Eddie Prevost: Looking Back, Looking Forward
Drummer and percussionist Eddie PrA(C)vost was a founding member of the pioneering free-improvising group AMM, back in 1965, and has remained a member ever since. In the intervening years, AMM saw frequent personnel changes, from the early lineup of PrA(C)vost--saxophonist Lou Gare, guitarist Keith Rowe, pianist Cornelius Cardew, and cellist Lawrence Sheaff--through to the current duo of PrA(C)vost and pianist John Tilbury. Rowe left AMM in 2004 after a prolonged period of the group being a trio. Rowe gave his reasons for leaving in a 2009 All About Jazz interview. PrA(C)vost was sent a transcript of that interview; he returned it unread and has shown no interest in discussing the circumstances of Rowe's departure...

J.D. Allen -- JD Allen Trio at Bohemian Caverns, February 27, 2010
J.D. Allen Trio Bohemian Caverns Washington, DC February 27, 2010 Saxophonist JD Allen's music is an outgrowth of the mystical and transcendental experimentation key jazz musicians undertook in the sixties and seventies. However, unlike many contemporary performers who explore this tradition as a stylistic choice, perhaps driven by admiration for Coltrane's sound, Allen's exploration of this style is founded in his personal experience, musical direction, and deep spiritual sense...

Cuarteto Latinoamericano + Quintet of the Americas, March 10 at Americas Society
Cuarteto Latinoamericano + Quintet of the Americas Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Americas Society New York, NY Compositions by new Mexican composers were presented at this joint appearance from the two classical/folk groups, at their first live collaboration in four years. The Cuarteto Latinoamericano (Saul Bitran, Aton Bitran and Aron Bitran: violins; Javier Montiel: viola; Alvaro Bitran: cello) opened the proceedings with Javier Alvarez's "Metro Chabacano," a lively number inspired by the cadence of the trains of the Mexico City subway. Though classical in essence, the music had clear influence from traditional music and even some touches of the more erudite work of Antonio Carlos Jobim. They followed that with Gabriela Ortiz's "La Calaca," which had almost a movie soundtrack feel, filled with climatic phrases, lots of finger-plucking and illustrative up and down notes. The tune is part of the composer's "Altar de Muertos," a musical chronicle of her country's festival of the dead...

Monkadelphia: All Monk, All the Time
Over the past several years, there has been a revival and reconsideration of the music of Thelonious Monk. No one embodies this trend better than Monkadelphia, a group of Philadelphia-based jazz musicians who play his music exclusively--a difficult challenge which they embrace with vitality, panache, and sophistication. With Chris Farr on saxophone, Tony Miceli on vibes, Tom Lawton on piano, Micah Jones on bass, and Jim Miller on drums, this group makes the Monk legacy come alive, sustaining rapt attention throughout extended nightclub sets and concert gigs. Their forthcoming 2010 CD is masterful, with echoes of the best groups of the 1950s and 1960s, reflecting Monk's unique contributions yet representing Monkadelphia's own approach, developed in over a decade of performing his music together...

Dave Holland Octet: Pathways
Dave Holland Octet Pathways Dare2 Records 2010 It's been nearly four years since bassist Dave Holland has delivered an album based around his enduring quintet of over a decade. Since 2006's Critical Mass (Dare2), he's released Pass It On (Dare2, 2008) and The Monterey Quartet: Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey Jazz Festival Records, 2009), both featuring ensembles where, for the first time in his lengthy career, the bassist collaborated with pianists. While both discs were as exhilarating and groove-heavy as anything he's done, the inherent chemistry of his quintet--powerhouse saxophonist Chris Potter, ever-inventive trombonist Robin Eubanks, harmonically modernistic vibraphonist Steve Nelson and potent drummer Nate Smith--remains something special, whether on its own or at the core of Holland's big band, last heard on Overtime (Dare2, 2005)...