DUOLOGUES 1: TURNING POINT / 7 Improvisations / Ivo Perelman, t-sax; Tom Rainey, dm / Ibeji Music, no number Considering the extraordinary number of recordings that Ivo Perelman has made over the years, which seems to me to be one album every two months every year of his life, I have come to the conclusion that more than half of his performing time takes place in recording studios. Even more curious is the wide number of labels that have issued these discs. I am informed that Ibecji Music is his own label, so somehow or other he has managed to produce his own recordings in addition to those a ..read more

NØRGÄRD: Gilgamesh / Björn Haugan, ten (Gilgamesh); Helge Lannerback, bar (Enkido); Britt-Marie Aruhn, sop (Aruru); Jørgen Hviid, ten (Huwawa); Ranveig Eckhoff, sop (Siduri); Merete Bækkelund, alto (Ishtar); Birger Eriksson, bar (Utnapishtim); Solwig Grippe, alto (Utnapishtim’s mother); Rolf Leanderson, bar (Priest); Monika Hagelin, sop (Citizen 1); Eva Larsson, sop (Citizen 2); Erik Backman, ten (Citizen 3); Dieter Schlee, bass (Citizen 4); Karl-Robert Lindgren, bass-bar (Citizen 5); Richard Berg, bar (Citizen 6); Swedish Radio Chorus & Orch.; Tamas Vetö, cond / Voyage into the Golden Sc ..read more

SORABJI: Toccata Terza /Abel Sánchez-Aguilera, pno / Piano Classics PCL-10304 Imagine my surprise to discover this album on the Naxos New Release list! One of my favorite 20th-century composers, in a massive work for piano (did he write any other kind?) hitherto unknown. How did such a thing come about? The full story is just as incredible as the piece itself, for on this recording we hear Abel Sánchez-Aguilera who, less than 15 years ago, was not a professional pianist but a Biochemist studying stem cell research and leukemia in Madrid, Boston and my home town of Cincinnati. Thus it is under ..read more

ANCESTRAL NUMBERS 1 / Second House. Malachi. Potentiality. Remembering Water. Roots and Routes. Waltensaw. Vestibule. Ancestral Numbers-alt (J. Robinson) / Jason Robinson, t-sax/a-sax/a-fl; Michael Dessen, tb; Joshua White, pno; Drew Gress, bs; Ches Smith, dm/glock / Playscape Recordings PSR 082323 Jazz saxist-composer Jason Robinson describes this album thus: Ancestral Numbers is a sound meditation on genealogy and family history comprising an ongoing series of compositions for varying instrumentation…I began composing the Ancestral Numbers series shortly after the passing of my grandmother ..read more

J.S. BACH: Cello Suite No. 1 in G. BRITTEN: Cello Suite No. 3, Op. 97. KODÁLY: Solo Cello Sonata in B min., Op. 8 / Colin Carr, cel / available for free streaming on YouTube by clicking HERE. I’ve written about the amazing cellist Colin Carr previously on this blog, and so was delighted to see him post a link to this concert, given on April 14 for the benefit of his scholarship fund for underprivileged cello students, on Facebook. Carr is the cello professor at Stony Brook College in New York, and although I’m very happy for him to have a steady gig I am, as usual, a bit dismayed that he is r ..read more

TRIO NUEVO / These Times. August. One Look. Baby Melon. December. Three Views of Bach. Gone (Dave Bass). As Time Goes By (Herman Hupfeld). Sandino (Charlie Haden). Offshore Breeze (Denny Zeitlin). Duplicity (Andrew Hill) / Trio Nuevo: Dave Bass, pno; Tyler Miles, bs; Steve Helfand, dm / Dave Bass Music 004 Veteran pianist Dave Bass has been around for decades (he’s six months older than I am), yet this is only his seventh album and fourth as leader. He was described in the promo sheet for this CD as one who has long been fascinated by Latin jazz, yet what attracted me to this album was that t ..read more

VLADIMIR KASTORSKY: TCHAIKOVSKY: At the Ball. Serenade. I Bless You, Forests. Eugene Onegin: Prince Gremin’s aria. GOUNOD: Faust: Le veau d’or. ARENSKY:  Broken Vase. GLINKA: A Life for the Czar: They guess the truth. Ruslan und Lyudmila: Farlaf’s rondo. The Midnight Review. MOZART: Don Giovanni: Madamina. Deh’ vieni alla finestra. WAGNER: Tannhäuser: O du mein holder Abendstern. Die Walküre: Wotan’s farewell. KALINNIKOV: On the Burial Mound. SEROV: Judith: Holofernes’ battle cry. DARGOMYZHSKY: In the Wild North (w/Maria Michailova, sop; Alexander Davidov, ten). The Golden Cloud Rested ..read more

ART TATUM: JEWELS IN THE TREASURE BOX / Night and Day. Just One of Those Things (Cole Porter). Where or When. Lover (Rodgers-Hart). On the Sunny Side of the Street (McHugh-Fields). Soft Winds (Goodman-Royal). These Foolish Things (Maschwitz-Strachey). Flying Home (Hampton-Goodman). Memories of You (Blake-Razaf). What Does it Take? (Burke-Van Heusen). Tenderly (Lawrence-Bross). Crazy Rhythm (Kahn-Caesar-Meyer). The Man I Love. Someone to Watch Over Me (G. & I. Gershwin). Tea for Two (Youmans-Caesar). I Cover the Waterfront. Out of Nowhere (Green-Heyman). Body and Soul (Green-Heyman-Sour-Ey ..read more

HILDEGARD PROJECT / Ordo Virtutum Prologue, Part 3. Cum Vox Sanguinis. Quia Ergo Femina Mortem Insruxit. Nunc Aperuit Nobis. Ole Dulcis. Ordo Virtutum Prologue Part 1. Instrumental Lament. O Virtus Sapientiae (Hildegard von Bingen) Tracks 1, 5, 6 & 8 arr. Noah Preminger; tracks 2, 3, 4 & 7 arr. Rob Garcia / Noah Preminger, t-sax; Gary Versace, pno; Kim Cass, bs; Rob Garcia, dm / Connection Works Records CWR 105 Although this mind-expanding album is not scheduled for release until May 4, I felt that I just had to review it now because it is so stunning. Since I did not receive liner no ..read more

COWIE: Pre Dawn & Dawn: Australian Bell Birds. Guten Morgen, Herr Kandinsky! Boom Time – Bitterns at Leighton Moss. New York-New York Mark Rothko-Jackson Pollock. Ornitharia. Stonehenge Thunderstorm and Skylark. Lake Eacham Blue. Dusk/Night Lyrebirds / Laura Chislett, fl/a-fl; Edward Cowie, pno / Métier 77121 In the interests of full disclosure, the brilliant Australian-British composer-artist Edward Cowie and I are pen pals of a sort on Facebook and via email, but this doesn’t mean that I will not say in print when I don’t like certain pieces of his. He knows me well enough to know that ..read more