Blue Note; Woody Shaw (tpt) Joe Henderson (ts) Horace Silver (p) Teddy Smith (b) Roger Humphries (d); Seattle, WA, August 12 & 19*, 1965; The Kicker/ Song For My Father/ The Cape Verdean Blues/ Sayonara Blues*/ Band introductions*/ No Smokin'*; 53:45. www.bluenote.com

Stuart Kremsky was the San Francisco “Short Takes” correspondent for Cadence magazine from 1979-2007. His reviews have appeared in Option, Sound Choice, Cadence, and the IAJRC Journal. He was a sound man at the fabled Keystone Korner and for over ten years was the tape archivist for Fantasy Records, where his production credits include boxed sets of Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon, the Modern Jazz Quartet and the Grammy-nominated Sam Cooke With the Soul Stirrers. Email skremsky1 (at) gmail.com
Monday, October 6, 2025
Horace Silver Quintet: Silver In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Linda May Han Oh: Strange Heavena
There are times in the life of any music fan when a promised collaboration of favorite musicians will be wildly anticipated, only to end up sounding better on paper then on the stereo. Then there are particularly inspired dates that exceed anything you might expect. The utterly magnificent Strange Heavens by bassist Linda May Han Oh and her trio with trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and drummer Tyshawn Sorey is one of those successes. Sorey’s simultaneously torrid and sensitive beat, Akinmusire’s broad range of expressive techniques, and Oh’s solidly rooted bass combine for an enchanting musical experience. Oh composed most of the pieces, and arranged Geri Allen’s Skin and Melba Liston’s Just Waiting for the trio. We begin with Portal, kicking off with a tricky bass pattern, drums that sneak up on you, and relaxed trumpet that fills out the sound. As the track proceeds, the trio’s remarkable cohesion, dynamic range, and ease in shifting tempos are revealed as keys to this program’s success. Oh and Sorey have been playing together quite a lot in pianist Vijay Iyer’s much-acclaimed trio, and their experiences there have clearly informed the intensity and commitment they bring to this group. There’s only one piece that exceeds five minutes, the straight-forwardly funky Noise Machinery which clocks in at 5:27. The trio likes to get into the compositions, have their say, and get out quickly, an attitude that promotes concentrated listening. Other highlights include the spacious title track, the hard-driving Paperbirds, and the impassioned musical conversation on Skin. As Oh notes, “Playing in chordless trios is invigorating and rewarding, in that I have freedom when I solo, but I also have a responsibility to make sure there’s clarity in what I’m saying and the story is being told.” The story that is told so well on Strange Heavens evokes the kernel of the creative music experience, when individuality and the collective experience of the group are in perfect balance. Strange Heavens is one of the best albums I’ve heard this year, and it should surprise no one if it rates highly in year-end polls. Highly recommended.
Biophilia; Ambrose Akinmusire (tpt) Linda May Han Oh (b) Tyshawn Sorey (d); no dates or location specified; Portal/ Strange Heavens/ Living Proof/ Acapella/ The Sweetest Water/ Noise Machinery/ Home/ Paperbirds/ Folk Song/ Work Song/ Skin/ Just Waiting; 48:03. biophiliarecords.com
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
PlainsPeak: Someone To Someone
Irabbagast 032; Russ Johnson (tpt) Jon Irabagon (ts) Clark Sommers (b) Dana Hall (d); Chicago, IL, December 9-10, 2024; Someone to Someone/ Buggin’ the Bug/ Malört is My Shepherd/ At What Price Garlic/ Tiny Miracles (at a Funeral for a Friend)/ The Pulseman; 42:29. jonirabagon.bandcamp.com
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Denny Zeitlin: With A Song In My Heart
Sunnyside SSC 1781; Denny Zeitlin (p); Oakland, CA, December 13, 2019* or Kentfield, CA, November & December 2019; Falling in Love With Love*/ I Didn’t Know What Time It Was*/ He Was Too Good to Me*/ Johnny One Note*/ Wait till You See Her*/ Ev’rything I’ve Got*/ This Nearly Was Mine/ Have You Met Miss Jones?/ I Have Dreamed/ Happy Talk/ With a Song in My Heart; 77:36.
sunnysiderecords.com
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Andy Biskin: Reed Basket
I’ll admit that when Reed Basket arrived in my inbox, I was a bit apprehensively about the virtues of a clarinet quartet. But I needn’t have worried. Clarinet wizard Andy Biskin and Reed Basket, with fellow clarinetists Peter Hess, Mike McGinnis, and Sam Sadigursky, uncork a relatively broad range of sound generated by five different members of the clarinet family. Biskin composed every one of the odd numbered tracks, which alternate in the program with an astonishing range of covers by composers including Franz Schubert (Moment Musicaux #3), Horace Silver (Blue Silver), Jelly Roll Morton (Wolverine Blues), and the biggest surprise, Lou Reed (Walk on the Wild Side). The carefully detailed arrangements are brought to vibrant life by musicians that are marvelously attuned to the nuances of each other’s sound. And Biskin’s smart sequencing of the program provides an engaging flow to the project. If I were impelled to pick a favorite piece from this baker’s dozens of delicious performances, today it might be the group’s dissection of fellow clarinetist Pee Wee Russell’s Wailin' D.A. Blues. Tomorrow, Biskin’s own Yasmina, with it’s A-section of rapturous melody and stately mien and the B-section that gives it some lift, might just hit the spot, and the day after that, it could be the easy groove of the Horace Silver piece or the winsome and lively arrangement of the Lou Reed song, or ... You get the idea: not a wasted moment in over an hour of charming and captivating sounds, beautifully recorded and mixed by Marc Urselli. Improvised music is full of surprises; I like it when an album I was hesitant about knocks me out in the listening. Very happily recommended.
Self-produced; Andy Biskin (Bb, bcl) Peter Hess (Bb, Eb, alto clarinet, bcl, contra-alto clarinet) Mike McGinnis (Bb, alto clarinet, bcl)/ Sam Sadigursky (Bb, Eb, bcl); NYC, May 17, 2024; 1.Easy Chair/ 2.Camelot/3. Yasmina/ 4. Moment Musicaux #3/ 5. New Fangle/ 6. Wailin' D.A. Blues/ 7. Old Self/ 8. Blue Silver/ 9. So Forth/ 10. Walk on the Wild Side / 11. If Time Allows/ 12. Wolverine Blues/ 13. Minotaur; 62:10. andybiskin.com
A pair of guitar duos: Joe Morris & Elliott Sharp/Eyal Maoz & Eugene Chadbourne
ESP-Disk’ ESP5084; Joe Morris (g, effects) Elliott Sharp (g, electronics); Brooklyn, NY, July 17, 2023; Shapes Mentioned/ Neither Odd Nor Even/ Light Asking/ Freezing in Hell/ Soft Version/ Arrokoth; 64:40. espdisk.com
Another guitar duo, Eyal Maoz & Eugene Chadbourne, has a big batch of fun on The Coincidence Masters. Freely improvised music needs surprising coincidences to result in more than a random jumble of noise, and veteran weirdo Dr. Chad along with Maoz are more than ready to create the right conditions for those surprises to erupt. Where the Morris/Sharp duo is prone to big noises with lots of electronic effects, Maoz and Chadbourne take a calmer approach to their interactions. Chadbourne’s many projects over the years have nearly always had a humorous edge to them, and The Coincidence Masters is no exception. It comes through in the quietly subversive back and forth that the pair engages in, as well as the titles they’ve given for their improvised encounters. Song titles like And Now, All Is Left Is The Titles Search and The Last Track point directly at their playful attitudes in the recording studio. But in the end, They are no less serious about their music than the more raucous Morris/Sharp duo. Listened all the way through, the CD feels like a kind of suite, with track times running from the thirty-eight seconds of Eager for the Ad-Lib to a pair of lengthy excursions in Unexpected, Also For Us, clocking in at just over ten minutes, and the longer Naming Comforts People. The Coincidence Masters is a delightfully entertaining showcase of improvisation, mastered by none other than Elliott Sharp!
Infrequent Seams (CD, digital album); Eyal Maoz, Eugene Chadbourne (guitars); NYC, June 10, 2022; Words Are Not Intended/ Two Guitarists/ Improvisation Enthusiasm/ On-the-Spot/ Eager for the Ad-Lib/ Unexpected, Also For Us/ And Now, All Is Left Is The Titles Search/ We Need It/ Naming Comforts People/ All Through / The Last Track; 52:05 . infrequentseams.bandcamp.com
Thursday, May 29, 2025
Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions
Mosaic MD6-281; Disc 1 63:21): (A) Jo Jones Trio (4/30/58) (B) Sir Charles Thompson Quartet (1/22/54). Disc 2 (70:10): ©) Sir Charles Thompson Trio (2/16/55) (D) Bobby Henderson (11/26/56). Disc 3 (61:43): (E) Mel Powell Septet (12/30/53) (F) Mel Powell Trio (8/17/54). Disc 4 (72:37): (G) Mel Powell Trio (8/24/54) (H) Mel Powell Septet/Quintet (10/19/55). Disc 5 (60:43): (I) Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo (2/17/55). Disc 6 (50:43): Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo (10/14/55). For complete discographical details, go here. Limited to 5,000 sets; available from www.mosaicrecords.com