I 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 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 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…
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 moreFrom out of Oakland, California comes the ensemble Arts & Sciences and their CD New You(Singlespeed Music SSM-0010). It’s eclectic and electric with keys (Michael Coleman) tenor sax and effects (Matt Nelson), alto sax and flute (Jacob Zimmerman) and drums (Jordan Glenn) comprising the ensemble. This is composition-centered prog jazz. The press sheet cites Sun Ra,…
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