Tokyo (Japan)

May 14 2018

The Round-up: You are always a mystery. We are always free.

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Julian Siegel Quartet – VISTA (Whirlwind Recordings)

Nothing fancy, just some solid modern straight-ahead jazz from the Julian Siegel Quartet.  Siegel is often the one leading the charge, but there are plenty of moments when one of pianist Liam Noble, double bassist Oli Hayhurst or drummer Gene Calderazzo exert their influence upon the proceedings.  In particular, when Siegel goes low with his tone, the brighter shine of Noble’s melodic lines adds some excellent contrast in that way shadow and sunlight can transform a simple patch of grass into a magical tapestry of shapes and textures.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing at all not to like with Siegel on saxophone, but, damn, when he switches over to bass clarinet, he leaves me wanting more.  Music from London.

 

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

BRASSIC – Patina of Brassic (Musilogue)

It’s pretty easy to fall for the brass band stylings of BRASSIC.  The flavor of New Orleans traditional enters into things, but the Tokyo-based sextet of saxophonists Takeshi Kurihara, Junya Kondo, Hiromu Takahashi, trumpeter Yochi Masago, trombonist Daisuke Maeda, sousaphonist Mayuko Hiraki and drummer Shigekazu Otake flit about between approaches to the music, keeping things light and unpredictable.  Warm tones and hopping tempos are like a wide smile, a perfect demeanor for music that seeks to make everything alright.  Music from Tokyo, Japan.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Mopo – Mopocalypse (We Jazz Records)

Even when they slow things down a bit, the hard-driving Mopo trio brings a huge sound.  And while their sound possesses the strength to drive a hole straight through the base of a mountain, the tone more often than not is one of party-time atmosphere rather than wielded as a show of strength.  Saxophonist Linda Fredriksson, bassist Eero Tikkanen and drummer Eeti Nieminen stake their territory in the modern era, but a track like “Niin aikaisin” shows that some cool blues and swing isn’t out of their range or reach.  Otto Eskelinen contributes the workings of a Farfisa organ to the affair, which adds a nice harmonic texture.  As does Tikkanen when he switches over to violin.  Fun music from Helsinki, Finland.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

MAST – Thelonious Sphere Monk (World Galaxy Records)

There’s no mistaking this re-envisioning of the Thelonious Monk songbook as belonging to the modern era.  Today, really, and maybe even a little bit belonging to tomorrow, too.  But even an obstinate old-school fan is going to appreciate the way MAST (aka Tim Conley) gets the original melodies out front and center, allowing them to lead the way through unfamiliar interpretations of old tunes.  Electronic effects introduce sound textures never emergent on the original pieces, while cuts of Monk interviews dropped throughout the recording bring things back home, and in some important ways are reminiscent of the Monk documentary Straight, No Chaser.  The best approaches to take when performing the songs of the past are to make it very personal or very different… MAST does both.  Joining Conley are an A-list of personnel, many of whom have been featured on this very site:  Anwar Marshall, John Fraticelli, Makaya McCraven, Brian Marsella, Jonah Levine, Chris Speed, Daniel Rosenboom and Gavin Templeton.  Music from L.A.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Zahariev-Roko/Bodurov/Semov – Mixing Vanity (Optomusic)

This album is made from moonlight and meant to accompany the moon as a soundtrack late into the night.  The trio of trumpeter Rosen Zahariev-Roko, pianist Dimitar Bodurov and drummer Dimitar Semov express a melody with the most exquisite care and patience, and the spike of anticipation from hearing them develop is how this album gets its hooks in ya.  They add some electronics and percussion in tasteful doses, and it behaves more as quirks of personality than novelty.  Seriously arresting music, and an album that appears to have flown beneath the radar.  Let’s fix that.  Music from Sofia, Bulgaria.

 

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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Mar 26 2018

The Round-up: It was Sunday night and warm light filled the room as darkness sat outside the window and watched

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Danny Fox Trio – The Great Nostalgist (Hot Cup Records)

Thoughtfulness at high speeds, of notes hanging in the air even when the space between them is ever so slight.  That’s the lingering impression made on this straight-ahead session from the trio of pianist Danny Fox, bassist Chris van Voorst and drummer Max Goldman.  The brisk pace never gets in the way of an articulate voicing of melody or its eventual development into an engrossing conversation.  This session is in the mold of a standard modern piano trio recording, but the little turns of phrase and keen modulations of pacing have the great impact of raising things up to something outside the accepted archetype.  Those nuanced differences are one way to make cerebral music extroverted and fun.

Artist site | Buy:  Amazon

 

Wooley/Dumoulin/Flaten/Verbruggen – kaPSalon (Ratrecords)

“This music,” Buster Keaton, reincarnated, would announce. “It will be the soundtrack for my next silent film.”  And why not?  This live performance recording by trumpeter Nate Wooley, pianist Jozef Dumoulin, double bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and percussionist Teun Verbruggen is all about emoting through motion.  Idiosyncratic and volatile as hell, the music signifies the personality quirks of characters and their physical manifestations… the relation of many things that defy the need for words.  And though wholly avant-garde in nature, the blues and jazz bubble up to the surface frequently and at just the right moments, making a resolute statement that this wild, untamed music willingly tethers itself loosely to music of the past.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Tamaya Honda – ICTUS Trio (Song X Jazz)

Much in that way Paul Motian could imply the whisper of a hurricane during the recitation of a lullaby, the trio of drummer Tamaya Honda, bassist Takashi Sugawa and pianist Koichi Sato establish an appealing balance between serenity and volatility.  This modern piano trio recording is perfect for a rainy day, and that means for when it’s a torrential downpour or when the comforting patter of raindrops soothes the soul.  The Motian comparison isn’t happenstance.  This album is dedicated to Masabumi Kikuchi, a pianist who thrived in exactly this kind of environment, and, logically, collaborated with Motian himself on a number of recordings.  Carla Bley compositions comprise nearly half of the album tracks, which adds an interesting quality, as does Sugawa switching over to cello.  Music from Tokyo.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Ed Jones – For Your Ears Only (Impossible Ark)

There’s something particularly resonant about this straight-ahead release from Ed Jones.  Perhaps it’s the beautifully crafted melodies or perhaps it’s how the saxophonist’s quartet keeps referencing it as the pace and distance from its introduction increases, and maybe it’s the way a patient exhalation of the melody contrasts with a galloping tempo.  But whatever the reason, this is one of those albums that sparkles like stars with each volley of notes, each turn of phrase, each expression of melody.  Pianist Ross Stanley, bassist Riann Vosloo and drummer Tim Giles round out the quartet, plus a guest spot from vocalist Brigitte Beraha.  Music from London.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

The Housewarming Project – at_home/at_play (Self-Produced)

There’s a special kind of chemistry to the trio of pianist Jeremy Siskind, vocalist Nancy Harms and multi-reedist Lucas Pino.  There’s a sense of musicians fated to come together because it was willed by elemental forces.  Their 2012 release Finger-Songwriter was one of the very best things to come out that year, and since that time, the trio has released another recording and been on a dedicated tour of living room shows.  Their new release compiles some of the moments from those shows, and it displays that the magic conjured up by the three is nowhere even close to waning.  Harms’s smoky delivery is a perfect match to Pino’s languid expressions of melody, especially when he switches over to bass clarinet.  On piano, Siskind’s accompaniment is almost reverential.  It all plays out like moonlight on a small patch of earth, where everything inside the beams seems more alive than anything else on the planet and nobody wants to move or speak for fear of breaking the spell of enchantment.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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Feb 12 2018

The Round-up: Sometimes the road drops off

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Kuba Płużek Quartet – Froots (For-Tune Records)

This session from pianist Kuba Płużek goes through some changes between first note and last, and yet somehow maintains a cohesive vision throughout.  The most appealing state of existence for his quartet is when they run with a soul jazz and Motown sound.  There’s a real electricity that flows during those pieces, and an almost insistent command to move move move.  That said, those tunes that dish out some modern post-bop edge or just dive into the deep end of a thick melody and let the harmonies splash where they may, well, it’s pretty easy to fall for them, too.  There’s a lot of good stuff going on here, and the most I dig into this album, the more I find to like.  Joining Płużek are drummer Dawid Fortuna, saxophonist Marek Pospieszalski and bassist Max Mucha.  Music from Kraków, Poland.

 

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Cameron Mizell – Memory/Imagination (Destiny Records)

Those gorgeous interludes on a Bill Frisell recording, where it’s just his moody guitar and some loops & effects?  The new release from Cameron Mizell is pretty much an homage to those moments.  The guitarist keeps it simple.  He takes the seed of a melodic image and runs through an electronic time lapse on its growth.  A variety of effects muddy the waters and shift the focus and opens up facets, but for the most part, Mizell is careful to keep that original vision intact.  It’s the reason these pieces keep a sense of cohesion rather than simple fade into a formless cinematic ambiance.  Plus, he occasionally throws in a tune like “Vulnerabilities,” whose folk music styling goes a long way to providing a sense of shape and direction to the recording.  This is an album that exists in the moment.  Music from Brooklyn.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Baddest Unity – Fleurir (Self-Produced)

This charming duo session from guitarist Yutaka Hirasaka and trumpeter Masayuki Shikada shimmers in and out of focus and between two states of existence.  There’s the late night jazz club ambiance, where the hour draws late and the moonlight begins to wane, and then there’s the electro-acoustic fusion of a modern loft scene, where laptops are surrounded by beer bottles and listeners lounging anywhere that looks comfortable.  The electronic effects are used sparingly and in just the right spots.  Music from Tokyo.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Conjunto de Lassaletta – Naturaleza Práctica I (Discos ICM)

There’s an appealing way that flashes of edge emerge from the ethereal dissonance on Naturaleza Práctica I.  Bassist Martín de Lassaletta, guitarist Julian Maliandi, drummer Leo Gerstner and effects specialist Mariano Balestena adopt a posture that structure is a highly elastic medium, which leads to a quick impression of multi-directional focus.  But every so often, things come together with a succinct fragment of melody or unison of rhythm, and that brief landmark provides context to the road traveled to date and, briefly, the next path taken.  This is one of two albums from these sessions.  And while both are a modern jazz-rock fusion form of expression, Práctica I takes on a prog-rock ambiance whereas Práctica II dwells in territory more closely associated with the psychedelic fusion of the 70s.  Music from Mar Del Plata, Argentina.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Tomáš Sýkora – Songs and Old Forms (Mot’s Music)

Measured by the merits of each individual piece on this solo set by Tomáš Sýkora, there’s plenty offered by way of keeping the attention locked in place.  But the album is best viewed from the context of its entirety.  The album shines brightest in the way the pieces shift between straight-ahead modern elucidations, avant-garde expressions of a strangely comforting dissonance, and classical pieces that border on ambient minimalism.  The pianist spent two years developing this work, and to end up in a place where the source of the album’s cohesion is discovered in its diversity speaks to how time changes vision even when that vision never loses its focus.  Music from Lysá Nad Labem, Czech Republic.

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