‘The Will To Be Flexible’
By Phillip Lutz
DownBeat catches up with the renowned clarinetist, who continues to raise her profile as an ambitious, versatile bandleader. The Anat Cohen Tentet’s sophomore album is Triple Helix, a collaboration with composer and producer Oded Lev-Ari.
By Ted Panken
In recent years, fans of The Art Ensemble of Chicago have had little reason to expect new music from the revered collective. But surprisingly, in October, 15 years after its previous studio recording and about a decade after its last commercially released live performance, the AEC observed its Golden Anniversary by recording the double live album We Are On Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration.
By Sean J. O’Connell
“At some point, I started feeling that I wanted something different,” Aldana recalled. “I heard more piano, and vibraphone is an instrument I have always loved. I wanted to develop my writing more and start incorporating richer harmonies.”
By Gary Fukushima
The development of Star People Nation—the first album in which Croker has sole producer credit—involved an 18-month journey to both U.S. coasts and multiple recording studios, where he played auxiliary keyboards and synths, crafted electronic and acoustic beats, incorporated samples and wrote lyrics to be sung by himself and special guests.
Mike Clark was tested on the following tracks for the “Blindfold Test”: