Editor Marc Phillips explores the magic and mystery of great LPs.
Resonance Records is on a roll right now, and this Mingus album just might be their finest release yet. The Lost Album from Ronnie Scott’s, recorded in August 1972, wasn’t quite lost–Mingus always intended to […]
Over the last few weeks I’ve been transitioning the Vinyl Anachronist music reviews into something that’s been much more liberating and fun, and Tradknaster from bassist Gus Loxbo is another careful and logical step toward […]
Hallelujah, I have a turntable in the house once more. It’s been months, waiting on my new Technics SL-1210G to arrive, but in the meantime I get to play with the Premium Class entry-level Technics […]
I’m going to review another 2L Recordings release, Alt Hva Modrene Har Kjempet from Kammerkoret Aurum, and I don’t want any shenanigans this time. The last time I covered a 2L Recordings release, the MQA-CD […]
For a while, I didn’t think I’d post another review of a Satoko Fujii release from Libra Records. It’s not because this Japanese avant-garde pianist isn’t my cup of tea–she is. It isn’t because the […]
When you name your ensemble the Cortez/Williams Project, and your new album is called Hermanos, you might think that this is all about two longtime friends, musicians, who finally got enough free time to hang […]
Sometimes I see the structures underneath my contemporary jazz reviews veer toward the formulaic. I realized that when I reviewed the new album from guitarist Juan Carlos Quintero, Table for Five! A casual listen would have […]
These have been prolific times for legendary composer and trumpet player Wadada Leo Smith. Over the last year or so I’ve received so many new recordings from Smith, and we’re not talking single albums. We’re […]
I shouldn’t have to convince jazz lovers that four CDs’ worth of previously unavailable live Bill Evans on Resonance Records is something special they want to own, but these two new releases are quite special–not […]
After receiving that half dozen albums from Zoho Music, I’ve realized that this record label is heading off into slightly different directions for 2022. While I’ve applauded the longtime vision of Zoho–using South American and […]
If I drift away from contemporary jazz over the next few months, it will mostly be the fault of these European jazz releases that keep finding their way to my mailbox. For example: Teis Semey […]
Pianist Pete Malinverni and his new album On the Town comes at a time when I’ve already been thinking about Leonard Bernstein. It’s a day after the Oscar nominations came out, and Steven Spielberg’s new […]
This is twice in one week that I’ve reviewed an album that focuses on the idea of the bassist as leader in jazz. With the David Finck album, he was simply an extraordinary bassist who […]
Manisero, from Zoho Music, reminds me a lot of my father who passed away in 2020. He loved all types of classical guitar recordings, was a big fan of Rodrigo and John Williams, and in […]
When I received this 2L MQA-CD in my mailbox just before the holidays, I took one look at the back cover and knew I’d have to explain my position on the MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) […]
It’s been a while since I’ve brought up the subject of bassists-as-leaders in the world of contemporary jazz, but I’m seriously pondering it again, the idea that a bass player focuses on foundation and structure […]
This new recording of Symphony No. 9 in D Minor from Anton Bruckner is interesting to me on several levels. First of all, it comes from the Zoho Music label, which I associate with jazz–South […]
One of the reasons I love small jazz piano ensembles so much is that one group can sound so different from another group, even when playing the same standards. I’m not talking about mere improvisation, […]
I’ll admit that some off my holiday reviews of music for non-holiday people have gotten strange–trust me, I wisely passed on some of the more adventurous music in the review pile because I didn’t want […]
As we’re barreling full-speed into the New Year, I had a thought. If I’m going to include Fred Hersch in my holiday listening choices, I should probably point out that he’s a perfect New Years’ […]
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