Derk Richardson

San Francisco

Radio Host at KPFA-FM (Berkeley, CA)

Senior Editor, Afar magazine

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Articles

Joe Fonda Quartet: Eyes on the Horizon

2 weeks ago | theabsolutesound.com | Derk Richardson

A A A That four musicians who’d never played together as a quartet could make such a coherent album owes in part to bassist/flutist Joe Fonda’s past collaborations with pianist Satoko Fujii, with drummer Tiziano Tononi, and with his mentor and the record’s inspiration, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. That an avant-garde session, rife with abstract structures and free improvisations, could have such a comforting effect on a listener is more surprising.
Review: Heather Maloney Mourns and Celebrates Her Father on ‘Exploding Star’

3 weeks ago | acousticguitar.com | Derk Richardson |Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Pat Moran

“Are you floating in the cosmos, finally free from time/ While I’m down here on the highway looking for signs?” asks Heather Maloney in the title track from her new album, Exploding Star, over the light 6/8 strum of her guitar.
Kris Davis Trio: Run the Gauntlet

Mar 15, 2025 | theabsolutesound.com | Derk Richardson |Kris Davis Trio

A A A Most tribute albums feature multiple artists covering one musician’s songs. Pianist Kris Davis takes a different tack on Run the Gauntlet, her first trio recording as a leader in a decade. Joined by bassist Robert Hurst and drummer Johnathan Blake, she pays homage to women jazz pianists who have profoundly influenced her.
Review: Dylan Fowler’s ‘Ebb & Flow’ Is an Eclectic Masterpiece

Jan 24, 2025 | acousticguitar.com | Derk Richardson |Greg Cahill |Adam Perlmutter |Kenny Berkowitz

Fingerstyle guitarist Dylan Fowler straddles multiple worlds, collaborating closely with musicians from Finland, India, Turkey, and across the Celtic diaspora. On this solo album, his first in more than a decade, he brings it all back home, finding his inspiration in American jazz (Keith Jarrett’s “My Song”), Brazilian pop (“Joy”), Bulgarian folk (“Erghen Diado”), and Indian classical (“Six Thaal”) while remaining close to his folk-trad roots in Wales, where he’s lived most of his life.
Alice Coltrane: The Carnegie Hall Concert

Sep 20, 2024 | theabsolutesound.com | Derk Richardson |Alice Coltrane

A A A On February 21, 1971, a week after the release of her iconic Journey in Satchidananda, pianist/harpist/composer Alice Coltrane appeared at Carnegie Hall. Coltrane (aka Turiya) put together a band of 60s avant-garde masters: Pharoah Sanders (saxophones, flute, fife, percussion), Archie Shepp (saxophones, percussion), Cecil McBee and Jimmy Garrison (basses), and Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis (drums), plus Tulsi Reynolds (tamboura) and Kumar Kramer (harmonium).
Margaret Glaspy Connects with Her Younger Self-and an Old Gibson L-00-on ‘The Sun Doesn’t Think’

Sep 15, 2024 | acousticguitar.com | Adam Perlmutter |Greg Cahill |Derk Richardson

Near the beginning of the video to her recent song “Act Natural,” singer and songwriter Margaret Glaspy appears to pull off the impossible feat of changing instruments as often as every beat, cycling through a Danocaster, Rickenbacker, Teisco, National, and others in dizzying sequence. It feels like a celebration of the electric guitar, and, come to think of it, so too does Glaspy’s work in general.
Pharoah Sanders: Pharoah

Aug 22, 2024 | theabsolutesound.com | Derk Richardson

Before he died in September 2022 at 81, tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders was top of mind thanks to his final album, Promises, made with Sam Shepherd (aka Floating Points). Luaka Bop then decided to reissue the coveted 1977 album Pharoah. The new LP is packaged with a second vinyl disc of two previously unreleased live versions of the signature piece “Harvest Time,” a selection of artifact reproductions, and a 24-page booklet.
Adam Rudolph Hu Vibrational: Timeless Boonghee Music 5

May 3, 2024 | theabsolutesound.com | Derk Richardson

A A A A multifaceted percussionist who came to prominence in multicultural settings alongside Don Cherry, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Jon Hassell, and others, Adam Rudolph has been recording as a leader since 1992, and with his Go: Organic Orchestra and Hu Vibrational projects since 2002. Rudolph is a master of time and space, which he makes pulsate hypnotically through canny orchestrations of acoustic and electric instruments and elegant electronic processing.
Review: Plínio Fernandes’ Spellbinding ‘Bacheando’ Explores the Lasting Influence of J.S. Bach

Feb 23, 2024 | acousticguitar.com | Kenny Berkowitz |Derk Richardson

Sometimes it feels almost inevitable that a classical guitarist will eventually record a “Bach album” during their career. Solo guitar arrangements of J.S. Bach pieces have been de rigueur since Segovia first recorded various works in the late 1920s—and then made Bach a vital part of his performing repertoire for the rest of his long, influential career. The appeal and the challenges of playing Bach’s pieces are self-evident.
Review: Teja Gerken’s ‘Test of Time’ Is a Sonic Marvel from Top to Bottom

Jan 26, 2024 | acousticguitar.com | Derk Richardson |Mark Kemp |Kenny Berkowitz

A longtime member of the San Francisco Bay Area fingerstyle guitar community—as well as a writer/editor at Acoustic Guitar for 16 years before co-founding the stringed instrument lesson site Peghead Nation in 2014—Teja Gerken records infrequently, but when he does it’s always a cause for celebration.