Ton Trio II is Aram Shelton on alto saxophone, Scott Brown on bass and Alex Vittum playing drums, and together they deliver a showcase of musical dexterity and ideas that grabs you the moment the needle finds the groove, or the laser hits the disc, or the data streams to the player.
Read moreIt’s fine to say that a musician has found his or her own language, but what does that really mean? First off, what is language, really? In essence, it’s a symbolic communication method, one that can be transmitted by voice or in written form. So I suppose music, which is similarly conveyed by sounds that…
Read moreI have to say straight away that this is a new one for me, a great surprise. Singlespeed mentioned in a press release that he was bringing out a record from Cory Wright, unbeknown to me this record was going to blow me out of my chair – sofa in fact. Next, what type of…
Read moreTon Trio II, On and On: Plenty to like in the new one by Aram Shelton’s Ton Trio II. The alto saxophonist’s compositions leave the door wide open for lengthy improvisations from himself as well as bassist Scott Brown and drummer Alex Vittum. Most pleasing it the seeming ease of Shelton’s lyricism at high speeds, the…
Read more…Awaits Silent Tristero’s Empire is an epic four-part suite based on the fictitious songs found scattered throughout celebrated author Thomas Pynchon’s early novels V., The Crying of Lot 49, and Gravity’s Rainbow. Oboist Kyle Bruckmann conceived this post-modern “musical phantasmagoria” as the first long-form composition written for Wrack, his experimental chamber jazz ensemble, employing an expanded version of the…
Read moreCory Wright has conquered musical space. It’s incontrovertable, as the old Castro Convertible ad jingle used to have it (if anybody remembers that). He’s done it especially with his album Apples + Oranges (SingleSpeed Music 012). What we have on this set is a freely propulsive outing by the Cory Wright Outfit, which has Cory…
Read moreWell here we are again after many months away, surely it’s time to get a few posts up and running again? To start the ball rolling are a couple of new releases from Aram Shelton’s Singlespeed music label. Aram’s cooperative label has been gradually developing with nine releases to date so far. The latest three…
Read moreThe unusual front line of Kyle Bruckmann’s Wrack—viola, oboe, and bass clarinet—gives the quintet a narrow timbral range, but it uses wriggling, high-intensity counterpoint to create an exhilaratingly bright, multilayered sound. As Bruckmann says in the liner notes of the group’s forthcoming third album, Cracked Refraction (due from Porter Records on February 21), “I take…
Read moreIn Chicago jazz, you can come home again. Since the music thrives on change, it’s natural for bands to come and go, and for musicians to stay in one place for a while and then move on. But there’s always an open door for you to return and pick up where you left off. Consider…
Read moreWright’s group starts out in familiar surroundings but by the end of Apples and Oranges, they’re planted firmly in their own unique territory. The same can be said for several of the compositions and the multiple sections they contain. They get further leverage from the horn-heavy lineup of Wright (tenor saxophone, b-flat clarinet), Evan Francis…
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