Reviews that mention Tom Arthurs
April 16, 2017
Fourtune
Jazzwerkstatt JW 169
A refinement and expansion of her solo piano work, Fourtune expresses British pianist Julie Sassoon’s compositional ideas through additional voices. By daubing these intricacies into the metaphoric corners of the performances, it ends up that like the specifics of a painting, telling nuances are apparent throughout the entire expanse. Illuminatingly, although the instrumentation resembles that of sleeker and more soothing sessions, while the performers aren’t afraid of playing beautifully, they’re not swaddled by it. There’s a core of cerebral experimentation that comes to the surface like seals instantaneously poking and retracting their heads from sea. MORE
June 21, 2016
Live in Mińsk Mazowiecki
ForTune 0080 (052)
Gradually expanding his perspective, Warsaw-based alto saxophonist Maciej Obara has juiced up his International band of two Poles and two Norwegians by adding British trumpeter Tom Arthurs to the mix. Like a touch of pepper that adds flavor, but doesn’t substantially alter the dish’s spice content, the trumpeter, who often works with the likes of pianist Julia Hülsmann and bassist Miles Perkin is attached to similar FreeBop impulses as the saxophonist. With Norwegians, bassist Ole Morten Vågan and drummer Gard Nilssen keeping the pulse steady, the horns’ contrapuntal jabs toughen the narratives, especially when pianist Dominik Wania’s innate romanticism seems in danger of sugar coasting the seven originals so they become more Disney-like than Grimm’s fairy tale-realistic. MORE
October 6, 2014
Chats With The Real McCoy
Creative Sources CS 257 CD
Max Johnson
The Invisible Trio
Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT 438
Starker representations of the variances between Free Jazz and Free Music probably couldn’t be presented than comparing these low-key trio sessions. Although both discs are 40-odd-minutes in length, feature a brass player, double bassist and drummer performing eight originals, confusing one with the other would be like mixing up Kid Ory and Kidd Jordan. Both methods are equally valid of course. MORE
October 7, 2013
Just Not Cricket: Three Days of Improvised Music in Berlin
Ni-Vu-Ni-Connu nvnc lp001/004
Erik Carlsson & All Stars
Swedish azz Volume 1 & Volume 2
NotTwo MW 901-1A/ NotTwo MW 901-1B
Thomas Lehn, Michel F. Côté, Éric Normand
Invisible
Tour de Bras DL #1
Malcolm Goldstein/Thomas Lehn
Sources
Tour de Bras DL #2
Something In the Air: Good Music Comes In Many Forms and Formats
By Ken Waxman
Standardization is a thing of the past when it comes to recorded music and listeners who get too far ahead of or behind the curve are likely to miss interesting sounds. Just as the production of movies didn’t cease with the acceptance of television, so the manufacture of LPs continued even as the CD became the format of the moment. As artisans continue to craft fine furniture despite the availability of mass-produced items, so too LPs are being created in limited quantities. This situation appears tailor-made for experimental sounds. Similarly since advanced players are often as impecunious as they are inventive, the ubiquity of the Internet means that some music is only sold through the Web. The option of not having to create a physical product is a boon for non-mainstream performers. MORE
July 4, 2013
JazzWeksttatt Peitz
By Ken Waxman
More than 40 years after East Germany’s so-called free jazz paradise regularly attracted Woodstock-sized crowds to this town, about 20 kilometres from the Polish border – and three years after it was revived after a 29-year government-nudged hiatus – JazzWeksttatt Peitz is still working to define its identity
Celebrated in its earlier days as perhaps the one place young East Germans could camp in the open air and experience Western-styled peace and love vibes, albeit with a jazz rather than a rock soundtrack, the festival celebrated its 50th program June 7-9, inviting 21 acts to perform in four different venues, with “open air” now an enclosed tent with rows of chairs. MORE