Todd Marcus is the sort of guy who likes to walk an unconventional path. That path will bring him to BOP STOP on Wednesday with a unique quintet that features clarinetist Virginia MacDonald and Marcus’ bass clarinet on the frontline.
Comments closedTag: Toronto jazz
I get a lot of music for my consideration, already more than 80 new releases in 2022. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So, when I’m not previewing live events in Northeast Ohio (like now when there aren’t too many of those), I’ll offer hot takes on the week’s new releases.
For a certain subset of the jazz fandom multiverse, a simple personnel list would be sufficient to arouse intense interest in John Hébert’s “Sounds of Love” (Sunnyside Records).
I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 460 new releases in 2020. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So, every week, more or less, I’ll offer hot takes on the releases of the preceding seven days.
It’s been a minute since I’ve called the roll. Nothing bad, just the usual procrastination and some fairly large-scale work for PostGenre Media and All About Jazz whose scribbling staffs I’ve been fortunate to join. In the midst of that work, holiday madness, some pressing matters of health and the near collapse of the Republic all dampened my enthusiasm for music and for writing. Now I’m back and there’s a lot of catching up to do. Moving backwards from the present . . . .
Vibraphonist Dan McCarthy recorded this 56-minute trio session in Brooklyn February 28, 2019. The following day, he packed his things and returned to Toronto. I guess that makes “A Place Where We Once Lived” (self-released, digital only) a breakup record of sorts, but
I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 460 new releases so far this year. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So every week, I’ll offer hot takes on the releases of the preceding seven days. Understandably, this week wasn’t a strong one for new releases, but can’t stop won’t stop.
For years, I’ve been touting Toronto as the next jazz hot spot. With its large, diverse and cosmopolitan population, thriving immigrant communities from the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, concentration of media outlets and, like it or not, affluence, Toronto looks a lot like London. The Old Grey Lady is grey no more. Representing the funkier side of this scene, drummer Joe Bowden offers “Roots – Tales Of The Urban Yoda,”
I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 450 new releases so far this year. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So every week, I’ll offer hot takes on the releases of the preceding seven days. it’s a great writing exercise, and a lot of fun, too.
Lately, a lot of music from Argentina has been finding it’s way to me via the ears&eyes Records label documenting what seems to be a vibrant improvised music scene. Earlier this year I reviewed Camilla Nebbia’s “Aura,” which fell just outside my ten favorite releases of 2020. Unilke Nebbia, whose name was completely new to me, pianist Leo Genovese, formerly the pianist in Esperanza Spalding’s band, is a known quantity.