Jazz Recommendations – 2010 Releases

Jun 4 2017

Your Sunday Morning Jazz Album: Yuval Cohen – “Song Without Words”

 

Sunday mornings are when the serenity is supposed to come down.  Sunday morning is the cocoon from the heavy exhaustion of too much Saturday night fun.  Sunday morning is when the city agrees to use its inside voice.  Sunday morning is when a hush settles in over the land.  It is a time for sitting still and listening to quiet music and silently praying the aspirin and coffee do something to stop your head from exploding.  Drama and stress are strictly forbidden on Sunday morning.

Your Sunday Morning Jazz Album is just for you, for times just like these.  If you possess the freakish compulsion to get-up-and-go when the clock strikes Sunday morning, this music is not for you.  Go and listen to a Spotify EDM playlist or something.  But whatever you decide, just do it quietly and far away from those of us who appreciate the true solemn nature of a Sunday morning.

The music of saxophonist Yuval Cohen has a rather mesmerizing effect, and this is true whether the form of expression snaps into place with a night of fun on the town or something more conducive to quiet moments in quiet rooms.  Perhaps no better example of this tonal flexibility exists than his contributions to the 3 Cohens trio, with siblings Anat and Avishai Cohen.  But tranquility is the watchword for the Sunday Morning Jazz Album, and so it’s the Tel Aviv resident’s 2010 recording Song Without Words that receives the spotlight today.  This duo collaboration with pianist Shai Maestro is the soundtrack for morning light slowly spilling across the floor.

“Bye Bye Blackbird” has a perky attitude, but doesn’t stir things up anywhere close to peacefulness’s tipping point.  The motion of “Skylark” mirrors the flight patterns of birds, and its hypnotic effect is nearly as potent as its melodic beauty.  But the path to the heart of the album is found via the contemplative tracks “Nehama” and “Angelo,” and how they stir up the daydream imagery as the morning idly drifts along.

You need this album today, right now.

  • Artist-Title:  Yuval Cohen – Song Without Words
  • Personnel:  Yuval Cohen (soprano sax) and Shai Maestro (piano)
  • Proper Use:  1) That book has been sitting on your shelf for ages, and you keep waiting for the perfect day to finally pick it up, so…  2) Jigsaw puzzle may be substituted for “book” at no extra charge.

Released in 2010 on Anzic Records.

Listen to more of the album at the label’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Aug 17 2016

Recommended: Puzzlebox – “A Place To Be”

 

Puzzlebox - "A Place to Be"This is one for you old-school fans.  Well, this is also one for the new-school jazz fans, too, because it’s just that good.  But I mention the old-schoolers because A Place To Be is likely, almost guaranteed, really, to send you adrift in nostalgia for the Hard Bop recordings of the 60’s, when heat and steam and elegance and warmth were breathed out in the same expressions, creating a timeless music that was the soundtrack for any and every minute of your day.  The octet Puzzlebox conjured up some seriously potent sounds on their 2010 release.

This is music that can shift seamlessly between states of lightheartedness and ferocity.  It’s music that can drift peaceably and then suddenly, in what seems like an uninterrupted exhalation, jump up in joyful exultation.  The opening tracks “Half Remembered Theme from a Film Noir” and “Ronan’s Dream” are practically descended by blood from the 1960 James Clay classic recording A Double Dose of Soul.  Clay showed on that recording how flute could command a huge presence without resorting to shrill dramatics and unnecessary fussiness, that the flute’s light touch and hazy presence were complementary attributes that only needed a spark to give the impression of a flame.  On A Place To Be, Stan Slotter clearly grasps that concept, and it’s why his solid trumpet passages are eclipsed by his outstanding performance on flute.

“6:25PM” adds some edge to the melody.  It doesn’t cut deep, but it’s sharp enough to draw a little blood, and the tempo stomps more than bops.  And after the ethereal presence of the flute in the previous tracks, it’s nice to hear the trombone step up and growl.  The higher intensity continues with the up-tempo burner “The Invisible Redux,” adding some Latin rhythms along the way so that the trip isn’t all about speed, but grace, too.  “Hair of the Dog” digs into a thick groove and thicker blues.  And all of this stuff swings.

I typically stick to only new releases on this site, and rarely stray further back than a couple years from the current spot on the calendar, but when I encountered this terrific recording, I had to shine the site’s spotlight on it.

Your album personnel:  Keith DeStefano (bass), Mark Allen (baritone sax), Maxfield Gast (alto & soprano saxophones), Steven Gokh (tenor sax), Joe Falcey (drums), Anam Owilii-Eger (piano), Stan Slotter (trumpet, flutes) and Larry Toft (trombone).

The album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Jazz from the Philadelphia, PA scene.

Available at:  Bandcamp | CDBaby | Amazon

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Jan 18 2014

Recommended: Benjamin Koppel – “The Adventures of a Polar Expedition”

 

Benjamin Koppel - "The Adventures of a Polar Expedition"An album that I’ve been absolutely taken with since it was first released is The Adventures of a Polar Expedition, a sprawling epic by a quintet led by Danish saxophonist Benjamin Koppel that puts sounds to the pictures and subject of arctic explorers.

Separated into four suites (“Time & Ice Suite,” “The Rise and Fall of the Andree Balloon Expedition 1897,” “The Magnificent Journeys of Nansen and Amundsen,” and “Friendship Suite: The Disappearance of Mylius-Erichsen and Jørgen Brønland”), Koppel’s ensemble captures the majestic visions of unexplored nature, as well as the peculiar oppressiveness inspired by a vast boundless landscape of endless icy whiteness and freezing temperatures.

The musicians also capture the emotions of exploration.  Opening track “Nothing But Ice” has the sunny disposition of optimism and hope.  Koppel and Ulrik send out warm tendrils, each on soprano sax, while Riel’s cymbals are an excited chatter.  And the speedy “Time Piece” skitters right along, with saxophones calling out with increasing frequency and intensity.

On the sublime “Quietness Before Departure,” bassist Danielsson and pianist Balke construct a framework of elegant lyricism for saxophones to lay down one melancholy line after the other.  It captures both the stoicism of facing a difficult odyssey and the contemplative moments that precede it.  Danielsson also contributes an essential part to the moody “Floundering On Ice,” a song that has baritone saxes murmuring bits of melody while Palle’s bass gurgles excitedly in the foreground, actually serving to enhance the song’s preeminent moodiness rather than detract from it.

Saxophonists Koppel and Ulrik often work in tandem, but with staggered start and finish times.  Their is a cohesion to their motion and sound, even as they remain separated by the slightest of spaces at all times.  “Struggling Homewards, In Good Spirits” has the duo fluttering about, sometimes mirroring Balke’s own fluttering piano lines, sometimes attaining an elevation high above it.

“Hallucinating Optimism, Yet Realizing the End” features Riel’s rare moment to raise his voice on drums, crashing down notes in a dance with the saxophonists’ equally excitable display of exuberance.  “The Balloon Launch” is another instance, in which Riel’s agitated drumming ties up the twisting saxophone parts into a neat little bow.  However, Riel makes his greatest contributions to this recording with gentle rustles of cymbals and brushwork.  On the “The Great Sled Journey,” Riel is the reason for the tune’s chipper demeanor, even though his restrained drumming keeps to the background of saxophone harmonies and Balke’s piano, which glitters like stars.

“The Legend of Fram” has baritone taking the low road, piano the higher, and what begins as a brooding tune suddenly takes to flight.  Balke instigates many such moments throughout the album, often the foil to whatever emotional stance the composition seems intended to adopt.  In this, providing just the right amount of contrast, Balke accentuates that to which he runs opposite.  In addition to “The Legend of Fram,” there is the ballad “Farewell My Heart, My House,” in which Balke’s piano warmth and joyful tone strengthens the song’s overriding melancholy personality.

Just a gorgeous, enchanting album.  Had this site been up and running a few years earlier, I am almost certain that The Adventures of a Polar Expedition would have been the Bird is the Worm 2010 Album of the Year.

Your album personnel: Benjamin Koppel (soprano & baritone saxes), Hans Ulrik (soprano & baritone saxes), Jon Balke (piano), Palle Danielsson (bass) and Alex Riel (drums).

Released in 2010 on Cowbell Music.

You can stream much of the album on the Cowbell site, and it’s accompanied by a photos from the actual expeditions.  It’s just about the coolest album stream presentation I’ve ever seen on an internet site.  To see it, follow this LINK.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon

Or purchase directly from Cowbell Music’s webshop, which, since it’s owned by Koppel himself, it’s the same as buying direct from the artist, which is always a good thing to do.

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May 31 2013

The Safety Net: Our Park – “If Not For You”

The Safety Net, a Bird is the Worm series which highlights outstanding older albums that may have flown under the radar when first released.
*****

 

Our Park - "If Not For You"Wandering through my digital music library, I happened upon If Not For You, by the Gothenburg trio Our Park.  I had scooped it up back when it was released in 2010, enjoyed it for a while, then with the avalanche of music that was later to come, it, like so many other decent albums, got lost in the crowd and began gathering (virtual) dust.

But now, returning to it nearly three years after I first picked it up, I find I’m enjoying it just as much as when I first heard it… maybe even more.  The Our Park trio has an intoxicating blend of modern Nordic Jazz serenity and 1970s American Jazz groove.  If Not For You is a modern piano trio recording that has both a fun bounce and a latent melancholia… an unusual combination that makes the foot tap happily to cerebral music.

Your album personnel:  Fabian Kallerdahl (piano), Victor Furbacken (bass), and Chris Montgomery (drums).

Opening track “Jacmel” opens things up with an introspective mood, presenting one aspect of their music.  Wistful phrases on piano drift in with the pitter patter of drums and the occasional grumble from bass.  And while second track “Gron Gubbe” maintains the darkened skies tone of the opening track, the expressions of melody and the active rhythmic chatter draw out this album’s propensity for offering catchy, chipper tunes with underlying hints of sadness.  Engaging, to be sure.

The tunes increasingly shed the darkened skies disposition for one of sunshine and lightness as the album progresses.  “J.m” grins a bit wider, with Furbacken stretching up to higher registers on bass as Kallerdahl develops a nifty groove on piano.

“Tionde” disperses the melody across Montgomery’s rhythmic expanse, whereas on “Yeah yeah yeah,” the melody is carried away on the rhythm’s back.  “Treenigheten” has the trio toying with slower tempos, building staggered tides of movement.  “Mise En Place” is all about kicking things up and getting loud.

Additionally, they cover a couple Bob Dylan tunes, which adds an interesting layer to their already interesting blend of influences.  On “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” (from Dylan’s Freewheelin’) they adopt the same skip and hop cadence Dylan picks out on guitar, but instead of the reserved tone of the original, the Our Park trio elicits a cheerful attitude throughout most of it, and only at the end do they slide gracefully into the original’s soulful demeanor.  Conversely, on the other Dylan cover, “If Not For You,” from his New Morning, Our Park takes the original’s sunny disposition and speedy pace, and turns it into a slow dance with a hint of the melancholy.

Thankfully, neither Dylan rendition sounds beholden to the original, nor do they obliterate any reference to them… the trio take ownership of the tunes and present them in their own voice.  That’s how it’s supposed to be done.  Much can be said of their rendition of Weather Report’s “Black Market,” in which they choose to focus on melodic development than rhythmic entrenchment.

Overall, just a real nice album that shouldn’t get overlooked.

Released in 2010 on the Hoob Records label.

Jazz from the Gotherburg, Sweden scene.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

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