M-Base

Cassandra Wilson has steadfastly refused to be pigeonholed or confined to any stylistic formula. Her highly anticipated Blue Note debut may stir renewed controversy, as she is once again all over the place. She begins the set with her intriguing version of

Saxophonist Gary Thomas' records have been nothing if not provocative. This set, a collection of jazz and pop standards radically reharmonized and annotated rhythmically, is no exception. Thomas assembles a stellar cast on this outing, including guitarist Pat Metheny, pianist Tim Murphy,...

Singer Cassandra Wilson, who has had a rather diverse career that has ranged from the free funk of M-Base to standards à la Betty Carter, has in recent times adopted a folk-oriented style a little reminiscent of Nina Simone. On New Moon Daughter her repertoire ranges from U2 to Son House,...

Robin Eubanks says that this album is best experienced when seen as well as heard. He's right. You do have to watch his new high-tech electric trio in order to appreciate how they operate in real time. And Eubanks gives you that chance by including a 43-minute DVD of five of the CD's...

While a sideman with the inimitable Terence Blanchard, pianist/composer Edward Simon released a series of recorded ensemble works, including La Bikina and Afinidad, which impressed upon his listeners his sense of swing, melodic structure, and harmonic balance. Later, with drummer Eric Harland...

Cassandra Wilson's debut as a leader features the chance-taking singer in a funky M-Base setting. The overcrowded ensembles (played by altoist Steve Coleman, trombonist Grachan Moncur III, guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, bassist Lonnie Plaxico, and drummer Mark Johnson) did not leave much...

Despite a strong critical reputation and high-profile work with Jack DeJohnette and Pat Metheney, Gary Thomas somehow got left out when '80s M-Base contemporaries Cassandra Wilson, Greg Osby, Steve Coleman, and Geri Allen found some sort of limelight. German producer Steven Winter has by...

Alto saxophonist Yosvany Terry left his native Cuba for the Bay Area and ultimately settled in New York, where he has become an important figure in the jazz scene. He has enjoyed high-profile associations with the likes of Steve Coleman, Avishai Cohen, and Jason Lindner, but he's also...

Trumpeter Ralph Alessi convenes a quintet on this adventurous date, one of two concurrent releases on Ravi Coltrane's RKM label (the other being the duo disc Vice & Virtue). Joined by Don Byron on clarinet, David Gilmore on guitar, Drew Gress on bass, and Nasheet Waits on drums, Alessi...

Tenor saxophonist Aaron Stewart, pianist Vijay Iyer, and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee are Fieldwork, a trio as unorthodox in instrumentation as it is in methodology. Bringing extensive M-Base and free improvisational experience to the table, these players function together as a kind of musical...

Calling Blood Sutra another Vijay Iyer disc could be damning with faint praise or maybe noting a first few signs of stagnation, but it just reflects the singular nature of the young pianist-composer's musical conception in this case. Like Jason Moran, it's hard to find signposts or...

Inspired by the experience of an Iranian filmmaker wrongly detained by INS officials at JFK airport in New York, this epic work explores life through the microcosm of the airport -- a place of arrival and departure, of being an alien or leaving one's citizenship behind. Poet/hip-hop man...

Never a big name and seldom a group leader, tenor sax man and bass clarinetist Gary Windo nonetheless played with everyone from NRBQ, the Psychedelic Furs, and Suzi Quatro to the Carla Bley Band and Chris McGregor & the Brotherhood of Breath. Windo left a huge legacy of goodwill and musical...

Pianist Edward Simon continues his path as an increasingly important player on the New York City and international scene upon arrival from his native Venezuela. Simplicitas is yet another extraordinary musical statement among the handful of sessions he has created as a leader. His view of...

A decade into his recording career, pianist/composer/bandleader Vijay Iyer is still a startlingly original voice in jazz. His dense and often knotty harmonic conceptions and his modal approach to melodic invention are idiosyncratic yet wonderfully accessible to listeners; his rhythmic...

Guitarist Liberty Ellman's set of ten originals for his versatile sextet range from free funk to sound explorations, from introspective stretches as close to modern classical music as to jazz to some more straightforward improvisations. The overall music is a bit dry and takes several...

Recorded in the summer of 1991 in New York City, After the Beginning Again features Cassandra Wilson working with M-Base refugees like pianist James Weidman, and the sort of muted jazz-funk on display here is a far cry from the more bluesy and sparse, atmospheric acoustic touches of her later...

Fans of Bill Laswell will salivate at the prospect of an all-reggae outing from the master producer and bass god. And at first listen, he bears out most expectations: the grooves are heavy, intelligent and well-constructed. But as the disc wears on, it also becomes increasingly clear that he...