Home » Jazz Articles » Matt Mitchell
Jazz Articles about Matt Mitchell
Jon Irabagon: Focus Out
by Glenn Astarita
Jon Irabagon remains among the most uncompromising voices in contemporary jazz. A first-generation Filipino American from Chicago, he draws deeply from the AACM legacy--Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Muhal Richard Abrams--and his home city's tradition of bold, searching saxophone work. Since his 2008 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition win, Irabagon has used his Irabbagast Records imprint to sustain a commitment to fierce originality and collective dialogue. Focus Out serves as a formidable statement from his working quartet, featuring Irabagon ...
Continue ReadingYuhan Su: OVER the MOONs
by Vincenzo Roggero
Originaria di Taiwan, da sedici anni residente a New York, Yuhan Su confessa nelle brevi note di copertina di correre su due binari culturali distinti, di sognare in due lingue, di usare due distinte forme di logica, di avere due differenti standard di gusto per il cibo... Quinto album da leader, OVER the MOONs cerca di catturare queste “due lune" presenti nella sua mente, le sensazioni e i sentimenti delle due identità, traducendole in una scrittura che abbracci il dolce ...
Continue ReadingYuhan Su: OVER the MOONs
by Jerome Wilson
It turns out that Patricia Brennan is not the only vibraphonist exploring ambitious concepts these days. On this album, Yuhan Su brings the idea of dual consciousness into music, with the musicians in her group often playing along two separate paths simultaneously. Su was born in Taiwan and is now based in New York. Living in both those cultures at once gave her the idea to explore that concept musically. There is constant motion and activity in ...
Continue ReadingIngrid Laubrock: Purposing the Air
by Vincenzo Roggero
Avventuroso e ambizioso Purposing the Air, nuovo progetto di Ingrid Laubrock, notevole sassofonista di origini tedesche qui nelle vesti di compositrice. Dal poema “Mood Librarian -a poem in koan" di Erica Hunt, ha estratto sessanta frammenti, trenta nel primo CD e trenta nel secondo, affidandoli a quattro duo dove l'elemento fisso è la voce mentre la strumentazione si distribuisce tra violoncello, pianoforte, chitarra elettrica e violino. I sessanta frammenti-miniature-koan, alcuni di due sole parole, riportati nel dettagliato libretto interno, risuonano ...
Continue ReadingJon Irabagon: Server Farm
by Vincenzo Roggero
Quando un agitatore musicale come Jon Irabagon, mente tra le più aperte, corrosive, imprevedibili e significative della scena jazzistica statunitense mette insieme un tentetto da paura per esplorare fatti e misfatti dell'intelligenza artificiale, curiosità e aspettative sono ai massimi livelli. E questo Server Farm le soddisfa pienamente, ennesima prova della grandezza di un musicista onnivoro in grado di esaltare ed esaltarsi in tutta la gamma di formazioni messe in campo negli ultimi quindici anni. Dal sax solo di ...
Continue ReadingIngrid Laubrock: Purposing The Air
by Thierry De Clemensat
Purposing The Air is a recording of extreme quality, though it is undoubtedly aimed at an informed audience, one more inclined toward contemporary classical music. While some pieces carry faint echoes of jazz, listening to this album is akin to stepping into a museum to attend a recital. Each artist is striving for excellence on every level: musicality, interpretation and even theatricality. It is, without a doubt, a powerful creation. To fully grasp the artistic approach behind this ...
Continue ReadingJon Irabagon: Server Farm
by John Sharpe
Artificial Intelligence would have a hard job pinning down saxophonist Jon Irabagon's defining characteristics. When a player is as talented as Irabagon, who can turn his hand to almost any style, sometimes the challenge is to find a focus that stimulates. On Server Farm, Irabagon has taken the notion of AI and the ever increasing prevalence of the digital world as his casus belli. Not that he uses AI himself in composing the album, rather as the PR reveals, he ...
Continue Reading
