Songlines Recordings

Jan 31 2019

Album of the Day: “You Have Options” by Houle, Hawkins and Eisenstadt

 

Artist:  François Houle, Alexander Hawkins and Harris Eisenstadt

Album:  You Have Options

Label:  Songlines Recordings

Style:  Ghost of jazz past

Favorite Track:  “The Pitts”

Music from:  Vancouver, Canada & Oxford, UK & Brooklyn, NY.

What I like about it:  I like that this music has a tone that borders on haunting, and how its drifting presence gives it an ethereal feel.  I like that way it echoes a more traditional sound of a bygone jazz era as the trio channels the music into something that is very present day.  I like how a melodic perspective remains intact no matter how determinedly the trio pulls things apart into a mere resemblance of its first volley of notes.  I like how the music possesses an innate peacefulness, even though the music becomes unsettled and agitated.

Your album personnel:  François Houle (clarinet), Alexander Hawkins (piano) and Harris Eisenstadt (drums).

Available at:  Amazon

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

By • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2018 • 2 • Tags: , , ,

Jan 17 2019

Best of 2018 #12: Peggy Lee Band – “Echo Painting”

 

For many years, Peggy Lee has been casting her spell of avant-garde, folk, modern jazz, chamber, and ambient musics, and with each successive occurrence, the enchantment gains even greater strength.  There is an emphasis on orchestration in her works, and equal weight given to an improvisational approach that pulls the structure apart at the seams.  But even with these given qualities that, under normal conditions, would seem to have conflicted interests at heart, the cellist is able to attain a fluidity that brings a focused perspective to bind it all together.  Magic inspires a massive experience of wonderment; the Peggy Lee Band are magicians of the highest order.

Released on Songlines Recordings.

Music from Vancouver, Canada.

I wrote about this album for Bird is the Worm and The Bandcamp Daily.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

By • Recap: Best of 2018 • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Jan 11 2018

The Round-up: When the city sleeps, it dreams of you

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Mikkel Ploug – Alleviation (Songlines Recordings)

Mikkel Ploug has a remarkable talent for creating music that is highly conversant, yet still casts a palpable serenity.  The guitarist attains this balance flawlessly when matched against the vocal harmonics & electronics of Sissel Vera Pettersen and clarinetist Joachim Badenhorst with the trio Equilibrium, and it’s no different with his trio of bassist Jeppe Skovbakke and drummer Sean Carpio.  So, it comes as no surprise that the same potent combination of activity and tranquility is present when Ploug offers up a solo session recording.  As far as influence goes, Alleviation has an ephemeral nature, not owing itself to any one allegiance or school.  But this is the kind of album where the only thing worth doing is sitting transfixed by its sheer beauty and just allowing that to become the atmosphere you breathe for as long as the album continues.  Music from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Holophonor – Light Magnet (World Galaxy Records)

An enjoyable straight-ahead set from the septet Holophonor.  The complementary melodic interactions between vibraphone and the wind instruments goes a long way to getting to the heart of this album’s success.  Equally effective are how the ensemble coalesces around the various soloists, adding strength to those moments that call for intensity and providing nuance when softer voices are the course of action.  Good stuff.  The album is produced by Wayne Shorter, which can’t hurt to know.  Music from L.A. & NYC.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Sjøvaag/Seglem/Hole – West Wind Drift (Shipwreckords)

This album may well be a cloud… ephemeral and hazy and a tendency to drift.  But every now and then, the album suddenly darkens, the music gains a presence that wasn’t there before, and then suddenly the rains come pouring down.  That’s the fallout of this live, improvised performance by the trio of drummer Jonas Sjøvaag, saxophonist Karl Seglem and bassist Sigurd Hole… an album that doesn’t ask anything of your attention until it suddenly grabs it tight and won’t let go.  Music from Oslo, Norway.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Jim Hart & Alfred Vogel – Come Rain, Come Shine (Boomslang Records)

This interesting little duo collaboration between vibraphonist Jim Hart and drummer-percussionist Alfred Vogel certainly casts its charm via a diverse rhythmic display, but it’s how they shape melodic fragments between one another, as if passing an idea back and forth in quick succession, is where the real intrigue lies.  That said, the twitchy rhythms and elastic tempos go a long way to supplying the fun, too.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Bruno Delucchi Grupo – Las Meninas (Kuai Music)

There’s a lighthearted nature to this lovely album from pianist Bruno Delucchi, and it balances nicely with its deeply felt melodicism.  Delucchi’s quintet hits the right balance between dedication to the composition and freedom to deviate from the preordained path.  The influence of Argentinean folk is prominent, and how it brings out the album’s lyricism is a welcome effect.  Very easy to fall for this one.  Unfussy and gets right to the point.  Music from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

By • Jazz Recommendations - 2017 releases • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jan 31 2014

The Safety Net: Gordon Grdina’s East Van Strings – “The Breathing of Statues”

 

Gordon Grdina's East Van Strings - "Breathing of Statues"There is a formless quality to The Breathing of Statues, a sense that the varied articulations contributed by the four members of Gordon Grdina’s East Van Strings present an immediate obstacle to tethering this music to any one influence, while simultaneously forging a sonic identity through a collaborative sheer force of will.

Grdina had Bartok in mind when he began writing the music for this recording.  At the same time, he was immersing himself, and his oud, in Arabic music forms.  He enlisted three musicians he’d had fulfilling experiences playing free improvisation with.  Each of these musicians brought to the table their own influences and backgrounds, in classical, in folk, in avant-garde, in minimalism and ambient drone.  And then, with Grdina’s compositional framework in hand, they came together to collaborate, to improvise, to record this music.  It goes a long way to explaining why this album sounds like many things at once while sounding like only itself, a singular expression of that moment.

Your album personnel:  Gordon Grdina (electric guitar, oud), Eyvind Kang (viola), Jesse Zubot (violin), and Peggy Lee (cello).

Opening track “Selma” is an extended sigh.  Grdina’s oud lightly treads a path through warm gentle tides of harmonics.  This lovely atmospheric bliss is only touched upon a few more times, most notably on “Nayeli Joon,” which begins as a collection of dispersed harmonies, untethered from one another, coalescing into a thread of beauty, endless.  There is also the title-track “The Breathing of Statues,” which intersperses the rich harmonic waves with Grdina’s oud delving into the Arabic influence, specifically via the maqam mode, an approach in which the melody is key, both for construction of the song, but also as the launching pad for improvisation.

The blissful sound’s opposite side is also explored by the quartet.  “Silence of Paintings” is turbulence and chaos.  “Holy Departure,” the album’s second track, clashes with previous track “Selma,” and, initially, the strings clash amongst themselves before their slash and burn tactics emerge as a collaborative effort.  “Webern” enters the room strong and abrupt, then comes to a lurching stop, wobbling back and forth, directionless, standing in place but constantly in motion.

And then there are those tracks that fall somewhere in between the two extremes of harmonic bliss and atonal dissonance.  “Santiago” is music of the great expanse… the sensation of tiny sounds massively resonant in a sea of tentative silence.  And “Wide Open,” which concludes the recording, spaces out its varied expressions, but bridges the gaps across the silence with warped notes bent into strange beautiful forms and bursts of shattered melody that behave as stepping stones across a river of choppy rhythmic waves.

A compelling album, not easily categorized, and willing to put itself fully on display.  An album possessing no reservations.

Released in 2009 on Songlines Recordings.

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

Music from the Vancouver, BC scene.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon CD | Amazon MP3 | HDTracks

 

The Safety Net, a Bird is the Worm series that highlights outstanding older albums that may have flown under the radar when first released.

 

Other Things You Should Probably Know:

Gordon Grdina - "No Difference"I recently published a review of Grdina’s recent release No Difference, which possesses a different sound than Breathing, and compelling in its own way.  Read HERE.

Peggy Lee Band - "Invitation"Cellist Peggy Lee‘s last recording, Invitation, received the #7 slot on the Bird is the Worm Best of 2012 list.  It’s one of many of her recordings I enjoy.  Read a review HERE.

Bill Frisell - "Quartet"Eyvind Kang has been involved with some of Bill Frisell’s best recordings (among other projects, including albums under his own name).  If you see his name listed in the personnel, you should strongly consider purchasing the album asap.

Ratchet Orchestra - "Hemlock"Jesse Zubot is the founder of the Drip Audio label, which has released albums reviewed on this site by Peggy Lee and Ratchet Orchestra.  Check ’em out, HERE.

Nashaz - "Nashaz"And if you want to hear another recording that utilizes the maqam approach to music, check out the self-titled debut of Nashaz, which received the #30 slot on the Bird is the Worm Best of 2013 list.  Review HERE.
*****

By • Beyond Jazz Reviews, Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2009 Releases • 0 • Tags: , , , , ,

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