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Daniel SpicerReviews
Hugh Hopper: Hopper Tunity BoxAvant-garde and funky? Pull the other one, mate, it's got bells on. [10 July 2007] 
Various Artists: PURE FIRE!Gilles Peterson is let loose on one of the most iconic of all jazz catalogues, the Impulse label. [4 June 2007] 
Fulborn Teversham: Count Herbert IIIt’s no exaggeration to say that drummer Seb Rochford has played a major part in transforming the British jazz world in the last few years. [31 May 2007] 
Sean Noonan Brewed By Noon: Stories to TellIt's fusion, Jim, but not as we know it. [27 April 2007] 
Carlos Santana & Wayne Shorter: Live at the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival [DVD]Your chance to see genuine musical legends struggling against the tide of perfidious fashion - and losing. [25 April 2007] 
Brian Groder: TorqueA superior set of contemporary jazz, blazing straight out of the long and unruly heritage of left-field explorations. [26 March 2007] 
Jean-Claude Vannier: LEnfant Assassin des MouchesA small miracle of 20th century progressive music from Serge Gainsbourg's most satisfying and challenging collborator. 
The Mahavishnu Project: Return to the Emerald BeyondIt’s a testament to the enormous power and ambition of John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra that this review has been written at all. [14 March 2007] 
Panda Bear / Excepter: Carrots / KKKKK split 12Consider this an orange juice and mogadon cocktail. [9 March 2007] 
Canned Heat: Live At Montreux 1973 and Boogie With Canned Heat: The Canned Heat Story [DVD]As you might expect, the story of the greatest boogie-band of all time is riddled with tragedy, regret and sorrow. But it also contains its own antidote in the form of mind-blowing live footage that reminds just how hard they rocked. [5 March 2007] 
The Grateful Dead: Live at the Cow PalaceIt's authentic, outlaw, acid-fried, good times rock and roll and it might just be some of the most quintessentially American music anyone ever made. [23 February 2007] 
Exploding Star Orchestra: We Are All from Somewhere ElseLet's face it, they might as well have gone ahead and called this 'What's Hip in Chicago?' [1 February 2007] 
Gordon Grdina / Gary Peacock / Paul Motian: Think Like The WavesGod-like genius or self-indulgent noodling? It can be such a fine line these days. [22 January 2007] 
Scotty Hard’s Radical Reconstructive Surgery: Scotty Hards Radical Reconstructive SurgeryWhether you view this as a brooding, atmospheric exercise in mood and restraint, or a lacklustre missed opportunity will probably depend on how much truly spiritual jazz or dangerously exciting hip-hop you’ve listened to. [18 January 2007] 
Archie Shepp Band: Geneva Concert [DVD]A rare chance to revel in the Shepp's charismatic, heavy-lidded physiognomy; both dangerous and gentlemanly at the same time, like some switch-pen carrying street-scholar. [15 January 2007] 
Blind Faith: London Hyde Park 1969 [DVD]One more way of watching everyone’s favourite almost-utopia die the death it never should have. [4 January 2007] 
Grizzly Bear: Yellow HouseBeguilling, beautiful and bewitching pop-folk-prog from a big-hearted Brooklyn bear. [22 December 2006] 
Nels Cline: New MonasteryUnderground PoMo avant shenanigans put an extra shine on some timeless left-field jazz classics. [15 December 2006] 
Various: The Revenge of Blind Joe DeathThis respectful tribute to an irreplaceable giant of Americana throws in a few surprises and entertains from start to finish. [7 December 2006] 
Kahil ElZabars Ritual Trio Featuring Billy Bang: Big MJust how deep do you want to go? [16 November 2006] 
The Free Spirits: Out of Sight and SoundBlow your mind with a blast of mid-'60s psychedelic, jazz-rock perfection. [8 November 2006] Hella: AcousticsReady or not, here comes math-folk, with Hella killing you softly. [24 October 2006] 
Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso UFO: Have You Seen the Other Side of the Sky?Two words for you: Quality. Control. [19 October 2006] 
Tomasz Stanko Quartet: LontanoYou know how sometimes you just can't see what all the fuss is about? Unsettling, isn't it? [27 September 2006] 
David S. Ware: BalladWareYou can almost imagine the squeals of delight in the marketing department at Thirsty Ear. "David S. Ware does ballads? No one's ever gonna see this one coming!" [26 September 2006] 
Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble: The MessengerHeavy, heavy Chicago jazz that hits in the gut as well as the heart. [25 September 2006] 
The Bennie Maupin Ensemble: PenumbraLike a heavily coiled snake, bass clarinettist Bennie Maupin's latest will hypnotise you, encircle you and bite. [18 September 2006] 
Yusef Lateef: Eastern SoundsAn overlooked classic of exotic jazz gets the full RVG remaster treatment. [8 September 2006] 
The Art Ensemble of Chicago: Non-Cognitive Aspects of the CityWhichever way you look at it, this is a landmark release in the nearly 40-year career of Chicago’s most important home-grown avant-jazzers. [5 September 2006] 
Leafcutter John: The Forest and The SeaWho would have guesed it? It turns out Leafcutter John is a genius. [31 August 2006] 
The Ed Palermo Big Band: Take Your Clothes Off When You DanceIf Count Basie had been a Zappa fan, he might have made this album. He wasn't, so Ed Palermo's done it instead. [30 August 2006] 
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble: The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz EnsembleA gloomy ride into the ominous possibilites of electronic mutant jazz. Is this the kind of movie you'd like to see? [25 August 2006] 
Trio Beyond: SaudadesThree jazz super-heavyweights breathe new life into the work of visionary drummer and composer Tony Williams. This one burns! [7 August 2006] 
Coachwhips: Double DeathYou'd have a hard time finding a single more jubilant, bone-headed, don't-give-a-shit celebration of the infectious sex-energy of pure unbridled garage-punk overkill than this here little disc. [19 June 2006] 
Supersilent: 7This astonishing concert performance from one of the world's most uncompromising and idiosyncratic improv outfits feels like a heavy workout for your mind, body, and soul. [14 June 2006] 
Oriental Sunshine: Dedicated to the Bird We LoveSugary, vintage psychedelia so light it's in danger of blowing away. [6 June 2006] All Tomorrow’s Parties: United Sounds of ATP, Weekend 1 Featuring Devendra Banhart, Comets on Fire,Forget your bucket and spade, put away your sunhat. All Tomorrow's Parties is here and peddling an entirely different kind of seaside rock. [2 June 2006] 
Charalambides: A Vintage BurdenSparse, delicate and fragile: this serenely hushed free-folk offering contains more genuinely psychedelic moments than most of its overdriven, fuzz-drenched peers ever manage. [26 May 2006] 
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Brotherman in the FatherlandTerrible title for a blistering showcase of this overlooked jazz genius's hugely idiosyncratic talents. [24 May 2006] 
Roger Rodier: Upon VelveaturLong-lost French-Canadian folk-rock album sounds like a forlornly fussing Nick Drake serving tea to Stephen Stills backstage at the Filmore. [19 May 2006] 
Philip Krumm: FormationsThis gorgeous little cosmic artefact is a must for all aficionados of '60s avant-garde composition. [18 May 2006] 
Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno: Starless and Bible Black SabbathThis damaging riff-quake from Japan's premier freak-rock collective may very well be the sound Woody Allen had in mind when he coined the phrase "maximum heaviosity". [9 May 2006] 
Charles Lloyd with Zakir Hussain and Eric Harland: SangamThe last of the great cosmic jazzmen takes a trip way out east with this exhilarating live recording. [1 May 2006] 
Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice: Gipsy FreedomThe mystic ones pull back their hoods, emerge from the mist, and reveal themselves as... regular guys? What the...? [25 April 2006] 
Santana: Santana III (Legacy Edition)Vintage, high-energy, Latino psych-jazz-rock still sounds good 35 years on. Now, how do you suppose percussionist Thomas "Coke" Escovedo got his nickname? [24 April 2006] 
Terje Rypdal: VossabryggIf only this European homage to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew had had the tenacity to stick with the jazz-rock and avoided the club beats, it just might have made jazz album of the year. [13 April 2006] 
Jandek: KhartoumIn which the Texan maverick finally finds true happiness, overcomes misery and radiates love for all living things. Just kidding: he's still unhappy. [28 March 2006] 
William Parker: Long Hidden: The Olmec SeriesA curious collection of shards and fragments from the downtown New York free-jazz bass guru comes together in an archaeological quest for cultural connections. [24 March 2006] 
Jack DeJohnette: The Elephant Sleeps But Still RemembersVeteran drum legend teams up with jazz guitarist du jour to produce a quirky and fiercely non-commercial take on the art of duo improvisation. [6 March 2006] 
Janis Ian: Folk Is the New BlackIf you like your folk music disguised as a cynically unimaginative, woefully uninteresting attempt at securing radio airplay, then this is the album for you. [1 March 2006] Paul Motian Band: Garden of EdenPaul Motian can’t help playing bebop -- it's in his blood. But on his new album he throws off the shackles of rhythm and bathes in a pool of free-form self-expression. Well, mostly. [24 February 2006] 
Greg Burk Trio: Nothing, KnowingBetween the poles of staunch convention and limitless freedom, Burk and Co. explore chaos and control. [22 December 2005] |
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