Photo: Peter Gannushkin

Tonight at 9:00 p.m., alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones continues his four-week residency at the newly renovated Ibeam in Brooklyn.

He’s celebrating his latest AUM Fidelity release, Big Gurl (Smell My Dream), with four consecutive Thursday night performances through November 10th.

Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and admission is $10.

“Sparked by the sonically unpredictable alto saxophone of New York-based composer Jones,” writes JazzTimes reviewer Carlo Wolff, “this tight-knit group knows its way around free-form jazz, funk, even metal—check how drummer Jason Nazary evokes John Bonham on ‘Ol Metal-Faced Bastard.’ Still, this music swings on a foundation of the blues, with Jones’ smears and mild vibrato underlining its vocal quality. Jones can keen, weep, caress—and cut, too. And no matter how abrasive he becomes—parts of ‘Chasing the Ghost’ and ‘E-Gaz’ are defiantly in your face—he convinces. This warm CD sobs and challenges.”

“Fulfilling (and exceeding) expectations,” explains AllAboutJazz.com’s Troy Collins, “Big Gurl (Smell My Dream) is a rightfully compelling follow-up to his stunning debut. With another installment already in the works, Jones has set the stage for a winning series of albums designed to document his rise as one of the most impressive and unique voices of our time.”

Dusted‘s Jason Bivins adds, “Big Gurl is another superb effort from Jones, who is taking a mix of top-shelf ingredients and making them over in his own language. And it’s righteous fun, lest we forget that challenging jazz can hit these buttons, too.”

Learn more about Darius Jones and his AUM Fidelity releases at http://www.aumfidelity.com/darius_jones.html

Carlo Wolff reviews the Darius Jones Trio’s new AUM Fidelity release, Big Gurl (Smell My Dream), in the November issue of JazzTimes.

“Sparked by the sonically unpredictable alto saxophone of New York-based composer Jones,” Wolff writes, “this tight-knit group knows its way around free-form jazz, funk, even metal—check how drummer Jason Nazary evokes John Bonham on ‘Ol Metal-Faced Bastard.’ Still, this music swings on a foundation of the blues, with Jones’ smears and mild vibrato underlining its vocal quality. Jones can keen, weep, caress—and cut, too. And no matter how abrasive he becomes—parts of ‘Chasing the Ghost’ and ‘E-Gaz’ are defiantly in your face—he convinces. This warm CD sobs and challenges.”

Learn more about Darius Jones, who is in residence at the newly renovated Ibeam in Brooklyn the next three Thursday nights, at http://www.aumfidelity.com/darius_jones.html

Mike Shanley reviews Darius Jones & Matthew Shipp’s new AUM Fidelity release, Cosmic Lieder, in the May issue of JazzTimes.

“Alto saxophonist Darius Jones debuted as a leader for AUM Fidelity two years ago,” Shanley writes, “and his highly original sound and improvisational approach make him a good match for Shipp. The 13 tracks on the duets project Cosmic Lieder sound like spontaneous inventions, but both men play pointedly and empathetically, and when they lock into a rhythmic groove it is especially rewarding.”

He adds, “Jones has a startling command of his instrument…He builds on long tones in several tracks, which Shipp blankets in arpeggios or bits of thunder…the variety of sounds these two explore is what makes the session engaging in its entirety.”

Jones and Shipp celebrated the release of Cosmic Lieder on Tuesday night with their debut live performance at Jazz Standard in New York (check out Hank Shteamer’s extensive review at Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches), and they’ve just been scheduled to open AUM Fidelity’s curatorial series at The Stone on June 16th.

Find out more at http://www.aumfidelity.com

The March issue of JazzTimes features the results of the magazine’s Expanded Critics’ Poll, augmenting the Top 50 CDs list it published in the previous issue.

We’re pleased to report our clients were recognized in three categories.

Mary Halvorson placed third and fourth respectively in the Guitar and New Artist categories, and Darcy James Argue‘s Secret Society earned the third spot in the Big Band category.

Congratulations to all the musicians, ensembles, labels, books, radio programs, DVDs, festivals and clubs chosen by the voters.

The January/February issue of JazzTimes features two reviews of our clients’ recent releases, the Mary Halvorson Quintet’s Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12 Records) and I Plan To Stay A Believer (AUM Fidelity), the two-disc live set from William Parker’s Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield.

Of the former, Bill Milkowski writes, “Brooklyn-based guitarist Mary Halvorson is capable of unleashing the kind of subversive broken-glass fury of Sonny Sharrock in full-out skronk mode, or Jimi Hendrix at Monterey. And yet her sonic outbursts are tempered by compositions that are highly intelligent and harmonically sophisticated, full of nuance, beauty and the sound of surprise…the harmonies and interwoven lines that she constructs for trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon, both potent soloists, add layers of depth to this startlingly original and thoughtful music. This is easily one of the most provocative and fascinating releases of 2010.”

Steve Greenlee calls the latter “a superb example of how a pop songbook can be transformed into meaningful jazz. This is a fierce and awesome display of musical prowess. This is one of Parker’s finest projects, and it’s also among the broadest, deepest, richest listens of 2010.”

This same issue also features the results of the 2010 Critics’ Poll, which finds Saturn Sings and its fellow Firehouse 12 Records release, The Whole Tree Gone from Myra Melford’s Be Bread, finishing 16th and 17th respectively in the Top 50.

Today we explore the results from the second of five sections of our recent survey of 50 prominent jazz writers and editors.

This section, called Web and print habits, asked about the jazz-related publications, blogs and Web sites these professionals are reading, how they access them, and if what they read there impacts their own work.

As shown in the chart above, we first asked respondents to indicate which of the eight major jazz magazines they read on a regular basis. The list, which featured English-language publications only, included AllAboutJazz-New York, Cadence, DownBeat, Jazz Improv, Jazziz, JazzTimes, Signal To Noise and The Wire. We also made it possible for people to write-in any other publications as well.

The clear winner was AllAboutJazz-New York with 54.5%. The runner-up was Signal to Noise with 51.5%, followed by DownBeat and JazzTimes, which each scored 48.5%. The Wire (39.4%) and Cadence (18.2%) were next, while Jazziz and Jazz Improv each scored less than 10%.

One write-in vote each was cast for Cuadernos de Jazz, Coda, Improjazz, Jazz Journal and Ritmos del Mundo.

We then asked if the coverage in these publications influenced the respondent’s own work (i.e. discovering new releases, coloring their judgement of artists/releases, etc.).

The results (above) were clear as 85.3% answered in the affirmative.

Next we asked which jazz-related Web sites respondents visit on a regular basis, again spotlighting eight popular choices and giving people the chance to write-in any others they prefer.

AllAboutJazz.com was the clear favorite with 77.4%, with AllMusic.com finishing a close second with 61.3%. Next came Bagatellen with 32.3%, followed by Jazz.com and NPR Music, which each earned 29%. Avant Music News (16.1%), Jazz Corner (12.9%) and PopMatters (6.5%) also got multiple votes.

A significant number of write-in votes were cast for blogs, which we tackle in the next question, but Point of Departure was a popular choice (an admitted oversight on our part), as were Pitchfork and Dusted.

Again, the majority (82.4%) indicated that the content of these sites influence their own work.

When tackling the subject of blogs, we asked respondents to list five of their favorites. Oddly enough, more than half skipped this question completely, and only 37.5% filled in all five slots. Some even dedicated one or more of the slots to expressing their dislike for reading and/or discussing blogs at all.

The calculations don’t apply to write-ins, but the most popular choices were Destination: Out, Do The Math, Free Jazz, Jazz Beyond Jazz, Lerterland and Secret Society.

But this time, when we asked if what they read on these blogs influenced their own work, only 44.4% said yes.

When it comes to accessing the blogs they read, the Web is by far the most popular way with 94.1% giving that answer. Using a built-in blog reader in one’s browser and using a stand-alone RSS feed reader represented the rest of the vote with 8.8% each.

Finally, we asked if any of the respondents have a Twitter account.

Unlike with the blogs, everyone who took the survey answered this question, but only 35.3% said yes.

Tomorrow we’ll look at the third section of our survey, Personal Listening Habits, which features questions about writers’ interaction with jazz radio, their preferences for format (CD, MP3 and vinyl) when purchasing music for personal use, and the amount of music they purchase in a given year.

Please stay tuned!