hour: Fay Victor Ensemble’s The FreeSong Suite (Greene Avenue Music)

Mike Chamberlain reviews the Fay Victor Ensemble‘s new release, The FreeSong Suite (Greene Avenue Music), in this week’s issue of Montreal’s arts weekly, hour.

“What you hear on this album is raw and quirky and powerful and full of feeling and surprise and particularities that reflect universal human truths,” he writes. “One of the unique listening experiences of this or any other year.”

Ms. Victor will be performing with multiple ensembles at this weekend’s Vision Festival fundraiser, 28 Hours of Innovative Art, and on Monday at The 55 Bar with her group, Fay Victor’s Jazz Vault.

William Parker CDs Reviewed At PopMatters.com

Photo by Nick Ruechel

John Bohannon’s new joint review of William Parker’s Double Sunrise Over Neptune (Arts for Art/AUM Fidelity) and Petit Oiseau (AUM Fidelity) was posted yesterday at PopMatters.com.

Bohannon declares, “William Parker has the ability, talent, and scene support to put jazz back into the public consciousness on a wide level.”

Of Double Sunrise Over Neptune he writes, “The interaction between musicians to create a whole is unparalleled.”

He also calls the William Parker Quartet “quite possibly the greatest working quartet in jazz today.”

The Wire Posts 2008 Rewind Results Online

The Wire has posted the results of its 2008 Rewind in the Archive section of its Web site.

The results, which originally ran in the magazine’s January 2009 issue, include the following client releases:

Top 50 Records:
Bill Dixon, 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound (Arts for Art/AUM Fidelity)

Jazz & Improv:
Mary Halvorson Trio, Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12) 
William Parker, Double Sunrise Over Neptune (Arts for Art/AUM Fidelity)

AAJ Contributors Pick Their Favorite 2008 Releases

AllAboutJazz.com has posted a compilation of “Best of 2008″ lists from 36 of its contributors. 

We’re proud to report the following client releases were named amongst the various writers’ top tens:

Jason Adasiewicz, Rolldown (482 Music)
The Blueprint Project with Han Bennink, People I Like (Creative Nation Music)
Bill Dixon, 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound (Arts for Art/AUM Fidelity)
Garrison Fewell/Eric Hofbauer, The Lady of Khartoum (Creative Nation Music)
Mary Halvorson Trio, Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12)
William Parker Quartet, Petit Oiseau (AUM Fidelity)
Mario Pavone, Trio Arc (Playscape Recordings)
Mario Pavone Double Tenor Quintet, Ancestors (Playscape Recordings) 
Eri Yamamoto Trio, Redwoods (AUM Fidelity) 

Congratulations to all the musicians and labels recognized for their work in 2008.

2008 Cadence Record Poll

The Jan/Feb/Mar 2009 issue of Cadence arrived yesterday and with it the results of the magazine’s annual Record Poll.

Bill Dixon’s 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound: Darfur (Arts for Art/AUM Fidelity) earned the fourth place slot in the Readers’ Choices Poll (only nine votes behind the winner three slots above), as well as a full-page review further on in that same issue written by Jason Bivins.

Bivins wrote, “Put briefly, this group doesn’t once (collectively or individually) commit the cardinal sin of large ensemble group improv: overplaying.  Rather, they listen, leave space and make each dynamic shift count as they realize Dixon’s dark musical vision.  That vision emerges in great detail, thanks firstly to a quite rich and colorful score, but also thanks to a very clear recording.”

In the Critics’ Choices Poll, for which contributors choose their 10 favorite releases covered in one of the magazine’s four 2008 issues, Jay Collins picked Mario Pavone’s Trio Arc (Playscape Recordings) and Jason Adasiewicz’s Rolldown (482 Music), Michael Coyle chose Eri Yamamoto’s Duologue (AUM Fidelity), and Michael Rosenstein selected Peter Evans’ The Peter Evans Quartet (Firehouse 12 Records). 

Congratulations to the clients listed above and all those recognized in the poll results.

Three AUM Fidelity Titles On Culture Catch’s Top 10 Avant-Jazz Albums of 2008

 In 2008, AUM Fidelity, in association with Arts for Art, Inc., released a series of three live recordings from Vision Festival XII in 2007. Each documented a large-scale piece, written by Roy Campbell, Bill Dixon and William Parker respectively, commissioned by, and premiered at, the festival.

All three of these releases are included on Culture Catch’s Best New Avant-Jazz Albums of 2008 list, written by Downtown Music Gallery’s Bruce Gallanter, who included a blurb about each.

On Roy Campbell’s Akhenaten Suite:
The sound of this quintet (which also includes violinist Billy Bang, vibraphonist Bryan Carrott, bassist Hill Greene, and drummer Zen Matsuura) is much like an early ’70s Blue Note date, always swinging infectiously. This was one of the most enchanting sets of last year’s Vision Festival and it still sounds wonderful on disc.

On Bill Dixon’s 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound: Darfur:
I’ve caught professor/composer Bill Dixon on a number of occasions; sometimes his group is just great and sometimes they are amazing. This set was by far the best I’ve heard from him. 

On William Parker’s Double Sunrise Over Neptune:
An outstanding work and perhaps Parker’s finest moment yet!

AAJ-NY’s Best Of 2008

We’re pleased to report that several of our clients are honored in AllAboutJazz-New York‘s Best of 2008 feature in the January 2009 issue. Please find the details below.

The complete issue, also featuring a cover story on William Parker, is available free in venues and jazz-related sites all over New York and downloadable as a PDF by clicking here.

Congratulations to all the musicians, labels and organizations named among the year’s best.

Record Labels of the Year:
AUM Fidelity

Performances of the Year:
Billy Bang/Kidd Jordan/William Parker/Hamid Drake @ Vision Festival XIII
William Parker’s Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield @ Vision Festival XIII

Albums of the Year:
Mario Pavone, Trio Arc (Playscape Recordings)

Vocal Releases of the Year:
Yoon Sun Choi/Jacob Sacks, Imagination: The Music of Joe Raposo (Yeah Yeah Records) 

Tribute Recordings of the Year:
Yoon Sun Choi/Jacob Sacks, Imagination: The Music of Joe Raposo (Yeah Yeah Records) 

Debut Albums of the Year:
Mary Halvorson Trio, Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12 Records) 

Honorable Mention:
Bill Dixon, 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound: Darfur (Arts for Art/AUM Fidelity) 
Garrison Fewell/Eric Hofbauer, The Lady of Khartoum (Creative Nation Music)
Nicole Mitchell, Xenogenesis Suite: A Tribute To Octavia Butler (Firehouse 12 Records)
William Parker, Double Sunrise Over Neptune (Arts for Art/AUM Fidelity)
William Parker Quartet, Petit Oiseau (AUM Fidelity)
George Schuller’s Circle Wide, Like Before, Somewhat After (Playscape Recordings)

Avant Music News Ranks Mary Halvorson and William Parker Among 2008′s Ten Best

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avant Music News has named the Mary Halvorson Trio’s Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12), William Parker’s Double Sunrise Over Neptune (Arts for Art/AUM Fidelity) and the William Parker Quartet’s Petit Oiseau (AUM Fidelity) to its Top 10 list for 2008.

Mary Halvorson Trio’s Dragon’s Head Among JazzTimes’ Top 50 Critics Picks Of 2008

The votes are in and the Mary Halvorson Trio’s Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12 Records) has earned a spot on JazzTimes‘ Top 50 Critics Picks for 2008.

The list is compiled from all the Top 10 lists submitted by the magazine’s editors and contributing writers.  

William Parker’s Double Sunrise Over Neptune (Arts for Art/AUM Fidelity) and Mario Pavone’s Trio Arc (Playscape Recordings) were also nominated by multiple voters.

Congratulations to all the artists and labels who were recognized as among the year’s best.

Vision Festival XIII Reviewed in the December Issue of Jazz Improv NY

This just in from our better-late-than-never bureau, writer Ken Weiss’ extensive review of Vision Festival XIII, held in New York this past June, graces the pages of the December issue of Jazz Improv NY.  

The review, which spans four pages, including an entire page of original photos, covers a wide range of performances from three of the six nights of the festival, as well as the Saturday afternoon Emerging Artist Showcase.

It’s a great way to get a feel for the diversity of this seminal week-long event, which Weiss calls “New York City’s premier annual avant-garde mystical happening.”  He adds, “this festival continues to serve as the foundation that stabilizes the city’s creative jazz music scene, offering a meeting place for fans (many of whom come from Europe each year) and fellow musicians to experience some of the current integral soundshapers and also for industry types to congregate and make new connections with artists.”

If you don’t live in New York, where the magazine is distributed free at venues and other jazz-related sites, you can download this month’s issue, with Jimmy Heath on the cover, here (PDF).  The review begins on page 10.