jazz

Steve Kindler: Automatic Writing (1985)

2019/12/18

Let’s do things in reverse. Let’s revisit the work of violinist Steve Kindler. Perhaps better known for his work with John McLaughlin and Jan Hammer, one would be surprised to discover how much more sweeping and romantic his solo work was. And it doesn’t get much more “sweeping and romantic” than his, sadly, nearly impossible…
Yukie Nishimura (西村由紀江): L’espoir (～レスポワール～) (1989)

2019/12/13

I told you things were going to get real here. Let’s get intimate. Let’s get closer to the work of Yukie Nishimura. Call it various names: neoclassical, ambient, new age, easy listening or BGM. You can call it anything you want but you can’t call it boring. Romantic is the key word here. Take one…
Carla Bley (with Steve Swallow): Night-glo (1985)

2019/12/11

I’ll be completely honest. Lately, it’s been getting harder to carve out time to write for this blog. After a long moment in time, I’ve finally found a degree of it to do other things that vie just as much for my attention. Yet, I still feel the need to share things with you. Maybe…
Kip Hanrahan: Days And Nights Of Blue Luck Inverted (1987)

2019/11/19

American Clavé. What a name. Kip Hanrahan is one of those musicians that deserves, mightily, to be a large household name, but for reasons unbeknownst to me, never quite could break that final barrier. No matter how perfect his blend of outsider jazz and instantly “getable” ideas were. We’re worse off as a music culture…
Mark Nauseef: Wun-Wun (1984)

2019/11/12

Is it jazz? That’s a repetitive refrain that I’ve been proposing lately to this blog. Native New Yorker, Mark Nauseef’s Wun-Wun is classified under the jazz moniker but it doesn’t sound remotely like it. It all begins with percussive motifs that speak of improv and “free” ideas but settle into Pan-Pacific movements that require very…
David Friesen: Inner Voices (1987)

2019/10/15

Here’s hoping this writeup lasts not much longer than David Friesen’s meditative Inner Voices. What exactly was David Friesen’s Inner Voices? Much like Eberhard Weber in Europe, in America, David was that kind of quicksilver, enigmatic, bass player that played on countless “jazz” records spanning from bebop, free jazz, modal, and other chin scratching, heady…
Dagobert Böhm: Acoustic Moods (1987)

2019/10/01

One of my favorite things to see on an album are liner notes listing guitar tunings used within. As a musician myself, I see a certain humility in doing this for others, because in essence you’re exposing some of the magic you had to conjure up for others. I think doing so, I think you’re…
Mario Rosini: Mediterraneo Centrale (1992)

2019/09/24

For those still clinging on to their last bit of summer, there’s always a bit of it near the Mediterranean. Somewhere near Sanremo, I imagine as this centrally-located American, there’s a perfect day being soundtracked by the music on one Mario Rosini (and in this case) joined by Pino Daniele. Balearic du jour, New Age…
Hiroki Miyano (宮野弘紀): D / I/ V /E /R /G /E (分岐点) (1988)

2019/09/20

And now some jazz… *Quietly watches all my readers’ eyes glaze over*. For those who can appreciate the bigger “jazz” picture, here’s Hiroki Miyano’s D / I/ V /E /R /G /E. Showcasing Hiroki Miyano’s wonderfully elegant guitar playing, D / I/ V /E /R /G /E takes great pains not to rock the boat…
Randy Tico: Earth Dance (1990)

2019/08/06

Don’t stop, can’t stop, the dance. Something else to fill your expanding Balearic canon: Randy Tico’s Earth Dance. Not quite jazz, world beat, tribal, or New Age, in 1990, in the dead heat of summer, Randy released on the aptly named Higher Octave Music record label a burner of a New Age album that put…