Le hautbois révolutionnaire
Christopher Palameta; Notturna
ATMA ACD2 2832 (atmaclassique.com/en/product/christopher-plameta-the-revolutionary-oboe)

Released in June 2026, Le hautbois révolutionnaire (Chamber Music for the Oboe from the Revolutionary Period) explores chamber music for the oboe from the late 18th century, a fascinating period when the instrument was undergoing significant changes in its keywork and expanding into new chamber music repertoire. Montreal-born oboist Christopher Palameta, a specialist in historical oboes, performs with the period-instrument ensemble Notturna in a programme featuring music by Mozart, Devienne, Kreutzer, Boccherini, Gluck, Grétry and Widerkehr.

Palameta performs on a Parisian oboe made by Christophe Delusse around 1785, offering a wonderful glimpse into the sound world of the period. The instrument has a remarkably dark and mellow tone. It is particularly interesting to hear Mozart’s Oboe Quartet performed on an instrument from this time. Written for an exceptionally accomplished oboist, Mozart pushed the instrument to unusual technical and registral extremes, taking advantage of the evolving capabilities of the oboe. Palameta handles these demands beautifully, creating an impressive illusion of lifted phrase endings and executing nuanced scalar passages. The performers also improvise on repeated sections, with tasteful ritardandos and ad libitum moments that add spontaneity and charm. The second movement features a remarkable cadenza that ventures into an extreme upper register—an impressive feat on an instrument of this period.

Throughout the album, Palameta’s technique is wonderfully clean and virtuosic, with excellent control and intonation. Notturna’s playing is equally beautiful, with elegant, arching phrases and exquisite taste throughout. The ensemble has a wonderful sense of balance and dialogue, allowing the music to feel both refined and spontaneous. 

A beautiful and fascinating recording that offers both an engaging musical experience and a glimpse into the remarkable evolution of the oboe.

Johannes Brahms – Complete Clarinet Works
Runar Oskarsson; Helga Bryndis Magnusdottir; Sigurdur Bjarki Gunnarsson; Siggi String Quartet
Sono Luminus SLE-70048 (sonoluminus.com/sonoluminus/brahms-clarinet-works)

In 1891, despite having felt burnt-out as a composer, Johannes Brahms abruptly ended his self-imposed “retirement” after hearing Richard Mühlfeld play Weber’s Clarinet Concerto and Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. Brahms’ final, autumnal chamber works, written for Mühlfeld, provide, says Icelandic clarinetist Rúnar Óskarsson, “an escape from the speed and noise of modern life.”

This two-CD set begins with the longest and greatest of these compositions, the Quintet in B Minor, Op.115, in which Óskarsson is joined by the Siggi String Quartet. Their unhurried tempi in the opening Allegro spotlights Brahms’ intricate instrumental interactions. The hushed Adagio is filled with nostalgic yearning, its slowly drawn-out ending suggesting a reluctance to wake from a beautiful dream. The third movement is treated less like a scherzo than as a fondly remembered echo of the Adagio. In the final Con moto, the “moto” is restrained, closing with a deep, contented sigh.

The Trio in A Minor, Op.114 finds Óskarsson, Siggi Quartet cellist Sigurđur Bjarki Gunnarsson and pianist Helga Bryndía Magnúsdóttir adopting slower-than usual tempi, the opening and closing Allegros sounding more like Andantes, the entire work glowing as if receiving a wonderfully warm, tender caress.

On Disc Two, Óskarsson and Magnúsdóttir bring generous expressivity to the Sonatas, Op.120 - No.1 in F Minor and especially No.2 in E-Flat Major, with its Molto appassionato central movement.

These CDs are ideal accompaniments to late-night, wine-infused introspective reflections, but they offer profoundly rewarding listening at any time of day.

Herstory: Solo Piano Works from Female Composers of Colour
Luke Welch
Independent n/a (lukewelch.ca)

There is no disputing the tremendous influence Black musicians have had on every aspect of American popular music going as far back as the pre-Civil War period. Less well known are those who followed the path of traditional classical composers, choosing an idiom closer to that of 19th century Europe. Despite the significant number of women included in the latter group, today their names remain relatively obscure.

In this attractive recording – appropriately titled Herstory – Toronto-born pianist Luke Welch explores the vital contributions made by women composers of colour from the mid-19th to the early 20th century, including works by Florence Price, Francisca Gonzaga, Amanda Aldridge, Viola Kinney, and Estelle Ricketts. Price is the best-known of these composers, born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1887.  Her Etude which opens the disc, is a pedagogical piece requiring considerable dexterity, making use of the full keyboard, while the impressionistic Memory Mist, is gently lyrical. 

Brazilian-born Gonzaga was very much a ground breaker, earning a reputation as a composer, pianist, and conductor despite lifelong personal challenges. Compositions such as Altraente, Grata Esperanza and Walkyria are finely crafted miniatures, frequently incorporating Latin rhythms. Throughout the recording, Welch performs with an elegant sensitivity, perfectly suited to the repertoire.

Aldridge’s singing career was cut short by laryngitis, and she subsequently turned to composition under the name Montague Ring. Her two suites Four Moorish Pictures: An Eastern Suite and T’Chaka: African Suite contain evocative rhythms and harmonies and are fine examples of the trend towards exoticism prevalent in early 20th century British piano music.

Kenney’s Mother’s Sacrifice and Ricketts’ Rippling Spring Waltz round off a satisfying program. Kudos to Mr. Welch for shedding light on some hitherto unknown – but most deserving – repertoire.

Goyescas
Charlotte Hu
Pentatone PTC 5187522 (pentatonemusic.com/pianist-charlotte-hu-presents-goyescas-featuring-works-by-enrique-granados/)

Indirectly, Enrique Granados’ incandescent six-movement piano suite Goyescas (1911), inspired by Francisco Goya’s artworks, led to his death. His opera, also titled Goyescas (1914), employing themes from the suite, was produced at the Metropolitan in New York in 1916, Granados in attendance. Accepting an invitation to play his music for President Wilson, he missed the ship he had booked for his return to Europe. He and his wife died when the ship they took instead was hit by a German torpedo. Thankfully, his music survives.

From the opening bars, we feel ourselves in Spain, eavesdropping on a flamenco serenade, Los Requiebros. In Coloquio en la Reja, we’re privy to an intimate dialogue that begins hesitantly, then progresses to smiles, perhaps even an embrace, ending with whispered repetitions of “Adios.” El Fandango del Candil is a non-stop, pulsating dance, replete with wildly strumming guitars and vigorously stomping feet. Quejas o la Maja y el Ruiseñor, a heartbroken love song, is followed by the sombrely dramatic El Amor y la Muerte: Balada. The suite ends with Epilogo (Serenata del Espectro), an eerie fantasia. 

Under the frisky fingers of Taiwanese-American pianist Charlotte Hu, artist-in-residence at Temple University in Philadelphia, Granados’ bar lines disappear, consecutive measures rarely in the same tempo. Hu’s unpredictable, extraordinarily flexible phrasing makes the entire 54-minute suite riveting listening throughout. Hu adds as encores the two most popular of Granados’ Danzas Españolas, No.2 “Oriental” and No.5 “Andaluza.” Brava!

Hindamars
Fabrice Ferez; Marc Panillon
Claves Records 50-3120 (claves.ch/fr/collections/new-releases/products/hindamars)

French double-reed virtuoso Fabrice Ferez and pianist Marc Pantillon perform works by three composers who fled Nazi Germany: Paul Hindemith settled in the U.S., Josef Tal went to Palestine, Erwin Schulhoff unwisely chose Czechoslovakia; he was eventually arrested and died in a Nazi prison.

Two sonatas by Hindemith, both lasting about 12 minutes, surprised me with their warm tunefulness, unlike his often dry academicism. The Oboe Sonata (1938), in one movement, alternates melancholy with assertiveness. The English Horn Sonata (1941) is in two movements, the first cheerful and bouncy, the second slow and dreamy before returning to the buoyant spirit of the first.

Tal’s unpublished, seven-minute Oboe Sonata, composed after WWII, begins slowly and restlessly, seemingly searching for resolution. A sudden, brief surge of energy occurs, but the “search” resumes and the sonata simply fades away.

The jazz-loving Schulhoff’s 15-minute, four-movement Hot Sonata (1930), originally for alto saxophone, is performed here in Ferez’ arrangement for English horn. It’s great fun – bluesy and honky-tonky, ending in a Gershwinesque mix of moody melody and syncopated rhythms.

There’s more jazziness, though of the understated, late-night, booze-mellowed variety, in Three Pieces, each about three minutes long, commissioned for this CD from jazz pianist Marc Perrenoud (b.Berlin, 1981). In Hindamars, Perrenoud imagines Hindemith on Mars, his music expanding in Mars’ lower gravity. Blue Hope hypothesizes an encounter between Hindemith and Schulhoff, while in Les Trois Tours, Manuel de Falla watches fires burning in Prague (!).

Solstice
Adam Cicchillitti; Denis Plante; Orchestre Classique de Montreal; Jean-Marie Zaitouni
ATMA ACD2 2936 (atmaclassique.com/en/product/solstice-adam-cicchillitti-denis-plante-astor-piazzolla)

Denis Plante (bandoneon) and Adam Cicchillitti (guitar) collaborate and “join” Orchestre classique de Montreal under conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni as integrated solo voices, creating a balance point, like a solstice. Instrumental colours, conversations, styles like classical, tango, dance, popular and jazz explore and combine Southern/Latin American and Northern/contemporary Canadian music traditions.

Plante’s composition Ciudad-Soledad is the perfect introduction. Loud opening with rhythmic orchestral music and bandoneon lines. Melodic conversations between bandoneon and guitar above accented symphonic beats lead to a slower mid-section with solos. The pace gradually picks up resulting in a closing highlighted with accented chords. 

Mexican Manuel M. Ponce’s three movement Concierto del sur blends in Spanish modal inflections. The Allegro moderato movement has alternating guitar and hushed orchestra lines and accents, featuring Cicchillitti’s colourful playing of detached picked strings, contrasted with smoother melodic lines. 

Astor Piazzolla’s tango-nuevo style Hommage à Liège (1984) is a three-movement double concerto for bandoneon, classical guitar, and symphony. Introduction has a sad, serious guitar solo until the bandoneon enters with quieter harmonic lines and melodies. Third movement Tango opens with Plante’s brilliant bandoneon playing, then a full orchestral tango with driving rhythms.

Plante’s enticing arrangement and performance of Piazzolla’s Oblivion for strings, bandoneon and guitar maintains Piazzolla’s expressive milonga style melody and arpeggiated accompaniments. Canadian Luis Ramirez’s Sola from his Immigration Suite for string orchestra and bandoneon has strident tango style high pitched strings against lower orchestral chords hauntingly suggestive of troubling immigration experiences.

The Canadian musicians perform these timeless compositions passionately.

Nicole Lizée – Zonely Hearts
Kronos Quartet; Nicole Lizée
Centrediscs CMCCD 34625 (centrediscs.bandcamp.com/album/nicole-liz-e-zonelyhearts)

When longtime friends and collaborators such as the Kronos Quartet and Nicole Lizée build a project after 16 years, you can expect something extraordinary. Zonely Hearts, the latest from Kronos, is the delicious party we all get to attend.

Beginning with Death to Kosmische, Lizée begins to weave her magic, reflecting on her “love/hate relationship with the idea of genres.” The immediate dissection of the Kosmische style (a 1970s West German experimental electronic genre focused on ambient, space-inspired soundscapes and innovative synthesizer use) is superbly described by blending “archaic” technologies with composed strings to emulate delays and effects. The quartet becomes a single entity, nearly a parody of the former style while holding it up to the light for the transparencies to blossom layer by layer through the magic of Lizée’s compositional creativity.

The Golden Age of the Radiophonic Workshop (Fibre-Optic Flowers) was born from a BBC project in the 1960s where electronic music was beginning to take shape, and sound sources were gleaned from everyday objects. Organic sounds were then recorded and shaped electronically. Lizée takes the former workshop even further by creating a palette of sounds played in real time, melding synthetic sounds with the analog objects in a structured musical expression.

Black Midi’s title refers to the layering of thousands of notes on MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), virtually “blackening” it; here the composer uses it as a starting point, exploring the possibility of being in the style of film shorts where the performers enhance or manipulate each scene, and the compositional technique is nothing short of brilliant in its effect. 

The final track Zonely Hearts takes cues from Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone; being the most recently composed piece (2021–2023), it’s more relevant than ever, describing “mind control, censorship, surveillance, brainwashing, and revisionist history through altering and banning books.” Here the quartet confirms their bond with the composer, becoming one relentless entity of humanity in a sea of restlessness.

The booklet artwork aptly describes the music, and a DVD of live performances is included.

Noise Trip Explosion
Nolan Hildebrand
Redshift Records TK576 (edshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/noise-trip-explosion)

Toronto-based composer/performer Nolan Hildebrand blends his composing for acoustic instruments with electroacoustic processing methods using a live feedback mixer, data-generated noise, and interactive electronics. Performed by Toronto musicians Colin Fisher (saxophone), Veronica Zupanic and Roan Ma (violins), Hirad Moradi (piano), Patrick O’Reilly (guitar) and a host of percussionists, we are treated to five experimental works composed between 2022 and 2025.

Generative open graphic score #1 features Fisher playing from a Rorschach-like graphic score, and improvising. Hildebrand operates the live mixer to capture Fisher’s solo saxophone playing, and to create “noisy” saxophone feedback. Hildebrand either keeps them separated or fused together, making this brilliant harsh work volatile and perhaps difficult listening, but forever worth the effort. There’s more live Hildebrand electronic manipulations of Zupanic, O’Reilly and Moradi in knurl cracked green, with clear instrumental/electroacoustic shorter parts, and fascinating colours. 

Ma plays from an open graphic score with an electronic audio part drawn from raw data from hundreds of files in Raw Data Speed Demons. In portals II (everywhere and everything right now) Fisher, O’Reilly and Louis Pino (drum kit, tam-tam) choose to play alone or with each other via coloured shaped portals, without any processing from Hildebrand, but wide spanning electronic sounds create his illustrious sonic self-defined “multiple sound universes.” The disc concludes with DADA Bender for percussion sextet, fixed media electronics, mixer feedback and data bending, resulting in a lighter, more fun work.

Though at times loud, loud, loud, harsh and intense, these are diverse contemporary musical sounds to relish.

Looking Glass
David Occhipinti; various artists
Elastic Recordings OM 009 | ER 027 (davidocchipinti.bandcamp.com/album/looking-glass-elastic-recordings)

Partly inspired by literature – In particular the logic-defying works of Lewis Carroll – David Occhipinti shows himself to be a masterful storyteller through the medium of the string quartet throughout Looking Glass. It makes sense that he would thrive in this medium, given his commitment as a compositional mind to precise detail, intricate phrasing, subversive metrical considerations and contrapuntal flair. 

This may not be a string quartet in the traditionalist sense, as Occhipinti’s own guitar exists in place of one of the violins, but it is certainly one in the expressive, tonal and literal (there are four stringed instruments present) sense. In any case, it would be folly to treat the other three members of the quartet as if they were mere canvas for Occhipinti’s vision; Aline Homzy (violin), Steven Dann (viola) and Maria Zachariadou (cello) each provide their own emotive depth and interpretive verve to their parts. 

Through each piece, the quartet continuously shifts modes of interchange in the holistic sense and in the internal sense. The Fruminous Bandersnatch, the album’s longest track and in certain thematic respects its centrepiece, is a 13-minute-long conversation where nary a word is uttered. The guitar and the trio trade purely gestural tangents and anecdotes, until it builds into a fiery exchange that is the instrumental equivalent of impassioned interlocutors talking over each other; yet the whole affair never ceases to be pretty. Looking Glass is an apt title, as the album is a perceptual odyssey.

Brian Dickinson – October Songs
Brian Dickinson; Kelly Jefferson; Jim Vivian; Penderecki String Quartet
Cellar Music CMF041026 (briandickinson.bandcamp.com/album/october-songs)

Exceptional jazz pianist and composer Brian Dickinson has just released a profound recording that integrates the beauty of a string quartet with the improvisational complexity of jazz. Brilliantly produced by Dickinson (and engineered by Chad Irschick), the gifted musicians of the Penderecki String Quartet (Jerzy Kaplanek and Jeremy Bell on violin, Christine Vlakj on viola and Katie Schlaikjer on cello) are brought into a contiguous musical relationship with A-List jazzers and Dickinson’s long-time collaborators, Kelly Jefferson on tenor and soprano saxophones and bassist Jim Vivian.

All of the material was composed by Dickinson, with the exception of the lovely Touch Her Soft Lips and Part, from British composer William Walton. Dickinson has always been captivated by the relationship between small jazz groups and chamber music ensembles and explores it throughout. First up is Autumn Glow. The nearly unbearable beauty of this track is perfectly supported by Vivian’s sonorous and expressive bass work. The synergy here is breathtaking, as is the composition. When Dickinson enters on piano, the musical mis en scene is complete.  

Clarity, taste and skill are ever-present, propelling the strings and the improvisations by Dickinson, Vivian and Jefferson into a higher vibrational realm. The three-part October Songs is a triumph, as well as a profound emotional journey. In part one, Dickinson utilizes the quartet’s staccato, arco lines as a rhythmic infrastructure, which morphs into a pulsing backdrop for Jefferson and Dickinson’s soloing, and vibrant pizzicato strings announce the end of winter in Spring Sprung In. 

Without question, this is one of the most original, well-produced and masterfully rendered recordings of the year. Bravo!

Amanda Tosoff – Where the Joy Is
Emilie-Claire Barlow; Allison Au; Amanda Tosoff; Jon Maharaj; Morgan Childs
Cellar Music CMF100125 (amandatosoff.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-joy-is)

A Marvelous Party
Duchess
Anzic Records (ink.anzicrecords.com/ANZ-0096)

The world is in dire need of cheering up, and two new albums have answered the call. 

First is from composer and piano player, Amanda Tosoff, who is wrapping up her artful trilogy (which started with Words in 2016 and Earth Voices in 2021, the latter reviewed in these pages in Volume 26, Number 6, March 2021) with Where the Joy Is. Born out of post-pandemic existential angst, this album is essentially about finding happiness in new ways and in old comforts. 

The number of personnel is substantially pared down from the ambitious Earth Voices, but when the roster is Tosoff (keys), Alison Au (sax), Jon Maharaj (bass), Morgan Childs (drums) and Emilie-Claire Barlow (vocals), who else do you need? Especially when the compositions demand a precise, agile unit, as Tosoff’s do. The album veers momentarily into standard territory with a gorgeous rendering of This Time the Dream’s on Me. There’s also a reprise from Earth Voices of Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and the Drum, but when the message is basically a plea for a powerful nation to stop being hostile towards its friends, it bears repeating, yes? Otherwise it’s all Tosoff’s well-crafted music, with lyrics by Jodi Proznick on a joyous ode to childhood, Little One. Two poems by Canadian writer Marjorie Pickthall were the source for Thoughts and Love Said which explore themes of learning to let go and allowing love and art to happen in their own time. 

In a completely different vein is A Marvelous Party. The fourth release from New York-based, two-thirds Canadian group, Duchess, the album showcases the vocal trio’s tight harmonies (à la Andrews Sisters) and penchant for jokey, light-hearted performances (à la Rat Pack). The three singers--Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Sylianou--achieve a beautiful blend which necessitates a somewhat restrained approach. So there are no diva turns here, but plenty of solid, skilled vocalizing. 

With a full band of rhythm players plus 5 horns (arranged by Oded Lev-Ari) the group swings its way through mostly post-World War 2-era hits made famous by other jokesters like Dick Van Dyke (Put on a Happy Face) and Dean Martin (Ain’t That a Kick in the Head). Peggy Lee’s bittersweet Is That All There Is? in particular strikes a chord with “If that’s all there is, my friends, then let’s keep dancing, let’s break out the booze and have a ball.” Indeed.

In Real Life
JabFung
Independent (jabfung.bandcamp.com)

The album art really fits the music flawlessly here; multimodal, intermeshed and finding multiple simultaneous access points with which to engage the senses. Bandleaders Julian Anderson-Bowes and Anthony Fung continue to build creative momentum from last year’s debut record, refining their sound while painting over the peripheral sonicscape with new radiant elements. The final mix is more pristine than pristine (not backhanded, it sounds incredible), while the band’s ideas are rounded out with real experimentation and grit. 

Each instance feels dynamic and full of potential to fluctuate in a single breath. One cannot with confidence guess where the metre or a soloist’s line is heading, but this unpredictability invariably leads to exciting and even intuitive places. Intricate melodicism and rhythmic intensity are primary sources of intrigue throughout the tracklist, with the serpentine Skander being particularly addictive as a result of this overt synthesis, while the humorously-albeit-existentially-titled Methadone for Doomscrolling immediately recreates this effect in a more patient and understated way. 

As an ensemble, JabFung’s aural road mapping within each piece often visits two theoretical extremes in quick succession as a means of slowly eroding any differences between these modes. There will be an elaborate bass solo that plays with time and texture underneath blissful horn pads, with the totality making perfect sense. If there is one thing that unites the success of everything this album sets out to convey, it is JabFung’s steadfast commitment to their craft. 

Listen to 'In Real Life' Now in the Listening Room

Le Sourire
Jean Derome & Somebody Special
ambiances magnetiques AM 286 CD (ambiances-magnetiques.bandcamp.com/album/le-sourire)

This is Canadian saxophonist, bass flutist, vocalist Jean Derome and ensemble Somebody Special’s second recording of improvisations, adaptations and swing touches on compositions by soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy (1934-2004). The band takes its name from Lacy’s tune of the same name. Derome’s longtime collaborators are Normand Guilbeau (double bass), Pierre Tanquay (drums) with new members Alexandre Grogg (piano) and Karen Young (vocals). Together their musical ideas and performing expertise create brilliant, tight renditions of 11 Lacy originals featuring settings of texts by diverse writers Anna Akhmatova, Samuel Beckett, Robert Creeley, Bob Kaufman, and Judith Malina.

Jack’s Blues starts with Derome’s attention-grabbing sax solo. Midstream, his alto sax incorporates some bluesy phrasing. His singing blends beautifully in duet with Karen Young in Robert Creeley’s text. Piano and drums add a jazzier feel to the closing held note. The Smile (Le Sourire) encompasses some of the best Derome ideas. Repeated slightly atonal piano, bass held notes and sax start. Young’s emotional singing of Anna Akhmatova text is moving with Derome’s sax lines and his expressive solo is supported by bass line, drum kit and piano chords. High pitched piano solo is followed by vocal re-entry. Touching slower ending with vocal held notes. All the musical lines are independent yet fit together seamlessly, setting the stage for the other Lacy songs here. 

Slower, hypnotic, calmer instrumentals and Akhmatova text feature in The Cuckoo. Young’s hilarious pronunciation of the word “cuckoo” evokes the cuckoo clock’s “singing.” Derome leads the other tracks with equal musicality.

 Liner notes with bilingual French/English lyrics are included. Derome’s solo and ensemble music is always SO carefully adventurous yet thoughtful in these renditions of Lacy compositions!

Platanus
Scott Thomson; Allison Cameron
ambiances magnetiques AM 287 CD (scottthomson.bandcamp.com/album/platanus)

When it comes to improvised music, some of the most magical moments to me as a listener occur when I cannot pinpoint precisely which participant was responsible for a particular sound. These moments can be fleeting, and the illusion can be broken with relative ease, but they are transcendent; even hierarchy-disrupting. Suddenly, distinctions between voices and textures cease to matter as much, instruments shed their skin to merely become skeletal shapes, and the ensuing output becomes all that is truly real in the mind’s eye. I bring this up to say, Platanus has too many of these to count, and they accumulate even more on repeat listens. 

The improvising duo of Cameron and Thomson is truly formidable, both as a sum and as a cohesive unit. Individually, their voices on their instrument(s) have been honed and expanded to the point of being able to convey a universe of textural information alone, and the collision of these cosmic expanses amplify this exponentially. Together, a word like “telepathy” does the tangible level of active listening and deep consideration for where each micro-gesture fits. At any given second, both musicians can be a percussionist, an operatic voice, a field of crickets, an intercepted radio signal or the scrape of sheet metal. Pairing electricity with brass in this way places digital and analog sound on the same continuum, with the utter dismantling of such a distinction being ultimately achieved.

The Wolf Sleeps Alone
Strat Andriotis
Dekatria Records (stratandriotis2.bandcamp.com/album/the-wolf-sleeps-alone)

The guitarist/composer Strat Andriotis was born in Greece and his family immigrated to Canada when he was four. He lives in Hamilton and has released several earlier albums with different instrumentation such as guitar, piano and violin and a larger group with bass and drums. The Wolf Sleeps Alone uses a basic guitar trio format with Alex Karcza on drums and Vince Di Francesco on bass to perform Andriotis’ nine original tunes. 

Bullets begins mysteriously with some tense syncopated chords and then moves into more traditional jazz swing and some rapid picking. Can’t Help Myself starts out swinging with angular guitar lines scampering over a solid bass and drums backing. Caretaker is a bit moodier with some tense chordal parts and then deliberately tentative guitar lines and includes a nice bass solo. 

The Wolf Sleeps Alone hangs itself around the guitar playing which can sound hurried, deliberate, introspective and sometimes quite swinging. Andriotis works hard to avoid cliche and presents each chord or note as an original and unique choice. Occasionally the guitar work sounds a bit slapdash, but I believe this is simply a result of always pushing for originality and that is what makes this album interesting and evocative. 

Listen to 'The Wolf Sleeps Alone' Now in the Listening Room