Category Archives: Reviews

Amy Denio

CD Review: Amy Denio “The Big Embrace”

Amy DenioArtist: Amy Denio
Title: The Big Embrace
Label: Spoot Music
Genre: folk rock/world/contemporary/field recordings/jazz; and improvised music

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

Amy Denio is an interesting musician. Based in Seattle, WA, she is known internationally as a record producer, composer, improviser, singer and multi-instrumentalist (voice, alto saxophone, clarinet, accordion, acoustic and electric guitars, electric bass, and theremin). Denio co-founded The Tiptons Sax Quartet and Drums, recorded with Bosnian metal/punk/folk group Kultur Shock, recorded and toured with Austrian trio Die Resonanz Stanonczi, and co-founded Ama Trio with Correo Aereo. She toured as a solo artist, and has collaborated and recorded with Matt Cameron, Bill Frisell, Chris Cutler, Guy Klucevsek, Pauline Oliveros, Tarik Abouzied, Francisco Lopez, Danny Barnes, the Relache Ensemble, Faust, Fred Frith, Hoppy Kamiyama, KMFDM, Il Parto delle Nuvole Pesanti, Ronin, and Chuck D’s Fine Arts Militia (as part of the Experience Music Project in Seattle). Denio scored two animated films by Thomas Edward: Pangaea’s Brood, and Synchrony in Estrus. She also scored Jamie Hook‘s feature film The Naked Proof. She also produced the soundtrack for choreographer Pat Graney‘s piece Girl Gods, and the soundtrack to choreographer David Dorfman’s piece Sky Down. She’d earned many awards and fellowships, and recently became a member of Musicians for Musicians (MF).

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Emil Brandqvist Trio

Emil Brandqvist Trio (Sweden) bringing a breath of Swedish fresh air to the Galway Jazz Festival

Venue: Black Gate Club at the Galway Jazz Festival (Eire)
Date: October 5th, 2017

Review by Fiona Mactaggart

The subdued lighting of the basement venue is well suited to this thoughtful and measured set, the small space only intensifying the calming effect of the delicate and beautiful melodies traced by pianist Tuomas A Turunen over a web spun by drummer and band leader, Emil Brandqvist.

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Lo'Jo 5

Concert Review: From the Desert to the Cafe’ with Lo’Jo

Lo'Jo logoDate: November 12th, 2017
Venue: Joe’s Pub (NY)

Concert Review by Joe Yanosik & Claudia Yanosik
Photographs by Claudia Yanosik

The two dozen or so patrons that attended Joe’s Pub last Sunday for a concert by the French band Lo’Jo were treated to a unique and wonderful blend of world music styles and sounds.  The venue was only half full, understandable for an early afternoon (12:30PM) show, and the audience seemed to be mostly comprised of French expats and longtime fans, but the band gave everyone there a show to remember.

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Moishe’s Bagel

Moishe’s Bagel: Acoustic Music From Scotland And Beyond

Date: August 24, 2017
Venue: The Queen’s Hall (UK/Edinburgh)

Review by  Fiona Mactaggart

In a relatively small city of less than half a million people, Edinburgh-based musicians not infrequently can find themselves playing in bands of mixed musical genres. Since 2003 Moishe’s Bagel, or “The Bagel” as they are affectionately known locally, are perhaps one of the most successful products of this fortuitous melding of musics, with four CD releases to date on the labels Eachday Music and Moishe’s Bagel, under their belts.

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