Monthly Archives: November 2013

Nov 9 2013

Tiny Reviews: Harris Eisenstadt, ACV, MV4tet, Hubert Brundlmayer, & Radio String Quartet Vienna

Tiny Reviews edition!

Featured album:  Harris Eisenstadt September Trio – The Destructive Element.

Plus:  ACV Busk, MV4tet Igapo: Un Univers des Mondes Hybrides, Hubert Brundlmayer Hornhub, & Radio String Quartet Vienna Posting Joe: Celebrating Weather Report.

*****

 

Harris Eisenstadt September Trio – The Destructive Element

Harris Eisenstadt - "The Destructive Element"A skeletal system formed of the blues, but like many Harris Eisenstadt recordings, bones tend to warp and bend and dematerialize in ways not exactly human.  But though this does possess many of the avant-garde characteristics of a typical Eisenstadt recording, it permeates a down home ambiance that’s tough not to fall for.  Many tracks take the form of ballads, and held in combination with the blues, those were raw materials that Eisenstadt’s trio seemed to relish taking their time shaping, and that’s what gives the album much of its down-home demeanor.

Of particular substance is the way the trio format allows saxophonist Eskelin to break out his love song persona… a sound he’s able to achieve, remarkably, on some of the more challenging propositions put down in a recorded format.  No matter how angular or crooked or skewed a piece gets, he’s able to bring a little bit of the ballad to the table.  Take the way the lovely sway of “Back and Forth” follows the serpentine “From Schoenberg, Pt. 1,” a track with a fluid motion and a curious curvature.

Pianist Sanchez is clearly right at home in this shifting milieu.  The tune “Ordinary Weirdness” has her instilling a formal elegance to a song that swims in abrupt starts and stops and changes of speed.  And on a track like album-closer “Here Are the Samurai,” she ramps up the sense of drama on a song built for the big finale.

An album that makes challenging music sound simple.

Your album personnel:  Harris Eisenstadt (drums), Ellery Eskelin (tenor sax), and Angelica Sanchez (piano).

Released on Clean Feed Records.

Download and/or stream a free album track at the artist’s site.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3

 

Other Albums of Interest:

 

ACV – Busk

ACV - "Busk"Interesting quintet date, with a heavy dose of prog-rock shiny notes and electronic geometry, but then the post-bopping heart of the music reveals itself with interludes of jazz sweetness.  More hard edges to this music than soft, more rocking out than swaying to ballads.  But it’s those reveals, the transitions from one sound to the next, where this album shines.  Not an easy thing to accomplish successfully with any type of consistency, but ACV kind of nails it here.

Your album personnel:  Andy Champion (double bass), Graeme Wilson (tenor & baritone sax), Mark Williams (guitar), Paul Edis (keyboards), and Adrian Tilbrook (drums).

Released on Babel Label.

Available at:  eMusic | Bandcamp CD/Digital | Amazon MP3

 

MV4tet – Igapo: Un Univers des Mondes Hybrides

MV4tet - "Igapo"The Swiss quartet MV4tet is comprised of violin, clarinets, bass, and piano.  The music is sometimes charming, sometimes haunting, and always engaging.  Probably best file it under Chamber Jazz… the instrumentation, sound, and compositional quirks all lead to that happy end.  Just a great little find in the new arrivals bin.

Released on VDE-Gallo.  Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3

 

Hubert Brundlmayer – Hornhub

Hubert Brundlmayer - "Hornhub"Intriguing release from drummer Brundlmayer.  Often seems like a straight-ahead affair, but as if a fine mist occasionally passes over the band, their music suddenly becomes more opaque and difficult to make out… leading to some fascinating interludes in between the more conventional stuff.

Your album personnel:  Hubert Bründlmayer (drums), Bastian Stein (trumpet), Alex Löwenstein (alto sax), Seb Zillner (tenor sax), Georg Schrattenholzer (trombone), and Georg Buxhofer (electric bass).

Released on Jazzwerkstatt Wein.  Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3

 

Radio String Quartet Vienna – Posting Joe: Celebrating Weather Report

Radio String Quartet Vienna - "Posting Joe"Have you never much cared for the music of fusion outfit Weather Report, and inexplicably always felt sort of bad that you were never able to get into it?  Well, here you go.  A beautiful album by Radio String Quartet Vienna that offers warm luxuriant harmonies, some urgent tempos, and won’t ever inflict fusion-heavy music upon you.  A way to enjoy Weather Report from afar.  Joking aside, this is a terribly beautiful album with a smart attitude.

Released on ACT Music.  Available at:  eMusic | Amazon CD/MP3

 

*****

Portions of these reviews were 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,“ “New Arrivals Jazz Picks,“ and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks“ reprints courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2013  eMusic.com, Inc.

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

By • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2013 Releases • 0

Nov 8 2013

Nikolaj Hess – “Trio”

 

Nikolaj Hess - "Trio"Trio, by Nikolaj Hess, is one of those albums that illustrates just how much room there is to maneuver within small spaces.  This piano trio keeps the music wound up tight, letting its evocative nature emanate from within.  The softer side of this album prevails, even when the tempo rises up a bit.  The tranquility is established right from the start, and it informs every tune thereafter.

It doesn’t stray very far from those first notes.  It’s a contained peacefulness, kept close to the album’s heart.  And yet, despite keeping close to the heart of things, the combination of strong melodies and a rhythmic approach that tinkers with tempo like a clockmaker altering the stream of time with his stopwatch, this trio offers up a dynamic set of tunes, where the big differences are reflected in the small details.

Your album personnel:  Nikolaj Hess (piano), Tony Scherr (bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums).

The trio opens with a Bob Dylan cover, the first of two on this album.  On “Make You Feel My Love,” the trio expresses all the heartfelt sentiment of the original, but delivers it with a lullaby tranquility that sets the tone for this vibrant recording.

“Black and White” is a melancholy tune expressed with the patience of a setting sun.  On the other hand, “Masters of War,” the other Dylan cover, is an up-tempo piece that has Scherr walking his bass up and down flights of stairs while pianist Hess chooses to slide down the bannisters, instead.

“Impro” is a brief section of skittering piano notes, kicked up by tiny gusts of rhythm.

“Sept 2010” has a pleasantly simple melody that the trio takes for an equally pleasant stroll through the park.  “Kontra,” on the other hand, presents a melody of greater complexity, but finds a way to state it with an embraceable simplicity to match the song previous.  The strong melodic construction continues on “Social Club,” though this time Wollesen and Scherr slip in a little groove to shepherd the melody along.

The chipper rendition of Ellington’s “Cottontail” instills an upbeat charm upon the recording, extending the borders of the album’s range of expression without blurring its tight focus.  And this is proven by the way the trio slips right into the quiet murmur of “Bridge,” a progression that sounds natural and almost expected.

The album ends, first, with the boisterous “Wind,” a track that sets up the melancholy finale of “Stille Hjerte, Sol Går Ned,” a peaceful tune with the old soul of a folk song and the warmth of a fireplace glow.

Just a beautiful album.

Released on Gateway Music.

It appears that you can stream much of the album on Hess’s artist site, found HERE.  A smart idea, because the more of this recording the listener hears, the more they’re going to feel compelled to purchase it.

Jazz from the Denmark and NYC scenes.

Available at:  Amazon MP3| Gateway Store (CD)

By • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2013 Releases • 0

Nov 7 2013

Waclaw Zimpel Quartet – “Stone Fog”

 

Waclaw Zimpel - "Stone Fog"There’s a compelling new release out from clarinetist Waclaw Zimpel.  Stone Fog alternates between delicate expressions of a peaceful state and volatile bursts of unbounded motion.  And it’s the way in which those two polar extremes feed off one another that makes this a winning album.  Tranquil interludes are made that much more evocative by way in which they’re followed by displays of strength… and still evident despite their initial show of restraint.  And those sections in which the kinetic energy is almost too much for Zimpel’s quartet to contain, present themselves with a greater intensity just by way of how they spring from moments of pure serenity.

Your album personnel:  Waclaw Zimpel (clarinet, alto & Bb clarinets, tarogato, overtone flute), Krzysztof Dys (piano, Rhodes), Klaus Kugel (drums, percussion), and Christian Ramond (double bass).

For instance, the slowly unfolding beauty of “Cold Blue Sky” is followed by “Old Feet Feel Out the Path,” an anxious tune that begins with a nod to traditional jazz, but then quickly expands into a frenetic stream-of-conscious conversation with criss-crossing lines of dialog and rapid responses to hurried statements, gaining intensity and volume the longer the conversation goes on.

But the sudden shifts of wind that make this album so riveting aren’t reflected solely through volume and activity, but also in structure. For following the increasing randomness of “Old Feet Feel Out the Path” comes “A Sudden Shift Missed,” a song that has the behavioral traits of an Ornette Coleman Naked Lunch piece… bursts of warped sound that spring out, then immediately coil back into place with a resounding, satisfying thump, implying a sense of definitive form despite the music’s unpredictable nature.

The murmurs and cries of “As the Moon Dips in Nettles” are emitted with a refreshing patience, an attribute that powers the resonance of the barely contained saxophone furor of “One Side of my Face is Colder Than the Other,” a song that continues this album’s pattern.  No different than “Hundred of Wings Steel the Sun,” which begins with an agitation that builds up into a whirlwind of activity before returning to its initial state of mind for the song’s finale.  The shifting dynamics of tempo continue on “River Willows Stray”… a song quiet as a church mouse, and twitters about just as furtively.

The album ends as it began.  The title-track “Stone Fog” patiently shapes itself into a construct of curious beauty… ragged melodic edges, percussion like pock marks across the song’s surface, and yet a spellbinding imagery that can’t be denied.

A compelling album that I keep returning to.

Released on For Tune Records.

Listen to more album tracks on the label’s Bandcamp page.

In additional to Zimple site linked to above, the Zimpel Quartet has a dedicated site, too, linked HERE.

Jazz from Poland.

Available at:  eMusic MP3 | Bandcamp | Amazon CD

By • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2013 Releases • 0

Nov 6 2013

My new Jazz Picks are up at eMusic

 

As most of you are aware, I write a weekly column for eMusic.com that gives a rundown of the best of the new Jazz releases each week (my Jazz Picks).

Anyways, they’ve just been posted up on the eMusic site HERE.

Notable albums from this week’s article are:

Daniel Casimir - "Spaccata"Shai Maestro - "Road to Ithaca"Anna Webber - "Percussive Mechanics"  3 Cohens - "Tightrope"

 

 

 

… and a bunch of other great choices available to you.  Something like 23 recommendations.  A huge week of great new releases.  I could’ve added more to the list, but simply ran out of time.

Enjoy!

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Nov 2 2013

Johnny Butler “Carousel” & Jonah Parzen-Johnson “Look Like You’re Not Looking”

 

There’s a couple new solo saxophone releases that are floating my boat.  Both highlight different approaches to the medium, and the resulting sound of each holds a certain fascination.

Decent solo performance recordings are far and few between.  The sonic possibilities revealed when it’s just the musician and their instrument can, in many instances, present a seeming obstacle of more open space than the musician knows how to fill.  And the absence of interplay with fellow collaborators, an aspect of Jazz that speaks directly to one of its defining strengths, can also hobble the musician when they’re performing all by their lonesome.

But those that embrace that challenge, those that are able to look into the great void that serves as the difference between the sound that emits from their instrument and complete and utter silence, some of the more intriguing music to be heard results from that collision.  Some of it is terrifically challenging.  Some of it is profoundly beautiful.

Which brings me to those two releases.  Let’s begin…

*****

 

Johnny Butler – Carousel

Johnny Butler - "Carousel"If you weren’t told up front, it would be easy to assume that Carousel wasn’t a solo performance recording.  The electronic washes sound like keyboard accompaniment.  The rhythmic constructs sound like a percussionist at work.  The layering of melodic lines gives the impression of multiple reed instruments at play.  But it’s not.  It’s just Johnny Butler, all by himself, manipulating his instrument with both its natural sound and the help with some pedals and looping and effects… all performed in real time with no overdubs or sampling.

Your album personnel:  Johnny Butler (tenor sax, looping, effects).

Carousel sticks to a simple equation, then spends the album’s entirety providing different facets of those components.  Pulsing cadences and languorous drones, and the beauty of this album is the way in which Butler shifts into one before backsliding back to the other.

Album opener “Bowtie” opens strong with with a quick step rhythm, bolstered by the looping of key clicks and curt sax phrases, and he builds that tempo up with an increasingly textured palette as a precursor to the low moan of the finale.

The title-track also begins similarly to “Bowtie,” but drops a linear approach for one that moves in tight circles.  There is a palpable sense of dance to this song’s motion, even if only implied.  That motion continues, but is juxtaposed against sonic washes of melodic drones that, eventually, saturate the entire song.  The rhythmic element makes an appearance as the song reaches its conclusion, but it serves more as echo than counteraction of the low comforting murmur of sax.

“Two Clarinets” has both elements starting right out of the gate.  Long slow soulful saxophone notes intermingle with patient bursts of notes looped through the eye of the melodic needle.  No different than “Rose and Ice,” a nifty melody crosshatched with a lumbering cadence.  It has a mournful presence, but emits warmth, not sorrow.

“Drum Solo” behaves like a Tom Waits performance, with its sly cadence and cool nonchalance with structure, and the added space-age sound effects and hammer clicks take it even further out to the fringes.  And where “Drum Solo” leaned far heavier to the percussive element of this recording, album finale “Stasis” swings to the other extreme.  A return to an atmospheric drift, of saxophone hovering just out of reach, a repetitive sigh atop a low pitched drone, and the echo of both in reply.  And if “Drum Solo” is akin to Tom Waits, “Stasis” ranges far closer to the ambient excursions of Brain Eno’s Music for Airports.

A mesmerizing album with a live wire kick.

This album is Self-Produced.

Jazz from NYC.

Available at:  Bandcamp CD/Digital | eMusic | Amazon MP3

*****

Butler makes full use of looping, electronics and effects without any type of studio manipulation… the kind of thing that can be performed live before an audience as it can in a studio setting.  The next album I’m spotlighting forgoes the effects, but adds an additional instrument to the mix… all the while, still, like Butler, offering up a performance that avoids any use of sampling or overdubbing, and gets recorded in real-time, no different than a live performance.

 

Jonah Parzen-Johnson – Look Like You’re Not Looking

Jonah Parzen-Johnson - "Look Like You're Not Looking"The EP Look Like You’re Not Looking is an extension of baritone saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson‘s 2012 release Michiana… an album with a storytelling presence that was a little bit folk, a little bit jazz, and a whole lot of sonic exploration eclipsing genre.

But whereas his previous release focused on his imaginative take of a real town, his current release introduces his very real reactions to the places encountered while on the road, touring in support of his recordings.  His haunting expressiveness is further enhanced by the introduction of an analog synthesizer to the mix… an instrument he grew fond of while on a tour stop.  Its inclusion transforms the music with only a residual effect, not unlike how the final burning embers of a campfire change the experience from a meditative one into a palpable self-awareness of the nature of things ending.

Intriguingly, the analog synth makes the baritone sax feel less imposing, less assertive, and far more approachable.

Your album personnel:  Jonah Parzen-Johnson (baritone saxophone, vocals, analog synth).

There are two album tracks on this EP.  The first, “Look Like You’re Not Looking” begins with saxophone murmurs and asides, but shifts gears into wails and low soulful cries.  The whine of synthesizer adds shading to the baritone’s darker colors, and the blips and beeps cut through the riveting drone.  The tune ends with the same hushed presence with which it began.

The other album track is “Stay There, I’ll Come To You,” a piece that alternates between a solitary melancholia and a soulful exaltation.  When it’s the former, Parzen-Johnson’s sax sounds distant and opaque.  When it’s the latter, the blues spring to life, balanced by the patient, humming undercurrent of synth.  The song is interspersed with interludes of silence, which gives some sections an abounding loneliness and enhances others with a fuller, richer life for the simple act of their presence, extinguishing the silence which threatened to engulf the song just moments earlier.

A captivating album, one that, I hope, leads to a fuller realization of Parzen-Johnson’s vision.

Released on the Primary Records label.

Jazz from the Brooklyn scene.

Available at:  Bandcamp Digital/Vinyl | eMusic | Amazon Vinyl | Amazon MP3

jonahparzenjohnson_michianaYou can read my review of Michiana, Jonah Parzen-Johnson’s last album HERE, on this site.

By • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2013 Releases, The Two-Fer Review series • 0

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