Jazz Recommendations – 2014 Releases

It’s the magnificent serenity drawn from the immersion into the tiny little dissonances, miniature flaws and warped imagery of The Visible Ones that makes the new release by Planetarium so wildly successful.  This duo collaboration of saxophonist Matthieu Donarier and pianist Albert van Veenendaal manage to present an avant-garde production with a sublime atmosphere, producing an engaging album that would pair quite well with a morning sun just rising over the horizon.

“Radio Silence,” with its haunting melody and “Choral & Riffs,” with its declarative monologue… each displaying an inquisitive nature, letting sentences hang, then moving onto the next without ever providing a conclusion to the one previous.  There’s a vague suspense that grows from this approach, and it’s the inherent vagueness that drives the music’s cryptic intensity.

That intensity, however, isn’t unleashed, but gently exhaled, a concentrated force that seeks to persuade the ear to embrace the music, rather than some evocative form of coercion.  “Blue Rotterdam” is bathed in moonlight, yet its creeping cadence and sharp calls hint at the menace that its warm tones offer refuge from.  No different with the strange tunefulness of “Univers Elastique,” a lullaby refracted through warped glass.

“Vernell Ho” punctuates its accents with a bit more fervor, occasionally even going so far as to raise its voice from time to time, but rather than dispel the calm, it serves to emphasize the vivid personality of Donarier’s fluttering saxophone and the curious sounds of Veenendaal’s prepared piano.  The brief surfeit of “Danzon” bangs its fists on the bars of its cage, but it is only a prelude to the languorous beauty of title-track “The Visible Ones,” in which the dramatic swell of piano is no more disturbing than the crash of waves that precede the susurrant hush of a tide thinning out over the breadth of the shore.

A few of the tracks are unclassifiable in the context of this album.  There’s the Nik Bartsch-like zen groove of “Comets” and the long double-pitched drone of “Whale Song,” and also the wind-swept dramatics of “Calling,” but these are merely evidence of the substantive depth of this album… diverse expressions of a rich personality.

Your album personnel:  Matthieu Donarier (saxophones) and Albert van Veenendaal (piano, prepared piano, toys).

Released on Clean Feed Records.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3

Half 1960s Hard Bop heat, half 1970s electro-fusion groove, the Mighty Mighty sextet offer up two halves of goodness with their new release See the Light.  Led by pianist Kari Setälä, the sextet conjures up something of a period piece, opening the album with a set of Hard Bop tunes straight outta the sixties, with swinging tracks like “Backyard Boogie” and title-track “See the Light,” heavy with soul and the compulsion to move move move.  “Once Again” slows things down and adds a hint of Latin rhythms, whereas “Dark Sun” hints at the transition period from the bop era to when spiritual jazz got its hooks into the scene.

The next handful of tracks move into the subsequent decade, when fusion molded a new kind of groove for Jazz, melodies took on a shiny veneer, and keyboards were jacked into the nearest outlet.  “Simba” with its thick funk groove and “Seventh Sign.” with a groove more like sunlight.  “Karma” with its infectious rhythm and sunny attitude, electric keys popping brightly off the surface of the melody.

The album brings the two halves together for the final two tracks.  “Too High” and “Time’s Up” announce themselves with a hard bop presence, but sneak in conversational asides more fluent in the fusion language.  It’s a nifty way for the sextet to incorporate each of their inspirations without muddying the waters of either.

An album with a real buoyant personality, and all kinds of genial warmth.

Your album personnel:  Kari Setälä (piano, keyboards, synth bass), Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori (trumpet), Jussi Kannaste (tenor sax), Jori Huhtala (bass), Jussi Lehtonen (drums), and Abdissa Assefa (percussion).

Released on Schema Records.

Jazz from the Helsinki, Finland scene.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon: CD – MP3 – Vinyl

Tumbling down a flight of stairs is not an action one takes willingly, and yet the sudden changes in tempo performed at a high rate of speed by the piano trio De Beren Gieren seem to indicate the kind of personality that might not shrink from that risky combination of ground and gravity.  The heart of A Raveling, the trio’s third album, is rooted in the rhythm, switching up cadences without notice, and with an awkward fluidity that adds to the music’s charm.  An album of choppy motions and rough transitions that never fit plumb together, it’s music that keeps the listener on their toes and locked in tight.

And while most tracks are up-tempo, some tunes like “The Detour Fish,” which shifts from a murmur to a growl, and the bluesy stroll of “Sitting on a Fence” establish a pace that respects the need for a little diversity over the course of an album.  There’s also those occasional moments of melodic suffusion, like the delightful pairing of gently cooing piano and the purr of bass arco on “Broensgebuzze VI” and the blissful conflagration of “Ontdekking van Materie,” and these brief flourishes accentuate the album’s rougher edges and provide them an extra boost of personality.

A charming album from a piano trio that does their thing just a little bit differently.

Your album personnel:  Fulco Ottervanger (piano), Lieven Van Pée (bass), and Simon Segers (drums).

The album is Self-Produced, and released on Igloo Circle, which appears to the trio’s own label.

Jazz from the Ledeberg, Ghent, Belgium scene.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3

Pianist Dado Moroni casts a wide net on his tribute to John Coltrane.  Five For John not only includes Coltrane compositions like “Naima,” “After the Rain,” and “Mr. PC,” but also tunes that Coltrane famously recorded, like the Soultrane cut “Theme for Ernie” (written by fellow Philadelphian Frank Lacey) and the Gershwin song “But Not For Me” from the Coltrane classic My Favorite Things.  Moroni, however, doesn’t stop there, also including compositions by Coltrane Quartet members McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones (“Contemplation,” “Latino Suite,” and “E.J. Blues”), and then a couple of Moroni originals, illustrating the personal mark left by Coltrane on the Italian pianist.  It’s a holistic methodology for a tribute album, and it works excessively well, both in theory and practice.

Your album personnel:  Dado Moroni (piano), Joe Locke (vibes), Alvin Queen (drums), Marco Panascia (double bass), and guest: Max Ionata (tenor sax).

In addition to Moroni’s novel approach to music tribute, his other inspired decision is the inclusion of vibraphonist Joe Locke in the classic quartet format representative of Coltrane’s output.  The other members of the quartet do an excellent job of capturing the spirit of Coltrane’s music without ever resorting to simple mimicry and sacrificing their own sound.  Moroni mirrors some of the surging intensity emblematic of both Coltrane’s sax and (Coltrane Quartet member) McCoy Tyner’s piano contributions, and Alvin Queen summons forth plenty of the power and fury of Elvin Jones, his Coltrane Quartet counterpart.  Bassist Panascia has a fluency with his instrument that allows him to say plenty when an opening presents itself, no different than the way in which Coltrane would allow his own bassist Jimmy Garrison time to speak his mind with a solo.

But it’s the aspects sussed out by Locke on vibes that is most revelatory on this recording.  Much in the way that Eric Dolphy’s bass clarinet evoked a resonant spirituality from Coltrane’s music, Locke is equally resonant with Moroni’s quartet, but evincing a change with icy bright notes accentuating the melody while at the same time shading the edges of the tempo.  In many ways, even though Moroni is the session leader, and Max Ionata sits in for a handful of tracks on tenor sax, it’s Locke that is shaping the songs into their eminent form.  Whether a thrilling solo, like on the McCoy Tyner composition “Contemplation” or setting the table for nifty solos by saxophonist Ionata and Panascia on “Naima,” it’s Locke’s vibes directing events, presenting a novel expression of Coltrane’s music while simultaneously honoring the original’s sound.

The two Moroni originals “Sister Something” and “Mr. Fournier” crackle with electricity, and show that Moroni is more than just a casual fan of Coltrane.  His brief reference to A Love Supreme as “Naima” draws to close is yet another bit of evidence to the conscientious approach Moroni took to the project.

Just a real enjoyable album, and something a little different when it comes to Coltrane tribute albums.

Released on Via Veneto Jazz.

Jazz from Italy.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon MP3