Album review by Neil Hobkirk Reviewing Yelena Eckemoff’s exquisite Everblue (2015) for Wall of Sound a few years ago, I considered it a compelling answer […]
Make It a Double: “I Long to See You” by Charles Lloyd & the Marvels (Blue Note, 2016)
Album review by Neil Hobkirk Remember those Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups TV ads from the ‘70s? Varied in their particulars, they shared one premise: a […]
Double Rainbow: Yelena Eckemoff Quartet, “Everblue” (L&H, 2015); Mike Nock/Laurence Pike, “Beginning and End of Knowing” (FWM, 2015)
Album review by Neil Hobkirk When is an ECM album not an ECM album? Two new releases from, respectively, Yelena Eckemoff and Mike Nock/Laurence Pike […]
Serene Footfalls: “La vie commence ici” by Marianne Trudel (Justin Time, 2014)
Album review by Neil Hobkirk The three times I’ve seen Marianne Trudel perform in person, she’s radiated rapture. Alert at the piano, she looked possessed […]
Ongoing Adventure: Ranee Lee’s “What’s Going On” (Justin Time, 2014)
Album review by Neil Hobkirk Just a few seconds in, the strings are what strike you. They’re in fact the masterstroke that invests Ranee Lee’s […]
Kingston Kong: “Bite My Blues” by Peter van Huffel’s Gorilla Mask (Clean Feed, 2014)
Album review by Neil Hobkirk Raised in a city readily stigmatized as an alternate take—an other London (Ontario), as opposed to the London (England)—I’m heartened […]
Definitive Statement: Dee Daniels’ “State of the Art” (Criss Cross Jazz, 2013)
Album review by Neil Hobkirk Dee Daniels should need no introduction. Unfortunately, she too often does. In a music climate clouded by jazz-singing sound-alikes, a […]
Polite Blaze: Eric Alexander’s “Chicago Fire” (HighNote, 2014)
Album review by Neil Hobkirk Yes, folks: he still walks the earth and works among us. Rudy Van Gelder, one of the most celebrated engineers […]
Suites of Sorts: “Mira” by Arild Andersen with Tommy Smith and Paolo Vinaccia (ECM, 2014)
Album review by Neil Hobkirk I’m going to treat this album as though it fell into two distinct sections. For me it does. Two thirds […]