by Steven Miller
John Patitucci’s Spirit Fall is an album based on trio communication, a study of the freedom and responsibility of a chordless format, and what happens when three deeply intuitive musicians explore the boundless harmonic and rhythmic possibilities. Marking Patitucci’s debut as a leader on Edition Records, the album finds the bassist alongside long-standing collaborators Chris Potter (saxophones, bass clarinet) and Brian Blade (drums), exploring a set of nine Patitucci originals and one cover with remarkable spontaneity and depth.
Trio records that omit a chordal instrument come with a built-in challenge: how to create [...]
By Steven Miller
Legendary post-rock pioneers Mogwai have returned with The Bad Fire, an engaging album that captures their enduring ability to blend the ethereal with the explosive. Produced by John Congleton and released via Rock Action, this January 2025 release cements the band’s reputation for crafting immersive soundscapes that challenge and reward the listener in equal measure.
With three decades of sonic exploration under their belt, Mogwai’s evolution has been anything but linear. They’ve veered from ferocious guitar-driven instrumentals to moody soundtracks and even ventured into corrupted electronic realms. Their [...]
by Steven Miller
Juan Megna’s Mariwô is a vibrant celebration of Afro-Brazilian and Argentinian musical traditions, artfully blended with the improvisational language of modern jazz. The album’s seven tracks form a setting of intricate rhythms, melodic depth, and exceptional interplay between musicians. Megna’s artistic vision and technical mastery of these rhythmic melodies have a strong grounding in the Afro-diasporic influences of Candomblé and the emotive power of Argentinian forms like the chacarera and milonga. Mariwô transcends genres while staying deeply rooted in its cultural origins; this is world music with modern [...]
by Steven Miller
Bella Schütz’s Chiaroscuro is a compelling new Evidence Classics label project focusing on two towering figures in keyboard music history: Johann Sebastian Bach and Frédéric Chopin. The repertoire spans Bach’s Baroque explorations of stylus phantasticus and contrapuntal elegance and Chopin’s Romantic innovations in lyricism and harmonic daring. While these composers are separated by nearly a century, Schütz highlights their shared artistic pursuit of freedom, fantasy, and improvisation, as seen in pieces like Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue and Chopin’s Fantaisie in F Minor.
Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue [...]
