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Ryan Sawyer

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16
Album Review

Terton: Outer, Inner, Secret

Read "Outer, Inner, Secret" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Terton's Outer, Inner, Secret is a leading-edge set that transcends the conventional boundaries of jazz, venturing into the realms of the avant- garde with unparalleled finesse. Released by the future-facing powerhouse Tzadik Records, it stands as a beacon of innovative musical exploration, pushing the boundaries of sonic experimentation. The musicians' remarkable ability to convey complex emotions through their instruments is evident throughout the album, offering an improvisational listening experience that is both introspective and expansive. Each ...

2
Album Review

Glass Triangle: Blue and Sun​-​lights

Read "Blue and Sun​-​lights" reviewed by John Sharpe


The transatlantic trio of electric harpist Zeena Parkins, saxophonist Mette Rasmussen and drummer Ryan Sawyer, working under the moniker Glass Triangle, reunites for Blue And Sun-Lights. It is the second release as a group following an eponymous debut recorded in 2019. The band brings together a unique set of experiences--downtown sass from Parkins, European free jazz from Rasmussen and post-punk attitude from Sawyer--and from them generates something beyond category in a program of ten off-the-wall studio encounters. Rasmussen ...

7
Album Review

Susan Alcorn, Patrick Holmes and Ryan Sawyer: From Union Pool

Read "From Union Pool" reviewed by Troy Dostert


The inimitable pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn seemingly knows no bounds when it comes to the range of textures, tones and timbres she can coax out of her instrument. She is also a consummate improvisational partner, whether working in free or composed contexts. And she has forged a terrific partnership with Relative Pitch Records, which has now released four albums with Alcorn featured prominently—the most recent being her outstanding Pedernal, from 2020. Here she is part of a free-improv trio, ...

9
Album Review

Columbia Icefield: Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes

Read "Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Trumpeter Nate Wooley can create impressive large-scale compositions. His Seven Storey Mountain VI, (Pyroclastic, 2021) is a massive work, dealing with the rights of women, that used fourteen musicians and singers. His group, Columbia Icefield, achieves similar results with just four members, Wooley himself on trumpet and amplifier, Mary Halvorson on electric guitar, Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar and Ryan Sawyer on drums plus Mat Maneri and Trevor Dunn guesting on some tracks. This music moves at a glacial ...

3
Album Review

Columbia Icefield: Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes

Read "Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Nate Wooley refuses to make trivial music. Whether the endlessly creative trumpeter and composer is rethinking the relationship between artistic production and community, as on Mutual Aid Music (Pleasure of the Text, 2021), or pursuing ways to re-envision music's spiritual potential, seen most recently on 2020's Seven Storey Mountain VI (Pyroclastic Records), he always provides his listeners with a lot to ponder. This is no less evident with his Columbia Icefield project, which dives headlong into humankind's fraught relationship with ...

1
Album Review

Susan Alcorn Quintet: Pedernal

Read "Pedernal" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn has achieved the enviable feat of commanding her own instrumental niche in the jazz world. Much like Toots Thielemans' harmonica, Gary Versace's accordion or Béla Fleck's banjo, she seems to have a unique role all to herself, at least until her substantial talents eventually spawn a host of imitators. From her beginnings playing traditional country and western in the 1980s, she has branched out considerably, in the last decade forging creative partnerships in the free ...

7
Album Review

Nate Wooley: Seven Storey Mountain VI

Read "Seven Storey Mountain VI" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Since 2007 trumpeter Nate Wooley has been producing compositions in a song cycle collectively called “Seven Storey Mountain." The first one was performed by a trio and each succeeding version has included a greater number of musicians. The newest one, the sixth of an eventual seven iterations, is performed here by fourteen players including three vocalists. It is a compelling and heart-wrenching musical epic. one uninterrupted 45-minute piece which combines pre-recorded tapes and live performance. Part of the ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

From Union Pool

Relative Pitch Records
2023

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Blue and...

Relative Pitch Records
2023

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Ancient Songs of...

Pyroclastic Records
2022

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Seven Storey Mountain...

Pyroclastic Records
2020

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Returning to Drown Myself, Finally

From: Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes
By Ryan Sawyer

Pedernal

From: Pedernal
By Ryan Sawyer

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