Guitarist John Abercrombie who has recorded for ECM since 1974 returns with a second album by his quartet featuring Marc Copland on piano, along with longtime rhythm partners Drew Gress and Joey Baron. Extolling "39 Steps" (2013), the Financial Times said: The emphasis is on subtle intrigue, flowing lyricism and the interplay between the leaders warm, cleanly articulated guitar and Coplands piano with bassist Gress and drummer Baron equally supple and sinewy companions. The same virtues of lyrical melody and harmonic/rhythmic subtlety are apparent with the new Up and Coming, though with even more emphasis on the enduring values of song. Abercrombies liquid phrasing and glowing tone enabled by the thumb technique he has honed since eschewing a plectrum in recent years animate his five originals and the pair by Copland, as well as a take on the Miles Davis classic Nardis done in the spirit of Bill Evans. "Up And Coming" has a twilight atmosphere, with melodic flow the guiding light. (bron: ECM)
"The Swiss trombone player's Consort In Motion projects are fusion jazz of an entirely different kind: instead of melding jazz with rock or some other sort of modern form, Blaser ventures way back, to mine the melodies conceived then to come up with something that looks way forward. "A Mirror to Machaut" focuses on the works of French composers Guillaume Machaut and Guillaume Dufay, from the 14th and 15th centuries. Some of the pieces were adapted to progressive jazz by modifying them beyond recognition, while other selections lent themselves better for straighter adaptations. The album isnt really about a single strategy, but uses vastly different tactics in achieving the goal of recycling melodies more than half a millennium old as the basis for late 20th century modern jazz. But you dont have to understand late Middle Ages European music to appreciate it. If it all comes off as advanced, cutting-edge jazz to you, that would probably suit Mr. Blaser just fine." (S. Victor Aaron, Something Else! Reviews)
"Hersch has always been a tasteful, harmonically adventurous, and deeply emotive musician, and that is certainly the case here. As he states in the liner notes, seven of these songs are first takes, and not surprisingly a sense of spontaneity and sensitive group interplay permeates the album. To these ends, Cole Porter's "So in Love" is given a deeply expansive touch that finds Hersch washing various harmonic colors around the melody. Similarly engaging, his takes on such lesser-played standards as Thelonious Monk's "Boo Boo's Birthday" and Irving Berlin's "Change Partners" are gleefully playful and adventurous. However, it is on the darker, more melancholy moments that Hersch truly shines, and his brooding version of "How Deep Is the Ocean" and his own "Heartland" are devastatingly moving ballads." (Allmusic)
"De stal van ECM telt namen, die al járen op de loonlijst staan. Dat heeft als nadeel dat van vernieuwing nauwelijks sprake is en als voordeel dat verdieping nergens zon kans krijgt als bij het Duitse label van producer Manfred Eicher. Daar is dit ook weer een sprekend voorbeeld van. Een juweeltje van klankrijkdom, vakmanschap, ingetogenheid en fijne smaak. Van de 9 composities zijn er 7 van de hand van Surman. De versie van Billy Strayhorns ontelbaar vaak vertolkte "Chelsea Bridge" verheft die aspecten die de plaat tot zon juweel maken, tot de grootste macht. Het duel tussen Surman en John Abercrombie is ontroerend tot op het bot; ragfijn gaan de klanken van baritonsaxofoon en gitaar in elkaar op. Je hoort alles: de nagels die over de gitaarsnaren schuren, de ademhaling die de zachte baritonklank optilt. Prachtige muziek, die lijkt uit een tijd te komen die voorbij is, omdat aan dit soort opvattingen geen tijd en geld meer wordt besteed. Bij ECM dus wel, gelukkig maar." (Rinus van der Heijden, Jazzenzo)
"Simon Nabatov is één van de meest complete jazzpianovirtuozen, met 2 stevige handen zowel begeleiding als solerend. Pianogeweld in o.a. 'n stuk stride uit de 20's, Tatum-achtige harmonische uiteenrafeling, acrobatische bebop, dissonante clusters..." (VK)
"Of all the downtown New Yorkers on the jazz scene, especially those from the avant-garde, saxophonist Ellery Eskelin is the one who has made the most use of the various forms of the jazz tradition. Here, accompanied by Drew Gress (b) and Phil Haynes (d), he makes an overt gesture to his influences on the one hand, but uses his abilities to work out further inside the given forms he's learned. Hence, all the tracks -- with the exception of a phenomenal reading of Duke Ellington's "African Flower" -- are elemental structural pieces designed to express the very form they were composed in, which includes the album's concluding piece "Bebop." He takes Gillespie's original anthem as far outside as he can, keeping the same changes and harmonies, but turns up the heat and cranks the timbral palette to the outside, stuttering and spewing from his horn as Gress punctures the rhythm with a breathtaking solo. This is Eskelin jazz, folks; it's full of pathos, humor, and musically sanctified soul." (Thom Jurek, Allmusic)
New York's hotste tenorsaxofonist is op 29 november 2010 als speciale gast van het Harmen Fraanje Avalonia Trio te gast bij JazzPodium Drienerlo, op de UT in Enschede. Zijn eigen Apparitions is, alleen al door de line-up (sax, bas, twee drummers) bijzonder. Tweede drummer John Hollenbeck is trouwens ook creatief in de weer met vibrafoon, melodica en andere percussie. "One of the most significant tenor saxophonists working today, Malaby's singular technique makes him one of the foremost improvisers of his generation. Where many of his peers mistake histrionics for intensity, Malaby values subtleties in volume, timbre and tone above dexterity and speed. Though his melodious phrasing often careens at a quicksilver pace, his nuanced attention to detail sets him apart from the masses of post-Coltrane acolytes. Another stellar addition to an impressively diverse and expanding discography, "Voladores" is further proof of Malaby's growing importance as an artist of note." (Troy Collins, All About Jazz)
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