Raphael Saadiq, Cosmopolite, Oslo (no.) 28.01.09

The very enjoyable, close to two hour long gig, recorded by radio and on film, started off like this.




More clips will most likely become available in the following days,

Benjamin Gump?

I rarely comment on movies on this blog, but the video below made me laugh. Considering how The Curios Case of Benjamin Button recieved umpteen nominations for this year's Oscars, the "Academy" really should be sent a copy of this. Who do they think they are fooling?

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump - watch more funny videos

Pazz & Jop '08: where's the pazz?

Pazz & Jop '08 results are up. Quick thoughts: agree with the winner, 'though I'm dissapointed with the lack of jazz (pazz) on the list. Glad to see MOPDtK and Vijay Iyer get a couple of votes, as well as Sonny Rollins (highest placed jazz record, as far as I can tell, on no. 215). William Parker too, but not the album I preferred. It may have to do with the (sad) fact that jazz criticism has increasingly become a field of specialists, and it does highten the importance of the VV jazz poll. Maybe they weren't asked or maybe they didn't bother. It is a bit sad, really, that the fields have to be separated, but that's how it has come to be (and has been for a while, admittedly). A qiuck browse reveal that at least Tom Hull carries a torch for both (new) jazz and rock/pop (but we knew that), and one Martin johnson, plus a few others, seem to be of similar interest. But are we a dying breed?

Generic

Flipper's classic Generic Flipper has just been reissued by Water, the same record company that was scheduled to reissue the Feelies' Crazy Rhythms last year. This time I know for a fact the record has made it to the stores, I've seen the physical copies myself.

Two apologies: one for the abundance of the word "excellent" in my previous post - repetition of the same descriptive word takes away the salience from the it every time it is used, not to mention that "excellent" barely says much at all. That doesn't hide the fact that I intended to be positive about the music I used it for. A second one for no Songs of the Week or any other updates. I'll get it together soon.

Favorite Jazz of 2008

May as well get it over with, especially since the Village Voice Poll was posted last week.

1. Mostly Other People Do the Killing: This Is Our Moosic (Hot Cup)
2. Fieldwork: Door (Pi Recordings)
3. Ben Allison & Man Size Safe: Little Things Run the World (Palmetto Records)
4. Anthony Braxton, Milfor Graves, William Parker: Beyond Quantum (Tzadik)
5. Rob Brown Ensemble: Crown Trunk Root Funk (AUM Fidelity)
6. Vijay Iyer: Tragicomic (Sunny Side Records)
   
7. Roy Campbell: Akhenaten Suite (AUM Fidelity)
8. William Parker: Petit Oiseau (Aum Fidelity)
9. Vandermark 5: Beat Reader (Atavistic)
10. Mike Reed People, Places & Things: Proliferation (482 Music)

The rest, in no particular order but all graded 7 or better (i.e. recommended):

• By Any Means (Rashied Ali/Charles Gayle/William Parker): Live at Crescendo (Ayler Records)
• Hamid Drake/Anders Gahnold/William Parker: Last Dances (Ayler Records)
• Adam Lane, Lou Grassi, Mark Whitecage: Drunk Butterfly (Clean Feed)
• Bill Dixon: 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur (Aum Fidelity)
• William Parker: Double Sunrise Over Neptune (Art for Arts/AUM Fidelity)
• Fight the Big Bull: Dying Will Be Easy (Clean Feed)
• Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet: Tabligh (Cuniform)
• Atomic: Retrograde (Jazzland Rec.)
• Mattew Shipp Quartet: Cosmic Suite (Not Two Records)
• Empty Cage Quartet: Stratostrophic (Clean Feed)

(the links go mostly to CD Baby and Jazz Loft, but the records may also be available from other retailers).

I'm tempted to borrow Christgau's phrase from his review of Air's Air Lore in order to describe Mostly Other People Do the Killing: "Demonstrating not only that ragtime (...) and New Orleans (...) are Great Art consonant with Contemporary Jazz, but also that they're Corny. And that both Great Art and Corn can be fun."

MOPDtK rip out the intervoven molodies and the joie de vivre of vintage Dixieland and fuse that with the power and speed of post bop and hard bop, verging on the avant garde, at least in terms of their fondness for the odd skronk. There is also a post modern wit to their music, which makes me want to pit them with Pavement, of all bands, also due to their loose approach. This Is... may on occasion feel darker (e.g. "East Orwell") than their previos record, but then again think of the duality of their excellent moniker: the serious accusation that we're not as evil as the others sounds quite funny at the same time. I liked This Is... so much that I picked up and played 2007's Shamokin!!! again, and it is just as good.

The other "winner" this year may be Vijay Iyer, who has two entries on my list: the powerful and percussive Door by his trio Fieldwork (with last years newcomer of the year Tyshawn Sorey and Steve Lehman), and the straighter quartet session Tragicomic.

Ben Allison demonstrated the simplicity can be more, musically, on Little Things...

2008 was in some regards Anthony Braxton's year, not only because of great records like Beyond Quantum (with William Parker and Milford Graves), but also due to the Mosaic box set that re-issues his Arista records. Finally the excllent Creative Orchestra Music 1976 is available again.

William Parker was all over 2008, a testament to how highly I and others hold him in the world of contemporary jazz. He played bass on Beyond Quantum and Rob Brown's excellent free bop quartet session Crown Trunk..., among others. As for his records as a leader, I preferred the groovy quratet album Petit Oiseau to the large ensemble Double Sunrise... (I'm still not 100% comfortable with the vocals of Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay).

There are still some records I am sifting through, Matana Roberts The Chicago Project among others, but the top 10 should remain unchanged.

Best jazz record originally released in 2007 that I discovered in 2008: Sonic Openings Under Pressure: Muhheankuntuk (Clean Feed)