Category Archives: CD Reviews

Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol & Whatsnext?

CD Review: Mehmet Ali Sanlikol & Whatsnext?

Artist: Mehmet Ali Sanlikol & Whatsnext?
Title: Resolution
Label: DÜNYA
Genre: nu jazz-Turkish music

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol imageTurkish composer and multi-instrumentalist Mehmet Ali Sanlikol likes to do things big. His work impresses you as being driven by a strong will and a clear musical vision. This Turkish born polymath has an impressive list of credentials and accomplishments, including having composed for, recorded and performed with the likes of Dave Liebman, Bob Brookmeyer, Anat Cohen, Esperanza Spalding, Antonio Sanchez, Tiger Okoshi, The Boston Camerata, A Far Cry string orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Boston Cello Quartet, Okay Temiz, Erkan Oğur, Omar Faruk Tekbilek and others. He’s the president of DÜNYA, a musicians’ collective dedicated to contemporary presentations of Turkish traditional music. He has made his Carnegie Hall debut in April 2016 premiering his commissioned piece Harabat/The Intoxicated with the American Composers Orchestra, was nominated for a Grammy, and is a CMES Harvard University fellow.

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CD Recommendation: BONOMO’s Debut CD

BONOMO CD coverArtist: BONOMO
Title: Phases
Label: self produced
Genre: Alternative-Folk, Gospel, R&B

Today award-winning Broolyn alternative folk duo BONOMO release their debut CD. Congrats!

BONOMO is a New York (Brooklyn) based family of musicians on a mission to unify musical traditions. Formed in 2015 by singer-song writer, keyboardist and composer, Adam Bonomo. On the CD he’s joined by Andrew Renfroe on guitar.

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Swiss sax player Christoph Irniger

CD Review: Christoph Irniger Pilgrim’s “Big Wheel”

Christoph Irniger PilgrimArtist: Christoph Irniger Pilgrim
Titel: Big Wheel Live
Label:  Intakt Records
Genre: nu jazz

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle 

A saxophone figure leaps forward with a texture resembling something like the marriage between a bongo and a plucked string instrument. It eases into its more traditional nature as a saxophone as the head of the song emerges. With the drums, bass, and piano flowing in and around each other like sonic arabesques, the saxophone played with Coltrane inspired melodies fitted into a very different aspect of jazz. The piano made its statement, while changing the direction the music went. The bass brought its say to the floor, and the guitar stepped forward and precipitated itself like raindrops in a gentle breeze before morphing into a series of distorted and processed textures that one rarely associates with jazz.

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Middle Eastern Music From Brooklyn: Baharat Band’s New CD

BaharatArtist: Baharat Band
Titel: Mosaics
Label: self-produced
Genre: Middle Eastern music/World/Belly dance music

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

“Baharat” is an Arabic word for a spice blend that varies from different regions. As spices were traded along the trade routes so were musical instruments, which evolved in an original way to their respective culture. With this idea as conceptual foundation, Baharat Band is a band of Brooklyn based ensemble whose compositions and improvisations are influenced by music from various cultures from Africa to Asia, though primarily from the Middle East. They were founded by Michael Burdi (oud) and his brother Jerome Burdi (percussion), and joined by Jeff Campoli (percussion) and Enrique Mancia (bass). They are joined by guest musicians Adam Maalouf (riq), Hanna Madbek (guitar, vocals), and Cody Rowlands (trumpet).

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