Sara Schoenbeck is cast against type in the world of bassoonists. The versatile double reed, broad-ranged instrument dates to the Renaissance and is commonly found in wind ensembles and chamber orchestras. But Schoenbeck has brought her classical-leaning instrument to creative …
MAGNET’s Bill Meyer picks the best jazz/improv releases of the year 7) Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson Searching For The Disappeared Hour (Pyroclastic) READ MORE
Kris Davis, a 2021 Doris Duke Artist in the jazz category, is a critically acclaimed pianist and composer who was described by The New York Times as a beacon for “deciding where to hear jazz on a given night.” Since …
On piano, nobody quite sounds like Sylvie Courvoisier, nor, on guitar, like Mary Halvorson. Their individual voices are distinctive, which is why there’s all kinds of intrigue when they come together in a recording studio. On Searching for the Disappeared …
Sylvie Courvoisier/Mary Halvorson:Searching for the Disappeared Hour (Pyroclastic Records) One result of the pandemic has been a large number of solo and duet jazz albums — one of the few ways to record under strict protocols. Many of these have …
A look at the recent two-CD set Path of Seven Colors from the drummer/improviser/composer and his octet
Sara Schoenbeck If the bassoon represents one of the last frontiers for improvised music, Sara Schoenbeck is our Lewis and our Clark. After distinguishing herself in a range of chamber-like settings, often with partners like pianists Wayne Horvitz and Robin …
Drummer/composer Ches Smith got into Vodou drumming almost by accident. As a graduate student studying music at Mills College in Oakland, California, he was asked to accompany an Afro-Haitian dance class back in 2000. “I didn’t know anything about Haitian …
Drummer/composer Ches Smith got into Vodou drumming almost by accident. As a graduate student studying music at Mills College in Oakland, California, he was asked to accompany an Afro-Haitian dance class back in 2000.
From an experimental music perspective, Ches Smith brings life to sounds never before unleashed upon the jazz scene. By applying that same approach to traditional Haitian music, he brings life to music that was already established when jazz itself took its first …