Jazz Recommendations – 2014 Releases

Feb 8 2018

Probably a good idea to check out these two releases from Angelo Mastronardi

 

One of the nice things about artists and labels discovering the Bandcamp site is the opportunity to revisit some of the older albums in a musician’s discography as they upload them at the same time as a recording of a more recent vintage.  Case in point:  Angelo Mastronardi.

The pianist released a new album in 2017 called New Things, Same Words.  It’s a solid straight-ahead session, and sounds like it could source from NYC as easily as the pianist’s Gioia del Colle, Italy home turf.  It’s got a free-flowing lyricism that displays plenty of activity, but keeps it tightly focused… like a wildly fluttering butterfly that doesn’t roam outside a square foot of sky.  The rhythm section of double bassist Stefano Rielli and drummer Alex Semprevivo develop a conversant chatter that stays light on its feet, enhancing the buoyant melodicism from Mastronardi and saxophonist Emanuele Coluccia.  The upbeat pieces kick up a little fire but nothing that could burn, and while they’re plenty enjoyable, it’s when the quartet slows down and makes a melody smoulder with heavy emotion that the album shines strongest.

Your album personnel:  Angelo Mastronardi (piano, Fender Rhodes), Emanuele Coluccia (tenor and soprano saxophones), Stefano Rielli (double bass) and Alex Semprevivo (drums).

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

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

 

It’s a different kind of sound on Mastronardi’s 2014 recording, Like at the Beginning.  Most noticeable is how the atmosphere changes when it’s a trio setting, and Mastronardi is the primary conductor of the melodic electricity.  This album is far snappier than its 2017 counterpart, and its volatile energy is directed laterally far more than cyclically.  It, too, could easily be identified as something coming from NYC as Italy.  This quality is somewhat surprising considering this album was released on Dodicilune Records, a label that tends to release music that takes on folk and chamber characteristics reflective of the Mediterranean scenes.  With double bassist Michele Maggi and drummer Walter Forestiere rounding out the trio, sometimes they dig into a groove and sometimes they drift into a ballad, but for the most part, this is music that sticks to a sunny tone and chipper disposition

Your album personnel:  Angelo Mastronardi (piano), Michele Maggi (double bass) and Walter Forestiere (drums, percussion).

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

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

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Jun 11 2017

Your Sunday Morning Jazz Album: Fred Hersch Trio – “Floating”

 

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.

A show tune, a standard and something from Thelonious Monk are peppered throughout the recording, but it’s the originals that most hit the mark on this 2014 recording from the Fred Hersch Trio.  This shouldn’t come as a surprise.  For the span of three decades, Hersch has added his measured, thoughtful works to the jazz lexicon, so it’s always going to be a case where the original inspirations outshine the interpretations.

Floating is music meant for peaceful moments.  And even when the conversation between musicians gets a little chipper, like on “Arcata” or Monk’s “Let’s Cool One,” the effect is akin to the growing presence of sunlight upon a darkened room than an actual spike in temperature.  Much of this has to do with how the pianist sees a ballad at the heart of every song.  It’s why “Home Fries” and “Far Away,” though different in temperament, both swoon with the emotional weight of the love struck and the heartbroken.  The deliberative method in which the trio dishes out that particular mood just enhances its resonance that much more.

You need this album today, right now.

  • Artist-Title:  Fred Hersch Trio – Floating
  • Personnel:  Fred Hersch (piano), John Hébert (bass) and Eric McPherson (drums).
  • Proper Use:  1) Staring out the window and wondering whatever happened to your first true love, 2) Drowning yourself in the album cover’s serenity until you are perfectly centered.

Released in 2014 on Palmetto Records.

Listen to another album track on Soundcloud.

Music from NYC.

Available at:  Amazon | eMusic

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Jan 29 2017

Recommended: David Vinolas Trio – “Cap al Capvespre”

 

The combination of a raw edge and casual delivery is an arresting quality on the debut from drummer David Viñolas.  The pieces that comprise Cap al Capvespre appear to be only loosely tethered to compositional ideas.  Perhaps that’s how they were meant to be.  Perhaps Viñolas didn’t provide his trio a route to travel so much as a couple points of interest for the musicians to meet at along the way.  Whatever the intent, the consequence is a seriously appealing nonchalance to counterbalance the slow pours of blues and thick streaks of European post-bop that mark this excellent releases as belonging to the modern day.

Some tracks fall into the stylistic category of “Impro #1 (nit a la Segarra),” with its prowling tempo and fragmented melody.  This applies even to the moody “Redibuixant el camí,” which slowly finds its voices and sings a little song.  But even when the cheerful “Siempre se Hace lo que se Puede (Song for Marko)” adds an upbeat tone and focused melodicism to the proceedings, it snaps right into place with the album tracks that fall around it.  Two pieces that add some serious intrigue and immense fun are a rendition of The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” and Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies.  On the former, the way that saxophonist Albert Bartolomé drawls out the melody is plenty enjoyable, but when the trio breaks the song down into a free-for-all, the level of enjoyment shoots up dramatically.  That it circles back around for a comparably chipper rendition of the original version’s finale makes for a satisfying conclusion to the trio’s inspired rendition.  Their adaptation of Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies is no less inspired.  A solemn tone and a martial cadence allows the melody to exhale slowly, but then the trio gives the piece the same breakdown treatment as they did Paul McCartney’s composition.  Of especial interest is the way bassist Aleix Forts hops around the torrential downpour of Viñolas’ drums.  And then, as it did on “Hey Jude,” the ferocity and chaos returns to the original solemn tone for the album’s final notes.

This album was released back in 2014, and really deserved to be part of the discussion when compiling year-end lists.  Do not let this album fly under the radar any longer.

Your album personnel:  David Viñolas (drums), Albert Bartolomé (alto & soprano saxophones), Aleix Forts (bass) and guest:  Jordi Santanach (bass clarinet).

Released in 2014 on Quadrant Records.

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

Music from Guissona, Spain.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

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Jan 15 2017

So, it turns out the first Skadedyr album was on my shelf all along

 

The sophomore release from Skadedyr was so damn good, it earned the #18 slot on this site’s Best of 2016 list.  Culturen is fascinating and intelligent and fun.  I am addicted to it now and that addiction shows no signs of fading.  That’s where things are at.

But I was curious where things were before.  As is often the case when I put together a Best Of list, I look back to the previous albums of the artists under consideration.  Was their newest a big step up?  Does their new album reflect a creative shift or gradual evolution?  Was their previous album even any good?  These are small matters when putting together the list, but curiosity doesn’t rank these things, and curiosity wants what it wants.  And this time around, it wanted me to get ahold of Skadedyr’s debut, Kongekrabbe.  I was surprised to discover that I didn’t have to search any further than the shelf occupied by Hubro Music releases.  Because if it’s on my shelf, that means it’s been listened to, and probably much more than once.

And so I gave it a spin.  And then a few more.

In the context of how they sound on their sophomore release, the debut Kongekrabbe is pretty raw.  Much of the sweetness of Culturen is absent.  And while Culturen is a wildly expressive album, Kongekrabbe makes it look practically tame.  The two-part “Linselus” switches between the sounds of animalistic growling to a haunted children’s song to a game show theme to a drone mimicking still waters.  And then there’s the way title-track “Kongekrabbe” seems to drift in an out of dreams as it tries to sing a song, the shape of the tune taking both surreal and static forms as the changes slip in each direction.  And “Partylus” goes from a Dylan cover to a hip hop influence to a Nordic lullaby to something in between and undefinable.

In the end, I can see why I never wrote it up.  I like it well enough, and by way of comparison to Culturen, which I enjoy quite a bit, it’s nice to see how the ensemble’s vision changes over time, as well as how they craft it.  Culturen is fleshed out.  No matter how crazy it becomes, the ensemble provides the music a form and shape and sense of direction.  Not doing those things is perfectly fine, but in this specific example, one album succeeds by foregoing that approach and the other, well, not so much.

But there are things to enjoy about Kongekrabbe, and if you enjoy Culturen as much as I (or even close to it), then you owe it to yourself to check their debut out.

Your album personnel:  Hans Hulbækmo (drums), Joakim Heibø (drums), Heida Mobeck (tuba), Anja Lauvdal (piano, synth), Adrian Løseth Waade (violin), Ina Sagstuen (vocals), Ida Løvli Hidle (accordion), Torstein Lavik Larsen (trumpet), Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø (trombone), Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson (double bass), Lars Ove Fossheim (guitar) and Marius Klovning (steel guitar).

Released in 2014 on Hubro Music.

Available at:  Amazon | eMusic

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Jan 14 2017

Recommended: Thandi Ntuli, something old, something new

 

Pianist-vocalist Thandi Ntuli just released two singles from her upcoming release Exiled.

Back in 2014, during my Wondering Sound days, I included Ntuli’s The Offering as one of my weekly recommendations.  I found it plenty enjoyable back then, and I find it plenty enjoyable now.  Ntuli strikes a deft balance with her mix of South African and contemporary jazz.  There’s a sense of contemplation even when the music grows increasingly dynamic, and there’s a delicateness to the melodies even when they display some edge.  Ntuli’s voice rings sharp and clear.  There’s a directness to her delivery that is exceedingly refreshing.  And her piano contributions aren’t there just to bolster her vocals.  The absence of vocals on a particular track does not, in fact, leave an absence.  Most of the album is comprised of instrumental tracks, and if there were a concern that this would create a vacuum, Ntuli’s piano work fills it each time.  And then there’s Ntuli’s septet, which generates all kinds of warmth and energy with an approach that accentuates subtlety and restraint over fussiness and fireworks.  There’s plenty here to like, and plenty different reasons to like it.

Your album personnel:  Thandi Ntuli (piano, vocals), Sphelelo Mazibuko (drums), Benjamin Jephta (double bass), Keenan Ahrends (guitar), Marcus Wyatt (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mthunzi Mvubu (alto sax), Sisonke Xonti (tenor sax) and guest:  Spha Mdlalose (vocals).

And now there’s the matter of Ntuli’s upcoming album and the first preview of it.

The two-part “Cosmic Light” accentuates the qualities that made The Offering as successful as it was.  But this new view also hints at some evolution since Ntuli’s previous recording.  We’ll pretty much just have to wait until the entire album comes out.

But for now, here’s something new from Ntuli.

The Offering is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of Ntuli’s music at her Bandcamp page.

Music from the Johannesburg, South Africa scene.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

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