Tag Archives: mel minter

Opening the Opener: Patti Littlefield and John Rangel (With Update)

Patti Littlefield

Patti Littlefield

The New Mexico jazz audience has had this Thursday night marked on the calendar for weeks: the NEA Jazz Master vocalist Sheila Jordan and her bassist Cameron Brown will be opening the spring season at the Outpost Performance Space. That’s reason enough to get over there, but be sure you’re in your seat at 7:30, because you don’t want to miss the opening act: vocalist Patti
Littlefield and pianist John Rangel. We don’t get to hear either one of them often enough, and they will do
considerably more than just warm you up for Jordan. Continue reading →

A Cut Above: Two Reviews

 

Josh Lawrence, Jason Fraticelli, and Anwar Marshall.
Adrean Farrugia, Ernesto Cervini, Dan Loomis, Tara Davidson, Joel Frahm, and William Carn. Photo by Jesse Cahill.

 

Philadelphia’s Fresh Cut Orchestra and Ernesto Cervini’s sextet cook up distinctly different
releases worthy of your attention. Continue reading →

Loose Ends: Four Short Reviews

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I never have enough time to cover every worthy release that comes my way, and quite a few got past me in 2014. Over the holidays, though, I had a chance to dive into a few of them, and so I’ll start the new year with a quick look at four 2014 releases that caught my fancy, from the Jon Armstrong Jazz Orchestra, the Fred Hersch Trio, Holly Muñoz, and Matt Ulery. Continue reading →

Water Music

1373Matt Brewer, Mythology (Criss Cross Jazz)
A Review

Whatever was JazzTimes thinking? Their online reader’s poll didn’t even list bassist Matt Brewer as an option. No matter that he’s one of the premier young bassists in the world, who’s toured and/or recorded with such
luminaries as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Antonio Sanchez, Greg Osby, and Steve Coleman, among others. Never mind that he was a top-three finalist in the Thelonious Monk competition. Forget that he released his first
album as a leader this year. Well, let’s not forget it, since Mythology (Criss Cross Jazz) is an
impressive collection of seven Brewer originals plus one from Ornette Coleman, all delivered with an astute “less is more” approach by Brewer and his first-call colleagues: Mark Turner (tenor), Steve Lehman (alto), Lage Lund (guitar), David Virelles (piano), and Marcus Gilmore (drums). Continue reading →

The Transformative Harpist

ek is eik coverAnne Vanschothorst, Ek Is Eik
(Big Round Records)
A Review
Dutch harpist Anne Vanschothorst fears
neither time nor space, luxuriating in vast
silences and in expanded moments that stretch a listener’s anticipation. On her most recent album, Ek Is Eik (Afrikaans for I Am Oak), she reveals herself as one of those
magicians—oh! I meant to type “musicians”—beyond categorization who can drop the
listener deep into a contemplative space of peace and restoration. Continue reading →