Jazz Recommendations

Tiny Reviews, featuring: Roller Trio Roller Trio, Greg Duncan Chicago, Barcelona Connections, and Old Time Musketry Different Times.

*****

Roller Trio – Roller Trio

Roller Trio‘s debut album is best approached as modern Jazz with some Avant-Pop tendencies, which means it’ll give you your jazz fix while at the same time present flirtatious allusions to pop rock music. Chaotic and scarred sounds that seamlessly shift into melodic beauty, post-bop intensity that can grow into a rock conflagration, and avant-garde disassemblages that coalesce into everyday songs.

Your album personnel: James Mainwaring (tenor sax), Luke Wynter (guitar), and Luke Reddin-Williams (drums).

Opening track “Deep Heat” gets right down to business. What begins as a jaunty bop-n-hop tune shifts into post-rock ambient melodics. In fact, several of the album tracks begin quite similar, but each head off in their own direction. “The Nail That Stands Up” veers off into trip-rock ambiance with some Motown R&B sax blowing. “Howdy Saudi” also echoes the post-bop of the opening track, but descends into Rock dissonance, whereas “The Zone” takes a course that drives right through prog-rock territory. “The Interrupters” pretty much stays the course, but hiccups out some saxophone screeching and electronic bursts at opportune spots.

However, some tracks stay away from traditional post-bop motifs. “Roller Toaster” begins with a murmur and a drone, then builds intensity with a fiery sax section. “R-O-R” floats a languid sax atop a pleasantly insistent rhythmic chatter, a beautiful song and one with many of the same talking points as more-rock-than-jazz counterparts In The Country.

The type of album that will keep the listener guessing throughout, and one that’s has some pretty exciting moments to bring ’em back for repeat plays. Good stuff, and a pretty ambitious recording for a debut.

Released on the F-IRE Collective label.

Jazz from the Leeds, UK scene.

Available at eMusic. Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

Greg Duncan – Chicago, Barcelona Connections

This is about Flamenco Music and this is about Jazz. It’s also about neither of those things. Chicagoan Greg Duncan set out to present the differences between the two, and yet fuse them together and present them in a straight-forward way. On Chicago-Barcelona Connections, Duncan delves into the various forms of Flamenco, displays how they differ from what is commonly referred to as Latin Jazz, and yet has recorded a Jazz album that can be enjoyed on the listener’s own terms, without needing awareness of artist motivations or goals, without requiring a background knowledge in music theory or genre categorization… just simply kick back and listen to some good ol’ fashioned Jazz. A result of time spent in Barcelona immersing himself in the music and culture, and also his participation in Chicago flamenco pop groups, Duncan has produced an thoroughly pleasant and accessible recording. I find it reminiscent of flautist Miho Wada‘s similar immersion in Cuban music, and the solid jazz album, Para Ti, which resulted from it. Good stuff.

Your album personnel: Greg Duncan (trumpet, flugelhorn, palmas), Corbin Andrick (alto & tenor sax), Stewart Mindeman (piano, Rhodes), Jon Deitemyer (drums, percussion), Patrick Mulcahy (acoustic & electric bass), and guests: Javier Saume (cajón) and Patricia Ortega (vocals, palmas).

Self-Produced, though released on Duncan’s own New Origins Records label.

Jazz from the Chicago scene.

Available at eMusic. Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

Old Time Musketry – Different Times

Interesting debut album from the Old Time Musketry quartet. As is the case with many debut albums by younger musicians, the recording is a bit unfocused when viewing the album as a singular whole. But when regarding each of the separate album facets on their own, there’s plenty of promising signs for things to come.

Most of interest to me personally is their expression of a folk-jazz sound that comes very close to walking the same territory as fellow Brooklynite Jeremy Udden. The album opens with “Star Insignia,” the type of tune that I would refer to as “back porch serene” were I reviewing a Udden recording. “Cadets” follows that same path, and brings a nice contrast of lilting sax and accordion lines with march formation rhythms. At first blush, “Hope For Something More” might seem to fall in line with that, too, but slips in a bit of a pop music for a nice bit of softness. “Floating Vision” ends the album much as it began, but with a whisper.

A couple tracks have some Balkan flavor to them, though breaking out the accordion and putting it out front can sometimes give that impression, especially if an accompanying saxophone wants to take the tune in a boisterous direction. “Anger Dance” is interesting in how it breaks down in the middle, and dispenses with form and structure, then coalesces for the big finale.

There’s also a more standard post-bop nature to this recordings. “Underwater Volcano” has ax taking the lead, but it’s the keyboard notes gurgling up from beneath that gives the tune its foundation. “Parade” is another straight-ahead tune with a pleasant shuffle rhythm, and buoyant statements of melody. “Different Times” begins as standard post-bop fare, then spends the rest of the song methodically deconstructing itself.

Your album personnel: Adam Schneit (sax, clarinet), JP Schlegelmilch (keyboard, accordion), Phil Rowan (bass), and Max Goldman (drums).

Released on the SteepleChase Lookout label.

Jazz from the Brooklyn scene.

Download a free album track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artists and label.

Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

*****

The Greg Duncan and Old Time Musketry reviews are original to Bird is the Worm, but I originally used the intro paragraph of the Roller Trio review for my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights to that reprinted material as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…

“New Arrivals Jazz Picks“ reprint courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2012 eMusic.com, Inc.

Floriaan Wempe – Flo’s Flow

When a young musician records a strong straight-ahead jazz album that for all intents and purposes is effectively flawless, I immediately become hesitant.  It’s one thing to hear sparks of brilliance.  It’s also another thing for the recording to be highly regarded, but somewhat outside the box.  But when the album covers well-established territory like 1960s Hard Bop, an area that some of Jazz’s greats created and thrived in, well, I try for an extended pause before expressing anything that might resemble effusive praise.  But, really, even after repeatedly listening to Floriaan Wempe‘s debut, Flo’s Flow, I really can’t find much of anything wrong with it.

It’s a remarkable album, and one that should delight Jazz fans who prefer when modern artists elicit strong echoes from Jazz’s past.

Your album personnel:  Floriaan Wempe (tenor sax), Karel Boehlee (piano), Jos Machtel (double bass), Willie Jones III (drums), and guests:  Tom van der Zaal (alto sax) and John Ruocco (clarinet).

Wempe has a strong presence on tenor sax, displaying an awareness of the best spots to add an extra ounce of delicacy to accentuate the intensity of a string of notes that preceded it, and when to step out and when to join hands with his veteran cast.  Seven of the eight tracks are Wempe compositions (the sole exception a Coltrane tune).  Guest appearances of alto sax and clarinet illustrate Wempe’s talents as a composer extend to layering in ingredients that add some pleasant texture to the album’s overall feel, with Ruocco’s clarinet being especially enjoyable.

Just an all-around impressive debut.  I’m very excited to see where all this leads.

Released on the Challenge Records International label.

Jazz from the Hague, South Holland, Netherlands scene.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

John Turville Trio – Conception

There are two sides to John Turville‘s magnetic piano trio album Conception.  There’s the straight-ahead modern piano trio album… brooding melodies that cook in immaculate jazz rhythms.  And then there are the chaotic tunes that subversively emit avant-garde messages of deconstruction.

The duality of these two facets combine for a winning album.

Your album personnel:  John Turville (piano), Chris Hill (double bass), Ben Reynolds (drums), and guest:  Eduardo Vassallo (cello).

Tracks like “Arc-en-Ciel,” “Conception,” “Pharoah-ant,” and a cover of Radiohead’s “Scatterbrain” allow Turville’s trio the opportunity to display both their knack for the right solos at the right time and solid group-interaction.  Whereas tracks like “Barrio Once,” “Elegia,” and “Milonga” incorporate guest cellist Vassallo and Turville’s background in tango for songs that make an intriguing composite of an undercurrent of schisms.

The flow from one album track to the next can be startling, as a soft-spoken pretty tune can immediately shift to a song wielding sharp flashes of strings and crooked piano lines.  But this is a big part of what makes this a winning album, those sudden jolts of differentiation, keeping the ear attuned to what might come next, while, in the meantime, enjoying the track that’s offered in the moment.

Really, just one of those recordings that has slowly accreted my appreciation with subsequent listens.

Released on the F-IRE Collective label.

Jazz from the UK.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

I’m always delighted when musicians take common ingredients and create something refreshingly new and exciting.  On New Focus, saxophonist Konrad Wiszniewski and pianist Euan Stevenson blend Jazz, Classical, and Pop musics.  This is nothing that hasn’t been done before.  But by employing the just-right equation of inspired compositions and lovely group improvisation, they offer a recording that is delightfully uplifting, even breathtaking at times, and possesses a sense of something original, something new, even if the album’s building blocks are tried and true.

It’s the kind of thing that dazzles via the possibilities of taking what is ordinary and making it special.

Your album personnel:  Konrad Wiszniewski (saxes & compositions), Euan Stevenson (piano, compositions & arrangements), Alina Bzhezhinska (harp), Michael Janisch (double bass), Alyn Cosker (drums), and the Glasgow String Quartet: William Chandler (violin), Jacqueline Speirs (violin), Ian Budd (viola), and Betsy Taylor (cello).

I like that the album opens with strings.  On “Nicola’s Piece,” the Glasgow String Quartet begins with a captivating cello line atop quavering violin notes.  Bzhezhinska and Janisch then enter on harp and bass, providing some slight contrast at the upper and lower registers, and some nuance to the rhythm.  Wiszniewski’s sax picks up where cello left off and takes the song aloft to a higher elevation.  Cosker’s drumwork is the flapping of wings.

And, actually, I could go on all day with the flying metaphors.  This is one of those albums.  Lots of soaring moments, of songs looking down from great heights.  For instance, on “Music for a Northern Mining Town,” strings are a gentle breeze propelling the tune forward.  Stevenson’s piano missives are effortless in flight, while sax offers long slow sight lines.

But that’s not all there is to this album.  For instance, the interplay between sax and strings on “El Paraiso,” each pretending to be disinterested in one another, yet bonded by the smokey glances directed at one another when they think nobody’s looking.  Strings sometimes sway woozily, sometimes prance sprightly across the room.  This is movie scene music, for when two lovers first become aware of the other.  Interplay.

I’ve mostly talked about the slower pieces thus far, but there’s a nice offering of up-tempo pieces, too.   On “Illuminate,” drums keep things close to the ground and moving straight ahead, piano paralleling its trajectory.  Sax gets chippy, but stays in line with the rest of the ensemble.  A group effort.  And “Parson’s Green” sends the album out with a bang.

“Leonard’s Lament” is the most song-like of the album tracks.  One of those rich melodies that sounds inviting each time it’s restated.  Sax really drives the melody, but piano adds nuance via counterpoint, and thus melodic depth.  When Cosker shifts on drums from accompaniment to foil, it provides for some tiny fireworks to end the song on a thrilling note, and brings a strong rhythmic quality to a song that was already strong melodically.

Just a fine album, and one of the highlights of 2012.

Released on the Whirlwind Recordings label.

Jazz from the Glasgow, Scotland scene.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD

Some music has a natural swagger so that it can’t help but sound bad-ass.  This is one such album.

Benedic Lamdin (who also goes by the monicker Nostalgia 77) has made his mark on the UK music scene by performing and producing with a variety of solid music acts, ranging from R&B artist Alice Russel to the wonderful free jazz Tippett family.  On The Taxidermist, he’s collected some strong names from the UK Jazz scene, tagged them as The Monster, and created an album with hypnotic grooves and absorbing textures.

And it’s the coolest thing in the room.

Your album personnel:  Ross Stanley (organ, fender rhodes, piano), Riaan Vosloo (bass), Fulvio Sigurta (trumpet), Tim Giles (drums), Noda Fernandez (percussion), Matthew Bourne (piano), James Allsopp (tenor sax, clarinet), and Benedic Lamdin (producer, arrangements, guitar).

The album opens with the title-track and immediately illustrates that swagger.  Bassist Vosloo, who contributed the majority of the compositions, partners with Giles’s drums to set down a catchy groove so infectious it echoes throughout the album.  Stanley creates darker tones on organ in the background, which sometimes simmer up and spread outward across the surface of the song, while Sigurta and Allsopp take similar arcs on trumpet and sax, offering notes that sigh wistfully.  Eventually, Allsopp breaks off from the trajectory and begins with some skronking dissonance.  This contrast with the entrenched groove enhances it, doesn’t muffle it.

And it’s that kind of arrangement to the compositions that makes this album something more special than just another modern take on the jazz-funk motif.

Most of the tracks have a cosmic vibe to them… a mix of post-bop and avant-garde jazz, space-rock, and modern R&B.  The track “The Last Few Days” brings together some trumpet and sax pairing that speaks to the Jazz voice of the album, but drums and percussion suggest something more of an R&B groove, while piano splits the difference between jazz and rock.  From the description, the inference might be drawn that this tune is a muddled combination of genres, but, much the opposite, the song possesses an easy-going poise, developing at a casual pace, even when it offers up soft growls and a show of teeth.

“Algernon” has a thick melody full of warmth and catchy enough to get everybody humming.  “The Ignored” has the heart of Tango, and a sense of humor that would brighten up the night at late-night lounges.  “Zippy Slipper” feels its way through the dark, prowling after scattered moonlight.  A cover of Sun Ra’s “Angels & Demons At Play” embraces the cosmic spirit of the original, but brings an unhurried tempo to the mix, providing a differing environment for the stabs and jabs of sax and trumpet to thrive in.

The cover of Kenny Dorham’s “Sunrise in Mexico” is the only thing approaching conventional on this album.  With a classic Hard Bop demeanor, Stanley has some thrilling moments on rhodes when the spotlight shines his way, and adds some lively accompaniment for those times when the spotlight is directed at Sigurta and Allsopp.  The cheerful drumwork of Giles comes a close second to Stanley for this song’s top performance.

The album ends with “By the Light of Your Eyes,” a smokey ballad that features some lovely sax work by Allsopp.  Yet even when employing a lighter touch, this ensemble presents a song that hits hard, but plays it cool without even having to throw a punch.

Sorta bad-ass.

Released on the Tru Thoughts Recordings label.

Jazz from the UK.

Download a free album track, courtesy of the artists and label, either by hitting the download button in the audio player above or by following this link to the artist’s bandcamp page.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3