Apr 5 2014
The North – “Slow Down (This Isn’t the Mainland)”
So, The North opens up Slow Down (This Isn’t the Mainland) as a nice enough modern piano trio recording. Easy-to-like melodies come out strong with a firm handshake and wide smile, and rhythms maintain a nice conversational chatter… nothing that gets too intricate as to incite a cerebral reaction and nothing too agitated as to become cluttered with unnecessary inflections and personal tics. And that’s how it proceeds for the first three tracks on this debut album of the trio of Romain Collin, Shawn Conley, and Abe Lagrimas, Jr.
But then fourth track “Join Us Jackson” begins, and the trio suddenly takes it down a gear, and they express their thoughts with a greater care, taking time to draw out the totality of the melody one breath at a time. It creates a provocative shift, though nuanced it may be, and from there, this likable recording really settles in.
“Join Us Jackson” has the satisfying brevity of a well-crafted pop tune, delivered with the solemn thoughtfulness of a gospel blues. Brushes insinuate a swaying motion, punctuated by the occasional tap of sticks. Piano brings the small but intense light of a brightly burning candle in darkness, with a slowly unwinding melody as a plume of smoke rising up from its flame. Bass is the shadow that accentuates the melody’s shape and direction. This is when the trio stamps their mark on the album.
“Dowsett Avenue” moves at a casual pace, too, though the soulful melody asks, and receives, a bit of a groove to bounce ideas off of, resulting in a slow shuffling cadence, nice and easy. The rendition of Monk’s “Light Blue,” as it turns out, is an odd transition piece from “Dowsett Avenue,” a contrast in styles though not necessarily of expression… the blues speak up on both, and the exaggerated stagger of “Light Blue” is an interesting shift from the casual stroll of the previous track. Unfortunately, it clashes with the album’s overall progression and stands out all by its lonesome… the kind of thing that cracks a recording built on a foundation of thoughtful melodic expressions.
This contrast becomes further evidenced by “Yann’s Flight,” which returns to an introspective state, even as it occasionally bursts into evocative form. The cover of Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” is made a melancholy little jingle. Collin wraps himself tightly around the melody, and the resulting sound of how it shifts and settles in his embrace illustrates how a little change can go a long way, and how simple sublime statements resonate just as powerfully as the most bombastic displays of sonic force.
“Northern Dreams” broods like mad. Piano and drums slowly pace the room while bass arco whips around them, warping notes… the insinuation of a melody only secondary to establishing a mood. It’s an approach that works well when sandwiched between the gratifying melodic treatment offered up by the Dylan cover and the album-closer “Stay With Me,” a love song that expresses as much heartbreak as it does hope… a sublime ending to an album that has many such moments.
Your album personnel: Romain Collin (piano), Shawn Conley (bass), and Abe Lagrimas, Jr. (drums).
The album is Self-Produced, released on the trio’s label Dowsett Records.
Available at: Amazon
Welcome to the Best of 2013.
This music has a boundless energy, and it grabs me each time I hit the play button. Teubal brings both modern jazz and Argentinean music to the table, but infuses it with other influences to where it’s not so easy to draw a clear lineage. Apparently this was Teubal’s intention, and it clearly worked. A stunning album of immaculate beauty. It’s about as near perfect as an album could be, and I still find it hard to believe it didn’t end up as my Album of the Year. On saxophones, Sam Sadigursky puts out some of the best moments on a jazz album in 2013. Cellist Erik Friedlander had a quietly massive 2013, putting out a beautiful album under his own name, and also performing on some of 2013′s top recordings in a supporting role. On the fourth and fifth tracks, “El Acrobata” and “Un Dragon Dormido,” which could be considered the same composition, Friedlander interacts with other ensemble members to create some heavenly sonic expressions, of a supreme elegance and stately beauty. Jazz is more diverse than ever, and the internet age has opened up new avenues for jazz artists to record and produce their own music, thus making it tougher for the general public to decipher what they should be listening to… but when someone asks you what will be considered the classic albums of this modern jazz age in fifty years time, you should point to this recording as one of them. As near to perfection as you can get.
Clarinettist Ghosh has one of the more original sounds on the modern jazz scene. His style of Indo-Jazz is both eccentric and amicable, diverse and complex, yet so easy to connect with. I was taken with his previous recordings quite a bit, but on his newest recording, he brings an even fuller sound to the table, one more rounded out and self-assured. Melodies that strike to the heart of the matter and rhythmic architectures that offer up plenty of ornamentation and structural fireworks. Or said differently, this album sounds like it has a lot going on, and it does, and yet by crafting rich, beautiful melodies, Ghosh makes this gregarious album so easy, and enjoyable, to spend time with. His mix of modern jazz approaches with that of regional musics from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka spin a breathless weave of influences, all which abide comfortably under the same roof of one album, and which import a sense of excitement as the sound shifts from scene to scene. Just an outstanding album.
Goldberg opened 2013 with two strong recordings, released simultaneously at the outset of the year. Unfold Ordinary Mind was the stronger of the two (though Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues was certainly no slouch), courtesy of how Goldberg’s ensemble managed to create challenging music cloaked in catchy melodies and intermittent grooves. It’s not unlike an avant-garde rendition of a Motown recording session. Goldberg has always been an innovative sort, delving into projects that probably shouldn’t work, but producing engaging, often very listenable music despite the odds. He does that here, too, and the result is no less impressive or fascinating with many many subsequent listens. An outstanding achievement in a career marked by them, and a fun album, to boot.
This is an album of beautiful melodies. The melodies aren’t stated… they’re slowly exhaled. Tenor sax man Bill McHenry is the perfect musician for this type of album, with songs of a languorous demeanor, even when they’re moving at a brisk pace. His big sound is delivered with a peaceful ease, and matches well with Moreaux’s ensemble, which utilizes a dynamic percussive approach that serves more as an undercurrent of crackling electricity, and allows the melodies to serve up the heavy voltage. Bassist Moreaux has been collaborating with jazz-folk saxophonist Jeremy Udden, and this album clearly illustrates that those two are peas of the same pod… they both have that eminently peaceful sound, of a warmth that provides sufficient heat to prevent the music from ever getting terribly sleepy. This is a strong album that, unfortunately, seems to have flown a bit under the radar. Hopefully this will kick-start some interest. It should, because this is a gorgeous recording.
If I had to point to one album that exemplified the thriving state of Jazz, and its undeniable hope for the future, it would be The Imaginary Delta. By mixing traditional instruments and forms with modern instruments and composition, Fairhall is simultaneously forward-thinking while still tending to the roots of Jazz’s past. And, really, both those things are important. Jazz is about tradition, just as Jazz is about innovation. Most jazz musicians are able to do one of those things well, a smaller group are able to do one of those things great… but it’s a rare thing for an artist to do both of those things, simultaneously, great. Fairhall has done that here. Inventive music that echoes the spirit of Charles Mingus. The Bird is the Worm 2012 Album of the Year. 
A trio of piano, vocals, and bass clarinet/sax. A storytelling flair that could give Tom Waits a run for his money. Heartbreak stories about hopeless cases who can’t stop hoping for the best. Siskind has plenty of page-turning moments on keys, but doesn’t hog the spotlight from his trio mates. Harms has a way with vocals that give jawdropping turns of vulnerability and disarming playful missives. Pino charms on bass clarinet, and provides a noir-ish ambiance to an album that is moody as hell. Also, what you hear on the album is what you get live… the trio is just as evocative in a live setting. One of those albums that just seems to materialize out of thin air, full of intensity and presence.
From a live performance while on tour, Robbins brings a studio warmth to the vivid persona of a live recording. Robbins knows how to giftwrap a complex melody into a simple present, and it’s the highlight of this album. Interplay between quartet members an added bonus, but it’s the tunefulness of the album tracks that makes this recording so damn addictive. I already had a pretty strong like of past Robbins’ recordings, but he really upped the bar to my mind with this release. Robbins is making his mark.
Jesse van Ruller’s trio of guitar, bass clarinet, and bass brings the moodiness of the Netherlands scene full-on, and applies it to a chamber jazz format. Sparse and haunting, yet so full of warmth. Quiet music for quiet moments, but performed in a way to keep the brain’s synapses fully occupied. This album has been in regular rotation on my stereo since I first discovered it, and it’s showing no signs of going away. I’m a fan of sleepy music, but it’s the albums that also let some life shine through that gain my esteem. One of those albums that does more with less.
The music of Paul Motian isn’t an easy safe to crack, possessing a quiet strength that’s both subtle and obtuse. Drummer Jeff Cosgrove found a way in, however, and came back out with his own sound and vision of Motian’s music. With an overt bluegrass/folk sheen to his jazz interpretations, Cosgrove’s ensemble found the right mix of haunting warmth to do honor the late great drummer, while also bringing a unique recording to the table. This is the type of album I listen to only on occasion but when I do, I completely immerse myself in it. This music is self-contained, like losing oneself for a short time in a little-known far-away place. Very cool.
Based on a book that gave the freedom to approach the story in different ways, so it goes on Rayeula that complexities and wrinkles are woven into the fabric of beautifully textured music. This is one of those recordings that dropped my jaw the first time I heard it, then slowly displayed other, more subtle reasons to appreciate it over the course of time. Zenon increasingly establishes himself as one of the premier voices in Jazz on saxophone, and Coq shows himself to be the perfect foil on piano, counterbalancing Zenon’s fire with some keyboard ice. The inspired decision to include Dana Leong on cello and trombone, and add tabla and various other percussion to Dan Weiss’s ensemble responsibilities both add elements to the music that imbues it with a vibrant color that elevates this album up a notch. Challenging music that is simple to enjoy.
I’m enamored with the premise of building an album around compositions based on the children’s lullaby “Twinkle Twinkle.” It’s the right kind of clever. However, while there is a soothing nighttime quality to this music, these ain’t song to fall asleep to. When I first sat down to listen to this recording, my assumption is that it would be something not unlike an ECM piano trio snoozer. But, actually, most tracks are quite lively, and far more representative of Babel Label’s inventive catalog of releases. Solid, from first note to last.
Threads Orchestra’s sophomore release leaves behind much of the genre-warping it artfully performed on its debut Threads, and instead focus on a seamless mix of jazz, classical, and folk as its vehicle for presenting some of the more compelling music on the scene. A cinematic presence with a theatrical flair, the album reflects the music for unperformed theater as dreamt up in composer Jonathan Brigg’s head. This ensemble has proven over the course of two albums that they won’t hesitate to experiment without having to compromise making their music an effortless listen.
There’s a relentlessness to this album that’s always appealed to me. It can be felt even when di Benedetto’s ensemble takes to the sky to soar or when it slows things down to slowly crunch over earth. A straight-ahead recording that should appeal to both new and old-schoolers alike.
This is music in motion. This is music that flows with grace, whether expressing a calm nature or something more on the wild side. Yokai, the excellent release by drummer Anne Paceo, makes its mark by establishing a lovely fluidity despite having many different parts in play.
On Oskar Schönning‘s 2012 release, The Violin, he cooks up a recipe that is one-half old-school bop and one-half modern Nordic jazz, and he presents them slowly, one at a time, like photos in a slideshow, one after the other, joined not by music elements, but by the totality of the story.
Oct 16 2014
Recommended: Rafael Karlen – “The Sweetness of Things Half-Remembered”
The musician who sets all this in motion is saxophonist and composer Rafael Karlen. And though his instrument is most often at the center of things, the roles played by pianist Steve Newcomb and the Rosenberg String Quartet are as essential to the foundation of this recording as is Karlen’s own contributions. It is where the subtraction or weakening of any ensemble member would cause the entire ball of loveliness to come unraveled into insubstantiality and mess.
Some tracks go with an impressionist’s touch. “Stark Colours” has strings painting with broad strokes and sax shading the edges with bold, thick lines. “Fade Slowly” are wind-blown ripples on the surface of a pond, forever spreading outward from the center. On “Outlines,” violins and piano travel disconnected but similar paths, providing both a sense of cohesion and detachment, as well as an essential contrast with those compositions that offer up clockwork-precise harmonies.
One such composition is “Clutch,” in which saxophone and strings take turns dancing in place as the other circles gracefully about, with the brightest moments coming when they fall into synch and reveal the heavenly melodicism hidden within their intoxicating motion. “Bounces Nicely” instigates an urgent tempo to which Karlen skips sunny phrases across. Opening track “If Not Now, When?” is a series of sweeping dance motions, with sax, piano and strings acting in unison.
And then there are those few tracks that incorporate both approaches. The two-part title-track does exactly this, opening with vague allusions to a cohesive harmonic structure, interspersed with brief asides to a possible melody. When the song transitions to Part 2, that melodic fragment takes bloom and expands into the basis for what is, arguably, the prettiest tune on the album. Melancholy and wistful, yet revealing a diverse array of glittering emotional hints that run deeper than mere sadness and longing. Karlen’s long saxophone sighs match those of strings, while Newcomb touches upon brighter tones and resurgent rhythmic patterns that imply that there’s plenty of life under the somber exterior. Strings and sax both modulate from long, slow expressions to ones with a furtive activity level… and then glide back into languorous motions that capture the essence of pure serenity.
This is a perfect album.
Your album personnel: Rafael Karlen (tenor sax), Steve Newcomb (piano), Rebecca Karlen (violin), Eugenie Costello-Shaw (violin), Alice Buckingham (viola), and Danielle Bentley (cello).
This Self-Produced album was released on Pinnacles Music.
Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.
Jazz from the Brisbane, Australia scene.
Available at: Bandcamp | Amazon
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2014 Releases • 0 • Tags: Brisbane (Australia), Jazz with strings, Rafael Karlen, Self-Produced