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Mar 26 2012

Motian Sickness: The Music of Paul Motian – “For the Love of Sarah”

My album review of For the Love of Sarah by the ensemble Motian Sickness:  The Music of Paul Motian has been published on AllAboutJazz.  You can read the original review HERE, at AllAboutJazz).

*****

There is an edge-of-sleep quality to the recently departed Paul Motian’s drumming, and to much of the music he recorded. It’s a dreaminess that reflects the spark of subconscious creativity even as the body sits at rest. For the Love of Sarah is a tribute to Motian’s music, and from the opening moments it’s like stepping into the middle of a story about a dream.

Your album personnel:  Jeff Cosgrove (drums), John Hebert (bass), Mat Maneri (viola), and Jamie Masefield (mandolin).

It would be difficult not to draw comparisons with another recent Motian tribute album recorded shortly before his passing: guitarist Joel Harrison’s String Choir and The Music of Paul Motian (Sunnyside Records, 2011). But where Harrison’s album embraced the sonorous melodies of Motian performances, Motian Sickness channels the drummer’s rhythmic dynamics. Evidence of this is seen, not just in drummer Jeff Cosgrove’s approach to these ten Motian compositions, but also through the bass, mandolin, and viola that round out the quartet.

Mandolinist Jamie Masefield brings a rustic, earthy quality to the music, and it isn’t such a divergent choice of instrumentation that it causes thematic drift. Many of Motian’s albums, especially on Winter & Winter, had a folkloric quality to them, and the inclusion of mandolin here seems not just an inspired decision but also a logical one.

Violist Mat Maneri captures the hazy sway of many Motian recordings, and has effectively been set up to function as the de facto sax part of Motian’s classic trio with saxophonist Joe Lovano and guitarist Bill Frisell. It’s an illuminating statement by the quartet that it’s not difficult to flip the comparison on its head and posit that Lovano’s slow and winding sax was, all along, the stand-in for viola.

Bassist John Hébert possesses unpredictability throughout—an almost indecipherable pattern, as if hurriedly crossing a stream, leaping from one rock to another with little time to make the next decision. It makes for some thrilling moments.

While melodic excursions like “The Story of Maryam” present some sublime moments of beauty, it’s the rhythmic explorations that provide the album highlights. “Mumbo Jumbo,” with its staccato march of mandolin and bass, and the verging-on-free bursts of dissonance on the opener “Dance” do more than just offer up captivating tunes, they establish the quartet’s rules of engagement with Motian’s body of work. Motian had a sense of rhythm that was as ephemeral as it was dynamic. On For the Love of Sarah, the quartet conjures up the substantive form of Motian’s sound just as proficiently as it imbues it with his ethereal qualities.

The album is Self-Produced.

Download a free album track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artists.

You can stream the entire album, and purchase it, on the ensemble’s bandcamp page.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

By • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2012 Releases • 0

Mar 22 2012

Tiny Reviews: Anders Hagberg, Carmen Lundy, Charles Gayle, and October Trio

Tiny Reviews, featuring:  Anders Hagberg Quartet Stories of Now, Carmen Lundy Changes, Charles Gayle Streets, and October Trio New Dream.

Let’s begin…

 

Anders Hagberg Quartet – Stories of Now

Really intriguing release by Anders Haberg, who in addition to soprano saxophone, also plays a variety of flutes (C flute, bass and contrabass flutes, matusi and harmonic flutes).  The quartet is rounded out with piano, bass, and drums.  It’s an alluring set of jazz compositions that sound influenced by the folk music of his native Sweden.  Quite pretty, introspective without getting sleepy, though some of the world jazz sounding tracks definitely have some punch to them.  ECM fans should probably check this album out.

Your album personnel:  Anders Hagberg (vocals, flute, bass flute, contrabass flute, soprano saxophone, reed organ, Jew’s harp); Johannes Lundberg (vocals, double bass); Joona Toivanen (grand piano), and Goran Kroon (glockenspiel, drums, percussion).

Released on the Footprint Records label.  Jazz from the Gothenburg, Sweden scene.

Available at eMusic.

 

Carmen Lundy – Changes

Can’t let this week of Jazz Picks go and not mention that jazz diamond Carmen Lundy has a new release out.  A set of originals (and one cover).  Backing Lundy’s vocals include mainstays Anthony Wonsey (piano), Kenny Davis (bass), and Jamison Ross (drums).  If you like jazz vocals, just hit the download button and don’t look back. If jazz vocals aren’t typically your thing, you owe it to yourself to give Lundy a listen; Lundy has plenty of talent and jazz cred and shouldn’t be dismissed.  Addition of guests on trombone, flugel, and trumpet are a nice touch.

Guest appearances by:  Oscar Castro-Neves (guitar), Nolan Shaheed (trumpet & flugelhorn), and George Bohanon (trombone).

Released on the Afrasia Productions label.  Jazz from the L.A. scene.

Available at eMusic.

 

Charles Gayle – Streets

Charles Gayle is back, and he hasn’t lost any bit of ferocity with age.  On tenor sax, and joined by Larry Roland (double bass) and Michael TA Thompson (drums), it’s a great set of free jazz, sounding both new and New Thing.  If you like your jazz free and fiery, just hit the download button.  Gayle is a vet of the scene, having played with the seminal artists of the avant-garde scene, and it’s great to see him out with a new recording.  Released on the Northern Spy label, staffed by former members of the ESP label, and musician run; a promising release from these guys.  Recommended.

Jazz from NYC.

Available at eMusic.

 

October Trio – New Dream

Interesting album.  A cyclical twist and crunch and twist again… washing machine jazz; hypnotic in repetition and broken by unexpected jolts of motion.  Opening track “1983” is the kind of tune that draws a listener right in.  On New Dream, October Trio clearly has an album vision, and the variation of sound throughout is as if they attempt to describe that vision in a different language with each tune.  Some moments of a conventional modern jazz sound, some moments that border on free, some that grab hold of a world jazz fusion, etc etc.  It’s one of those albums that might not be love at first sight, but which repeat listenings could bring a strong connection.  Some music is like that.  That’s how this album played out for me.  The more time passes, the more often I get this album in the stereo.

Your album personnel:  Evan Arntzen (tenor & soprano sax, clarinet), Dan Gaucher (drums), and Josh Cole (bass).

Released on the Songlines Recordings label.  Jazz from the Vancouver scene.

Stream the entire album on October Trio’s bandcamp page.

Download a free track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artist and label.

Available at eMusic.

 

That’s it for today’s article, and the third of four parts of the Tiny Reviews from this batch of new arrivals.

Here’s some language to protect emusic’s rights as the one to hire me originally to scour through the jazz new arrivals and write about the ones I like:

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

My thanks to emusic for the freelance writing gig, the opportunity to use it in this blog, and the editorial freedom to help spread the word about cool new jazz being recorded today.

By • Jazz Recommendations - 2012 Releases • 0

Mar 21 2012

Tiny Review: Gary Bartz, Josh Ginsburg, John Raymond, & Myra Melford

Tiny Reviews, featuring:   Gary Bartz Coltrane Rules: Tao of a Music Warrior, Josh Ginsburg Zembla Variations, John Raymond Strength & Song, and Myra Melford & Trio M The Guest House.

Let’s begin…

 

Gary Bartz – Coltrane Rules: Tao of a Music Warrior

Oh hell yes.  Jazz vet, innovator, and legend Gary Bartz has a new album out.  With Gary Bartz on soprano and alto saxophones, bass clarinet, vocals, Barney McAll on piano, James King on bass, Greg Bandy on drums, and guest appearances by Rene Mclean on flute and Andy Bey on vocals. It’s straight ahead jazz with some gospel influences.  It swings and it has soul.  It has Bartz playing Jazz on alto and it has Bartz giving voice to that eerie meditative sound he elicits so wonderfully from bass clarinet.  Andy Bey, who I go back and forth on, is just wonderful on his guest vocal on “Dear Lord”, recalling echoes of Leon Thomas on some of Pharoah Sanders’ releases on the Enja label.  Speaking of labels, this album is released on OYO Recordings, Bartz’s start-up label.  Oh yes, definitely recommended.

Available at eMusic.

 

Josh Ginsburg – Zembla Variations

Debut album for the well-respected bassist and composer Josh Ginsburg, which actually surprised me just because I’m so used to seeing his name appear on favorite albums.  Features Eli Degibri on tenor & soprano sax, George Colligan on piano & Fender Rhodes, and Rudy Royston manning the drums.  An intriguing release.  There’s a math-like angularity to many of the compositions, yet they still swing when they need to.  I love Ginsburg’s arco on the song “Koan”.

On the Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records label, who seem addicted to releasing music slightly skewed from Jazz Center.  Very nice and recommended.

You can stream the entire album on Ginsburg’s bandcamp page.  In addition to the nice mix of file types available on bandcamp, Ginsburg also offers a 24-big audiophile edition of the album.

Jazz from the Brooklyn scene.

NOTE:  About a month after initially writing my above Tiny Review, this album is steadily growing on me.  An album which rewards repeated listening.

Available at eMusic.

 

John Raymond – Strength & Song

John Raymond gets a seriously warm tone out of both trumpet and flugel, and it’s a magnificent balancing weight with the groove of Gilad Hekselman’s guitar and Javier Santiago’s Rhodes. Quintet date is rounded out with bass and drums, and some guest appearances, including Gerald Clayton. Raymond can swing plenty fine, but it’s the ballads and slow-tempo pieces that really see his talent shine. A very likable album, and a great choice for jazz after a hard day at the job.

Your album personnel:  John Raymond (trumpet, flugelhorn), Gilad Hekselman (guitar), Javier Santiago (piano, fender rhodes), Raviv Markovitz (bass), and Cory Cox (drums).

You can stream the entire album on Raymond’s bandcamp page.

Download a free album track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artist.

Released on Strength & Song Records, which appears to by Raymond’s label.  Jazz from NYC.

Available at eMusic.

 

Myra Melford & Trio M – The Guest House

Trio M is Myra Melford on piano, Mark Dresser on bass, and Matt Wilson on drums; all three are virtuosos in their own right.  This is the follow-up to their excellent release The Big Picture. A high watermark for jazz improvisation.  The compositions here are hardly conventional, but they’re also not quite avant-garde… more an impressionistic take on avant-garde.  The trio shows an enviable comfort playing with one another, they give each other plenty of room to solo and display no difficulty keeping step when one wants to stretch out a bit. Plenty of dissonance, but also some seriously beautiful moments of tranquility like on “Hope (for a cause).”  All three are heavyweights on the jazz scene, and following their names to other albums will lead to some great music.

Released on the Enja Records label.  Jazz from the Berkeley, CA scene.

There’s a whole bunch of music to stream from different albums on Myra Melford’s site.  She’s involved in a lot of different projects, so a nice opportunity to discover new music.  I am enamored with many of her albums, so give her music a listen.

Available at eMusic.

 

That’s it for today’s article, and the second of four parts of the Tiny Reviews from this batch of new arrivals.

Here’s some language to protect emusic’s rights as the one to hire me originally to scour through the jazz new arrivals and write about the ones I like:

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

My thanks to emusic for the freelance writing gig, the opportunity to use it in this blog, and the editorial freedom to help spread the word about cool new jazz being recorded today.

By • Jazz Recommendations - 2012 Releases • 0

Mar 21 2012

Piet Verbist – “Zygomatik”

My review of Piet Verbist‘s Zygomatik was originally pubbed at AllAboutJazz.   you can read the original article at AllAboutJazz.

*****

 

Zygomatik has the fiery groove of classic hard bop, but it’s not that simple. There is a rock attitude to this album, and it’s got a Motown sway. This is the kind of album that can be pointed to as a celebration of jazz and an album that will be liked by people for whom jazz really ain’t their thing. It’s an album with complex elements and modulating sounds, but which hits the ears with a seamless cohesion.

These are the characteristics that repeat throughout: swagger, speed, groove and fire.

Your album personnel:  Piet Verbist (bass and compositions), Herman Pardon (drums), Bram Weijters (Fender Rhodes), Matt Renzi (tenor sax), Fred Delplancq (tenor sax), and Vincent Brijs (baritone sax).

The opening track has it’s-Friday-night-in the-city electricity and all the instruments want to celebrate. The second track is a sprint down a packed street during rush hour. The third begins with the drone of bass arco and baritone sax moan, but ends with an inferno. The fourth track is a trippy ballad. The fifth is a thump and a bounce and a groove. The sixth track is the funk and it’s gonna get feet out on the dance floor. The seventh prowls up on Indo-jazz territory but remains shrouded in mystery. The album ends with some bop as a proper send-off.

Just because the bassist’s name displays largest on an album cover, doesn’t mean bass is prominent on the album. It’s an unfortunate occurrence that the bass doesn’t always get a fair shake in the spotlight. Piet Verbist, thankfully, knows how to make his bass sing. On the lower registers, he is the undercurrent of the ensemble’s energy. When a soloist begins to soar, Verbist’s bass rises up just beneath it to where it’s difficult to tell where the wing of one instrument ends and the other begins. Those times that the ensemble is searching for its voice on a tune all at the same time, it’s Verbist’s bass that weaves in and out of the mix of notes, making whole what might otherwise sound fragmented. The presence of Verbist’s bass isn’t just felt, but also heard, and it’s the primary reason for this album’s success.

Bram Weijters’ typical grace on piano transfers startling well to Fender Rhodes, so that even when he is setting a groove, there is an elegance to his touch that takes it out of the territory of the conventional and into something different. It is Weijters’ incomparable sound on Fender Rhodes that should rank as the second most important element to this album’s success.

Matt Renzi and Fred Delplanq share the role of tenor sax. Deplanq is a plastic grocery bag caught in a stiff breeze… he doesn’t stick to one direction or elevation, but there is a enchanting fluidity to his sound. Renzi is a bulldog. At times surprisingly fast, not interested in changing direction, and he’ll clear a path wide enough for the entire quintet to play through. Though the musicians bring different approaches to the recording, it’s to their credit that the end result doesn’t sound like an album with revolving personnel.

Herman Pardon doesn’t get out front on drums much, but his signature is all over this album. That a recording can alter its sound so frequently from tune to tune, and that Pardon embraces that change and channels it through his rhythmic palette, is a highlight of the album.

Vincent Brijs’s baritone sax only makes an appearance on three of the eight album tracks. It’s easy to appreciate Verbist’s hesitancy to overdo it with that particular ingredient, but it’s not too much to hope that Brijs has a longer stay-over on Verbist’s next recording. Brus has an appealing delicate touch on a powerful instrument.

It’s a fascinating relationship between Fender Rhodes and the saxophone tandem of baritone and tenor. They don’t play off one another so much, or help each other build a groove and curl up in the pocket together. They follow the same composition, but they walk their own paths, keeping in sight of one another but just out of reach. The saxophones take a modern post-bop sound to melody, returning only when necessary to the starting point and always with a bit of drama. Baritone and tenor mimic one another’s movements around the melody with equal parts despondency and enthusiasm, while simultaneously matching up with the chipper bounce of the Rhodes. Balanced against Pardon’s insistent patter on drums, it creates some welcome tension from a clash between sounds that are searching, playful and crisp. And when Verbist’s bass wends its way through their notes and steers the song to the finish line, the result is a thrilling bit of musicianship that results in a satisfying need for more.

Released on the Origin/OA2 label.

You can stream some album tracks at Verbist’s soundcloud page.

Download a free album track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artist and label.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

By • Announcement - Music, Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2012 Releases • 0

Mar 20 2012

Tiny Reviews: Tim Berne, Todd Clouser, Matt Wilson, & San Francisco Latin Jazz Society

Tiny Reviews, featuring:  Tim Berne Snakeoil, Todd Clouser’s A Love Electric 20th Century Folk Selections, Matt Wilson An Attitude For Gratitude, and San Francisco Latin Jazz Society This.

 

Tim Berne – Snakeoil

Snakeoil is alto saxophonist Tim Berne’s first release on ECM under his own name, but it’s his third appearance on the label. Contributing as a sideman on David Torn’s Prezens and Michael Formanek’s The Rub and the Spare Change, two excellent albums in their own right, Berne is more than familiar with the ECM aesthetic and its leaning toward sparseness and tranquility. It’s nice to hear that ECM clearly let Berne follow his own sound and vision. Plenty of ferocity and wild improvisational aeronautics, this is the kind of album that compels people to sit up and listen.

Your album personnel:  Tim Berne (alto sax), Oscar Noriega (clarinet, bass clarinet), Matt Mitchell (piano), and Ches Smith (drums, percussion).

Released on the ECM Records label.

Available at eMusic.

 

Todd Clouser’s A Love Electric – 20th Century Folk Selections

Up-and-coming guitarist Todd Clouser takes eight modern tunes that he calls “folkloric in nature” and funnels them through a jazz ensemble.  Includes songs like Neil Young’s “Damage and the Needle Done”, the Beastie Boys’ “Gratitude”, and Nirvana’s “All Apologies”.  Some magnificent interpretations.  Whereas some jazz covers of modern rock and pop tunes seem to come down to inspiration filed under “Wouldn’t-It-Be-Cool-If?”, Clouser thankfully takes ownership of the tunes and gives them his own voice and vision while still paying his respects to the melodies of the original versions.  Case in point… he transmutes Pearl Jam’s insipid “Release” into a sonic diamond.  One of the most exciting musicians on the scene.

Your album personnel:  Todd Clouser (guitars, Rhodes piano), Mark Aanderud (piano), Aaron Crus (bass), Hernan Hecht (drums), Adam Mackler (trumpet), Bryan Nichols (Fender Rhodes), Rick Parker (trombone), and Cyro Baptista (percussion), with guests Steven Bernstein (trumpet) and Greg Schute (percussion).

Released on the Royal Potato Family label.  Jazz from the Minneapolis, MN scene.

NOTE:  I’m gonna see about doing a full length review of this album, either for Bird is the Worm or Music is Good.

Available at eMusic.

 

Matt Wilson – An Attitude For Gratitude

Even as he grows increasingly experimental with his sound, drummer Matt Wilson never loses that essential swing. On his current release, joined by Terell Stafford on trumpet & flugelhorn, Gary Versace on piano, organ & accordion, and Martin Wind on bass, Wilson doesn’t do anything to restrain his inventive nature, yet it’s difficult to find a tune here that doesn’t force the foot to tap along with it.  Wilson is like a clockmaker who can’t help but perpetually deconstruct his timepieces, clean them, tweak them, and improve them, except that he does this with Jazz.  And since I (inadvertently) set myself up for this, I should add that, like the clockmaker, Wilson’s time on drums is flawless.  Just great stuff here.

To read a formal review I wrote for the album on Bird is the Worm (including sound sample and extra info links), click here.

Available at eMusic.

 

San Francisco Latin Jazz Society – This

New album from this little known jazz outfit that put out one of the best albums of 2011 that nobody heard.  A follow-up to 2011 release Now What.  Unlike anybody else I’ve heard on the scene, the San Francisco Latin Jazz Society channels the latin-jazz-fusion of Gato Barbieri and the rock-jazz fusion of Mahavishu Orchestra.  This music is both compelling and fun, current and nostalgic, and Highly Recommended.

Your album personnel:  Scott Brown (guitar & percussion), Jim Gordon (tenor sax & piano), Andy Woodhouse (bass), John S Rodriguez (drums), and Alex Nunez (conga).

NOTE:  I’m in the process of writing a formal album review, to be published either on AllAboutJazz or Bird is the Worm.

Download a free album track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artists.  Jazz from the San Francisco scene.

Available at eMusic.

 

That’s it for today’s article, and the first of four parts of the Tiny Reviews from this batch of new arrivals.

Here’s some language to protect emusic’s rights as the one to hire me originally to scour through the jazz new arrivals and write about the ones I like:

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

My thanks to emusic for the freelance writing gig, the opportunity to use it in this blog, and the editorial freedom to help spread the word about cool new jazz being recorded today.

By • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2012 Releases • 0

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