Articles by Don Ball
Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: Serpentine
by Don Ball
Any jazz band, especially a brass band, that is willing and capable of taking on the erratic rhythms and wild fluctuations of a Frank Zappa instrumental is worthy of kudos. And the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble's take of “Son of Mr. Green Genes" on their release Serpentine demonstrates their immense musical capabilities. The group was formed by saxophonist, flautist and composer Ken Field in 1990, and the album documents their performance at the Regattabar in jny: Boston as part of ...
Continue ReadingMarta Sánchez: Hitting a Different Note
by Don Ball
Marta Sánchez has established herself as one of the up-and-coming musicians in the jazz field, as evinced by her 2025 DownBeat Critics Poll in the Rising Star Pianist category win. In addition to her prowess on the piano, she is a skilled composer, whose compositions with her quintet over the past decade have shown an intricate capacity for writing for horns and interweaving her piano with the other instruments. In the past few years, she has been paring down her ...
Continue ReadingGiovanni Hidalgo: Jubilation
by Don Ball
While Bad Bunny is making Puerto Rican culture better recognized in contemporary popular music, jazz has long championed the island's rich musical traditions and artists, from the legendary composer and trombonist Juan Tizol to the rollicking pianist Eddie Palmieri to the soulful saxophonist Miguel Zenón, among many others. Included in that group would be Giovanni Hidalgo, whose release Jubilation demonstrates why he is considered one of the premier conga players performing in jazz. Commissioned by the island's arts ...
Continue ReadingTomeka Reid Quartet: Dance! Skip! Hop!
by Don Ball
If the fourth album from the Tomeka Reid Quartet proves nothing else, it is that the group has shown a remarkable capacity for getting better with each release. Not just in the strength and quality of the compositions, but also through the tightness and cohesiveness of the band. The title Dance! Skip! Hop! is apt for the album as the rhythms roll along through every song, all tying together like an album-long suite. With a band that tends ...
Continue ReadingDarren Litzie: On My Own Time
by Don Ball
Pianist Darren Litzie's sophomore release as a leader, On My Own Time, eschews the horns of his first release and takes a simpler approach, with bassist Chris DeAngelis and drummer John Riley providing the solid rhythm backing. Litzie also wrote two-thirds of the tunes and shows an imaginative approach to composition, writing in different beat-centric genres to highlight his strong sense of rhythm and melody. It is the rhythm of Litzie's playing that really stands out. There is ...
Continue ReadingBenjamin Boone: Dream Walking
by Don Ball
Integrating different cultural entities in music is always a difficult proposition; getting the right mix and balance so that one culture does not usurp others to make a new artistic product requires great skill and tact. The New Global Ensemble, made up of musicians from the U.S., Germany, Ghana, Mexico, and Ireland, pull from their respective music traditions for a creative fusion on their album Dream Walking. U.S. saxophonist Benjamin Boone got together with German violinist Stefan Poetzsch ...
Continue ReadingChristopher Hoffman: REX
by Don Ball
Musicians have been inspired by the visual arts for centuries, from Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in 1874, depicting the works of the artist Viktor Hartmann, to Myra Melford's 2025 release Splash (Intakt Records, 2025), a homage to the visual artist Cy Twombly. The question always arises: Does the listener have to know the artwork and artist being referenced to engage with or understand the music? Not really. The magic of Mussorgsky's music survives and thrives even as Hartmann's ...
Continue ReadingAlex Hitchcock: Letters From Afar
by Don Ball
Alex Hitchcock made his name as an emerging talent in jny: London when he decided to move to jny: New York City to, as he put it, “engage with the music being made here, because as a white British musician playing Black American music, engaging with the context in which that music is made is important." Letters from Afar is his first shot across the bow from America, putting together a stellar band from the city's local jazz scene. The songs ...
Continue ReadingDon Ball’s Favorite Jazz Albums of 2025
by Don Ball
Whether these are best releases in 2025 or not, they are the ones that resonated most with me. And 2025 seemed a good year for guitarists; they were often a driving force on many of these recordings and an important element in the mood and atmosphere of the songs. There's Anthony Pirog on Skullcap's Snakes of Albuquerque, Radomir Milojkovic on Muriel Grossmann's Breakthrough, Marvin Sewell on NEA Jazz Master Charles Lloyd's Figure in Blue, Nels Cline leading his Consentrik Quartet ...
Continue ReadingLuna Horns: Afro Space Hotel
by Don Ball
Listening to Luna Horns' Afro Space Hotel is like stepping into your neighborhood pub and being overwhelmed by the band playing there, with horns blazing like the Jamaica band The Skatalites and a bassist of the Bootsy Collins variety. This is the debut album by Luna Horns, which was formed in 2023 by Tim Lowerson in jny: Oslo, Norway. The basic tracks were recorded live in the studio, with musicians huddled in a circle; overdubs of solos, percussion, and ...
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