In the right hands, music can be shamanistic, a tool that alters one’s consciousness, keying open the door to deep interior spaces. The shamans Dino Saluzzi, Trio Tapestry, and Shai Maestro and company all have the right hands for the job.
These two new releases—El Suelo Mío from bassist/composer Jorge Roeder and Songs You Like a Lot from composer/arranger/conductor John Hollenbeck—sit at the opposite ends of the orchestral possibilities: solo and big band, respectively. Both have the juice to light up all your synapses.
Clarinetist Ben Goldberg and trombonist Ryan Keberle have launched their latest projects from the impressive pads of poets Dean Young and Langston Hughes, respectively. Goldberg’s Good Day for Cloud Fishing is as quirky as Young’s disarming poetry, and the poet gets to comment on the music. Hughes’ wish for America finds a receptive ear in Keberle, whose The Hope I Hold offers a musical vehicle for the poetry.
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