Kirk Knuffke and Ernesto Cervini take acoustic and electric approaches, respectively, in their sophisticated and accessible new releases. Both deliver terrific new compositions (Cervini adds a jazz standard and a Vince Mendoza song), and the compelling performances give me hope for the future of jazz just when I was beginning to think that every solo I was hearing sounded just like the previous one and that complex vacancy was the order of the day.
The word jazz embraces music of many different styles and concepts. Pianist Eunhye Jeong’s The Colliding Beings, CHI-DA, explodes familiar forms with freely improvised compositions that marry avant-garde concepts with Korean folk traditions, while Cri$el Gems from bassist Paul Bryan takes an electric, groove-based approach to more familiar forms.
Who says jazz isn’t world music? On saxophonist Oded Tzur’s meditative Here Be Dragons, recorded in Italy, we have an Israeli playing East Indian–inflected music on an instrument invented by a Belgian in the context of American jazz. With Tobias Hoffmann’s lively Retrospective, recorded in Vienna, we have a native German writing tunes rooted in American jazz, playing an instrument invented by a Belgian, and working with Swiss and Austrian musicians. Unlike football, baseball, or the United States Constitution, jazz has rooted itself in the imagination of people everywhere, just like its progenitor, the blues, and its younger siblings, R&B, soul, and rock and roll.
Singer/songwriter Julian Wild, Albuquerque native and troubadour-errant, has released a new communiqué that chronicles in a musical mosaic a broadening and deepening self-awareness.
Various preoccupations have slowed my listening and reviewing, so to pick up some of the slack, “Something for Everyone” features short reviews of six groups, covering a wide range of styles and sensibilities. Featured artists in part 2 include H M C, the Yes trio, and the Matt Slocum trio.
