Keith Jarrett’s Radiance is a transcendental experience. Recorded live in Japan a few years back, Jarrett’s zen-like approach to this eventful performance was to abandon all preconceptions about form and intention and to enter a place free from the constraints of sentiment, predictability, and expectation. Radiance engages the listener in a conversation of internal senses [...]
The last thing you’d expect to hear on an ECM recording is the first thing Bobo Stenson tackles here… a haunting, introspective, sublime interpretation of the Sondheim classic “Send In The Clowns.” Pianist Bobo Stenson has made his reputation in Europe as a leader and sideman with Tomaz Stanko, Stan Getz, Charles Lloyd, and Jan [...]
There’s almost none of them left. Those who create music so achingly human that you can feel their black and blue experience deep into the recesses of your soul. Nina Simone went on home. We just lost Oscar Brown, Jr. and Mal Waldron left us, too. We still have Jimmy Scott, and thankfully, we still [...]
There are those that leave a legacy so gigantic that not only is it nearly impossible to fill their shoes, but, even to walk in their footsteps. Inevitably, their imitators follow and most fail miserably. The main reason for this is that the complexities of the originator tend to be a unique meld of historical, [...]
In the last few years, no one has captured the romantic swing style more convincingly than Canadian drummer/vocalist Susie Arioli. Her voice is a marvel of perfect pitch, pure emotion and smoldering romanticism. Within a few moments of the opening selection “On The Sentimental Side” one is left no choice but to surrender to the [...]
The first thing that strikes the listener about Shannon McNally is her laid back, sultry, slightly weary approach that is as inviting and comfortable as faded denim jeans and a soft, snug, silk t-shirt. McNally delivers a lyric as gracefully as Gillian Welch or Emmylou Harris with more Hope Sandoval sensuality than Lucinda Williams sadness. [...]
