After a summer overstuffed with seven-day work weeks, I am now trying to catch up on my listening. To speed things along, I’m limiting myself to short reviews. So here are reviews of new albums from the Tyshawn Sorey Trio, Dafnis Prieto (featuring Luciana Souza), and Steven Bernstein and the Millennial Territory Orchestra—plus a new single from Isaac Aragon.
Markus Gottschlich’s keen mind, lively imagination, and positive energy helped rejuvenate the New Mexico Jazz Workshop during his all too brief residence as its executive director in 2019. Those same qualities inform his compositional skills, and his dazzling pianism gives full rein to his expressive spirit, as heard on his latest recording, Found Sounds (available November 27). With 25 Years, Edward Simon treats us to a self-curated tour through some of the high points of his two and a half decades of recorded work, reminding us that he deserves to be ranked among the foremost practitioners of his art.
Luciana Souza. Photo by Kim Fox.
Spare, transparent, and penetratingly beautiful, The Book of Longing, the latest release from Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza, transports the listener into the heart of 10 poems, four from Leonard Cohen’s book of the same name; one each from Edna St. Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, and Christina Rossetti; and three from Souza herself. Souza, who composed the music, does not attempt to interpret the poems. Rather, with the help of the exceptionally sympathetic Chico Pinheiro on guitar, Scott Colley on bass, and producer Larry Klein, Souza’s husband and multiple GRAMMY winner, she creates a setting in which the words of the poets resonate freely.
On Wednesday, November 28, Souza, Pinheiro, and Colley will bring those songs and others to the Outpost. I had the opportunity to speak with her by phone a few weeks ago. The interview, lightly edited for brevity, is transcribed below. Continue reading
