Category: Album Reviews

June 22, 2021 / Album Reviews - Archive

ONTOLOGY (Sony) 9/10 I had goose-bumps before she had even started singing, so disturbing were the guitar chords. The bass, brushes and piano then compound the unease, and the wonder is that when Roxana Amed’s voice and Mark Small’s tenor saxophone join, they deepen the mystery further. Amed, a US-based…

June 16, 2021 / Album Reviews - Archive

TIME OUTTAKES (Brubeck Edition) 8/10 If you want to kick-start a debate among jazz-lovers, bring up the Dave Brubeck Quartet. If you want to spice it further, raise Take Five, which became a surprise hit two years after appearing on 1959’s Time Out. Despite – or because of – its…

June 8, 2021 / Album Reviews - Archive

THE LIFE LONG DAY DREAMER (Rippa) 8/10 The commitment to the moment must be absolute, but once there the process can be like taking dictation. The improviser just has to get out of the way, not break the spell, and listen to the music. Solo bass improvisations have been a…