Here’s a full accounting of nearly every album and box set title voted for by our contributors—listed here in descending alphabetical order by last name—as part of our 2021 Year in Review section. (About that “nearly”: A small percentage of …
Ches Smith, the New York drummer and composer equally devoted to avant-garde jazz and Haiti’s ancient drums-and-vocal-centred Vodou culture, set himself the fascinating challenge of intertwining those threads. The result was this thrilling mix of haunting folk vocals, conversational multi-instrumental …
Despite all the continuing crises in the world, great creative music flourished in 2021 as it always seems to do. There were some artists like Wadada Leo Smith and Vijay Iyer who continued their regular flow of excellent releases, other …
What caught my ear and held it in 2021? There’s no coherent formula to the dozen albums that constitute this answer — except that they all came from a place of fierce and abiding commitment. You can hear it plain …
What caught my ear and held it in 2021? There’s no coherent formula to the dozen albums that constitute this answer — except that they all came from a place of fierce and abiding commitment. You can hear it plain …
Sara Schoenbeck is one of the few improvising bassoonists of her pedigree, but she rarely makes music as a leader. When she decided a few years ago to make an album under her name, a duet format made sense: Hers …
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson are contemporary improvisers who approach abstraction from two different angles: Courvoisier as a pianist at the bridge between free jazz and European classical music, and Halvorson as a deconstructive guitar improviser, strongly affiliated with (for …
7 (tie). Ches Smith and We All Break – Path of Seven Colors (Pyroclastic) Everybody knows the influence on creative improvised music exerted by styles and musicians from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Trinidad. Haiti is the most populous nation …
TONY MALABY’S SABINO with BEN MONDER / MICHAEL FORMANEK / TOM RAINEY – The Cave of Winds (Pyroclastic PR18; USA) Featuring Tony Malaby on tenor & soprano saxes & compositions, Ben Monder on guitar, Michael Formanek on contrabass and Tom …
Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson – Searching for the Disappeared Hour (Pyroclastic) The Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and the American guitarist Mary Halvorson recorded their first duet album, Crop Circles, in 2016 after a single concert. This new one follows …