Author Archives: Mel Minter

New Music from Unexpected Quarters

  • Iris Trio: Anna Petrova, Christine Carter, Zoë Martin-Doike. Photo by Joe Chase.
  • Nina Reiter (bottom center) and MetaLogue

For their latest release, Project Earth: The Blue Chapter, the Iris Trio, which can typically be found in the classical music neighborhood, offers a suite of suites composed in a genre-crossing style by pianist and composer Florian Hoefner, best known for his work as a jazz artist, with accompanying poems by Don McKay. From Swiss jazz vocalist Nina Reiter come audacious arrangements for her tentet group, MetaLogue, of the music of the late Swiss composer Mani Planzer, who refused to allow the strictures of any particular genre to impede his self-expression.

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A Supergroup Quartet and a Super Sextet

  • Clockwise from top left: John Patitucci, Chris Potter, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade
  • Turboprop (l2r): William Carn, Dan Loomis, Ernesto Cervini, Joel Frahm, Tara Davidson, Adrean Farrugia

New releases from Chris Potter’s quartet and Ernesto Cervini’s sextet Turboprop wash away the dust of everyday life* and demonstrate that modern jazz is alive and well and in good hands.

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Delbert Anderson’s Ceremony of Remembrance

In November 2023, Diné jazz trumpeter Delbert Anderson sounded the first note of a composition, “The Long Walk,” whose performance will be completed in about four and a half years, mirroring the length of time in the 1860s that the Diné were forcibly removed from their ancestral homeland by the United States government before winning the right to return. That note initiated a solemn ceremony of remembrance, and people around the world have joined the performance.

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A Grab Bag of New Releases

  • John Lurie. Photo by Erik Mockus.
  • American Patchwork Quartet: Yasushi Nakamura, Clay Ross, Falguni Shah, Clarence Penn.
  • Alexvndria
  • Yes! Trio: Omer Avital, Ali Jackson, Aaron Goldberg
  • Allison Burik. Photo by Sasha Pedro.

The music had started sounding the same to me, and I feared that I could not listen—or hear—anymore. Then, within a week or so, I came across these five albums—from John Lurie, American Patchwork Quartet, Alexvndria, the Yes! Trio, and Allison Burik—that sound nothing like one another. Thank goodness. Here are five short (mostly) reviews to whet your appetite.

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Two Singular New Releases, from Sorry for Laughing and from Lily Guarneros Maase

  • Gordon Whitlow. Courtesy photo.
  • Lily Guarneros Maase. Photo by Jonathan Kiefer.

Sorry for Laughing, Gordon Whitlow’s unclassifiable group, has developed a sound that would be near impossible for anyone else to imitate. Lily Guarneros Maase unblinkingly considers abusive love.

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