Reviews that mention Anna Webber
November 13, 2021
A Prayer for Lester Bowie
Greenleaf Music GRE-CD-1086
Almost 75 years after the demise of the so-called Big Band era, cultivated musicians still seek out the configuration to expand the number of sound colors they can utilize. So it is with this session, coming out of left field by David Sanford, long-time music professor at Massachusetts’ Mount Holyoke College, who composes both Jazz and notated music. A Prayer for Lester Bowie is strictly Jazz however. Built around the composer’s protracted homage to the late trumpeter (1941-1999), an AACM member and co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the disc also includes a half dozen other Sanford originals and a speedy reading of “Dizzy Atmosphere”. MORE
September 27, 2021
Idiom
Pi Recordings 89
Designed to show off tenor saxophonist/flutist Anna Webber’s skills as composer and player are the idioms developed on each disc of this two-CD set. Without knowing their genesis in extended woodwind techniques, the five idioms expressed can be appreciated as appropriately moving Jazz and improvised music. That’s partially a testament to what the British Colombia-born Brooklyn-based musician’s conceptions and also because the interpretations involve some of the east coast’s most accomplished players. MORE
February 26, 2021
LOI
el NEGOCITO eNR 097
Shining example of modern mainstream improv except for those who figure Jazz evolution ceased around 1960, this maiden voyage by Belgium-born, Brooklyn-based drummer Raf Vertessen showcases his compositional skills as much as his drumming. That’s serendipitous since the drummer, who has also worked with the likes of Ches Smith and Ingrid Laubrock is a colorist rather than a basher.
His choice of associates shows his good taste as well. Trumpeter Adam O' Farrill and bassist Nick Dunston are busy with many New York ensembles, as is tenor saxophonist Anna Webber, who additionally leads her bands. Actually a suite rather than a collection of random tunes, each of the performances blends into and sets up the subsequent tracks. Rambling and harmonized the group moves at various tempi exposing flashes of capillary high pitches and reed slurs, string clumps and woody drum splats, rumbles, rim shots and cymbal claps. Attaining more unity as the program evolves, mid-range bass string rubs and drum bounces help amplify more exploratory impulses from the horn players encompassing contrapuntal variants from top-of-range whistles and renal scoops from Weber that explode into glossolalia met by O’Farrill’s packed flutter tonguing. The place-marking stop-time march that is “FAKE” accents the dramatic elation that characterizes the second half of the suite. MORE
February 16, 2021
Clear Line
Yestereve Records 06
Drawing on jazz big band section work, European village marching bands and notated music for winds, composer/conductor Jacob Garchik has composed nine POMO interludes for four trumpets, four trombones and three saxophones. Eschewing a rhythm section and string sweetening, he endows the compositions with coordinated horn work for rhythmic impetus and savory harmonies, while leaving space for creative soloing.
At the same time with blustery brass and popping reeds often emphasized to create contrapuntal backing, individual’s features are short but to-the-point. Besides brief mood setting sequences, extended tracks highlight different strategies from Fusion-referencing brassy horn expositions to enough key percussion that suggest bagpipe-blowing tremolos. “Moebius and Mucha” is the most overt swinger with bugle-bright trumpet work cutting across sliding connections from the other horns. Meanwhile “Sixth” is a quasi-rondo that subverts its mellow form with colorful upwards movements that encompasses brass and reed call-and-response before textures meld into a stop-time climax. MORE
January 21, 2021
NPR 15th Annual Jazz Critics Poll: 2020
American Website
Ken Waxman’s Ballot
Ken Waxman (Jazz Word)
NEW RELEASES
1. Virtual Company, Virtual Company (Confront)
2. Edward "Kidd" Jordan-Joel Futterman-William Parker-Hamid Drake, A Tribute to Alvin Fielder: Live at Vision Festival XXIV (Mahakala Music)
3. Urs Blöchlinger Revisited, Harry Doesn't Mind (Leo)
4. Jason Kao Hwang, Human Rites Trio (True Sound)
5. Liquid Quintet, Bouquet (Sirulita -19)
6. ROPE [Frank Paul Schubert-Uwe Oberg-Paul Rogers-Mark Sanders], Open Ends (Trouble in the East) MORE
July 11, 2020
Both Are True
Greenleaf Music GRE CD 1075
Vladimir Tarasov & Krugly Band Orchestra
Sound Tapestries
SoLyd Records SLR 0440
Martin Archer
Anthropology Band
Discus 90 CD
Fire! Orchestra
Krysztof Penderecki Actions
Rune Grammofon RCD 2212
Gard Nilssen Supersonic Orchestra
If You Listen Carefully the Music Is Yours
ODIN CD 9572
Something in the air Novel Large Ensemble Strategies are expressed by Bands All over the World
MORE
March 14, 2020
Engage
Greenleaf Music GRE-CD-1074
Ig Hennenan/Jaimie Branch/Anne LaBerge
Dropping Stuff and other Folk Songs
Relative Pitch RPR 1094
Arthurs/Khroustaliov/Sartorius
Hangkerum
Clean Feed CF 539 CD
Birgit Ulner & Benoit Cancoin
Electric Green
Blumlein No #
Pip
Possible Worlds
SOFA 575
Something in the Air: Expanding the Trumpet’s Role and Range Outwards
By Ken Waxman
With the trumpet’s traditional heraldic and heroic roles in most music, and construction which depends on only three valves, tubing and a bell, it would seem that distinctive brass innovation would be at a premium. Yet as the following discs demonstrate those who mix innovative concepts and technical sophistication can create notable exploratory sessions. MORE
February 8, 2020
7th Annual NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll 2019
Ken Waxman’s ballot
•Your name and primary affiliation(s)
Ken Waxman, Jazzword.com, The Whole Note, MusicWorks
•Your choices for this year’s 10 best New Releases (albums released between last Thanksgiving and this, give or take) listed in descending order one-through-ten
.
1. Uri Caine The Passion of Octavius Catto (816 Music)
2. Mark Dresser Seven Ain’t Nothing But a Cyber Coup & You (Clean Feed)
3. Robert Dick/Joëlle Léandre/Miya Masaoka Solar Wind (NotTwo) MW 986-2
MORE
February 8, 2020
12th Annual International Critics Poll
Ken Waxman’s 2019 ballot
Musician of the year: Joe McPhee
Newcomer Musician: Timothée Quost, Gaspard Beck
Group of the year: Roots Magic, Tonus, Joe McPhee Trio
Newcomer group: MétamOrphée
Album of the year: Quatuor de Jazz Libre Du Québec, Musique Politique Anthologie 1971-1974 (Tour de Bras) Uri Caine, The Passion of Octavius Catto (816 Music)
Composer: Roscoe Mitchell, Uri Caine, Harris Eisenstad
Drums; Gerald Cleaver, Steve Noble, Tim Daisy
Acoustic Bass Joëlle Léandre, Barry Guy, Barre Phillips MORE
June 17, 2019
Clockwise
Pi Recordings P179
By Ken Waxman
Reaching an elevated trajectory following her last CD, B.C.-born, New York-based tenor saxophone/flutist Anna Webber aided by a seasoned septet, re-conceptualizes into new compositions impressions of 20th Century composers’ percussion works.
Percussiveness not percussion is the major focus, even though her studio reassembling of Ches Smith’s echoing tympani on the Felmanesque “King of Denmark II” are suitably staggering. Mostly though Smith sticks to drums and vibraphone to provide the precise clamor and ringing clatter that swing alongside Jacob Garchik’s emotional trombone flow; place-marking stops or sweeping glissandi from Christopher Hoffman’s cello and Chris Tordini’ bass; pulsing chromatics from pianist Matt Mitchell; and stylistic chirps or snarls from Webber and tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Jeremy Viner. MORE
March 18, 2018
A Pouting Grimace
Pi Recordings 71
Onze Heures Onze Orchestra
Vol 1
Onzeheurs Onze ONZ020
Having a singular, original vision is often cited as the best way to create outstanding music, more so when, as on these sessions here, concepts can be communicated to a large ensemble. Yet individualism doesn’t necessarily edge out a collegial approach. New York-based keyboardist Matt Mitchell for instance obviously aimed to create an original take on contemporary sounds that mixed notated, improvisational and electronic tropes, and he rounded up a dozen of the city’s most accomplished players to interpret his 10 compositions. Yet all too often on A Pouting Grimace, the composer and his associates appear to be leaping from one idea to another, exposing a variety of concepts, but with no logical continuum that draws together the detonating themes. MORE
November 1, 2017
Polygon
Inner Circle Music No #
The Revoid Ensemble
The Revoid Ensemble
Found You Recordings FYR 034
Like sartorial choices which are deemed completely passé, but turn up more popular than ever years later, Third Stream Music which was declared dead and buried in the mid-1960s continues to be an accoutrement in use by many modern musicians. Although they would likely avoid the phrase itself, the composer/band leaders of these notable sessions are uniquely mixing improvised and notated tropes. The measure of their achievements is how they prevent the shibboleths of either to swamp the concepts of the other. MORE
August 19, 2017
Recent Developments
Songlines SGL 1620-2
Harris Eisenstadt Canada Day
On Parade in Parede
Clean Feed CF 413 CD
By Ken Waxman
Having reached a comfortable maturity in his playing and composing, Toronto-born, Brooklyn-based percussionist Harris Eisenstadt isn’t averse to showcasing both his talents in varied settings. Like an athlete who excels at more than one sport, the drummer has with On Parade in Parede created a spirited FreeBop session with his Canada Day quartet. Meanwhile Recent Developments is a spiky recasting of composed chamber jazz played by a nonet. MORE
February 18, 2017
Jazz Critics Poll Ballot
2016
•Your name and primary affiliation(s)
Ken Waxman: Jazzword.com The New York City Jazz Record; Whole Note
•Your choices for this year’s 10 best New Releases listed in descending order
1. Alexander Hawkins Trio Alexander Hawkins Music AH 1001
2. Anna Webber’s Simple Trio Binary Skirl Records 033
3. Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus The Distance ECM 2484
4. Artifacts Reed-Reid-Mitchell 482 Music 482-1093
5. Umlaut Big Band Euro Swing Vol. 2 Umlaut UMFR-CD18 MORE
December 11, 2016
Binary
Skirl Records 033
Circadia
Advances and Delays
SOFA A551
Franklin Kiermyer
Closer to the Sun
Mobility Music MMII016
Bennett/Johnston/Mezzacappa/Rosaly
Shipwreck 4
NoBusiness Records NBCD 67
Michael Vlatkovich
Myrnofant’s Kiss
pfMentum CD 095
Something In The Air: Catching up with Canadian Expats
By Ken Waxman
Q: What’s the best way to become famous in Canada? A: Leave the country. Unfortunately that hoary jape still has currency in 2016, especially if you want to be a renowned actor. Music is less aggressive and plenty of first-class musicians make their home in the dominion; some foreigners even relocate here. Still for many improvisers concerns, both personal and professional, cause them to abandon their native land. Expatriation often means interaction with a wider crew of players than if they had stayed put and these recent discs capture the results of these challenges. MORE
January 1, 2016
Jazz Critics Poll Ballot
2015
Ken Waxman (The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Word)
NEW RELEASES
- Roscoe Mitchell, Celebrating Fred Anderson (Nessa)
- Daniel Carter-William Parker-Federico Ughi, Navajo Sunrise (Rudi)
- François Carrier-Michel Lambert-Rafal Mazur, Unknowable (Not Two)
- Anna Webber, Refraction (Pirouet)
- Tim Berne, You've Been Watching Me (ECM)
- Evan Parker, Seven (Victo)
- Samuel Blaser, Spring Rain (Whirlwind)
- Akira Sakata-Giovanni Di Domenico-John Edwards-Steve Noble, Live at Cafe Oto (Clamshell)
- James Falzone & the Renga Ensemble, The Room Is (Allos Documents)
- George Freeman & Chico Freeman, All in the Family (Southport)
November 6, 2015
Anna Webber’s Percussive Mechanics
Refraction
Pirouet Records PIT 3079
By Ken Waxman
Audaciously extending her conceptual chops, composer Anna Webber has created a suite of sorts with Refraction, bookending the program with a prelude and postlude sonically coordinated but not copied, while those tracks and the other five subtly reflect motifs which swirl throughout. A British Columbian turned Brooklynite, Webber, who plays tenor saxophone and flute here, is joined on this journey by other musicians whose playing is neither overly percussive nor mechanical. MORE
December 6, 2014
Jagged Spheres
No label No #
Anna Webber
Simple
Skirl Records 027
By Ken Waxman
A Brooklyn resident since 2008, Kelowna B.C.-native Anna Webber’s work has followed two trajectories aptly defined on these releases. A tenor saxophonist/flutist who studied music in Montreal, NYC and Berlin, she has an urban side – reflected in the cooperative Jagged Spheres trio’s emphasis on seamlessly combining composition and improvisation in its work – plus a rustic one which permeates her compositions on Simple. That CD’s pieces were all written during a Webber sojourn on Bowen Island, near Vancouver. MORE
December 6, 2014
Simple
Skirl Records 027
Stemeseder/Gray/Webber
Jagged Spheres
No label No #
By Ken Waxman
A Brooklyn resident since 2008, Kelowna B.C.-native Anna Webber’s work has followed two trajectories aptly defined on these releases. A tenor saxophonist/flutist who studied music in Montreal, NYC and Berlin, she has an urban side – reflected in the cooperative Jagged Spheres trio’s emphasis on seamlessly combining composition and improvisation in its work – plus a rustic one which permeates her compositions on Simple. That CD’s pieces were all written during a Webber sojourn on Bowen Island, near Vancouver. MORE