Enj Sociiety

If judged solely on its fabulous array of sonorities, Green Dolphy Suite by Double Trio (the combined forces of Trio de Clarinettes and the Arcado String Trio) would have to be considered a real find for intrepid listeners, especially those with a taste for jazz and avant-garde explorations. Every conceivable extended technique for clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, violin, cello, and double bass is tried at least once, and there is music here for fans of anything between hard bop and frenzied skronk. But what makes this album extraordinary is its profound musicality, in what may seem an extremely difficult idiom for both technically precise and emotionally connected playing. The music is often angular, brusque, cerebral, and fiendishly virtuosic, yet it is also remarkably expressive, richly colorful, and entertaining for its great variety and frequent wit…

The Jackie McLean-influenced alto saxophonist Abraham Burton was a member of Art Taylor's Wailers until the drummer's death in 1995. This was Burton's second album as leader, recorded live at Visiones on March 17 & 18, 1995 with pianist Marc Cary, bassist Billy Johnson & drummer Eric McPherson. The band is well-integrated and highlights of the seven impressive tracks are Jackie McLean's 'Little Melonae', the standard 'I Can't Get Started' and a stunning, Coltrane-inspired version of Erik Satie's 'Gnossienne #1'. Burton plays superbly throughout and the 63 minutes of moving and passionate music on 'The Magician' deserves a place in any modern jazz collection.

Recorded live in October 16, 1993 by Max Federhofer at Donaueschinger Musiktage, Germany. Virtuoso saxophonist with his band moving effortlessly between jazz, improvisation, contemporary music and the avante-garde.

Intensity, pride, and passion are the earmarks for the modern mainstream jazz quartet co-led by tenor saxophnist Burton and drummer McPherson. They display a fervor that is consistently buoyed by the insistent pianistics of James Hurt, while bassist Yosuke Inoue stokes the fire with bituminous strokes of swing and steadying brute force. Each of these six compositions allow each member to stretch out and dig in, and they have a definite center from which to draw upon. Many will be reminded of the classic John Coltrane quartet from their Impulse recordings: slightly on the edge, forever moving forward. "Nebulai" is set up by a probing ostinato bass sets, Hurt's roaring piano, and Burton's bridge workout, which reflects Coltrane's energy, but sports Burton's voice…

On her 2004 album "Angel Eyes" Stefanie Schlesinger goes one step further than most of her singing colleagues. She not only presents promising new songs (mostly composed by her musical director and vibraphonist, Wolfgang Lackerschmid), but also offers the "Standards" in unusual and highly surprising arrangements. Or who has ever heard "Angel Eyes" as a bluesy 5/4 and Michel Legrand's "The Way He Makes Me Feel" (from the movie "Yentl") as an R&B waltz?
Anyway: "Angel Eyes" is not just the album of a good singer plus band. It's also an album full of big solos and brilliant instrumental moments. This is ensured by the combined forces of some living jazz legends - including trombone champion Slide Hampton, piano magician Bob Degen and harmonica master Hendrik Meurkens. There's a lot of music to discover between the vocal verses.

On the new opus from the Doumka Clarinet Ensemble you will find all the melodious beauty and rhythmic impetus heard on acclaimed previous release Café Rembrandt. Classically trained players Hervé Bouchardy, Franck René, and Alexis Ciesla combine dreamlike moods with sensitive rhythms and improvisational fantasy. Through the sounds of their diverse clarinet timbres ranging from the piccolo to the bass register the three create impressions of the ugav, a legendary wind instrument that, according to biblical tales, could be heard emanating from the tents of Jubal the Nomad.

Pianist/composer/improviser Sylvie Courvoisier, originally from Switzerland, has lived in Brooklyn for 20 years. She has led several groups over the years, recorded 10 albums as a band leader, and appeared in about 50 albums (25 Cds co-leader and 25 cds as a side person) for different labels, notably ECM, Tzadik and Intakt Records. She has been commissioned to write music for concerts, radio, dance and theater. She has toured widely across the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, and Japan. Courvoisier has performed and recorded with John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, Joey Baron, Ellery Eskelin, Nate Wooley, Fred Frith, Yusef Lateef, Tim Berne, Joëlle Léandre, Erik Friedlander, Butch Morris, Tony Oxley, Herb Robertson, and Tomazs Stanko, among others.

This seeks to be a good-time record while maintaining the musical intelligence that listeners should expect from Anderson. "Putting the cookies on a lower shelf" can be dangerous if the artists are too busy worrying about public taste to do any real cooking, but it's obvious from the start that the players (Amina Claudine Myers, organ, piano; Jerome Harris, guitar; Lonnie Plaxico, bass; Tommy Campbell, drums) are having a blast themselves. I can't imagine any complaints about anyone's contributions instrumentally. The rhythm team swings, Anderson sounds just great, Myers and Harris shine throughout, and the trombone-organ-guitar ensembles are downright dangerous. The four vocal tracks feature Myers and Anderson solo and in tandem: gutsy, extroverted performances of intelligent lyrics by Jackie Raven. This music is hard to describe but it's natural and infectious, somewhat comparable to Mose Allison, but hotter.

For much of the last two decades of his life, Chet Baker seemed to go in the studios so often that one never knew what to expect. The results were a crapshoot, depending on whether or not Baker was suffering the effects of his drug addiction at the time. Fortunately, his friendship with Chicago-based pianist Bradley Young in the early 1980s gave the younger man an opportunity to sit in with the trumpeter. As a result, Young impulsively suggested a record date during a return engagement in 1986, which Baker accepted, though everything had to come together quickly within two days, including finding a studio and assembling a band. Oddly enough, everything works, from the fine rhythm section (bassist Larry Gray and drummer Rusty Jones) to the performance of the standards and jazz tunes that had long been a part of Baker's repertoire.