Oakland, CA, based jazz and improvisation protagonist, alto saxophonist Aram Shelton could hold his own with most anyone in a cutting-contest. But there’s more than a whole lot of technical acumen taking place with Ton Trio II. One of the principle selling points so to speak, is how the musicians impeccably integrate the modern jazz…
Read moreBecause reedist Aram Shelton first made his name during his years in Chicago and continues to work in numerous ensembles featuring strong local players, that’s the context in which he tends to get covered by the Reader. But he moved to Oakland, California, in 2005 and he’s been superactive in the Bay Area since then,…
Read moreOakland, California based reedman Cory Wright (Anthony Braxton, Vinny Golia & Yusef Lateef delivers a manifold and juxtaposing ensemble date on Apples + Oranges. It doesn’t take too long to determine that the album poses a surfeit of diagonally opposed viewpoints. Other than the highly emphatic and synergistic group-centric output, Wright’s compositions hit the mark,…
Read morePlayful twists on conventional jazz pepper Apples + Oranges, the new album from Bay Area sax/clarinet player Cory Wright and his quintet of locals. It’s a free-jazz album at heart, with lots of room for improvisation and plenty of unconventional structure in the songs. But it all stems from a sunny disposition that colors the…
Read moreIn jazz, there are composers and there are soloists and, as they say, “never the twain shall meet.” Okay, not impossible, but it is rare in modern jazz for a musician to be both an outstanding soloist and a talented arranger. Listening to Apples + Oranges by West Coast saxophonist Cory Wright, the challenge is…
Read moreOakland, California based Arts & Sciences is a quartet with two saxophonists, Jacob Zimmerman on alto and Matt Nelson on tenor, electric keyboardist and composer Michael Coleman, and drummer Jordan Glenn. Their CD New You, issued on Aram Shelton’s Singlespeed Music imprint, is a blast of freewheeling West Coast invention with an eclectic batch of…
Read moreReedist Aram Shelton was an important presence in the Chicago jazz and improvised-music scene from the late 90s until he moved to Oakland in 2005, and it’s been two years since he’s come back to visit—far and away the longest stretch he’s been away. By now he’s deeply immersed in the music community on the…
Read moreEverything For Somebody is the latest quartet disc from ex-Chicago alto saxophonist/clarinetist Aram Shelton, now residing in the Bay Area. He’s joined by Daisy, tenor saxophonist Keefe Jackson and bassist Anton Hatwich on a program of six original compositions. Shelton is one of those musicians for whom being an ‘acolyte’ is a respectful position; this…
Read moreI remember Aram Shelton’s two concerts in Krakow, first one with a Dragon 1976 trio, it was a release tour for the band’s cd on polish Multikulti label and they have played with the polish “The Light” group which was the adience’s introduction to Waclaw Zimpel. I remember that afterwards one of my very firsts…
Read moreIt’s all funk and soul on the outdoor stages this afternoon, but here in the close darkness of the Coffee House Gallery the atmosphere is quite different. While other bands shimmy and slam, saxophonist Aram Shelton is leading his postmodern Oakland/Chicago ensemble through a cerebral obstacle course. “Rise and Set” is typically knotty. Shelton and…
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