Moves is the sixth release from Eucalyptus, a group of Toronto-based jazz and improvisation veterans led by alto saxophonist Brodie West (Musicworks 128). The ensemble’s personnel has remained relatively stable over the years, with West, keyboardist Ryan Driver, trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud, bassist Mike Smith, and drummer/percussionists Nick Fraser and Blake Howard remaining from the originalContinue reading “Eucalyptus. Moves.”
Genre Archives
Yves Charuest and The Existential Act of Improvisation
In the fall of 2016, I attended Montreal rehearsals and concerts and Toronto recording sessions ofRoscoe Mitchell and the Toronto-Montreal Art Orchestra for a feature article that was published in Musicworks 127. This complex, largely through-composed music—Mitchell’s orchestrations of previous improvisations—required the gradual, stop-start building of short segments. The alto saxophonist Yves Charuest was assignedContinue reading “Yves Charuest and The Existential Act of Improvisation”
Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Kaiser, Alex Varty. Pacifica Koral Reef.
Trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith might be best known for his expansive celebrations of civil rights, Ten Freedom Summers and Rosa Parks: Pure Love; guitarist Henry Kaiser for his soundtracks for Werner Herzog films and underwater musical journeys to polar ice caps; and Alex Varty is known as a music critic in Vancouver. ButContinue reading “Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Kaiser, Alex Varty. Pacifica Koral Reef.”
Jessica Ackerley and Daniel Carter. Friendship: Lucid Shared Dreams and Time Travel.
Alberta-born, New York-based guitarist Jessica Ackerley combines elements rarely heard together, compounding them into an improvisatory language that includes American primitive (the school of John Fahey and Robbie Basho that stretches from folk idioms to ragtime and raga) and the clear, rapid articulation of the modern jazz that she studied with the late master VicContinue reading “Jessica Ackerley and Daniel Carter. Friendship: Lucid Shared Dreams and Time Travel.”
Reclaiming Chinatown
In many respects, the year 2020 was a time of reckoning for Asian Americans.Hot on the heelsof the landmark Asian ensemble-cast blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho made history with Parasite, which took home the first Academy Award for Best Picture ever to be received by a subtitled film. After a decades-longContinue reading “Reclaiming Chinatown”
Badge Epoch. Scroll.
The psychedelic era’s unprecedented explorations of studio technology birthed a fruitful concept that has since infiltrated many genres of recorded music: the collision of music performance and collage tactics. Toronto’s Badge Epoch—a slimmer variation of the Badge Époque Ensemble—seems to be conjuring that era’s spirit of freewheeling discovery (and to a certain extent its sounds)Continue reading “Badge Epoch. Scroll.”
2021 Guelph Jazz Festival
Since its inception in 1994, the Guelph Jazz Festival has delivered a thoughtful blend of international and local jazz, academic discourse, and strong community engagement. Cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19 public health concerns, the festival returned this summer, striking a fine balance between musical quality and public safety. Gone were the festive strings ofContinue reading “2021 Guelph Jazz Festival”
Ashley Au Is Stretching Out
Most music fans in Winnipeg have seen plenty of Ashley Au playing bass in recent years in a wide range of idioms—Americana, hip-hop, jazz, and sludge metal. Pausing to tally current projects, Au counts in blinks before saying, “I’m in an open relationship with maybe seven or eight different ensembles right now, constantly negotiating theContinue reading “Ashley Au Is Stretching Out”