Category Archives: Reviews

CD Review: Amir ElSaffar and The Two Rivers Ensemble “bring maqami air to Jazz.”

Artist: Amir ElSaffer and the Two Rivers Ensemble
Title: Inana
Label: PI Recordings
Genre: Oriental Jazz/Jazz

Review by Matt Cole

Inana is a new release from Iraqi-American musician Amir ElSaffar and the Two Rivers Ensemble. ElSaffar is one of a number of musicians, notably including Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa, who are finding new and creative ways to combine modern jazz with the music of their respective cultural backgrounds. In ElSaffar’s case, the background is Iraqi Maqam, a rich tradition which is considered the most perfect form of maqam. Maqam is highly modal, and mainly melody-oriented; rhythm is fluid and harmony, like in Indian music, is secondary at best.

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Concert Review: Brief Impressions of Amir Elsaffir’s Two Rivers Ensemble

Venue: The Jazz Standard (NY)
Date: February 21, 2012

Review by Matt Cole

On Tuesday, the 21st of February, my friend Sohrab took me to the Jazz Standard to see the 9:30 set of Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers Ensemble. ElSaffar is an Iraqi-American musician, proficient on the trumpet and santur (a Middle Eastern analogue to the dulcimer), whose music is a fusion of modern jazz, traditional Iraqi maqam, and a few other odd bits thrown in (as is happily inevitable these days). The band featured Ole Mathisen on tenor sax (he never quite got to his soprano), Tareq Abboushi on the buzuq, Zafer Tawil on oud and percussion, Carlo DeRosa on bass, and Tyshawn Sorey on drums.

The first piece of the evening was quite long; it almost felt like a suite. For the first five or ten minutes, the music felt a little unsettled, as if it wasn’t quite locked in, but I have a feeling that this was more due to my ears adjusting to a new and unfamiliar combination of musics. Certainly for the rest of the evening, the band was extremely tight. Each player got an extended section to take the lead, and the main theme was returned to several times between such flights. ElSaffar started the piece on santour, and switched fairly quickly to trumpet (on which he remained most of the night). The first piece was followed by what seemed to be a brief number, and then two more extended pieces. At some times, the feel of the night’s music was more of modern jazz, at others, maqam dominated, but there was never a time when both sounds weren’t in some way present. Never did it feel like a synthetic product, but rather a conversation between two traditions.

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Concert review: Marc Ribot playing all kinds of sonic possibilities of the electric guitar

Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (NY)
Date: February 16, 2012

Reviewed by Jim Hoey

On stage at a venue like Le Poisson Rouge, Marc Ribot eases into a chair surrounded by his guitars, accouterments and band mates for the night (John Medeski, piano, electric keys, William Parker, bass, and Andrew Cyrille drums). Immediately, upon striking their first notes, they conjure up decades of American Jazz, Blues, and avant-garde sounds, and lead into improvisational territory that would leave many other uninitiated players far behind.
 

Each of these musicians assembled by Ribot for this night are masters at their own instruments, with time under their belts, and experience mixing with other fellow travelers and elders like Cecil Taylor, Rashid Ali, Derek Bailey, Milford Graves, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Caetano Veloso, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, John Zorn, and numerous others. It really can’t be understated, any one of these players could headline their own bill, draw a crowd in their own right, but together they make up a core group with tremendous chemistry, energy, and ability to anticipate what’s going to come next, so much so that the almost sold-out crowd, on this Thursday night, never tired of the spontaneity.

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CD review: The Mast “Wild Poppies”…How did profit trump well-being?

Artist: The Mast
Title: Wild Poppies
Label: Channel A Records (self released)
Genre: psychedelic indie rock

Review by Dawoud Kringle

Every now and again, a CD comes my way that ends up dominating my CD player for a time. Every now and again, a body of music crosses my path that insinuates itself into my psyche, and speaks to me.

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CD review: a special woman’s work – woodwind artist Clare Daly’s concept album

Artist: Claire Daly Quintet
Title: Mary Joyce Project: Nothing To Lose
Label: Daly Bread Rec
Genre: Jazz
Reviewed by Jeremy Siskind

Woodwind artist Clare Daly’s concept album, The Mary Joyce Project: Nothing To Lose, based on the inspiring arctic-exploring biography of Daly’s father’s first cousin, is conceived and performed with palpable sincerity and warmth. The music consists mainly of vamp and riff-based tunes for jazz quartet augmented by beat-boxer Napoleon Maddox, whose breathy sounds somehow recall the arctic vastness of Joyce’s journeying; in addition, many of the pieces utilize an American Indian-style pentatonicism to set the mood, even including some chanting and sled-dog yipping. The record is highlighted by the purring warmth of Daly’s baritone saxophone sound (she also plays some flute), readings of some of Joyce’s journal entries over vamps, and very solid rhythm section work by Mary Ann McSweeney and drummer Peter Grant.