New releases from Robert Forster, Self Esteem, and Arve Henriksen

Ches Smith
Interpret It Well
Pyroclastic Records
★★★★★
THIS album is a sizzler. With percussionist Ches Smith, pianist Craig Taborn, Mat Maneri playing viola and guest guitarist Bill Frisell, it’s a melange of full-blooded musicianship, on-the-cusp melody and ever-inventive improvisation that frees its listeners’ spirits to make their own interpretations after months of creative confinement.
The music’s “open sections told their own stories, revealing unearthed dimensions,” says Brooklyn-based Smith. Taborn’s pianism is like universal drums — listen to the title track — so much so that he and Smith are like two drummers drumming.

CHRIS SEARLE wallows in an evening of high class improvised jazz, and recommends upcoming highlights in May




STEVE JOHNSON, CHRIS SEARLE and TONY BURKE review new releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ


