Jazz Recommendations – 2014 Releases

Recorded live at Vossajazz 2013, Friensemblet, a large ensemble headed up by Mathilde Grooss Viddal presents El Aaiun – Across the Border.  A free jazz ensemble performance at its heart, the music not only springs from the creative well of pure improvisation, but the influences and jazz sub-genres it touches upon elicits a traveler’s sense of adventure.  It also makes for one of the more thrilling albums of 2014.

Opening track “Night Song” has the moody disposition of a Nordic Jazz tune.  The comforting toll of vibes, the wistful melodic sighs of wind instruments, the rattle of percussion… it’s a touch of old school ECM Records, of folk and jazz in a mesmerizing synthesis, of Don Cherry’s heartbreaking cries on Dona Nostra.  It’s a tribute to the art of dreaming.

“Morning Song” is its opposite.  After an introduction that carries forward the end of the previous track, the ensemble employs the same mournful melodic phrase at the jumping off point for a wind sprint finish.  The rhythm unit of vibes, drums and percussion develop a riveting chatter while wind instruments continue to build the original melody skyward as guitar snarls below.  It’s the way in which the motion of the music becomes both increasingly free and increasingly catchy that qualifies as its most arresting feature.

An appealing dissonance of percussion, strings and electronics open “Diagnossisten.”  The sizzle and blip gradually gives way to wind instruments digging tenaciously into a groove and then jumping in and dancing playfully about, a potent mix of ferocity and whimsy.  It’s a similar start to “Kali & Vossavatn,” but this time the ensemble go roaming far and wide.  A Hardanger fiddle cries out a folk tune, a gaggle of voices engage in word play, percussion hits upon a vein of Indian music, wind instruments howl melodies from the top of a Norwegian mountain range, and then, with a deft sense of spontaneous coordination, they begin switching roles, places, and poetry.

The title-track ends the album with its biggest show of adventurism.  A low drone and a high sigh like the wind whistling through a low valley.  A chant.  It’s a spiritual moment that recalls Alice Coltrane’s unguarded soul-on-the-sleeve work of the early 1970s.  The drone becomes a murmur, the darting motion of flute, the slow groove of drums, the growl of wind instruments making their presence increasingly felt.  And then a melody breaks from the fold, revealing the Indo-jazz tune at the heart of the matter.  This, too, shifts influence, as trumpet carries it from jazz back to folk, where strings and flute leverage their weight.  The song ends with thick harmonies decaying at the edges and shouting up to the heavens… the same wild abandon and boundless creativity that typify this excellent recording.

Your album personnel:  Mathilde Grooss Viddal (soprano & tenor saxes, bass clarinet), Safaa Al-Saadi (darbouka, nay, vocal), Britt Pernille Frøholm (Hardanger fiddle, violin), Tellef Kvifte (laptop, electronics, keyboard), Dag Stiberg (alto sax), Gunnar Halle (trumpet), Per Willy Aaserud (trumpet, electronics), Øyvind Brække (trombone), Knut Kvifte Nasheim (vibraphone, percussion), Siv Øyunn Kjenstad (drums) and Ellen Andrea Wang (double bass).

Released on Viddal’s Giraffa Records label.

Cool cover art by Brita Dagestad.

Jazz from the Oslo scene.

Available at:  Bandcamp | eMusic | Amazon MP3

Sunday edition of Micro-Recs!

Today’s recommendations are directed at John Coltrane fans.

Featured:  Azar Lawrence The Seeker, Franklin Kiermyer Further, and Nat Birchall Quintet Live in Larissa.

*****

Azar Lawrence – The Seeker

Some combination of nature and nurture has resulted in Azar Lawrence becoming one of the standard bearers in the post-Coltrane era.  Yes, having spent his earlier years collaborating both with Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner is sure to have had a pronounced influence on the saxophonist, but there also must be isolated traits coming from within the musician himself that has allowed him to echo the sound of Coltrane while simultaneously developing his own personal sound.  This live performance, recorded at NYC’s the Jazz Standard, has Lawrence leading a quintet through a set of music that recalls classic Coltrane Quartet recordings with a voice that sounds as fresh and clear as today.  Lawrence is joined by trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianist Benito Gonzalez, bassist Essiet Essiet and Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums.  If you enjoyed Coltrane’s hard bop to spiritual jazz transition period on the Impulse Records label, you really just need to hit the download button on The Seeker asap.

Released on Sunnyside Records.

Available at:  eMusic | Bandcamp | Amazon CD/MP3

*****

Franklin Kiermyer – Further

Further offers up a series of ferocious tempos and solos that charge ahead with a head full of steam, but from within that environment are revealed some mesmerizing melodic interludes and harmonic washes.  Drummer Franklin Kiermyer is very much in synch with later-period Coltrane, when avant-garde met spiritual jazz.  The track “Beyond Joy and Consequence” shows how meditative states can be achieved within the heart of a hurricane, whereas “Bilad el-Sudan” and “Astrophysical” has Kiermyer’s quartet taking on the role of that hurricane and “Supplication” has it sitting squarely in the center of the hurricane’s peaceful eye.  Overall, the tracks express more of Coltrane’s free period, when volatility was the key ingredient to expressing spirituality.  Considering Kiermyer’s prior collaboration with Pharoah Sanders, an essential component of Coltrane’s later work, this quality of Further isn’t terribly surprising.  It’s also terrifically evocative.  Joining Kiermyer are saxophonist Azar Lawrence, pianist Benito Gonzalez, and bassist Juini Booth.  Just a powerful recording.

The album is Self-Produced.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3

You may also download the album directly from Kiermyer’s site.  He offers it at NYOP (Name Your Own Price), which includes the option of free or, if you wish to make a donation so that he can continue making more music, you can download the music in a higher quality file format.

*****

Nat Birchall Quintet – Live in Larissa

Live, double-disc set from saxophonist Nat Birchall, who I typically recommend when someone says they’re a Coltrane fan and want to hear something from a modern musician.  Birchall certainly does seem to channel that sound on his tenor sax, and his embrace of the spiritual jazz form adds to the similarities.  That said, Birchall has compiled an impressive set of recordings under his own name and anchored to his own sound, and Live in Larissa just adds to the existing goldmine.  Bichall is joined for this session by frequent collaborators pianist Adam Fairhall, vibraphonist Corey Mwamba, bassist Nick Blacka, and drummer Paul Hession.  Birchall hits upon some original tunes from past studio albums (“World Without Form, “Sacred Dimension”) as well as some terrific covers, like Alice Coltrane’s “Journey to Satchidananda” and the Bill Lee composition “John Coltrane,” a song originally minted by Clifford Jordan’s Magic Triangle back in the 1970s.  When Birchall solos, it’s with a powerful voice that loses none of its clarity when the intensity shoots upward.  It’s a big reason why this album is so easy to connect with.

Released on Birchall’s Sound, Soul and Spirit label & Kudos Records.

Available at:  eMusic | Bandcamp | Amazon MP3/Vinyl

*****

Note:  Micro-recs (or micro-recommendations) used to be called Tiny Reviews.  I switched the name because, really, they weren’t reviews, but simply synopses with a recommendation to purchase.  I feel like calling them recs is more accurate.  That’s how it will be going forward.

*****

Some of this material was used originally in the weekly new jazz releases column I write for eMusic and Wondering Sound, so here’s some language protecting their rights to the reprinted material as the one to hire me to write about new jazz recordings…

“New Arrivals Jazz Picks” & “New Arrivals Jazz Picks,” reprints courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2014  eMusic.com, Inc.

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

An excellent new release from pianist Marianne Trudel.  La Vie Commence Ici comes off as being very centered.  There’s a calm to the music even when things get a bit heated.  Soloists are provided optimal conditions to express their thoughts, and the way in which their solos, more often than not, build on the group vision rather than focus on just their own individual perspective is the element that provides the album its sense of flawless completion.  It’s one of those albums that resonates strongly by keeping things simple and honing its focus.

The benefits of trumpeter Ingrid Jensen’s contribution can’t be overstated.  On an album that radiates strength from a tightly bundled core, Jensen provides a necessary touch of a Big Sound on many of her solos.  Jensen immediately takes to soaring on “Soon,” the powerful flap of wings a show of force on an album that has an abundance of elegance.  That said, Jensen’s trumpet work is in no way detached from the ensemble’s predominant behavior.  “Deux soleils” sees pianist Trudel and bassist Moore skipping along the surface of the tempo’s stream, and Jensen’s playful accompaniment fills right into the confluence of the ensemble’s direction.

Of particular beauty on this recording is the way in which Jensen and saxophonist Stewart add harmonic passages to a strong melodic thrust.  It adds a casual ease to moments when a tune is charging straight ahead.  There’s also the intrigue from their cryptic conversations added to the brooding intensity of title-track “La vie commence ici.”

The way in which “Urge” opens with murmurs and sighs before hitting the gas pedal is particularly enjoyable, especially in how Trudel and drummer Kuster bounce rhythmic ideas off one another as they fly down the road together, side by side.  It’s a similar pattern to “Le vent est une chance,” which also adopts melancholy tones and stately motion as a precursor to a display of feverish volatility, and is in possession of an arresting lyricism at either speed.

The album ends with “Choral,” reflecting the unassuming beauty and sharp focus that typifies this wonderful album.

Your album personnel:  Marianne Trudel (piano), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Jonathan Stewart (tenor & soprano saxes), Morgan Moore (bass) and Robbie Kuster (drums).

Released on Justin Time Records.

Jazz from the Québec scene.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon CD | Amazon MP3

Par 5 Chemins is a thrilling debut from pianist Guillaume Martineau, who seems to have fashioned a modern piano trio album for quintet.  This is especially true of the up-tempo songs.  Establishing the piano trio as the core provides sax and guitar more freedom to accentuate the melody and rhythm, often in coordination with one another and with tremendously evocative results.

Songs like “Tesla” and “Imago” scoot along… a modern piano trio sound with the fast-forward button pressed down firmly while guitar effects whistle across the path and sax matches it step for step.  Or there’s the highly expressive, thrilling personality of “Le Matin des Magiciens,” just bursting with life and always returning back to the home of the melody no matter how far out the solos take the song.  It’s the album highlight.

The quintet eases off the gas pedal for a couple tracks.  “Lolo” keeps the quintet flowing in unison.  Moving parts are synchronized with a meticulous precision and foresight, which provides little seams and openings for the loveliest bits of nuance… warped guitar notes shining through like the bending of sunlight, the rustle of brushes comforting, yet animated.  There’s, also. the moody “Hors du monde,” with its contemplative piano and the murmur of guitar effects.

Lively, thoughtful and seriously expressive.

Your album personnel:  Guillaume Martineau (piano), Tevet Sela (saxophones), François Jalbert (guitar), Simon Pagé (bass), Raphaël Pannier (drums).

Released on The 270 Sessions.

Jazz from the Montreal scene.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3