On their second duo outing, violinist Anick and pianist Yeager deliver a riveting, thoughtful set of music ably performed by a top-notch quintet and stellar guest artists, including the great trumpeter Jason Palmer and Palestinian cellist Naseem Alatrash. Anick and Yeager, virtuosos with impeccable technique and superb musicality, are a pleasure to listen to. From electrifying originals to inventive arrangements of Chopin and Wayne Shorter, Sanctuary is packed with exemplary tunes and impassioned performances.
Legendary trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith serves as an inspiration for bassist and composer Joe Fonda’s extraordinary new album featuring Smith himself, pianist Satoko Fujii, and drummer Tiziano Tononi. To write the music, Fonda imagined how Smith composes and even used Smith’s unique notation system on some pieces, but the results are anything but imitative. Fonda’s seamless weaving of composing and improvising, interlaced with phenomenal solos and duets by members of the quartet, proves that he is a visionary in his own right. Masterfully realized, deeply expressive, and unerringly profound, Eyes on the Horizon is a must-listen.
Composer and arranger Mark Masters named his new album Sui Generis, Latin for “one of a kind,” in honor of his musical idol and collaborator, the singular trumpeter and flugelhornist Tim Hagans. The Mark Masters Ensemble, including two saxophones, a trombone, a French horn, and a rhythm section, provide the big, brilliant backdrop as Hagans takes center stage in Masters’ original orchestral jazz. A deft composer, Masters knows just how to spotlight Hagans’ considerable talents. Sui Generis is a tour de force of jazz that showcases two of the best, the magnificent Masters and Hagans’ incomparable horn.
New Orleans-based trombonist and NEA Jazz Master Marsalis spreads the joy on his new album featuring the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, his beloved large ensemble filled with revered jazz veterans and hot up-and-comers. Classic standards, lesser-known gems, and Marsalis originals are performed with irresistible panache and contagious delight. Highlights include the incomparable saxophone of Marsalis’s brother Branford and the singing of Uptown’s longtime vocalist, Tonya Boyd-Cannon. With Crescent City Jewels, Marsalis proves himself yet again to be a New Orleans gem and a national treasure.
This excellent double album by Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist and composer Caleb Wheeler Curtis is as ingenious as it is ambitious. An interest in mining a subject of the moment—truth—and an affinity for unusual sounds drive the music, which is performed by two different trios. Curtis’s talent as a player is evident (he plays alto sax, trumpet, tenor sax, and sopranino), as is his ability to transform quirkiness into a singular, artistic vision. The first album is the more personal of the two, beginning and ending with the voice of Curtis’s late grandfather. The second offers an intriguing, brilliant take on Thelonious Monk. With his exceptional double album, Curtis grows his reputation as a maker of gratifying, challenging music.
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