The Half-Finished Heaven (ECM) I have always loved music that ensnares the listener in a spell. These days, alas, the prevailing aesthetic, almost regardless of idiom, is to pummel audiences into submission. I have not heard Sinikka Langeland live, but her albums present sounds finely engraved upon the surrounding silence;…
Category: Album Reviews – Archive
Various Artists: It Takes Two to Tango (W&W/Birdland) Paul Motian: Standards Plus One (W&W/Birdland) Various Artists: Introducing M-Base (W&W/Birdland) Reijseger/Fraanje/Sylla: Count Till Zen (W&W/Birdland) Record companies are routinely depicted as the music business’s evil exploiters, the tales of rip-offs, mismanagement, bullying and cocaine being legion. Thankfully there are also many…
The Voyage of Mary and William (PathsAndStreams) Like Paul Grabowsky, Matt McMahon waited decades before recording his first album of solo piano. You can hear that distillation of ideas: a certain clarity of intent, without compromising the spontaneity that lies at the heart of McMahon’s art, for the 12 pieces…