Timo Shanko

Strata-East, James Brandon Lewis & Phil Haynes

by Maurice Hogue
May 6, 2025

Back in the '70s and '80s, flicking through the LPs at a favourite record store and finding the latest Strata East releases made the trip worthwhile. Established by trumpeter Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell, the label that was dedicated to spiritual jazz and social consciousness was releasing music by some of the most important artists ...

Felix Henkelhausen, Ochs / Morris / Downs & German Jazz Prize Nominees

by Maurice Hogue
April 14, 2025

Listening to a tune by German bassist Felix Henkelhausen while traveling in the car led me to check out what he was up to; I discovered he's been nominated for a 2025 German Jazz Prize in the Album of the Year category for Deranged Particles. Soon I was exploring other nominees and that led to incorporating ...

Steve Lehman, Nels Cline, Satoko Fujii & Hobbs/Shanko

by Maurice Hogue
March 24, 2025

It's not easy to find a more accomplished figure in creative music than Anthony Braxton. Alto saxophonist Steve Lehman knows that, and he honours his one-time mentor with a bristling new live album, The Music Of Anthony Braxton, destined for 2025 best-of lists. This recording is a reminder of Lehman's fearlessness. There are other excellent new ...

Jon Catler: Sacred and Profane

by Geno Thackara
March 3, 2018

On a certain fundamental level, music really comes down to math. The notes we consider normal are based on certain frequencies of sound vibration, after all, the pitches that make sense to our ears and that we find pleasing when they react in the right ways relative to each other. Jon Catler, however, is one fellow ...

Lawnmower: Lawnmower II

by Troy Collins
May 26, 2014

Drummer Luther Gray described in the liner notes to West, Lawnmower's 2010 Clean Feed debut, that the record was an attempt to reconcile the various genres he'd worked in throughout his career--an all-inclusive approach that could be traced back to the stylistically diverse music he listened to on a Walkman while mowing lawns in his youth. ...

Laurence Cook and Jim Hobbs Conjure "Tragedies of Love" on Blaq Lghtn Records

October 29, 2011

Blaq Lghtn recently released its third disc, Tragedies of Love, a duet involving the elder statesman of Boston drummers, Laurence Cook with the mayor of Boston music, Jim Hobbs and his beloved alto saxophone. It is a work laden with the reflections one might expect in the William Blake form of Experience. If anything, both epitomize ...

Upcoming Aum Fidelity Highlights at the Stone.

June 20, 2011

Among many items in the ongoing mini Aum festival at the Stone are two that incite a few key taps. According to Mr. Aum: “The focus is on jazz forward / avant-garde soul, with select excursions elsewhere. I thank The Stone for the opportunity to ask some of my favorite musicians & human beings to share ...

Joe Morris: Today on Earth; Colorfield; The Necessary and the Possible; Fine Objects

by Wilbur MacKenzie
January 16, 2010

Joe MorrisToday on EarthAUM Fidelity2009 Joe MorrisColorfieldESP-Disk2009 Joe Morris/Simon H. Fell/Alex WardThe Necessary and the PossibleRecord Label #3Year Joe MorrisFine Objects

Freedom Right Now

By Timo Shanko

Label: Skycap Records
Released: 2004
Track listing: The Emperor Has No Clothes/ Freedom Right Now/ Shim/ Forever Recurring Image A.L.P./ The Crux/ Humunculus/ Goes Around Comes Around/ Hot City