By Jerome Wilson, All About Jazz Although the coronavirus has brought live music to a virtual standstill, recorded jazz has continued to pour out over the last few months. Here is a roundup of several recent releases that deserve some attention. Read all tis reviews here.
By Eddie Myer, Jazz Views Chicago bassist Sommers has an impressive CV both as sideman and educator: his most high profile gig is probably holding down the bass chair for Kurt Elling’s band. The typographically challenging Ba(SH) Ensemble is a long-established solo project running alongside his other activities, and anyone expecting something along Elling lines … Read More
By Kevin Johnson, No Treble Chicago-based bassist Clark Sommers has released a new album with his Ba(SH) Trio, entitled Peninsula. The album features Sommers with saxophonist Geof Bradfield and drummer Dana Hall performing seven original compositions. Their unique instrumentation helps to create a new sound, Sommers says. Read the full review here.
By Dan Bilawsky, JazzTimes It takes a lot more than solid musicianship to flow comfortably in the postmodern chordless trio format; shared experiences, memories, understanding, and chemistry are involved too. In the case of Clark Sommers’ Ba(SH), a trio binding the bassist to saxophonist Geof Bradfield and drummer Dana Hall, all the right boxes are … Read More
By Mike Jurkovic, All About Jazz You enter the music of Chicago bassist/composer Clark Sommers with wary expectations: In its open-ness anything can happen. Dark perambulations pop against lighter propulsions. Dialogues take on thesis, equation and whimsy. Discourse holds its own parlance, gives definition, then allows for civil caucus. Because Ba(sh), a trio defined only by … Read More
By Shae Fontana, Bleu Bop The Chicago trio made up of bassist Clark Sommers, saxophonist Geof Bradfield, and drummer Dana Hall, have just released their long awaited sophomore album, “PENINSULA.” Playing together for over twenty years, Sommer wrote seven new compositions with his colleagues in mind. “I specifically wrote the music for those 2 personalities,” … Read More
By Richard Kamins, Step Tempest Ba(SH)’s second album,”Peninsula” (Outside In Music), moves in a similar path to its earlier album. Produced and composed by the bassist (the 2013 date had three pieces by Bradfield plus one each from Thelonious Monk and Billy Higgins), one can sense from the onset here are three musicians who listen, … Read More
By Dave Cantor, DownBeat A bassist equally comfortable backing up vocalist Kurt Elling as he is occasionally performing alongside some of Chicago’s avant crowd and helming his groovier ensemble Lens, Clark Sommers coats post-bop with a veneer of 21st-century exceptionalism and adventure on Peninsula. Full review here.
By Dave Cantor, Downbeat A bassist equally comfortable backing up vocalist Kurt Elling as he is occasionally performing alongside some of Chicago’s avant crowd and helming his groovier ensemble Lens, Clark Sommers coats post-bop with a veneer of 21st-century exceptionalism and adventure on Peninsula. Full review here.
By Hrayr Attarian, Chicago Jazz Magazine Chicago-area native Clark Sommers is a superbly talented and much in-demand bassist with an elegant style. He has distilled the influences of the greats with whom he trained into his unique and sophisticated sound. Despite his busy schedule with various ensembles Sommers also pens intriguing compositions, seven of which … Read More
