Nov 30 2012
Anat Cohen – “Claroscuro”
If you’re not careful, you might take Anat Cohen for granted. Having released one solid album after the other under her own name, in collaboration with Choro Ensemble and 3 Cohens, and as a supporting musician in Duduku Da Fonseca’s quintet, Cohen’s commonplace excellence on reeds might lead a person to lose sight of how special her music is.
There is a buoyancy to her sound, even when the tone of the music lends to brooding and darker thoughts. And this really speaks to me of a very classic element of Jazz… the music’s uplifting nature even when coming down with a strong case of the blues. That via a combination of improvisation, composition, and group interplay, many facets of the emotional landscape can be presented with one voice, representing all while sanitizing none. In a world of modern jazz that has become as disparate as the mind can express creativity, Anat Cohen plays Jazz, both in spirit and form.
Your album personnel: Anat Cohen (clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano & tenor saxes), Jason Lindner (piano), Joe Martin (bass), Daniel Freedman (drums), and guests: Paquito D’Rivera (clarinet), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), and Gilmar Gomes (percussion).
On Claroscuro, Cohen hits upon a variety of music forms… New Orleans jazz on the gently swaying “La Vie en Rose,” Malian rhythms in “All Brothers,” NYC swing era jazz with Artie Shaw’s “Nightmare,” Brazilian choro in the haunting interlude of “Kick Off,” South African jazz with a cover of Abdullah Ibrahim’s “The Wedding,” a bit of the flavor of Middle-East jazz with “Anat’s Dance,” and several tracks that touch the meeting points between African and Brazilian musics so very reminiscent of Don Pullen’s masterful work. One album track is Cohen’s own, two album tracks are from album personnel (one from Lindner and Freedman each), and the rest are taken from the songbooks of other musicians.
But the thing of it is, whether it’s her own compositions or those of another, Cohen delivers it with an easily identifiable personal voice that transcends music influences and roots. When we talk about the language of music, it’s a reference to an agreed upon lexicon of instrumental and compositional approaches, and also to the songbook of generally accepted standards, but of equal importance is the ability of the artist to communicate the music in a voice that is all their own, that the creative thought is illustrated through the artist’s personal point of view. The talent to do that is something that artists spend a lifetime developing, and it’s the essential element to forging a bond between the music and the listener. Cohen is doing that now. Her sound is very much her own, and that’s an accomplishment that shouldn’t be overlooked as one makes their way through Cohen’s wonderful discography.
Nothing could be more symbolic of what I’m talking about than the delightful Claroscuro.
Released on the Anzic Records label.
Jazz from NYC.
You can stream a few album tracks at the artist’s bandcamp page. You can also purchase the album there.
| MP3
| MP3
| 
| 
| 
Dec 1 2012
Something Different: Seval – “2”
The Something Different review series highlights albums that are unlike anything else, and which embrace the best qualities of creative vision.
*****
It’s a different kind of beauty. This is not a pretty album. It’s not the kind of music that will be splendid accompaniment for watching sunsets or playing on the iPod as you walk through the countryside. This is the kind of beauty that emanates from within, when a creative piece shines with originality, confidence, technique, and inspiration. Not unlike the effect of watching astronauts hurtle out into space, art has an inherent ability to remind us of the heights to which humanity may aspire to and achieve.
Your album personnel: Sofia Jernberg (voice), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), David Stakenas (guitar), Emil Strandberg (trumpet), and Patric Thorman (bass).
These musicians are all part of the Swedish new music & free improv scene. Cellist Lonberg-Holm has an exceptionally wide variety of music attached to his name. Aside from his own admirable discography, he’s a member of free jazz groups Peter Brotzmann’s Chicago Tentet, Vandemark 5, and Valentine Trio (w/Frank Rosaly and Jason Roebke). He’s also been a part of modern jazz group Keefe Jackson’s Fast Citizens, ambient post-rock group Boxhead Ensemble, and indie-rockers Wilco. Even within those groups’ particular genres/circles, they are outliers for the most part. So, here you’ve got a musician, Lonberg-Holm, who’s cut his teeth with a disparate group of disparate groups. Or said better, Longberg-Holm almost specializes in strange and engaging music.
Seval’s 2 is an intriguing mix of avant-garde and pop music that weights heavier to the former. These are haunting tunes that stretch out to the fringes of sound, while simultaneously reaching inward to the center of things. Catchy melodies of sing-song lightness are hybridized with the frenetic gruffles of trumpet blasts and industrial-strength cello. Sometimes that script is flipped, and Julesberg’s vocals become guttural utterances and a steel-stringed guitar bounces cheerfully along to an equally chipper bass line.
And that script gets flipped often, even within the same song. “Revolution Song” has Julesberg delivering the melody, conversely, with a lovely sweetness and at times as a growled call to arms. The pop-rock opening begins to careen out of control, using the opening melody as the catapult to wilder territory. The thrilling part of this song is the method which sudden leaps into dissonance and chaos have equally sudden transitions back to beautiful restatements of melody. It gives all the interludes of improvisation a sense of purpose and cohesion by tethering themselves to their melodic hometown.
Album opener “Children Of Monsters” has Julesberg offering up a wispy lullaby to a humming cello and shimmering guitar. Trumpet solos soft and patiently. Bass provides the shadows.
On “Details,” Julesberg and Longberg-Holm open with the heart of a love song, but their occasional flirtations with warped notes imply that the pop center might not hold.
“Light Brush” is audio taffy, with a sugary blitheness to its set-up, and wildly careening passages in the development. The song gets increasingly warped and twisted before ending with a brief return from whence it began.
“Boredom and Bliss” begins with a low rattle and hum. Trumpet twitters nervously and Julesberg is specterally ominous. This song isn’t haunting… it’s just plain haunted. And as it drifts off like a ghosts, the album transitions immediately to the amicable pitter-patter of Julesberg’s vocals on “Only One,” which has an Elliot Smith somberness, undercut by the caustic picking of Stakenas on guitar. Trumpet harmonizes with Julesberg as she ascends up on the register and forgoes words for animalistic sounds. Trumpet matches her tone. Cello and bass subversively instigate faster tempos. And then guitar, which was the original culprit in steering this song into avant-garde territory, becomes the peacemaker, offering up a kinder, gentler face. The song wraps up with a marching cadence before ending as it began, but with greater volume and fanfare.
As with all of the albums I review in my Something Different series, this won’t be music for everybody, but everyone should give it the opportunity to connect. It’s the kind of music that won’t have mass appeal, but will likely inspire some passionate reactions from some listeners. It’s the kind of music that leaves its mark.
Released on the 482 Music label.
Lonberg-Holm is from Chicago, but the rest of the group is part of the Stockholm, Sweden music scene.
Available at eMusic. Available at Amazon: CD
| MP3
Like this:
By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2012 Releases • 0 • Tags: Something Different