Tag Archives: Contemporary jazz

Garrett Wingfield’s Octopod – Monoliths and Sepulchres

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Thoughts

For full disclosure, yes, I’ve backed this project on indiegogo. Nonetheless, I think this album is a really awesome one! Monoliths and Sepulchres is the debut full-length from Denton, Texas-based experimental jazz unit The Octopod. The aptly-named Octopod features eight musicians, including three horn-blowers (correction: five). As such, their music is heavily textured and rich. The album moves from free jazz during the prelude, postlude, and interludes to composed scores in the main tracks. Consequently, the result is a highly aberrant album that’s nonetheless a more than recommended listen. Its theme is to grow progressively … Read more

Vincent Touchard – Classe moyenne

by Dæv Tremblay



Vincent Touchard is a French jazz drummer and composer, and brings his quintet formula to make chamber jazz on Classe moyenne. Here, the usual piano, double bass, saxophone, and drums are joined by a cello, while two core members also play clarinet and Wurlitzer piano, and an oboe, clarinet, and bassoon trio is added to the band on three tracks to create a real woodwinds quartet vibe. Classe moyenne is a very relaxed and beautiful jazz album. It’s rather impressive how touching the compositions and playing on the album can be, while staying relatively minimalistic in nature. Throughout more … Read more

Exclusive Video Premiere: Ikarus – Ryuujin

by Deidre House


We are pleased to present a live video of Ikarus performing ‘Ryuujin’ off their most recent album, Chronosome.

Ikarus is a Swiss contemporary jazz band with an interesting configuration. They take a typical acoustic jazz trio composed of piano, bass, and drums, and add two scat vocalists – one male and one female – to the mix. This results in a highly unique sound defined by sublime vocal interplay underlaid by dynamic compositions.

The human voice, unbound by language, is more versatile than any other instrument one might use. Ikarus certainly proves that with their stellar performance. The rhythm … Read more