Category Archives: Reviews

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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Concert Review: Jeri Silverman Does Her Thing At Pianos

Jeri Silverman liveDate: September 21, 2016
Venue: Piano’s (NY)

Review by Dawoud Kringle

South African born singer-songwriter Jeri Silverman offered a set at NYC’s Pianos. I was mildly intrigued; frankly, there are a lot of singer-songwriters. To stand out in this, one must have something of artistic depth, or risk being lost in the crowd. With this in mind, I went to Pianos to hear what she had to offer.

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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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Film Music Documentary: “Jaco” (P.2)

JACO PASTORIUSRead P.1 here:
 https://doobeedoobeedoo.info/?p=26869 – Review by Dawoud Kringle

Ironically, it was the height of Jaco Pastorius‘s success that brought out his worst demons. He had problems with drugs and alcohol, problems with his marriages, business problems, and the pressures of fame. It all took its toll on him.

The documentary spent a lot of time focusing on his technique and how it developed. His use of harmonics, fretless techniques, etc. were all things that Jaco used and redefined in unprecedented ways. But much of it focused on his downward spiral. The producers approached this with sensitivity, yet without the attempt to whitewash anything. Within the tragedy and pathos of the last years of his life, there were, however, moments of light.

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Film Music Documentary: “Jaco” (P.1)

Review by Dawoud Kringle

Photo by Claus Eckert (www.claus-eckert.com)

Bass iconoclast Jaco Pastorius (seen here in 1986) is the subject of a new documentary produced by Metallica’s Robert Trujillo.

Legendary musicians like Jaco Pastorius are the stuff of which documentary makers dream. He was an unparalleled musical genius, innovator, outgoing public figure, and, sadly, self destructive tragic figure. Netflix recently released the eponymously titled documentary, produced by Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo.

The film opens with abstract visuals depicting jazz imagery to the subconscious mind, a swinging jazz piece in the background, and clips of a variety of people talking about what a bad cat Jaco was.

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