Avant Music News review by D. Barbiero

cleanfeed — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:16:26 +0000

Daniel Levin - Inner Landscape (CF 224)
Inner Landscape is the first solo release from Daniel Levin, a cellist whose work forcefully inhabits the territory between jazz and avant garde art music. The six improvisations collected here, recorded over the course of two sessions in 2009, represent a comprehensive description of the sonic landscape of the contemporary cello.

The six landscapes encompass a broad range of techniques and genre-crossing sounds, creating a complex atmosphere of mixed moods. Landscape 1, for instance, features sound clusters of dissonant tones along with abrupt phrasing and simultaneously struck and plucked notes. The third landscape creates an unstable tension through the judicious use of tritones – this is a landscape viewed from a precarious standpoint. A different kind of tension builds in Landscape 4, with its brusque chords, strings struck with the wood of the bow, and rapid tremolo. Closing out the recording, Landscape 6 moves in and out of a kind of frantic falsetto voice as Levin swoops across the cello’s upper and lower registers.

Inner Landscape is a fine showcase for Levin’s technical and emotional versatility and an important document of adventurous solo string improvisation.
http://avantmusicnews.com/2012/01/27/amn-review-daniel-levin-inner-landscape/

Jazz Magazine review by Franck Bergerot

cleanfeed — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:07:26 +0000

Jazz Magazine review by Paul Jaillet

cleanfeed — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:03:05 +0000

Jazz Magazine review by Paul Jaillet

cleanfeed — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:01:02 +0000

Le Son du Grisli review by Pierre Lemarchand

cleanfeed — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:43:08 +0000

Dennis Gonzalez / João Paulo – So Soft Yet (CF 243)
Scape / Grace était un disque d’été, dont la musique ondulait au rythme du linge séché par le vent et se gorgeait du soleil qui caresse les collines surplombant Lisbonne. So Soft Yet témoigne des retrouvailles du pianiste portugais João Paulo et du trompettiste et cornettiste américain Dennis González deux ans et demi après l’enregistrement de Scape / Grace. Au cœur de l’hiver lisbonnais, lors du mois de janvier 2010, Dennis González et João Paulo se retrouvèrent donc pour offrir une suite à leur premier disque, gravée elle aussi sur le label Clean Feed records.

Au seul piano joué sur le précédent disque, Paulo lui adjoint ici l’accordéon (sur deux titres) et le piano électrique (sur cinq). La sonorité rêveuse du premier imprime à la musique une certaine nostalgie, tandis que le second crée un climat de ciel obscurci et un paysage de reliefs tranchants. Mais on n’aime jamais autant la musique de ces deux-là que quand elle revient à ses fondamentaux, quand elle réitère le miracle de la première rencontre musicale : piano et trompette, en de longs entremêlements monochromes comme en de plus précipités dialogues irisés.
http://grisli.canalblog.com/archives/2012/01/23/23313767.html

Music and More review by Tim Niland

cleanfeed — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 12:27:37 +0000

Marty Ehrlich’s Rites Quartet – Frog Leg Logic (CF 242)
In their description of this album, Clean Feed draws the comparison between this group anchored by saxophonist Marty Ehrlich and cellist Hank Roberts to the great loft jazz music made between saxophonist Julius Hemphill and cellist Abdul Wadud during the 1970’s and 1980’s. The distinction is apt, and joining Ehrlich and Roberts on this date are James Zollar on trumpet and Michael Sarin on drums. While they aren’t quite as gritty as the likes of Hemphill’s recently re-released classic Dogon A.D., the group achieves a fine progressive jazz sound with Ehrlich and Zollar swirling and probing each other’s phrases, recalling records by Eric Dolphy and Booker Little or Chris Potter and Dave Douglas. “You Can Beat The Slanted Cards” and “Frog Leg Logic” make their case quite nicely with angular momentum moving with geometrical precision as the musicians improvise on the unusual themes. “Ballade” and “Solace” slow down the pace to an atmospheric and patient flow, Roberts and Sarin are particularly important in these performances as they are able to use subtle and gradual shifts in time and space to lay evolving textural shapes for the hornmen to react to, developing collective improvisations where everyone is interacting in real time. This is very solid and enjoyable modern jazz, steeped in the music that preceded them, but at same time making music that has a thoroughly modern sensibility.
http://jazzandblues.blogspot.com/

Giuseppe Segala´s Best of 2011 List – All About Jazz Italy

cleanfeed — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:09:28 +0000

Ben Allison – Action Refraction (Palmetto Records)
Piero Bittolo Bon & His Original Pigneto Stompers – Mucho Acustica (Long Song Records)
Bobby Bradford – Mark Dresser – Glenn Ferris – Live in LA (Clean Feed)
Arrigo Cappelletti – Andrea Massaria – Nicola

Stranieri – Mat Maneri – Metamorphosis (Leo Records)
Gerald Cleaver – Uncle June: Be It As I See It (Fresh Sound/New Talent)
Franco D’Andrea – Sorapis (El Gallo Rojo)
Bill Dixon – Envoi (Victo)
Harris Eisenstadt – September Trio (Clean Feed)
Peter Evans – Ghosts (More is More)
Gerry Hemingway Quintet – Riptide (Clean Feed)
Fred Hersch – Alone at the Vanguard (Palmetto Records)
Taylor Ho Bynum – Apparent Distance (Firehouse 12)
Lee Konitz – Brad Mehldau – Charlie Haden – Paul Motian – Live at Birdland (ECM)
Ingrid Laubrock Sleepthief – The Madness of Crowds (Intakt)
Tony Malaby – Novela (Clean Feed)
Paul Motian – The Windmills of Your Mind (Winter and Winter)
Augusto Pirodda – No Comment (JazzWerkstatt)
Michel Portal – Bailador (EmArcy)
Starlicker trio – Double Demon (Delmark)
Craig Taborn – Avenging Angel (ECM)
http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=7400

Luigi Santosuosso´s Best of 2011 List- All About Jazz Italy

cleanfeed — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:03:22 +0000

3 Cohens – Family (Anzic Records)
AA.VV. – Red Hot & Rio 2 (E1)
Ben Allison – Action Refraction (Palmetto Records)
Jason Adasiewicz – Sun Rooms (Delmark Record)
Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra – MTO Plays Sly (Royal Potato Family)
Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra – Hothouse Stomp (Accurate Records) Dave Douglas – The Three Views (Greenleaf Music)
Erik Friedlander – Bonebridge (Skipstone)
Joel Forrester – Phillip Johnston – Live at the Hillside Club (Asynchronous Records)
Holshouser, Bennink & Moore – Live in NYC (Ramboy Recordings)
Honey Ear Trio – Steampunk Serenade (Foxhaven)
The Humans – It’s Nine O’Clock (El Gallo Rojo)
Zoe Keating – Into The Trees (Autoprodotto)
Calvin Keys—Shawn-Neeq (Tompkins Square Records)
Gerald McCauley – Benjamin Bove – Down the Rhodes: The Fender Rhodes Story (Triads Music)
Mostly Other People Do the Killing – Coimbra Concert (Clean Feed)
Sun Ra – The Eternal Myth Revealed – Vol. 1 (Sun Ra Music Archives Productions/Transparency)
Skúli Sverrisson – Sería/Seria II (Autoprodotto)
Bernie Worrell Orchestra – Bernie Worrell: Standards (Autoprodotto)
Youn Sun Nah – Same Girl (ACT Music)
http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=7400

Gigi Sabelli´s Best of 2011 List – All About Jazz

cleanfeed — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:59:57 +0000

Piero Bittolo Bon Jump the Shark – Ohmlaut (El Gallo Rojo)
Calexico – Selection From Road Atlas 1998-2011 (City Slang)
Vinicio Capossela – Marinai, profeti e balene (La Ciapa/Warner)
Franco D’Andrea – Sorapis (El Gallo Rojo)
Miles Davis – Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series vol. 1 (Sony Legacy)
Erik Friedlander – Bonebridge (Skipstone)
Kip Hanrahan – At Home in Anger (Yellowbird – American Clavé)
Ja Vigiu Plamja – To Infinity and Beyond (El Gallo Rojo)
Nicole Mitchell – Awakening (Delmark)
Mostly Other People Do the Killing – Coimbra Concert (Clean Feed)
Gianluca Petrella Tubolibre – Slaves (Spacebone Records) Giancluca Petrella – Paolino Dalla Porta – Fabrizio Sferra – Il bagno turco (Parco della Musica)
São Paulo Underground – Tres Cabeças Loucuras (Cuneiform)
Archie Shepp – For Losers/Kwanza (Impulse!)
Wadada Leo Smith – Heart’s Reflections (Cuneiform)
Starlicker – Double Demon (Delmark)
Tom Waits – Bad as Me (Anti) Jürg Wickihalder – Jump! (Intakt)
John Zorn – At The Gates Of Paradise (Tzadik)
John Zorn – A Dreamer’s Christmas (Tzadik)
http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=7400

Vincenzo Roggero´s Best of List 2011 – All About Jazz Italy

cleanfeed — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:51:04 +0000

Ben Allison – Action Refraction (Palmetto Records)
Piero Bittolo Bon & His Original Pigneto Stompers – Mucho Acustica (Long Song Records)
Benoit Delbecq Trio – The Sixth Jump (Songlines)
Franco D’Andrea – Sorapis (El Gallo Rojo)
Endangered Blood – Endangered Blood (Skirl)
Shane Endsley and the Music Band – Then the Other (Low Electrical)
Honey Ear Trio – Steampunk Serenade (Foxhaven)
The Humans – It’s Nine O’Clock (El Gallo Rojo)
Italian Instabile Orchestra – Totally Gone (Rai Trade)
Kirk Knuffke – Lisle Ellis – Kenny Wollesen – Chew Your Food (NoBusiness) Adam Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra – Ashcan Rantings (Clean Feed)
Ingrid Laubrock Sleepthief – The Madness of Crowds (Intakt)
Jon Lundbom & Big Five Chords – Quavers!Quavers!Quavers!Quavers! (Hot Cup)
Mauro Ottolini Sousaphonix – The Sky Above Braddock (Cam jazz)
William Parker Organ Quartet – Uncle Joe’s Spirit House (AUM Fidelity)
Mike Pride’s From Bacteria to Boys – Betweenwhile (AUM Fidelity)
Steve Raegele – Last Century (Songlines)
Julio Resende Trio – You Taste Like a Song (Clean Feed)
Angelica Sanchez – A Little House (Clean Feed)
Cuong Vu 4-t – Leaps of Faith (Origin Records)
http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=7400