Saxophonists Mette Henriette and George Winstone possess distinctive, daring voices, and each has a provocative new release.
Sui Generis Recordings from Mette Henriette and George Winstone
Category Archives: Reviews
Steven Bernstein Explores the Eccentricities of the Late Pianist Henry Butler
Bernstein’s back, and he’s taken the lid completely off the pot with Manifesto of Henryisms, the third of four installments in his Community Music project, available on Bandcamp. Dixieland, funk, R&B, contemporary jazz—they’re all here, and they all share a native ground: New Orleans.
Out of Africa and Beyond
Senegalese bassist/vocalist/composer Alune Wade erases genre boundaries on his new release, Sultan.
Raquel Z Rivera, Fidel González, and Arnaldo Acosta Coax Rain with Song
With New Mexico’s abundance of sun, heat, and wind, and its scarcity of water, agriculture here challenges even the most experienced farmers. They need all the help they can get. With her single “Tlalok San Ysidro” (available here), songwriter Raquel Z Rivera (vocals) offers a musical incantation for rain, with help from Fidel González (stringed concha, percussion, and vocals) and Arnaldo Acosta (percussion). This weekend, the song will be sung at the annual San Ysidro Day celebration, which blesses the acequias and invokes the help of San Ysidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers, and his wife, Maria de la Cabeza, and the saint’s Mexica/Aztec counterpart, Tlalok, the spiritual energy that brings rain, and his wife, Chalchiuhtlicue.
A Tsunami of New Releases
A flood of new releases deserving attention is pouring in over the transom. To cover more of them, I’m keeping these reviews short and sweet. Here are several releases worthy of your attention, from Myra Melford’s new quintet; the quartet Kind Folk; the trio of Aaron Parks, Matt Brewer, and Eric Harland; and singer/songwriter Jason Tamba.