear." To this end, he eschews the colorful guest list of his debut Spirit Song (Outside In, 2020) and puts his instrument at the head of an acoustic trio where it gets to fill out most of the melodic space. Perfectly logical, no? Nevertheless, although his unpretentious virtuosity carries the day on Countdown, it is not too hard to grasp what ...
read moreDaniele Germani: A Congregation of Folks
by Troy Dostert
Ambition is not in short supply for up-and-coming alto saxophonist Daniele Germani. Back in 2019, the Berklee College of Music alumnus committed himself to writing a song a day, and ten are featured here on his debut disc, A Congregation of Folks. Nor are they easy-come, easy-go compositions; there is an innate restlessness in Germani's muse, leading to pieces which ebb and flow with a surging intensity. While Germani is no stranger to other musicians' projects, his own record is ...
read moreEshed Korten Biolcati Kim: A Way Out
by Friedrich Kunzmann
One of the more exciting scenarios in jazz unfolds when a group of players comes together, not to realize one individual's specific vision, but just for the sake of making music together and to develop a chemistry which, ideally, was there from the beginning. The group effort here presents the fruits of such an occasion. A Way Out captures a contemporary jazz quartet that's in it for the joy of playing together. Forming the band name under which ...
read moreSimon Moullier: Spirit Song
by Geno Thackara
Simon Moullier sounds like a pretty old soul for someone only releasing his debut. At the same time, even more impressively, it is a relentlessly playful one, with an equal love for the old and new. One might think an instrument as established as the vibraphone only has so much potential to be taken to new places. With a mind as sharp as his hands, though, Moullier puts that familiar sound in a world-spanning musical context which makes everything both ...
read moreSimon Moullier: Spirit Song
by Dan Bilawsky
Simon Moullier conjures elemental tides on this remarkably fluid and ear-catching debut. The French vibraphonist--a Berklee College of Music and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz alumnus, now living in Brooklyn--offers a glowing attack, sweeping suggestions, worldly modernism and otherworldly light in these pieces recorded over the span of several sessions between 2017 and 2020. Coloring his work with synthesizers and subtly shining graces, drawing on tight bonds with bassist Luca Alemanno and drummer Jongkuk Kim, filling out ...
read moreFaiz Lamouri: Inner Light
by Chris May
Inner Light is tenor saxophonist and composer Faïz Lamouri's follow-up to his promising debut, Wonders (Soprane, 2016). It does not disappoint and begs the question, why have we had to wait four years? Moroccan-born, Lamouri moved to Paris in 2004, where he studied at the American School of Modern Music until 2008. He then moved to New York City, where he continued his studies at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He returned to France ...
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Lilac Hill
From: Lilac HillBy Jongkuk Kim
