Author Archives: Mel Minter

Grab Bag: Anne Mette Iversen, Julian Wild, and Matthew Shipp

The coronavirus does not seem to have slowed the release of new work by much, though I have noticed a significant uptick in publicists’ emails of late. Here are three new releases from completely different musical universes named Anne Mette Iversen, Julian Wild, and Matthew Shipp.

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Messing Around with the Nealand/McDermott Duo and with Ben Goldberg

The duo of Aurora Nealand and Tom McDermott inhabit a musical world quite different from that of Ben Goldberg, but they all share several characteristics. They are comfortable in a number of different genres. They have no problem mixing those genres. They are superb composers, whether with paper and pen or on the fly. So they get to share this post. On Live at Luthjens, Nealand and McDermott cover a wide swathe of American music (and one Polish piece) in their inimitable way, and in Plague Diary, Goldberg finds a way to while away the time productively and, at times, mesmerizingly.

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New Releases from Artists Familiar and New (to Me)

On Marbles, pianist/composer Falkner Evans employs a sextet (occasionally septet) of stellar and well-known New York musicians to produce richly colored harmonies across nine original compositions. On Tides, the Swiss quartet Phraim, fronted by vocalist Nina Reiter, delivers a robust collection of distinctively original compositions that blend elements of rock, jazz, and art song.

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Two New (to Me) Pianists Light Up My Ears

Pianists Art Hirahara and Mara Rosenbloom remind me how little I know about the jazz world. Though I’ve been writing about it in one place or another for almost 20 years, it still has many pleasant surprises in store for me. The latest recordings by each of these pianists are prime examples.

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New Releases from Omer Avital—Qantar and Dennis Kwok Offer Original Jazz

Further proof, if any were needed, that jazz is a global music is delivered by these new releases from people who are not from the United States. On New York Paradox, the Moroccan/Yemenite bassist Omer Avital offers original compositions inflected with the vibes of Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East, and his quartet grooves them beautifully. From Canada comes multireed player Dennis Kwok, heading a well-disciplined big band of millennials playing his original suite, Outward Bound.

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