Category Archives: Reviews

CR Review: Nils Wogram Root 70 With Strings (Germany) drawing on a wide variety of influences, and mixing them without strain

cover_riomar_400Artist: Nils Wogram Root 70 With Strings
Title: riomar
Label: nWog Records
Genre: jazz with strings

CD Review by Matt Cole

When last we heard from German-born trombonist Nils Wogram, he was leading a lively septet consisting of six horns and a drummer. This time around, on riomar, he uses an entirely different band, with his quartet Root 70, consisting of himself, Hayden Chisholm on alto sax, Matt Penman on bass, and Jochen Rueckert on drums; joined by a string section with Gerdur Gunnarsdottir on violin, Gareth Lubbe on viola, and Adrian Brendel on cello. riomar is just as creative as Complete Soul, while covering different (though overlapping) sonic space; and while just as energetic, is a bit gentler than Wogram’s all-but-one horn septet, as might be expected.

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CD Review: Alex Garcia’s Afromantra – riding “the different American sounds in an effortless way.”

AfroMantra QTP B&W 2Artist: Alex Garcia’s Afromantra
Title: This Side of Mestizaje
Label: self produced
Genre: Latin jazz

Review by Dawoud Kringle

In New York City, in the autumn of 1997, a Chilean – Cuban drummer and composer Alejandro “Alex” Garcia formed a group he called Afromantra. Using the rhythms of North and Latin America as a foundation, they built their jazz inspired compositions and explorations with elements from several Latin traditions. They’ve performed throughout the bets venues in NYC (a sample: Izzy Bar, Studio 54, Nell’s, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Jazz Gallery, etc.) as well as festivals throughout the US. They’ve also been immortalized in the book Caliente, Una Historia del Jazz Latino” by Luc Delannoy.

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Double-7-inch with an additional 3″-mini-CD review: Shoukichi Kina/Pascal Plantinga..The music here is unique, and invites the listener into a place wherein a proud people strive to hold their place in the modern world

3489Artist: Shoukichi Kina / Pascal Plantinga
Title: Washinnayo
Label: Ata Tak Rec (Germany)
Genre: Okinawa electronica

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

When Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (DooBeeDoo’s editor, publisher, and founder) handed me some CDs to review, one of them was an elaborate, ornate folder containing two vinyl 45s and a mini CD. It definitely stood out from the usual CD packaging that one sees. But, as we all know, packaging is not everything.

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CD Review: The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet & Drums – the driving force of horn splendor created by this historic all-women sax quartet!

TLCcover-front1webArtist: The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet & Drums
Title: Tiny Lower Case
Label: Spoot Music
Genre: genres from micro-big band, gospel, bluegrass, and Balkan to whimsical jazz and nocturnal funk

Review by Dawoud Kringle

What happens when you draw inspiration from micro-big band, gospel, bluegrass, Balkan, whimsical jazz, nocturnal funk, New Orleans “second – line,” Afro-Cuban, Balkan, Klezmer and beyond? The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet & Drums! Hailing from New York, Seattle, and Eau Claire, the band has been composing and performing their music in the US and Europe since their beginnings in 1993.

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