REVIEW
Wayne Shorter's Advice to Pianist Romain Collin Results in 'Press Enter,' ACT Music (REVIEW)
EXCLUSIVE: Small Ensemble, Big Thinking - Kurt Gottschalk at Ostrava Days 2015 [REVIEW]
Ostrava, a smallish Czech city of some 300,000 people about 10 kilometers from the Polish border, hosts the biennial Ostrava Days, a small festival, itself, but with audiences usually numbering a couple hundred. Both city and fest think big. In recent years, Ostrava has seen a remarkable amount of development via commerce and construction, as well as a laudable push to renovate the industrial facilities if its mining past into theaters, galleries and other art spaces. For its part, Ostrava Days is oriented toward big music--the 2015 edition even featuring a night of works for three orchestras--all the while making room for smaller-scale compositions. Richard Nelson Swims 'Deep River' with Aardvark Jazz Orchestra on Heliotrope Records (REVIEW)
For most of my adult life I have loved when Jorma Kaukonen sings those "Deep River Blues." It's an old Delmore Brothers ditty popularized by Doc Watson. On 'Deep River' (Heliotrope Records), though, by Richard Nelson and the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, it's slowed down and jazzed up. By the time this half-hour of rustic Appalachian material has been arranged almost Zappa-style with the 1911 classic "Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor," one can only marvel at the abject temerity of this project.
