jd Allen

Orrin Evans - pianist, bandleader and notorious musical catalyst - is a bona fide, jazz original. Brimming with music and ideas, Orrin’s Liberation Blues debuts one of his most impressive projects yet, a new quintet lineup that includes Sean Jones, JD Allen, Luques Curtis, and Bill Stewart. The recording, made live at Smoke Jazz Club in New York City, occurred immediately following the passing of bassist Dwayne Burno, and the opening selections comprise the “Liberation Blues Suite” dedicated to his memory.

A breakthrough album by pianist Kris Davis. Diatom Ribbons is her 14th recording as a leader and marks a new chapter in her career as she keeps writing and playing with imagination, courageously looking forward. Here, she is in charge of nine exceptional musicians, including old and new collaborators, who are combined to provide specific sonic outfits for each of the ten tunes on the record. If the presences of saxophonist Tony Malaby, vibraphonist Ches Smith, and bassist Trevor Dunn are not surprises, then the inclusion of great tenorist JD Allen, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, explosive guitarists Marc Ribot and Nels Cline, vocalist Esperanza Spalding, and Haitian electronics artist Val Jeanty are all new additions to Davis’ projects.

Jaimeo Brown - Transcendence (2013) {Motema Music}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 310 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 125 Mb | Artwork
© 2013 Motema Music | 233715
Jazz / Blues / Gospel

True to its title, this debut from 34-year-old New Yorker Brown defies genre. A jazz drummer, here accompanied by JD Allen's tenor sax and Chris Sholar's guitar, Brown was inspired by southern spirituals, with the Gee's Bend gospel singers sampled throughout. The resulting soundscapes are a dialogue between the present and a collective past of suffering and salvation, with echoes of Coltrane supplied by Allen's supple blowing.

Nicole Glover has been getting some well-deserved exposure recently in the context of groups like the Artemis sextet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. But this tenor saxophonist is best appreciated on her own albums, where she fronts a saxophone-bass-drums trio. While not a common jazz format, this instrumentation has sired some classic recordings, beginning with a 1945 Commodore record by Don Byas and Slam Stewart (whose foot-tapping qualifies as "drumming"), through classics by Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson and Ornette Coleman, to contemporary trios led by Branford Marsalis and Glover's label mate, JD Allen.