Monthly Archives: January 2013

Following on the success of their 2011 collaboration Imaginary Sketches, trumpeter Chad McCullough and pianist Bram Weijters display with their latest release Urban Nightingale that they are truly a perfect match creatively.

Despite originating from opposite ends of the globe, the two have a symbiotic connection from both a perspective of group interplay and also personal voicing.  Illustrated right from the first notes of album-opener “Nightingale,” the duo share an inclination to express smouldering evocative notes with a pensive, deliberate touch.  This often creates a sensation of holding one’s breath for just half-a-heartbeat, and enhancing the anticipation of subsequent notes.  It’s the quality that makes this recording, and the last, a positive winner.

Your album personnel:  Chad McCullough (trumpet, flugelhorn), Bram Weijters (piano, Rhodes), Piet Verbist (bass), and John Bishop (drums).

On Urban Nightingale, this trait is increasingly apparent, as they have upped the dramatic tension more so.  For instance, “Residue” is a song of burning coals… unthreatening until you feel the heat, and “Tired and Dizzy” slowly raises the temperature, imperceptibly at first, but then experienced all at once.  “Phyrgian” and “Flow” are less subtle than the other album tracks, upping tempo and volume, yet without sacrificing the meditative qualities that make their music so captivating.

But despite the preponderance of up-tempo pieces on the current recording, this quartet’s bread and butter are the ruminative cloudy-day tunes that give the impression of falling rain even when the sun is shining bright.  “Buildings in a Dark City” has a contemplative stillness that can’t be broken.  Album-closer “Downtime” is a melancholy tune with pop-music tinged melody that drifts serenely from first note to last.  “Residue” has a heavy heart that struggles to maintain a wide smile.

An impressive follow-up to an impressive initial release.  Looking forward to more of this.

Released on the Origin Arts label.

Jazz from the Seattle, Washington and Antwerp, Sweden scenes.

Cover photograph by Greg Nicholas, with John Bishop doing layouts & design.

You can stream the entire album, and purchase it, at the artist’s bandcamp page.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

Tiny Reviews, featuring:  Dom Minasi and Karl Berger Synchronicity, Jazz Bigband Graz Urban Folktales, and Shims Trio And Again.

Dom Minasi and Karl Berger – Synchronicity

Appealing duo recording from free jazz vets, guitarist Dom Minasi and vibraphonist/pianist Karl Berger.  Minasi’s inquisitiveness seems to match very well with Berger’s free-floating lines, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a “pretty” album, there is a surreal beauty to this music that proves avant-garde and free jazz need not get all up in the listener’s face to get its point across.  And yet another example of how guitar and vibes make the best jazz marriages… warm bright notes that often hang frozen in the air.  Berger has an established history with improvised and outside music, notably his co-founding the Creative Music Studio with Ornette Coleman.  Minasi has put out an array of recordings over the last decade that show his devotion to free improv music, but more importantly, his willingness to present it through as many facets as he can find.

Your album personnel:  Dom Minasi (guitar) and Karl Berger (vibes, piano).

Released on the Nacht Records label.

You can stream the entire album at the label’s bandcamp page.

There’s a bunch of free tracks from other Minasi albums available from his artist profile at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artist.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: MP3

Jazz Bigband Graz – Urban Folktales

This recording came out back in August 2012, and now approximately five months later, I’m finding myself increasingly drawn to it.  Some albums have staying power, but Urban Folktales by Jazz Bigband Graz gets incredibly stronger with the passing of time as it reveals all of its dynamic nuances and textures.  The thing to keep in mind as I briefly talk about this album is that it is, truly, first and foremost, a Big Band recording.  Yes, there is a tasteful use of electronic effects and programming, and they do manage to work a theremin, an electric zither, and synthesizers into the action.  But the most prominent characteristics of this recording are the moments of euphoria when saxophones and trombones combine for uplifting passages, and when trumpets and flugelhorns brightly light up the room with a heavenly brilliance, or the intrepid rhythmic adventures that drive some tunes on epic journeys.  Plenty of guests get worked into the fabric of the ensemble for wonderful effect.  “Rêve Africain” is about as beautiful a big band tune as you’ll hear.  Just a thrilling album that will reward listeners who make a sincere effort to spend time with it.

Your album personnel:  Horst-Michael Schaffer (co-director, trumpet, flugelhorn), Heinrich von Kalnein (co-director, soprano & alto saxes, flute), Christoph “Pepe” Auer (alto sax, clarinet), Herbert Berger (tenor sax, alto flute), Martin Harms (baritone sax, bass clarinet, flute), Bernhard Nolf, Andi Pesendorfer, Axel Mayer, David Jarh (trumpet, flugelhorn), Reinhard Summerer, Daniel Riegler (trombone), Wolfgang Tischhart (bass trombone), Uli Rennert (keyboards, synthesizers), Barbara Buchholz (theremin), Mattias Loibner (electric hurdy gurdy), Christof Dienz (electric zither), Henning Sieverts (acoustic bass, cello), Gregor Hilbe (drums, electronics, programming), and guests:  Theo Bleckmann (vocals), Hadja Kouyate (vocals), Gianluca Petrella (trombone), Nguyên Lê (electric guitar), Verneri Pohjola (trumpet), Robert Friedl (alto saxophone), Johannes Enders (tenor saxophone), Klaus Gessing (tenor saxophone), Robert Bachner (trombone), and Philip Yaeger (bass trombone).

Stream two album tracks here, on the label site.

Released on the ACT Music label.

Jazz from the Graz, Austria scene.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

Shims Trio – And Again

Fast-paced recording by the Shims Trio.  The starting gun goes off just before the first note, and it’s never heard from again.  Tempos are what drives this album, and each trio member puts in his share of sweat equity to get the job done.  Quirky melodies are easy to find, but tough to tie down.  Most pleasing quality of this recording is that even amidst a sea of apparent randomness, the trio performs as a cohesive unit, bringing a sense of togetherness to chaotic sound.  Not an easy trick to pull off.  Nifty album.

Your album personnel:  Nathan Eklund (trumpet), Drew Gress (bass), and Don Peretz (drums, percussion).

The album is Self-Produced.

You can stream the album, and purchase it, at the artist bandcamp page.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: MP3

*****

The material is original to Bird is the Worm, but a portion of my Minasi/Berger review was originally used in my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights to that reprinted material as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…

“New Arrivals Jazz Picks,“ reprint courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2012  eMusic.com, Inc.

As always, my sincere thanks to eMusic for the gig.  Cheers.

There are times I want to give advice about albums similar to how I would about a slowly-developing book or tv show. I want to say things like, “The first couple episodes move a bit slow, but then things take off after that” or “Don’t quit on the book after one chapter, because it gets much better.” But the thing of it is, perhaps those kind of warnings ruin the wonderful surprise that comes later. It’s that type of conundrum that some albums leave me with when I write for this site.

The Chris Greene Quartet recording A Group Effort is one such album. Recorded live at Chicago’s Mayne Stage Theater, the first album track is an introduction by William Kurk. It’s amusing in its way. Second album track “Bride of Mr. Congeniality” is a perfectly nice post-bop tune with a lighthearted groove. With the deluge of new jazz releases that drop from week to week, we live in a time when first impressions raise the stakes and early connections are king. Sometimes we move on to the next thing a bit too quickly.

And that’s why I’m saying just hold on a bit.

Your album personnel: Chris Greene (tenor & soprano sax), Damian Espinosa (piano, keyboards), Marc Piane (double bass), and Steve Corley (drums, percussion).

Third track “Shore Up” is why I’m glad I didn’t move on too quickly to the next CD on the stack of new arrivals. It opens with a simple yet potent repetition by bassist Piane, followed by Espinosa’s quixotic piano lines and the gentle tap of drums by Corley. When Greene enters on tenor sax, it has that evocative slow burn sound of Clifford Jordan’s Magic Triangle quartet, echoing the smiling weariness of “One for Amos” in how it’s both dark and hopeful simultaneously. I don’t think one can understate the value of a song that presents a contrasting emotional template within the same set of notes while giving complexities one simple sole voice. It doesn’t happen near as often as it should. It’s also why I hesitated bringing it up at all. It’s the kind of thing best discovered on one’s own. I almost feel like I should’ve written “Spoilers Ahead” at the top of the article.

But the thing of it is, this album isn’t simply strong echoes of past music. Greene expresses his post-bop sound through different facets. The rapid Latin rhythms of “Future Emperor of Evanston” mesh nicely with Greene’s sudden shifts between languid stroll and mad dash. “Stat” sees Espinosa switching from piano to keys to provide the soul of a funk groove, while Greene switches to soprano to provide some buoyancy in contrast to the nifty grind. “Three & Six” is a ballad at heart, but Greene’s tenor sax gets the blood pumping strong and Espinosa, who begins with a whisper on piano, builds up to match Greene’s pulse on sax. Their rendition of Kenny Dorham’s “Blue Bossa” has Corley throwing down a gauntlet on drums that dares the other quartet members to match his fervor.

And there’s a lot of that throughout A Group Effort. Live recordings are tricky for a variety of reasons. Sound quality, obviously, being one. Having listened to both the CD and MP3 versions of the album, I feel comfortable stating that fidelity won’t be an issue for anybody. Another potential obstacle to overcome on a live recording is making sure that the energy of the performance makes it to the recorded medium, while simultaneously avoiding a tendency to overdo it. Plenty of times I’ve heard live recordings, intended for retail distribution, that just sounded like the musicians got a bit too exuberant in their attempt to bring the stage to the stereo. The thing of it is, the best live performance recordings don’t leave their mark as a measurement of kinetic energy or volume. The key lies in how faithfully the recording reflects the live experience. Does it make the listener feel as if they were present when it happened? Does it provide the listener an approximation of having been there? On this, the Chris Greene Quartet sounds to have succeeded. The fervor of the quartet comes through best of all, but it would mean nothing if the hushed moments didn’t make it across, too.

This is one of those solid albums that deserves some attention, both as a quality recording, but also as a signpost of who to follow down the road. Greene appears to keep an active performance schedule, so you lucky bastards back in Chicago should take advantage.

Self-Produced, but released on Greene’s Single Malt Recordings label.

Jazz from the Chicago scene.

You can stream the entire album, and purchase it, on Greene’s bandcamp page. Worth noting that the Bandcamp version of the album has three bonus tracks totaling an additional 35 minutes of music from the same performance. These bonus tracks don’t appear to be on the CD or on the MP3 albums available at other retail outlets.

Available at eMusic. Available at Amazon: CD | MP3