Jazz Recommendations

When an artist passes, there is, justifiably, an added significance placed upon their final work. That Bill Dixon titled his last recording Envoi, which indicates a look back or summation, can’t help but ramp up the emotional impact. Recorded in 2010 at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle just before he died, trumpeter and composer Bill Dixon assembled an all-star cast of master improvisers (including Taylor Ho Bynum and Rob Mazurek) and unleashed a battery of brass instruments, vibes, percussion, contrabass clarinet and cello.

Your album personnel:  Bill Dixon (trumpet, composition, direction), Stephen Haynes (trumpet, cornet, bugle), Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet, bugle), Rob Mazurek (cornet), Graham Haynes (cornet, bugle), Glynis Loman (violoncelle), Michel Cote (clarinette contrabasse), Ken Filiano (contrebasse), and Warren Smith (vibes, drums, percussion).

Ominous throaty notes like voices calling out from deep beneath the sea, the unnerving pitter-patter of drumsticks that grow closer then fade with a crash of cymbals, cello like a haunting wind gusting amongst the trees, bursts of vibes like moonlight cutting through darkened clouds…and then, like the first hint of sunlight, the high call of trumpet and a promise of hope and safety. Dixon’s music is signified by emotionally incendiary cross-currents.

Making his mark as one of the seminal figures in the free jazz avant-garde movements of the late sixties, Bill Dixon continued recording up ’til the very end. His final work possesses all of the punch of earlier albums, and provides every reason to celebrate this recording while also contemplating jazz’s loss.

Released on the Victo Records label.

Featuring Tiny Reviews of:  Frank Hewitt Salience, Martin Hoper The Bride, and Jeremy Pelt Soul.

Let’s begin…

Frank Hewitt – Salience

It looks like Smalls Records has released another posthumous Frank Hewitt recording. For those who don’t know, Hewitt was one of the criminally under-recognized boppers back in the day, played with many of the greats, and never really had anything released under his own name (at least, not representative of his contribution to jazz). Hewitt passed away about ten years ago, and it’s great that Smalls has been putting Hewitt’s music out.  This recording has Hewitt on piano, Jimmy Lovelace on drums, and Ari Roland on bass. I’ve been looking around, and it’s possible that several of these tracks may have been released previously on the Hewitt album We Loved You; for most of you, this duplication won’t be an issue, and for those of you who already have that recording, the duplication isn’t likely going to be an obstacle to purchasing this one.

Available on eMusic.

Martin Hoper – The Bride

Another nice selection from the European scene.  Bassist Martin Hoper rounds out the quartet with sax, piano, and drums for an understated straight-ahead affair.  Plenty of spritely tunes to bounce the head along with.  Hoper has a very nice moments bowing, and just generally shows a professional touch leading his quartet. On the Hoob Records label, who have displayed a knack at finding under-the-radar talent and released an extremely diverse set of recordings.  Beautiful stuff here.

Your album personnel:  Martin Hoper (bass), Linus Lindblom (sax), Jonas Östholm (piano), and Chris Montgomery (drums).

I have a more extensive review pubbed at AllAboutJazz.

Also, Martin Hoper will be offering a free album track at AllAboutJazz in the near future, as well.

So, stay tuned.

You can stream three of the album songs on Hoper’s site.  Jazz from the Stockholm, Sweden scene.

Available on eMusic.

Jeremy Pelt – Soul

Virtuoso trumpet player Jeremy Pelt assembles an all-star line-up of J. D. Allen on tenor sax, Danny Grissett on piano, Dwayne Burno on bass and the great Gerald Cleaver on drums, and gives a performance that really honors the quintet, sharing the spotlight with everybody.  Pelt has been on an impressive roll, putting out an album a year for about the last six.  No matter what ensemble he plays with, his sound is distinctively cerebral, even when he’s blowing flames out of his instrument. This is great straight-ahead jazz from some of the best musicians on the scene.

Released on the HighNote Records label.  Jazz from NYC.

Also, here’s the link again to Jeremy’s site.  He has a generous amount of music available to listen to and his site really should be explored.

Available on eMusic.

That’s it for today’s article, and the second of three parts of the Tiny Reviews from this batch of new arrivals.

Here’s some language to protect emusic’s rights as the one to hire me originally to scour through the jazz new arrivals and write about the ones I like:

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

My thanks to emusic for the freelance writing gig, the opportunity to use it in this blog, and the editorial freedom to help spread the word about cool new jazz being recorded today.

Featuring Tiny Reviews of:  Alexandra Lehmler No Blah Blah, Simone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble That’s All Folks, Benjamin Koppel Quartre Trois Deux Un, and Fabrice Sotton L’envol.

Let’s begin…

Alexandra Lehmler – No Blah Blah

Wow, nice start to my day.  Quintet of sax, piano, bass, drums, and percussion.  Alexandra Lehmler handles the business on sax. Definitely with two feet in the straight-ahead European jazz scene.  Lehmler has got a lively sound on sax, gives each song a palpable vibrancy, plenty of soaring, but not to where it begins sounding like an ECM album or a lite-jazz recording.  Mixes up the tempos; extra person on percussion adds some welcome texture to the rhythm section.  Just beautiful.

Your album personnel:  Alexandra Lehmler (alto & soprano sax, bass clarinet), Daniel Prandl (piano), Matthias Debus (bass), Max Mahlert (drums), and Farouk Gomati (percussion).

Released on the Jazz ‘n Arts label.  Jazz from the Mannhein, Germany scene.

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

Available on eMusic.

Simone Guiducci Gramelot Ensemble – That’s All Folks

Simone Guiducci fuses jazz with the music of Italian folklore, and that might be as close as I come to classifying this wonderful music. Featuring Ralph Alessi on trumpet and Guiducci on guitar, other instruments include clarinet, bass clarinet, accordion, double bass, drums, various percussion, and piano. Rhythms with plenty of depth whether they’re sprinting or ambling, trumpet and clarinet intertwine while darting up and down, the sound of the rustic countryside brought into a boisterous jazz club… you get all of that here. Outstanding.

Your album personnnel:  Simone Guiducci (12 string guitar), Ralph Alessi (trumpet), Achille Succi (clarinet), Oscar del Barba (accordion), Giulio Corini (double bass), and Andrea Ruggeri (drums & percussion).

Released on the TRJ Records label.  Jazz from Italy.

Available on eMusic.

Benjamin Koppel – Quartre Trois Deux Un

Always exciting to see a new release from the Danish saxophonist and composer. This time with a quartet date with Jacob Anderskov on piano, Thommy Andersson on bass, and Daniel Humair on drums, it’s a set of compositions that features Benjamin Koppel’s unique voice, bringing classical elements to the European jazz sound. The result is a series of introspective tunes that are as likely to clamor as meditate. Koppel is one of the true under-the-radar treasures. To my ears, no one synthesizes the comfort and mystery of dreams quite like him. Definitely Recommended, as is his album Adventures of a Polar Expedition, which was my top choice for 2010 album of the year.

Your album personnel:  Benjamin Koppel (saxophones), Jacob Anderskov (piano), Thommy Andersson (bass), and Daniel Humair (drums).

Released on the Cowbell Music label.  Jazz from Denmark.

Available at eMusic.

Fabrice Sotton – L’envol

Pianist Fabrice Sotton kinda does his own thing. Switches effortlessly between piano and electric keyboard (sometimes within the same tune), moves from a standard jazz composition to a classical one to a world jazz fusion in the span of three songs, and adds whatever electronic effect or field recordings will get him the desired sound for whatever song is right in front of him at that very moment… album cohesion be damned. If you like to wake slowly to the day, his music will fit right in, though some of his compositions do have a caffeinated punch. I like L’envol well enough, glad he recorded it, and recommend buying it; that said, I’d recommend the excellent Terre Inconnue first, followed by L’attente next. If you’re into modern quiet piano recordings, check this guy out.

Your album personnel:  Fabrice Sotton (piano, keyboards, effects).

This album is Self-Produced.  Jazz from the Paris scene.

Here’s a link to his artist site, where you can stream pretty much everything he’s ever done.  You may have to give an email address to stream.

Download a free album track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artist.

Available on eMusic.

That’s it for today’s article, and the first of three parts of the Tiny Reviews from this batch of new arrivals.

Here’s some language to protect emusic’s rights as the one to hire me originally to scour through the jazz new arrivals and write about the ones I like:

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

My thanks to emusic for the freelance writing gig, the opportunity to use it in this blog, and the editorial freedom to help spread the word about cool new jazz being recorded today.

Tiny Reviews, featuring:  Viktor Toth Popping Bopping, Partikel Cohesion, Neil Cowley Trio The Face of Mount Molehill, and L.A. Jenkins The Clarity of the Peculiar.

Viktor Toth – Popping Bopping

A quartet comprised of alto sax, trumpet, bass and drums, and some random electronic effects.  Album starts with Viktor Toth blowing away on his alto on a modern hard bop tune.  Trumpet gets in some action of its own, a playful bit of muting and sound skewing.  The album begins very much like the dissonance cum old time blues found on the Clean Feed label these days.  There are moments when the album threatens to turn into a Nils Petter Molvaer composition with the airy atmospherics of electronic effects (especially on the final track), but the album never loses its grasp on the blues, much to the benefit of anyone who grabs this strong recording.

Your album personnel:  Viktor Toth (alto sax), Bart Maris (trumpet, effects), Matyas Szandai (bass), and Robert Mehmet Ikiz (drums)

Released on the BMC Records label.  Jazz from the Budapest, Hungary scene.

Available on eMusic.

Partikel – Cohesion

Partikel is a sax trio of tenor & soprano, drums, and bass. Some flavoring of world jazz (Latin & African, specifically) mixed with what’s going for modern straight-ahead jazz these days. First listen doesn’t blow me away or anything, but the dynamic percussion makes me want to return for repeat listening. Promising, and worthy of a bit of the spotlight.

Your album personnel: Eric Ford (drums), Max Luthert (double bass), and Duncan Eagles (tenor & soprano sax).

NOTE:  It’s now been about a month since I wrote the above for my eMusic column, and since then, I seem to have confirmed my initial assumption- that repeat listening would generate a more favorable response.  It’s not always easy to digest a sax trio at first; sax often brings a complicated rhythmic template to the table, and when combined with a rhythm section of bass and drums, the resulting complexities can be a bit much to take in at first.  However, some albums just require an acclimation period in order to discover the melodic and harmonic characteristics not evident at first blush.  That is certainly the case with Cohesion, which I find myself enjoying more with the passing of time.

Three of the album tracks are available to stream on their soundcloud page.

Released on the Whirlwind Recordings label.  Jazz from the UK scene.

Available on eMusic.

Neil Cowley Trio – The Face of Mount Molehill

This is probably what it would sound like if Badly Drawn Boy composed a soundtrack for piano trio. Infectious grooves, some strings to tug at the edges of the heart, simple melodies that are anything but superficial, and enough stylistic wrinkles to keep the head engaged. A likable album; the kind of cheerful that’s always good to have sitting on a nearby barstool when drinking alone just ain’t gonna cut it.

Your album personnel:  Neil Cowley (piano), Rex Horan (double bass), and Evan Jenkins (drums).

NOTE:  I’ll be providing an extended review of this album, either here on Bird is the Worm or on AllAboutJazz.

Released on the Naim Jazz label.  Jazz from the UK scene.

Available on eMusic.

L.A. Jenkins – The Clarity of the Peculiar

Something for the experimental and avant-garde jazz fans. Frenzied guitar busts, trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, a variety of percussion instruments, a little flute, and a holiday basket of electronic effects, this album has moments of symphonic ecstasy interspersed with interludes of ambient bliss.  Honestly, this album is probably gonna have more interest from listeners for whom jazz is a part-time occupation, but it certainly doesn’t fall out of line with other albums that are widely considered avant-garde jazz.  This is some nifty stuff.

Your album personnel:  L.A. Jenkins (guitar), Martin Rippel (trumpet, flugelhorn, handheld percussion), and Anthony Jacobs (flute, trombone, alien wind instrument, handheld percussion).

Released on Edgetone Records.  Jazz from the Columbus, OH scene.

Available on eMusic.

That’s it for today’s article, and the first of two parts of the Tiny Reviews from this batch of new arrivals.

Here’s some language to protect emusic’s rights as the one to hire me originally to scour through the jazz new arrivals and write about the ones I like:

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

My thanks to emusic for the freelance writing gig, the opportunity to use it in this blog, and the editorial freedom to help spread the word about cool new jazz being recorded today.