Articles by Glen Hall

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  Hat and Beard

  The Music of Thelonious Monk

  PUBLISHED Jun 29, 2011

  With reverential treatments of Monk's compositions abounding, it is wonderful to have this joyous celebration of the iconoclast's music as...

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  Hertestein/Heberer/Badenhorst/Niggenkemper

  Polylemma

  PUBLISHED Jun 27, 2011

  Free jazz, when played at a high level, doesn't sound so much "free" as "naturally manifesting ideas and structures." Players don't play ju...

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  Farmers By Nature

  Out of This World's Distortions

  PUBLISHED Jun 14, 2011

  This is spontaneous composition/improvisation from three of its consummate practitioners. The Craig Taborn piano "fulcrum" levitates the tr...

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  Rich Halley

  Requiem for a Pit Viper

  PUBLISHED May 25, 2011

  A requiem is way too premature in tenor saxist Rich Halley's case. With a massive, masculine sound and chops aplenty, Halley sounds like he...

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  Yoshie Fruchter's Pitcom

  Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes

  PUBLISHED May 3, 2011

  Serious? You bet. Fruchter's music comes at you like a dark dream, chasing you into corners, tearing at your back. Threatening, loud, visce...

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  Wadada Leo Smith's Organic

  Heart's Reflections

  PUBLISHED Apr 15, 2011

  Trumpeter Smith wears his love for Miles Davis on his sleeve. And the vibe of Heart's Reflections echoes Electric-era Miles, with wah-wah,...

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  The Rent

  Musique de Steve Lacy

  PUBLISHED Apr 12, 2011

  It takes bravery to take on the music of late composer/soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy. Musicians must study his syntax, melodic contours an...

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  Tansy Davies

  Troubairitz

  PUBLISHED Mar 28, 2011

  Full of energy and spiky ideas, British composer Tansy Davies blows the cobwebs off the chamber music genre, making it thoroughly contempor...