Recap: Best of 2016

It’s not an everyday occurrence to encounter harp in a jazz setting.  It’s pretty damn infrequent, actually.  So, aside from being an incredibly strong album reflecting a seriously creative perspective, what’s most impressive about Wax & Wane is how much this very different sound connects like everyday people music.  Brandee Younger locks in with the lineage of jazz harp by including compositions by bop-era harpist Dorothy Ashby and spiritual jazz harpist Alice Coltrane.  And she connects with the modern day scene with an electro-acoustic sound where melody and groove hold hands every step of the way.  The echoes of the past bounce off the walls of Wax & Wane, but always in the context of music that breathes the air of today.  It just can’t be overstated how much respect Younger earns for overcoming the difficulty for a harpist to find her place on the modern jazz scene while simultaneously carving out of a piece of it that only she occupies, just Younger, her harp and her unique sound.

Jazz from NYC.

Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm (LINK).

Through the Badlands is an authoritative statement on the range that the unified influences of jazz, country and rock can aspire to.  This isn’t the first example of a musician getting the sway of country and the edge of rock and swing of jazz to snap cleanly into place.  What’s particularly notable about the debut of drummer Arthur Vint is that he creates a seamless blend of the three influences, thus making one attribute almost indistinguishable from the next.  Yes, there are passages where one music influence pokes its head out and makes its presence known.  The strong impression given by the melody of “Devil’s Dictionary” is one of verse-chorus, nice and easy and all in good time.  “Maski” is a slow waltz in the countryside, moonlight above and a summer breeze below.  And then there’s the bit of irony that a rendition of Neil Young’s “There’s a World” bubbles up with a hard bop warmth and urgency.  But those are rare instances.  Besides, the real intelligence of the album is found in tracks like “Through the Badlands,” where some twang and some swing and a loud growl are all part of the same breath, the same expression, a singular vision.  This is also where to find the album’s genuine charm.

Jazz from Tucson, Arizona and NYC.

Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm (LINK).

In a current jazz environment where an emphasis is placed on explicit compositions and complex presentations, it’s refreshing to encounter a recording that builds around catchy melodic hooks and foot-tapping cadences.  There’s plenty on drummer Jeremy Cunningham‘s debut re: dawn (from afar) that makes available an immediate cerebral connection, but this is a recording that’s all about its feel.  It’s got modern grooves with old-school tones.  A melody gets served up with action at heart, and it could be anything from a drive through the city to the cheerful electricity of a backyard party to the slow motion of late night moonlight and all the romance that comes along with it.  Joined by guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Matt Ulery, and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson, Cunningham’s quartet is something old breathed out like something new, not unlike a soundtrack for returning to the old neighborhood for the first time.

Artist site | Listen | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon – eMusic

Jazz from Chicago.

Read more about the album with my Best of Bandcamp Jazz column on The Bandcamp Daily (LINK).

The self-titled album from the trio Sawa challenges the perception of what gets defined as unconventional.  The first obstacle it overcomes is the presumption that something different will be difficult to connect with.  And yet the Arabic vocals of Alya Al-Sultani matched with the European jazz of pianist Clemens Christian Poetzsch and the chamber music of cellist Shirley Smart presents itself with a simplicity that rivals its stunning beauty.  Al-Sultani’s vocals lend equal care to provide both melodic intent and rhythmic support.  Poetzsch employs the rare fluid piano on many tracks, and its ability to shift out of standard tuning adds a dimension to the music that ratchets up the textures exponentially.  And Smart’s role on cello isn’t some vanilla harmonic device… instead, she often shadows the piano’s rhythmic approach before suddenly coalescing into Al-Sultani’s melodic path.  This ain’t your normal jazz trio session, but that Sawa comes pretty damn close to being just as easy to embrace is yet one more impressive quality of this impressive album.

Jazz from London, UK.

Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm (LINK).

Considering that Polemos is built on a foundation of improvisation, it’s remarkable that the range of lyricism attained by the sextet of bassist Paraskevas Kitsos falls cohesively into place.  Whether they bring a moody intensity or a wild explosiveness, each song radiates its own unique personality while finding its particular role in the development of the overarching vision.  Key to this approach is having tracks like “Prologos” incorporate both the beauty of “Fovos” and the violence of “Via,” thus serving as a binding agent of seemingly incongruous perspectives.  This way, everything is ridiculously evocative no matter how crazily the tone fluctuates from song to song.  It’s an album that flew way under the radar; Be sure it lands on yours.

Jazz from Athens, Greece.

Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm (LINK).