A great
partnership between pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Gerry Hemmingway –
both musicians who've worked together often over the years, and find a way here
to really summarize their best qualities! On some tracks, Crispell's piano has
all those sharp, angular lines we love so much – and Hemmingway often matches
her energy with these compact bursts on his drums – although other numbers have
the pair exploring more spacious styles together, almost hanging in air with a
new sense of balance that's a really nice surprise. Hemmingway plays vibes on
most of these tracks, which comes in with a different tonal range than the
piano – and titles include "Waterwisp", "Assembly",
"Windy City", "Table Of Changes", "Roofless", and
"Spirings". ~ Dusty Groove
MOSTLY OTHER
PEOPLE DO THE KILLING - HANNOVER
We love
these guys to death – even if we always get out of breath saying their name in
a hurry – and they really shine strongly here, on a long live album that
perfectly captures their non-stop sense of imagination and restless creativity!
Unlike some of their other recent projects, which were thematic in nature, this
concert performance has the group moving through so many different modes at
once – often in the short space of a longer song – with that strong sense of
jazz history that's always made them so unique – especially in the way that
they find to set a whole new fire to sounds we thought we already knew so well!
Moppa Elliott drives the group on some beautiful bass – and the rest of the
lineup includes Peter Evans on trumpet and piccolo trumpet, Jon Irabagon on
tenor and sopranino sax, and Kevin Shea on drums and electronic – on titles tha
tinclude "Pen Argyl/Ulysses At Troy/Andover/Blue Ball/Effort Patience
Dilligence", "My Delightful Muse/Hideaway/A Night In Tunisia",
and "Is Granny Spry/Dunkelbergers/Baden/Little Hope". ~ Dusty Groove
HOWARD RILEY
– 10.11.12
Brilliant
work from pianist Howard Riley – the British modernist who's been making
amazing music for decades, but often through very obscure records like this!
Riley's got this sense of balance, tone, and timing that sits justly in a
legacy that starts with Herbie Nichols and runs up through Alexander Von
Schlippenbach – and in a solo setting like this, hets one of the few that could
hold our attention as rapt as those other two – playing at once in a mode
that's very free, but still always surprisingly tuneful, and with a sense of
cohesion. The album's a perfect document of everything that makes Riley so
great – and titles include "Identification", "From
Somewhere", "Dwelling One", and "Understanding". ~ Dusty Groove
