Whit Dickey's 'Tao Quartets' Pose Key Questions About Improvised Music
Veteran drummer from New York's creative music scene, Whit Dickey combines two quartets that pose so many of the key questions about purely improvised music.
16 Oct 2019
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William Parker Swings and Plays on Jazz's Edge with 'Live/Shapeshifter'
On Live/Shapeshifter, William Parker goes way back to Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus in muscular swing and melodic grace while still seeming to play out on the edge.
25 Sep 2019
The Sun Ra Arkestra Brings Interplanetary Music to San Francisco
Led by 95-year-old saxophonist Marshall Allen, the longest running band in jazz delivers a transcendent four-night run at the SFJazz Center.
20 Aug 2019
The Dust Blows Forward: 'Trout Mask Replica' at 50
In 1969, the deeply strange musician known as Captain Beefheart released an album that is still ahead of its time a half-century later. PopMatters spoke with musicians and writers about this landmark work of art and why it continues to fascinate.
19 Aug 2019
Jazz Saxophonist Jeremy Udden Gets Back to Basics with the Visceral 'Three in Paris'
Highly accomplished jazz saxophonist Jeremy Udden reins in his multitude of musical talents with an intimate trio recording, Three in Paris.
17 Jul 2019
Space Is Still the Place for Marshall Allen and the Sun Ra Arkestra
Ninety-five-year-old saxophonist Marshall Allen continues to lead Sun Ra's legendary jazz ensemble through the turbulent present and toward a better future for mankind.
11 Jul 2019
The Art Ensemble of Chicago: We Are on the Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration
A wildly revised version of this venerable creative music ensemble makes a clean, beautiful new recording in the studio and live, with fresh music from Roscoe Mitchell and an argument that the original Art Ensemble of Chicago had everything to do with today's New Jazz.
13 May 2019
Sick Gazelle Issues Haunting, Improvisational LP, 'Odum' (album stream) (premiere)
Featuring Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), and Eric Block (Veloce), Sick Gazelle's Odum is the result of a meditative hour-long improvisation in a Chicago recording studio.
02 May 2019
Harriet Tubman's Music Bends Off Into Unpredictable Directions on 'The Terror End of Beauty'
Instrumentally dazzling but sonically muddled, Harriet Tubman's The Terror End of Beauty is a mixed bag of genre-resistant instrumentals.
20 Mar 2019
Eric Dolphy: Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions
An exploratory few sessions from late in Eric Dolphy's life show him expanding in both expansive and intimate ways.
06 Feb 2019
Maurice Louca Returns with a Record of Cosmic Jazz Exploration
On Elephantine, Egyptian artist Maurice Louca leaves behind electronic motifs and rediscovers the unyielding power of free jazz improvisation and the mystical sense of the Arabic musical tradition.
31 Jan 2019
Free Jazz Artist Ivo Perelman Finds 'Kindred Spirits' on Two New Collaborations
Tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman records with two different bass clarinetists on his latest free jazz releases.
19 Oct 2018
Whose Hat Is This? Returns With Taste of Second LP, "chomp-chomp-chomp-Love" (premiere)
Tedeschi Trucks Band members step out as Whose Hat Is This? for their sophomore release, Everything's OK, and explore brotherhood, playfulness, and the outer reaches of the avant-garde.
18 Oct 2018
Robbie Lee and Mary Halvorson Find an Old, New Weirdness on 'Seed Triangular'
Nearly every track on Robbie Lee and Mary Halvorson's Seed Triangular surprises, and if the disc fails to cohere, the pleasure of hearing the two artists figure out what they're doing remains.
24 Sep 2018
Experimental Collective the End Comes Into Full Form with Debut Album
Led by legendary saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and Norwegian saxophonist Kjetil Møster, the End becomes a complete improvisational act that unleashes a furious offering enshrouded in a dystopian manifestation.
27 Jul 2018
Jazz's William Parker Creates an Album of a Lifetime... Again with 'Voices Fall from the Sky'
In a career full of lofty goals and incredible highs, William Parker has once again sculpted an album that will stand apart from the pack through beauty alone.
22 Jun 2018
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