INDY Week's music blog
— Todd Morman, The Independent Weekly
We asked 136 jazz journalists to pick their favorite albums that came out this year. Out of over 700 nominees, here are their collective top 50 picks, along with top finishers in the Latin jazz, vocal, debut and reissue categories.
— Francis Davis, NPR Music
"beautiful at times, stark, aggressive, ethereal, playful, thoughtful"
— Houston Culture Map
Chris Becker interviews Jeff Scott about the challenges of arranging Shaheen’s piece for the quintet as well as what it means to be a chamber wind ensemble in the 21st century.
— Sequenza 21
“Visionaries: A New Generation of Composers,” presented by the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival
— Jack Meyer, Huffington Post
Imani Winds Full Cafe Concert and Interview with host Jeff Spurgeon
— Jeff Spurgeon, WQXR
"Imani's performance was brilliant --intense, dynamic and wildly colorful."
— James McQuillen, Oregon Live
"The setting might be small, but in this clever arrangement by Jonathan Russell, we learn that a wind quintet, when called upon, can make a mighty and sonorous wail. Just listen to how the Imanis cap off 'Dances of the Young Girls' with the entire quintet in full cry (at about 4:30 into the video). The bassoon repeats a fat bass line while the clarinet runs its snaky scales. The piccolo, in piercing chirps, serves as a foil to a frenzied oboe and snarling 'whoops' from the French horn."
— Tom Huizenga, NPR Music
"Imani Winds unleashed a hurricane of creativity in New Orleans on Monday, bringing the 2012-2013 season of the Friends of Music to a glorious climax with snapping fingers, an audience sing-along and an astounding blend of jazz expressivity and classical chops. The concert, at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall, made it clear why this quintet has been tapped to work with superstars like Wayne Shorter and Yo-Yo Ma."
— Chris Waddington, New Orleans Times Picayune
"Just listen to them play ... whatever. Bassoonist Monica Ellis usually takes the bass line, pumping out undulant rhythms and harmonic ideas. Jeff Scott soars ahead on the French horn. Coleman’s flute, Adam’s clarinet and the oboe of Toyin Spellman-Diaz weave a supple musical fabric.
"As an ensemble, the Imani Winds cultivate the big, rich sound one associates with classical players -- and they also display the daring, respond in-the moment qualities one associates with a swinging jazz combo."
— Chris Waddington, New Orleans Times Picayune
Read More
"Tsigane showed how the ensemble as a whole shared a flexibility of rhythm and time while also showcasing the individual talent of each player with the perfect balance and blend of all parts which chamber ensembles strive for over years. Apparently, sixteen years of the same players’ hard work together can yield fantastic results!"
— Andrea McKerlie, Classical Voice of North Carolina
"This performance was the creative handiwork of artists who entertained an appreciative audience."
— Carolyn Stephens, Journal Gazette/Times-Courier (IL)
"Except for Paul Hindemith’s austere but humorous Kleine Kammermusik, Op. 24, Sunday’s works pushed European classical structure and style to the side, virtually creating new musical idioms. Yet the group echoes the fresh plein-air sound of cool breezes and incisive energy that has marked outdoor wind ensembles since Mozart’s day."
— Cecelia H. Porter, Washington Post
"But it's the 23-minute 'Pegasus,' from Shorter's Los Angeles performance where the quartet was expanded to a nonet with the five-piece Imani Winds, that is the album's centerpiece—and highlight. Not since Alegria (Verve, 2003), his most recent studio recording, has Shorter worked with a larger ensemble, and while that album was plenty ambitious, 'Pegasus' trumps it in concept and execution, its powerful blend of form and freedom inspiring such powerful extrapolations from Shorter (again on soprano) that Blade can be heard, in the background, saying 'Oh my god!'"
— John Kelman, All About Jazz