John Hebert

Pianist Fred Hersch has found a place to come alive: The Village Vanguard, where so many great live albums have been recorded. Saxophonists John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, pianist Bill Evans and drummer Paul Motian also found the New York City venue a prime spot for live recordings. Hersch revisits the venue with Alive the the Vanguard, following Live at the Village Vanguard (Palmetto Records, 2003), an excellent trio affair with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Nasheet Waits, and Alone at the Vanguard (Palmetto Records, 2011), an extraordinary solo outing.

Pianist Uri Caine holds a unique distinction, known the world over as a stellar jazz pianist, but a critics' darling for his genre-blind reworkings of classical music. His takes on the work of Gustav Mahler, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Wagner have become modern classics which straddle several musical worlds, but Caine's is no one-trick pony. When he isn't busy turning classical music history on its head, his restless artistic curiosity has taken him to a variety of other realms. The pianist tipped his hat to Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock, with album-length salutes to each, took a stroll down Tin Pan Alley (Winter & Winter, 1999), visited Brazilian music via Rio (Winter & Winter, 2001), explored the possibilities within the solo piano context on Solitaire (Winter & Winter, 2001), and tackled fusion in his own personal way with his Bedrock band.

The new installment in the ongoing series of New York centered recordings, this time with the stellar roster of Chris Speed, Herb Robertson, John Hébert and Tom Rainey, “Plain” is the new brilliant opus in Simon Nabatov’s singular and rich career.

Uri Caine - The Othello Syndrome (2008) {Winter & Winter 910 135-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 451 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 181 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 37 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Winter & Winter | 910 135-2
Jazz / Classical / Avant-Garde Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Keyboards

Keyboardist Uri Caine has previously explored the music of Bach, Mozart, Wagner, and Beethoven, so it is hardly surprising that he continues to use classical composers as a source of inspiration for his improvisations. This outing draws on excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello, with the pianist incorporating his usual wild arrangements. Caine is obviously very familiar with the music, but willing to take chances, as in his playful setting of "Fire Song" and a klezmer-like setting of "Drinking Song."

Lossing's latest recording, Metamorphism, is an extension of his continually evolving compositional identity. Here he presents eight original compositions, each written with it's own particular strategy for interplay among a stalwart ensemble of longtime collaborators. It is only with musicians with whom he has established a deeply felt musical connection that this music could actually be realized.