Over the past two or three months, a number of personal and professional commitments have greatly reduced the time available for listening to and reviewing new releases, and I’ve watched quite a few pass under the Bridge of Timely Review and out to sea. So I hope now to get up to speed again with some short reviews of new and newish releases, such as El Arte del Bolero from Miguel Zenón and Luis Perdomo, Mar Adentro from Oscar Rossignoli, and Illumination from Alex Murzyn.
Two of the most accomplished and exciting ensembles in contemporary jazz expand the repertoire in two completely different ways.
Here are four distinctively different projects that fall, to one degree or another, under the jazz umbrella—from the Dan Tepfer and Miguel Zenón duo, Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet, Billy Mohler’s chordless quartet, and Lafayette Gilchrist’s sextet. They offer distinctly different musical experiences, but they all share one thing: no one else sounds anything like any of them.
Continuing with multiple short reviews to try to make up some of the ground lost over the summer, I’ve got a few that stretch across several styles: Tobias Hoffmann Jazz Orchestra, Sorry for Laughing, and Miguel Zenón.
If you’re in a romantic mood or wish to be, you’re well advised to put on the new release from alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón and pianist Luis Perdomo, El Arte del Bolero, turn down the lights, and . . . Well, you know what to do, right?
