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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

The Angelica Sanchez Nonet Nighttime Creatures Review by Gary Hill This album lands under prog because that's where we put fusion. This sort of experimental jazz seems to qualify. This isn't exactly well-suited to track by track reviews, but that's how we do them here. Overall, while this is all instrumental jazz, and most of it is freeform and experimental, the album definitely varies from piece to piece. There are also a couple that manage to shine above the others for me, but I like all of them. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2024 Volume 1 More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2024.

Track by Track Review

Nighttime Creatures For some reason the freaky arrangement that starts this makes me think of the "Twilight Zone." This is very freeform as it gets going. This keeps reinventing and exploring. It has a lot of intriguing twists and turns and plenty of killer jazz jamming.

C.B. the Time Traveler I really dig the way that instruments dance around one another here. This is killer stuff. It gets pretty crazed at times.

Cloud House This is another classy jazz excursion with a lot of style and plenty of surprises. Again, it gets into some very experimental territory.

Astral Light of Alarid Somehow this feels a little lighter as it gets going, which seems appropriate given the title. It does get into some mysterious territory later.

Lady of the Lavender Mist While on the one hand, this isn't a big change, on the other there is some amazing piano work in a solo later. It's so expressive and potent. In a lot of ways, this track is more melodic and mainstream jazz than a lot of the music here.

Land Here We're back into more freeform and experimental territory here. This is another challenging, but very worthwhile, piece of music.

Ringleader I really like the sort of twisted, dangerous sounding vibe of the early parts this track. There is a jazzy King Crimson element at play here. The number changes and evolves, like pretty much everything here, and there is an intriguing piano showcase part later that ends it.

Big Weirdo Starting tentatively, this grows upward with style and charm. It has some pretty crazy jamming and interplay as it continues.

Wrong Door for Rocket Fuel This is tastefully chaotic and crazed. It's one of the noisiest and freakiest things here. It's also one of my favorites.

Tristeza Much more sedate and understated, this is the quietest track here.

Run Appropriately this has a lot of energy and fire. I'm reminded of old school jazz on this, but it also shifts into freakish territory. This is another highlight of the set for me.

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