June 19, 2017

Lepage/Lussier et Le Quator Bozzini

Chants et Dances …with Strings
Tour de Bras TDB 900019 CD

Muche/Hein

7000 Eichen

JazzWerkstatt JW171

Carlo Actis Dato/Enzo Rocco Duo

Noise from the Neighbours

Setola di maiale SM3160

Olaf Rupp/Ulrike Brand

Shadowscores

Creative Sources CS 368 CD

Christy Doran/Alfred Vogel

Kontaktchemie

Boomslang LC 09496

Something in the Air: Unusual Guitar Pairings

By Ken Waxman

Although the keyboard may challenge it for top spot, the guitar may be the most popular musical instrument in the world. Think of any genre from pop to so-called classical and there’s a six-string player associated with it. Especially when electrified, the guitar’s adaptability gives it this status, and nowhere is this more evident than in improvised music. These five guitarists matched with musicians playing five different instruments demonstrate this. MORE

March 3, 2014

Robert Marcel Lepage

Le lait maternel
Ambiances Magnétiques AM 212

S.O.S.

Looking for the Next One.

Cuneiform RUNE 360/361

Keefe Jackson's Likely So

A Round Goal

Delmark DE 5009

Double Trio de Clarinettes

Itinéraire Bis

Between the Lines BTLCHR 71231

Something In The Air: Reed Blends.

By Ken Waxman.

Reed sections have been part of jazz’s performing vernacular since its earliest days. But only with the freedom that arose with modern improvised music in the 1960s were the woodwinds able to stand on their own. In the right hands, with the right ideas, a group consisting only of saxophones and/or clarinets can produce satisfying sounds that don’t need the intervention of a rhythm section or even brass for additional colors. All of the fine discs here demonstrate that. MORE

March 20, 2006

Ambiances Magnétiques

Jazz becomes Actuelle
for CODA

Need further proof that Quebec is a province pas comme des autres? At a time when jazz record labels and musicians lament lack of acceptance and opportunities, Ambiances Magnétiques (AM), the long-established, Montreal-based musique actuelle label has just set up a specific jazz imprint.

The reason is partially artistic and partially marketing, explains Joane Hétu, founder member of the AM collective, and artistic director of DAME, its distribution and marketing wing.

“Musique actuelle as defined by our community implies that the composer is also performer of his music,” she says, elaborating the philosophy which has guided AM since its inception in 1983. Yet with many of AM’s founders recently involved with projects honoring the compositions of jazz icons, such as bassist Normand Guilbeault’s new CD, Mingus Erectus, need for a specific jazz label became apparent. MORE

March 6, 2006

VINNY GOLIA

Music for Like Instruments; The Clarinets
Nine Winds NWCD0279

ROBERT MARCEL LEPAGE Pee Wee et Moi
Ambiance Magnétiques Jazz AM 144

Explorations among the wood, metal and air columns of the reed family, these CDs respectively feature either five or seven clarinetists, yet have widely differing goals.

Part of his ongoing series of woodwind family investigations – earlier volumes link flutes or Eb saxophones – Los Angeles-based multi-reedist Vinny Golia and four associates take 13 tracks to permute characteristics of the clarinet family. Over its 73-minute length, Ab, Eb, A, Bb, G, alto, bass, contralto and contrabass woodwinds make up varying patterns, tempos and textures. Rousing more than dissonant, MUSIC FOR LIKE INSTRUMENTS; THE CLARINETS, resides in a zone somewhere between many Rova Saxophone Quartet CDs and what the woodwind section of an orchestra would sound like jamming away from the public ear. MORE