Dec 24 2017
Best of 2017 #24: Matt Otto with Ensemble Iberica – “Iberica” (Origin Records)
That Matt Otto’s collaboration with Ensemble Ibérica is drop-dead gorgeous doesn’t come as a huge surprise, but it is remarkable just how welcoming a personality it possesses. When confronted with beauty set to stun, the tendency is to experience it from a distance… a sort of defensive detachment meant to open lines of communication that might otherwise be overwhelmed by the emotional reaction. That posture isn’t necessary on Ibérica. The tenor saxophonist and Spanish music ensemble bring a peaceful seaside ambiance to music that might otherwise turn out the lights. The use of instruments like oud, steel guitar, cavaquinho, cello and Cuban tres speak to the album’s rich personality, and the many avenues at its disposal to express all that beauty.
Music from Kansas City, MO.
Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm.
Aside from being one my favorite musicians on the modern jazz scene, guitarist 
There is something refreshingly easy-going about this music… a quality that doesn’t change just because the pace of the music does. “Catalpa” sees Barber’s quartet of drummer Jeff Ballard, bassist Larry Grenadier and saxophonist Mark Turner maintain a quick-footed tempo, spurring the melody forward so they can get to the meat of the development and just start soloing. And “Virginia” flirts with a groove as they scoot right along, but even these flurries and bursts of activity aren’t sufficient to lessen the tranquil effect of tracks like “Richi” and “Desierto,” which have Barber weaving his guitar into languorous saxophone lines, twittering drum chatter and the shadows of basslines into a bundle of sunny afternoon peacefulness. There’s an arresting tunefulness to this music that keeps the attention rapt.
Barber worked with two different trios on this recording. Ari Hoenig replaced Jeff Ballard on drums. Both Turner and Grenadier returned for Barber’s sophomore release, but about half of the album tracks had Barber switching them out for the sax-bass duo of Seamus Blake and Johannes Weidenmueller.
Bringing back the Blake-Weidenmueller-Hoenig trio and teaming up with desktop wizard Hugo Cipres, Barber set course for an entirely new venture. 411 is an electro-acoustic project that brings together laptop effects, thick dynamic grooves, and a fleeting melodicism into a hodgepodge of dominant and recessive qualities that changes ratios from moment to moment. The song “Poncho” illustrates the potential for genius this approach represents. The rapid pulse of electronics coalesces with the sussurus of classical guitar and the gentle patter of drums. It is a song that is both insistent and atmospheric, urgent and placid, contemporary and futuristic, and incorporates many divergent voices into one unique, captivating sound.
A duo collaboration with pianist Craig Taborn, it brings together two artists who typically venture into heavily cerebral territory, yet rather than anchoring them down with deeply contemplative thought, it acts as the launching point into melodic expansions unbound and free to flight.
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 22 2018
The Round-up: I was becoming a fixture
Here is some very good new music.
Onyx Collective – Lower East Suite, Part Three (Big Dada)
This is more a collection of photos than songs, where the sharp imagery, frozen in time, resonates far longer than the brief moments captured on film. Most of the album’s ten tracks are quick and to the point, as if simply introducing an idea and letting the listener flesh it out on their own time. Individually, this works well for each piece, but taken as a whole and in the context of the flow of one track to the next, it’s pretty damn thrilling. Barely has one reaction hit its peak before you’re put in the position of having to absorb the next. There’s something special about an album that forces you to stay on your toes. Your Collective is saxophonist Isaiah Barr, drummer Austin Williamson, upright bassist Walter Stinson, electric bassist Spencer Murphy, plus Roy Nathanson guesting on saxophone. Music from NYC.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp – Amazon
Stijn en Mala – Vaart (Self-Produced)
Here’s your music for a peaceful Sunday morning, when all you want to do is bring tranquility to your life, and, perhaps, nurse away your Saturday night hangover. The duo of violinist Mala Dengkeng and pianist Stijn van der Smagt cycle through a pattern of soothing melody dissipates into a warm blanket of harmony. The only complaint I have about this recording is that there’s only five tracks. They could have tripled this album’s duration and it still wouldn’t have been enough. Music from Delft, Netherlands.
Here’s a video for the title-track. It has everything I could want from a video: Trains, boats, planes, seagulls, moody landscapes accompanied by moody music.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp
Bongwool Lee – My Singing Fingers (Origin Records)
Sometimes you just want to sit back with a piano trio recording that plays it nice and straight, and patiently dives into a melody to explore every inch. The debut from Bongwool Lee will definitely fit that need. The pianist straddles that middle ground where old-school jazz bleeds into the modern post-bop, and so the music is always plenty lively even when it grows increasingly contemplative. Bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Kendrick Scott are attached to the hip with Lee throughout, and that grand unity is why the music possesses a seriously appealing flow. Music from NYC.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp – Amazon
Thomas Nordlund – Miles Left Behind (Shifting Paradigm Records)
Miles Left Behind has got an easy-to-like personality to it. A modern jazz recording with healthy doses of blues and country, Thomas Nordlund modulates the heat level along the spectrum of campfire warmth to raging bonfire, but keeps closely to one extreme or the other. Ben Abrahamson on banjo is a nice touch, with bassist Doan Roessler and drummer Zach Schmidt rounding out the quartet. The music is stronger when Nordlund’s guitar behaves as the train tracks guiding a tune rather than the locomotive driving it, but I tend to be more particular when it comes to jazz guitar, so that could be written off strictly to personal tastes. Nordlund ends the album with a magnificent rendition of Nils Frahm’s “Si,” which will be addressed in an upcoming column. Music from Minneapolis, MN.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp – Amazon
7to Hot Clube de Portugal – Vol. 3 (Self-Produced)
Breezy tempos and melodies thick as a moonbeam at midnight are the signifying marks of this enjoyable septet session from guitarist Bruno Santos, vocalist Joana Machado, trumpeter João Moreira, saxophonists Pedro Moreira & Ricardo Toscano, bassist Romeu Tristão and drummer João Lopes Pereira. While the gravitational pull is likely stronger towards those pieces that ratchet up the electricity, the ensemble is at their strongest when thoughtfully expressing a melody and nurturing it patiently to a fuller bloom. Music from Lisbon, Portugal.
No artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations - 2018, These are videos that I like • 0 • Tags: 7to Hot Clube de Portugal, Big Dada, Bongwool Lee, Delft (NL), Lisbon (Portugal), Mala Dengkeng, Minneapolis (MN), New York City, Onyx Collective, Origin/OA2 Records, Self-Produced, Shifting Paradigm Records, Stijn en Mala, Stijn van der Smagt, Sunday Morning Jazz Album, The Round-Up, Thomas Nordlund