George Russell R.I.P.

Goerge Russell, the influential and very innovative jazz composer and theoretician behind such album classics as Ezz-Thetic, passed away earlier this week. More from jazz.com here, and Ben Ratliff of the New York Times here.

Edit: More thoughts from Darcy James Argue and Frank Kaplan.

Double Nickels 25th anniversary

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of one of my favorite albums of all time together with Mike Watt, Richard Hell, and Michael T. Fournier seems like a decent way to spend the evening to me. Too bad I'm on the wrong side of the Atlantic to have any chance of joining in on the fun.

George Orwell got the year wrong, pt.1

Seems like me and Matos are on the same page.

Oh, yes!

Walter Cronkite, R.I.P

From the New York Times

It may seem strange to you that someone growing up in Norway would care a great deal about this, since his heyday was way before we had access to American TV, but even long before I started my North American studies Cronkite's voice and image was linked to several of the most notable events in US history (no doubt through documentaries aired over here) - I rarely think or read about the assasination of JFK, say, without picturung Cronkite announcing it on TV.

MoldeJazz '09, final pt.

Managed to see both Leonard Cohen and Mario Pavone Double Tenor Quintet yestereday, though as expected, I had to leave the Canadian early.

What to say about Cohen? Sound impeccable, very solid band (especially his Catalan classical guitar player and his bassist, their names escape me), most of his good songs done exquicitely, my favorites yesterday being "The Future" and "Democracy", perhaps because they have more groove the most of his other material and work a bit better in such a stadium context where the quieter moments can fizz out. "Dance Me to the End Of Love", "Ain't No Cure for Love" and "Tower of Song" were good too. Left just after the second set started.

Mario Pavone's men had played for almost half an hour when I arrived. Have to say I'm begining to like Pavone's music a lot. Although he has a foot in the loft swing/free bop tradition, his albums can vary a great deal in terms of attitude, tempo, sound and tone (Deez to Blues, for example, due to the addition of tuba and violin). He is also a solid, original but unflashy (and I mean that in a positive sense) bassist. His Double Tenor Ensemble reminds a bit of Reggie Workman's albums from the mid '90s, though this band adds a piano player in the mix, Peter Madsen. The rest of the group is Tony Malaby and Jimmy Greene on tenor and soprano saxophones (both) and Gerald Cleaver on drums. I like Green's playing in this band, he adds a certain funkiness to the rest of the bands more '60s post-coltrane vibe. Great gig to end my stay at this years MoldeJazz.

MoldeJazz '09, pt.3

Heard Leonard Cohen played 3 hours yesterday, meaning I'll miss Mario Pavone at 20.30 unless Leo cuts it short or I leave early, the latter more likely to happen.

Saw Fanfare Ciocarlia last night. Magnifique!

MoldeJazz '09 - Cecil Taylor, Frode Gjerstad & Han Bennik

Cecil Taylor played a solo gig on Wednesday evening. He was in good form, playing with great dynamism and verve, mostly concentrating on his percussive and rhtyhmically complex music, intercut by sudden quietude and pianissimo. I've heard it said that Taylor's so original that his style has yet to be picked up by younger musicians, but I dare say I hear some of his touch in the work of Vijay Iyer with Fieldwork, especially when it comes to the percussive elements, 'though the playing of Tyshawn Sorey in that same group may have influenced me in making that statement.



Multi reed player (he played clarinet, bass clarinet and alto today) Frode Gjerstad and Dutch drummer, comedian and contorionist (well, not really) Han Bennikk played a fun gig earlier today. Gjerstad is one of the country's best improvisational sax players (I'm quite fond of his work with William Parker and Hamid Drake). Han Bennik is nothing if not inventive - one of his more "normal" techniques involves using his foot to "mute" the drum skin - but that wouldn't matter unless he also had chops, which he does. His ability to go from all over the place to find forceful grooves is very enjoyable. He also is notorious for his antics, using found objects as percussion, which makes a musical experience with him humorous as well. But the antics sometimes distract from the music itself as the audience chuckle, and occasionaly today Gjerstad appeared to be overshadowed by Bennik. Most of the time, though, they played very well and make highly interesting music together. Oh, and Bennik dropped a cymbal on Gjerstad's foot. Ouch!

Molde Jazz '09

Apologies for the lack of updates. Been on the road for a while with only occasional internet access.

Missed the first two days of this years' Molde Jazz, 'though the only two gigs I may have attended are Atomic (seen them many times, so no big miss) and Thomasz Stanko. Will go and watch Frode Gjerstad and Han Bennik, plus possibly Supersilent and Fanfare Ciocarlia tomorrow. Got tickets for Leonard Cohen and Mario Pavone Double Tenor Quintet on Friday.

Just returned from a Cecil Taylor solo gig. Very enjoyable, probably better than the previous time I saw him. May write a few more words on that tomorrow. Plus, I need to step up the "music of the week" thingy.

'09, the first six months: an album round-up

Normally, I wouldn't do this, but since I haven't posted any "Music of the Week" for a while, and my 2009-list updates have been sloppy at best, I thought I'd post a top 20 records Jan. to June 2009 now.

1. Abdullah Ibrahim: Senzo (Sunnyside)
2. UGK: UGK4Life (Jive)
3. The Fully Celebrated: Drunk on the Blood of the Holy Ones (AUM Fidelity)
   
4. Matthew Shipp: Harmonic Disorder (AUM Fidelity)
5. Wussy: Wussy (Shake It)
6. David S. Ware: Shakti (AUM Fidelity)
7. Art Brut: Art Brut vs. Satan (Cooking Vinyl)
8. Sonic Youth: The Eternal (Matador)
9. Steve Lehman Octet: Travail, Transformation, and Flow (Pi Recordings)
   
10. Dinosaur Jr.: Farm (JagJaguwar)
    
11. Darren Johnston: The Edge of the Forrest (Clean Feed)
12. The-Dream: Love vs. Money (Def Jam)
13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz (Interscope)
14. White Denim: Exposion (EM/Tunecore)
15. Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You (Regal/EMI)
16. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band: Outer South (Merge)
17. Gerald Cleaver, William Parker, Craig Taborn: Farmers by Nature (AUM Fidelity)
18. Japandroids: Post-Nothing (Unfamiliar/Tunecore)
    
19. K'Naan: Troubadour (EMI/Virgin)
20. Staff Benda Bilili: Tres Tres Fort (Crammed)
    

Last goodbyes to MJ from the blogosphere

Darcy James Argue, Visionsong, Do the Math, Frank Kogan, Simon Raynolds, Le Matos (who's right on the money, just consider those R.I.P.s.) And I'm sure those are just the tip of the ice berg.

A side note:

Minutemen's "Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing" is one of my favorite songs of theirs. Although the stories vary as to the intent behind it, the main story goes that Mike Watt wrote MJ a letter with the lyrics hoping he'd use them in a song thinking he should use his immense popularity to speak about more, eh, important issues. I'm not sure Watt actually thought it would happen (though I disagree with those who claim the Minutemen were poking fun at him), but somewhere in my mind I can hear an aggressive synth bass and hectic drumming with MJ spitting the lyrics "organizing-the-boy-scouts for murder is wrong" - see e.g. "They Don't Care About Us".

In my opinion, tho', MJ was at his least intriguing when he tried to address social or political issues in his music - "Earth Song" and "Heal the World" never did it for me, and "They Don't..." is more interesting for it's rhythmic complexity and MJ's delivery of the lyrics rather than the actual lyrics themselves - tho' admittedly the repeated chores fits like a charm.

None of those songs reach the heights of "Ben", "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", "Off the Wall", "Wanna Be Starting Something", "Beat It", "Thriller", "The Girl Is Mine", "Smooth Criminal", "In the Closet"...

MJ & Sky Saxon, R.I.P.

Speechless.

Meltdown 2009 reports + Vision 2009

I've been asleep at my post regarding the Ornette Coleman curated (and sadly not attended by yours truly) Meltdown festival. There's a review of the Roots with mr. Coleman-gig in today's Guardian, and few more bits here. Yet to read any reviews of gigs by David Murray and the Roots, or his gig with the Gwo-Ka Masters. Add to those gigs by James Blood Ulmer, Yo La Tengo and Marc Ribot plus guests, but they've probably been covered by someone, somewhere.

Meltdown isn't the only ace festival that has been going on these past few weeks; this year's Vision Festival finished on Monday 15th. I'm searching for reviews as I type...

FAN no. 2

Crouch, Coleman & tradition

Excellent post on the Pi Recordings blog by one Rafiq on the problems and limitations of the teachings of Stanley Crouch and his followers, especially as it regards the problem of the "jazz tradition", as Crouch would have it, using Coleman as an example.

Music of the Week 23/09

• The Fully Celebrated: Drunk on the Blod of the Holy Ones (AUM Fidelity)
• Steve Lehman Octet: "Echoes" (Travail, Transformation, and Flow, Pi Recordings)
• Dinosaur Jr.: "Over It" (Farm, JagJaguwar)
• Pixie Lott: "Boys & Girls"
• Dolly Rockers: "Gold Digger"
  

Koko Taylor, R.I.P.

More @ Idolator.

Steve Lehman Octet - Threadgillian stuff

In what looks to be a decent year for large ensemble jazz records - Darcy James Argue's Secret Society and Hypnotic Jazz Ensemble, to name but two - the preview from Steve Lehman Octet's new record posted by Destinatio: Out! the other day sounds especially promising. The track, "Echoes", does the trick of sounding at once very contemporary and modern, especially in the way the horns and bass riff and in Tyshawn Sorey's hip-hop influenced drumming, while at the same time echoing (right!) the works of past masters. I have to agree with Ben Ratlif in hearing a similarity with Henry Threadgill's music in the ways the riffs and beats are orchestrated. Steve Lehman himself has a wail that is reminiscent of the great Eric Dolphy both because of his gruff tone and in how his solo leaps out and swirl around the rest of the music. I'm very much looking forward to hearing more of this record.

Travail, Transformation and Flow is released by Pi Recordings and is available from, among others, Jazz Loft and amazon.com (see below).

I mentioned that the talented Tyshawn Sorey plays on the record. In this Q&A he reveals himself as a man with diverse (and almost impeccable) tastes. Beefheart, Nirvana, Braxton and Prince. Gotta love it.

eMusic is growing

As reported in the NY Times yesterday, eMusic have struck a deal with Sony Music and will soon be able to offer (older) Sony records and songs as a part of the download site's ever growing catalogue. Very good news indeed, what with eMusic being my preferred place for legal downloads (I still prefer physical records, but eMusic's cheap enough to both download an mp3-version and buy the CD/LP if I feel it's good enough). They have good writers working for them too.

Now, if they only could do something about their frustrating search engine: a search for, say, William Parker gives you a dozen or so hits, including separate entries for William Parker Quartet and Trio, instead of one main entry with sub-entries. Maybe I should offer my services...

Music of the Week 22/09

A retro-filled Music of the Week this time:

• Maxwell: "Pretty Wings" (Columbia)
• Allen Toussaint: "Singing the Blues" (Bright Mississippi, Nonesuch)
  
• Archie Shepp: Kwnaza (Impulse, 1974)
• Cecil Payne: Zodiac (Strata East, 1973)
• Various - The Complete '1981' Box Set mp3s from Musicophilia