John Murph
John Murph writes about music and culture and works as a web producer for BETJazz.com. He also contributes regularly to The Washington Post Express, JazzTimes, Down Beat, and JazzWise magazines.
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Iyer and his trio masterfully articulate a complex composition's exuberant, zigzagging melody.
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"Cornettology" slyly alludes to several of Coleman's compositions without quoting them outright.
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Bypassing histrionics, McFarlane takes a suspenseful route in "More Than Mine (Alternate Take)."
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In a cover of Sly Stone's "Family Affair," Bernstein's gripping arrangement deftly underscores Antony Hegarty's haunting croon.
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The jazz crooner examines the horror of Japan's recent tsunami by studying it from eye level.
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Hip-hop aficionados will recognize "Mystic Brew" as the source material for A Tribe Called Quest's "Electric Relaxation," in which Ali Shaheed Muhammad exhumed Ronnie Foster's then-obscure 1972 soul-jazz tune. In "Mystic Brew (Trixation Version)," pianist Vijay Iyer at once returns the song to its jazz roots and infuses it with modernity.
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Opera places such a high premium on voices that it seems inconceivable to have one without them. Bassist and composer John Patitucci's mesmerizing "Scenes from an Opera," however, evokes opera's suspense and grandeur while eschewing obvious stereotypes — even doing away with vocals altogether.
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Superbly re-arranged by pianist Robert Glasper, Parlato's cover of SWV's "Weak" receives a rhythmic pulse that's elastic and pneumatic by comparison, sometimes evoking the feel of bossa nova. Along the way, Parlato conveys a level of maturity in her sensual but no-frills delivery.
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The epic "Little Bird" demonstrates Jazzanova's artistic maturation as it envelops the phenomenal Brooklyn-based jazz singer Jose James in an orchestral wash of strings, acoustic guitar, stand-up bass, piano, glockenspiel and inconspicuous drum programming.
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Funerals celebrate life as much as they mourn the departed, and Robert Glasper's poignant requiem "Tribute" — assembled in honor of his mother — makes no secret of that. Glasper and his bandmates initiate a plaintive piano-trio hymn that soon underscores Rev. Joe Ratliff's poetic eulogy.