Tom Hull reassess some Charlie Parker

"Christgau went on to write one of the best Parker lines ever: "No one else has ever articulated so many ear-boggling, mind-exploding, stomach-churning, rib-tickling musical ideas so easily -- so brilliantly -- so insouciantly -- so passionately -- so fast." Were it only true: the clue is "no one else" because Christgau has shown virtually no interest in any of Parker's contemporaries (aside from Thelonious Monk, who easily bests Parker on at least half of those counts -- it's worth recalling that Monk wrote music no one could play, whereas in rapid course everyone was aping Parker)."

Wholeheartedly agree. Also worth noting, his notes on the splendid The Group Live disc out on NoBusiness Records.

More Pre- and post-poll catch-ups

Only made notes of any substance for two of these, but I'm throwing the full results of the past few weeks listening sessions up nevertheless.

• METZ: METZ (Sub Pop) - Abrasive but also punchy and energetic, their screechy riffs propelled by some impressive drumming, with a touch of rock'n'roll boogie to their charge. As a whole, the album lacks something in terms of dynamism and range – why not give the bassist some, for example. Still, despite discernible influences – or at least "sound-a-likes" – such as Touch & Go groups like the Jesus Lizard, METZ don't sound like much else these days. At least for me, they are providing some much missed edgy, sharp and precise aggression as sound. 7
• Kathleen Edwards: Voyageur (MapleMusic Recordings/Zoë Records) - Edwards' sweet, breathy voice provide wistfulness to the gently soaring and/or shuffling Americana of the mid-tempo tunes, but melancholy drags down the slower ones. I much prefer the former, but they are sadly in the minority here. ("Empty Threat", "Mint") 6

• Hugo Carvalhais Trio 2: Particula (Clean Feed) - 7
• Future: Pluto (Epic) - 7
• John Olav Nilsen & Gjengen: Den eneste veien ut (EMI) - 7
• Eivind Opsvik: Overseas IV (Loyal Label) - 7
• Resonance Ensemble: What Country Is This (Not Two) - 7
• Saint Etienne: Words and Music by Saint Etienne (Heavenly) - 8
• Serengeti: C.A.R. (Anticon) - 8
• Serengeti: Kenny Dennis EP (Anticon) - 7
• Solange: True EP (Terrible Records) - 6
• THEESatisfaction: awE naturalE (Sub Pop) - 7
• David Virelles: Continuum (Pi Recordings) - 7
• White Lung: Sorry (Deranged) - 7

Favorite jazz of 2012

I handed Francis Davis my ballot for the 7th annual Jazz Critics Poll a few weeks ago, and since then several publications and writers have offered their best-of-the-year's, top 10s and so forth. I had initially considered not posting mine until after the poll results had been announced, but after going over several other top 10's/faves/etc., I had second thoughts. Some of the below (not many) already look like safe bets to place high on the poll, based on the lists I've seen. Others have (sadly) not featured as prominently elsewhere:

New albums:

• Steve Lehman Trio: Dialect Fluorescent (Pi Recordings) - Lehman looked back to some of his (post-) bop heroes, and fused their legacy with his own futuristic ideas of jazz for Dialect Fluorescent. Rhythmically complex yet groovy and propulsive, with Lehman himself weaving in and around his compatriots, Matt Brewer and Damion Reid, sometimes lightly and quietly, at other times in impressive and exhilaration leaps and hurdles. Bop for the 21st century. (Reviewed for Klassekampen, Dec. 24th, 2012)

• Grass Roots (Sean Conley, Alex Harding, Darius Jones & Chad Taylor): Grass Roots (AUM Fidelity) - Rough blues and syrupy, acoustic funk grooves combined with soulful avant-garde. The dual attack of Jones' alto sax and Harding's baritone sax over or in conjuncture with Conley and Taylor's rock solid base, make for some of the most boisterous, hearty and compelling jazz of the year. (Reviewed for Klassekampen, Nov. 19th, 2012)

• Vijay Iyer Trio: Accelerando (ACT) - Rhythms were central to Accelerando as well, and by a trio which is growing ever more assured in its interplay. Iyer has long had a percussive bend to his playing (listen to the heavy bass notes he slams down on the bassist-less Fieldwork recordings, for example), yet some of his most recent efforts have leaned towards a more melodic and lyrical side, notably on last year's solo album. Here, these approaches are combined to great effect, be it through covers - the tricky Henry Threadgill number "Little Pocket Demons" and a rewarding version of Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" - as well as in invigorating originals.

• Ben Allison, Michael Blake & Rudy Royston: Union Square (Abeat Records) - After a few records of rock tinged modern jazz, Allison returned with a slightly more traditional trio record full of gently grooving (that bass riff on "No Other Side" is the sound equivalent of a boat being rocked by waves) yet becomingly edgy jazz.

• Mike Reed's People, Places & Things: Clean On the Corner (482 Music) - Reed's efforts to channel forgotten Chicago post-war jazz into our time has perhaps never been as successful as on this year's Clean On the Corner. Rollicking, hard hitting, yet also melodic, mellow and bluesy.

• Charles Gayle Trio: Streets (Northern Spy) - 2012 saw Gayle return to the sax, bass and drum format that helped make his name in avant-garde circles in the late 80s and early 90s. While not quite the doggedly headlong venture of old, the sparser tunes on Streets, with their herky-jerky rhythms provided by seasoned bassist Larry Roland and drummer Michael TA Thompson, showcase Gayle in a wittier mood than usual, while maintaining his gruff and spiritual edge (longer notes here).

• Devin Gray, Dave Ballou, Ellery Eskelin & Maichael Formanek: Dirigo Rataplan (Skirl) - The playful improvisation and skittish rhythms on this album come at you like spontaneous and excitable burst of sound, intricate yet it never feels hectic nor crowded.

• William Parker Orchestra with special guest Kidd Jordan: Essence of Ellington (Centering) - A big band full of avant-garde luminaries as well as a host of younger talents channel Ellington, sometimes in quotes, at other times by "feel", through Parker's vision of a modern big band. With Parker at the helm, no stranger to larger ensembles, you know there will be some rollicking music coming at you. 

• Jasmine Lovell-Smith's Towering Poppies: Fortune Songs (Paintbox Records) - A gorgeous collection of subtle, loose knit, sweet with just a pinch of sour, lyricism. Nothing is rushed, here, and it's all the more rewarding for it

• FLY: Year of the Snake (ECM) - The third album from saxophonist Mark Turner, drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier, and also their best. All three quick of mind and swift of hand, the trio whip up some bouncy yet forceful tunes that at times are more than a little reminiscent of early 80's Air.

• Rich Halley 4: Back From Beyond (Pine Eagle Records)
• Henry Threadgill Zooid: Tomorrow Snny/The Revelry, Spp (Pi Recordings)
• Jason Robinson: Tiresian Symmetry (Cuniform)
• Mary Halvorson Quintet: Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12)
• Eric Revis 11:11 (Eric Revis, Jason Moran, Ken Vandermark & Nasheet Waits): Parallax (Clean Feed)
• Darius Jones Quartet: Book of Mæ'bul (Another Kind of Sunrise) (AUM Fidelity)
• Hugo Carvalhais: Particula (Clean Feed)
• David Virelles: Continuum (Pi Recordings)
• Ravi Coltrane: Spirit Fiction (Blue Note)
• Tim Berne: Snakeoil (ECM)
• Branford Marsalis Quartet: Four MF's Playin' Tunes (Marsalis Music)
• Jim Black Trio: Somatic (Winter & Winter)
• Wadada Leo Smith: Ten Freedom Summers (Cuneifrom Records)
• The Bad Plus: Made Possible (Entertainment One Music)
• Neneh Cherry & The Thing: The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound)
• Elliott Sharp: Aggregat (Clean Feed)
• Hairy Bones: Snakelust (Clean Feed)
• Henry Cole & The Afrobeat Collective: Roots Befroe Branches (self released)
• Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts: An Attitude for Gratitude (Palmetto Records)
• Pixel: Reminder (Cuneiform)

EDIT: These deserve a mention, too: The Thing & Barry Guy: Metal (NoBusiness), Eivind Opsvik: Overseas IV (Loyal Label), Resonance Ensemble: What Country Is This (Not Two) 

(William Hooker Quintet's Channels of Consciousness (No Business) sounds very promising, but arrived to late to be considered for the list).

Archive/reissues:

• Charles Mingus: The Workshop Concerts 1964-64 (Mosaic) 
• William Parker: Centering: Unreleased Early Recordings (NoBusiness) 
• Jimmy Lyons & Sunny Murray Trio: Jump Up (Hat Ology)
• Cecil Taylor: The Complete Nat Hentoff Sessions (Ais)
• Juma Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society: Whispers From the Archive (1970-78, Porter)

(Never got around to Coleman Hawkins Mosaic set, couldn't afford it, but I'm sure it would be in contention. EDIT: I also missed the Wilbur Ware Super Bass album, which sees the release of a "lost" 1969, and great, session, and what wold have been only Ware's second album as a leader).

Dagsavisen's (Norw.) Critics Poll

Missed the announcement of the results of the Norwegian Critics Poll last week. The list was topped by Frank Ocean's channel Orange. No surprises there. My ballot was as follows:

Albums:

1. Steve Lehman Trio: Dialect Flourescent (Pi Recordings)
2. Todd Snider: Agnostic Hymns & Stoner Fables (Aimless)
3. Loudon Wainwrigh IIIt: Older Than My Old Man Now (2nd Story Sound)
4. Grass Roots (Sean Conley, Alex Harding, Darius Jones & Chad Taylor): Grass Roots (AUM Fidelity)
5. The Mountain Goats: Transcendental Youth (Merge)
6. Tom Zé: Tropicália Lixo Lógico (Passrinho)
7. Vijay Iyer Trio: Accelerando (ACT)
8. Miguel: Kaleidoscope Dream (RCA)
9. Carolyn Mark: The Queen of Vancouver Island (Mint)
10. Ab-Soul: Control System (ToP Dawg Entertainment)

Songs:

1. Todd Snider: "New York Banker" (Aimless)
2. Miguel: "Adorn" (RCA)
3. Frank Ocean: "Pyramids" (Def Jam)
4. Japandroids: "Adrenaline Nightshift" (Polyvinyl Record Co.)
5. Usher: "Climax" (RCA)
6. Sweden: "Hey C'Mon" (Vestkyst)
7. Taylor Swift: "State Of Grace" (Big Machine)
8. Kacey Musgraves: "Merry Go 'Round" (Mercury)
9. Allo Darlin': "Tallulah" (Slumberland)
10. Pussy Riot: "Putin Lights Up The Fires" (selvutgitt/internett)

Comments: voting for jazz records in this poll is a futile exercise, so I left out all bar three: the ones that were just too damn good to omit. As for the rest, well, only Miguel and Loudon Wainwright III out of my top 10 made the final top 40, 'though I could conceivably see myself voting for three or four of the others on any other day (Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Saint Etienne and Cloud Nothings). Make of that what you want. 

Additional comment: Tame Impala. The key word is "tame".

2012 pre-poll record round-up (Listening-booth extra)

I'm throwing these notes and grades out there ahead of the poll deadlines.

• Grass Roots (Sean Conly, Alex Harding, Darius Jones & Chad Taylor): Grass Roots (AUM Fidelity) - [Reviewed in Klassekampen, Nov. 19th, 2012: 5,5 stars out of 6] 8

• Titus Andronicus: Local Business (XL Recordings) - [Reviewed for Klassekampen Oct. 22nd, 2012: 4,5 stars out of 6] 7

• Ceremony: Zoo (Matador) - If there is one thing I've learned over the years of following punk and hard core, it's that "hard core" hard core fans tend to be an annoyingly retrograde bunch. The smart HC/punk bands know this, too, just ask Ian McKaye or Mike Watt. So when the latest Ceremony, formely of hard core powerhouse Bridge Nine, received fairly mixed reception seemingly on the grounds that they had abandoned their roots, I shrugged. Me, I find that their new garage leaning, slightly off-kilter, stop-start punk approach coupled with a newfound penchant for writing, y'know, hooks haven't softened their message one bit, but rather given their music focus and purpose. 7

• Ravi Coltrane: Spirit Fiction (Blue Note) - Ask me not why it took me so long to get to this, although I must admit to not having been fully convinced by Ravi Coltrane's previous efforts. But the band here – Ravi Coltrane on saxophones, Luis Perdomo on piano, Drew Gress on bass – E.J. Strickland on drums – serves up some free-as-in loose, mostly flitting and airy tunes, some of them very short, with their interweaving improvised melodic lines that make for a very compelling and rewarding listen. About as soothing as modern jazz can get, without disappearing into the background, 'though "Check Out Time" also provides some oopmh. 7

•  Gavlyn: From the Art (Broken Complex) - Tough, sassy, quick witted, articulate (you bet that counts) and with an assured flow that blows most of her male collegues out of the water. The backdrop heavily sampled and funky, like a loving homage to 90's era Stones Throw ("What I Do", "Staring Problem", "Why Don't You Do Right") 7

• Jasmine Lovell-Smith's Towering Poppies: Fortune Songs (Paintbox Records) - Quintet led by New Zealand born, New York based soprano saxophonist Jasmine Lovell-Smith, currently studying music at Wesleyan University. I've seen chamber jazz applied, but to me this is less arranged, yet still a  gorgeous collection of subtle, loose knit, sweet with just a pinch of sour, lyricism. Nothing is rushed, here, and it's all the more rewarding for it. 8

• Sonic Avenues: Televison Youth (Dirtnap) - These Montreal, QS, pop-punks lovingly recreate the 70's British forefathers, even down to the accent, with a splash of 60's garage rock. Hardly revolutionary, but at times quite catchy ("Givin' Up On You" "Television Youth"). 7

• Cities Aviv: Black Pleasure (Mishka) - Barely audible half rap, half spoken words over stark synths. Interesting sounds, but few themes, no hooks, no stories of interest. Not much of anything here, really. Apart from sounds. 6

• Clinic: Free Reign (Domino) - 6

• Henry Cole & The Afrobeat Collective: Roots Before Branches (self-released) - 7

• Donald Fagen: Sunken Condos (Reprise) - 7

R.I.P. Dave Brubeck

The iconic jazz pianist Dave Brubeck has passed away, aged 91. Far better obits than I can whip up on the fly are already available elsewhere on the web, for example on BBC here or even better, Ben Ratliff's obit for the NY Times. I will say this, though: Time Out and "Take Five" are monumental, but Brubeck had much more to offer than that.

R.I.P. Ted Curson

News have been circulating on Twitter these last few hours that trumpeter Ted Curson has passed away at the age of 77, most citing a French website as a source. Sad news indeed. Curson is perhaps best know for his tenure with Charles Mingus, although he also played with such luminaries as Archie Shepp (Fire Music), Cecil Taylor and Andrew Hill, as well as recording a dozen or so records as a leader or co-leader.

Curson can be heard at the paek of his powers on "Folk Forms No. 1" from Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid, 1960), together with Mingus, Eric Dolphy and Dannie Richmond. Some band, that.

Late fall jazz playlist

I've had a busy couple of weeks (writing for print media as well as some other, less exciting stuff), hence no Listening Booth nor much of anything else posted here lately. Still, I thought I'd put up a list of (new) jazz releases I've received (promos & DLs), streamed or bought, and have been listening to since the last LB, just to keep things alive over here. Although I have a few scrambled notes and tentative grades for a couple of these, I'll leave them out for now and rather return with more on these, as well as others, later. I will say this, though: several of these are good to really good, Grass Roots is ace. Things will hopefully pick up here soon. Maybe it's time to set a schedule and update on certain days of the week. We'll see.

• Bad Plus: Made Possible (eOne)
• Sean Conly, Alex Harding, Darius Jones, Chad Taylor: Grass Roots (AUM Fidelity)
• Charles Gayle Trio: Look Up (live 1994, ESP Disk)
• Jon Irabagon, Mick Barr & Mike Pride: I Don't Hear Nothin' But the Blues Vol 2: Appalachian Haze (Irabbagast Records)
• Jon Irabagon's Outright!: Unhinged (Irabbagast Records)
• Kalle Kalima & K-18: Out to Lynch (TUM Records)
• Brad Mehldau Trio: Where Do You Start (Nonesuch)
• William Parker: Centering: Unreleased Early Recordings 1977-1987 (NoBussiness)
• William Parker Orchestra: Essences of Ellington (Centering/AUM Fidelity)
• Resonance Ensemble: What Country Is This? (NotTwo)
• Jason Robinson: Tiresian Symmetry (Cuniform Recordings)
• Wadada Leo Smith & Louis Moholo-Moholo: Ancestors (TUM Records)

Other recent releases of note (in no particular order): Taylor Swift Red, Titus Andronicus Local Business (reviewed for Klassekampen, Oct. 22, 2012), Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Tom Zé Tropicália Lixa Lógico, The Coup Sorry to Bother You, Serengeti C.A.R., Iris Dement Sing the Delta, Dwight Yokam 3 Pears.

R.I.P. David S. Ware

I woke up today to the sad news of David S. Ware's passing. As you may know, Ware had a kidney transplant a few years back, but recovered and made something of a triumphant comeback with a handful of records, including a solo recording, and a return to the quartet format that used to be his primary vehicle throughout his career.

I will try to write a more thorough post about his recordings and career later. For now, I'll copy and paste what I wrote on Twitter about "Aquarian Sound", one of Ware's best known compositions, earlier today:

"David S. Ware's "Aquarian Sound" is, to my mind, one of the most powerful pieces of music, never mind jazz, of the past 20 odd years. William Parker plays the bass riff as if plucking at your heart strings, Mark Edwards (on the album version) enters next, carefully hitting the ride cymbals as if for comfort. A few bars in, Matthew Shipp joins laying down four plaintive chords and sounds crestfallen. Next, Ware enters, doubling Parker's bass lines on his tenor and then... just... soars (pic and sound slightly out of sync. on the video):"

o):

David S Ware - Aquarian sound by MrDrive

Henry Threadgill's Society Situation Dance Band

Henry Threadgill's Society Situation Dance Band never recorded commercially, it was a band made for the purpose of live performance, but short clips from a TV recording of a performance in Hamburg, Germany, in 1988 have been available on YouTube for some time. Recently, though, a user called redobstacle has uploaded the full recording in three parts. This is a treasure, not only because it seems to be the only way to hear (and see) what the Society Sitation Dance Band was about, but also because it's truly great music.

Oliver Lake at 70

Saxophonist, flutist, poet and composer Oliver Lake turns 70 today. The great man has dabbled in several strains of jazz, from ferocious honking and hard swinging Loft Jazz, to the bluesy and funk-tinged to more lyrical improvisational music. In addition to various band constellations under his own name, he played in the Human Arts Ensemble, with Charles Bobo Shaw, among others. Then there's the seminal World Saxophone Quartet, which he co-founded with Hamiet Bluiett, Julius Hemphill and David Murray, and in recent years, Trio 3, together with fellow elder statesmen Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille. As well as countless recordings as a sideman (whether or not he's a full member of the exciting Tarbaby yet, I do not know). To celebrate his birthday, here are a couple of highlights from his career as chosen by yours truly. It's by no means an exhaustive list, rather it's an attempt to look at the breadth of his work:

• Human Arts Ensemble featuring C. Bobo Shaw: Whispers of Dharma (Universal Justice Records, 1972. Re-released on Arista Freedom in 1977) - HAE was a reeds, brass and percussion ensemble, and this was their first recording: two lengthy pieces on one LP side each, the first of which is all whispers and bells and gongs. The second side, however, is a whirlwind of drums and percussion, horns, whistles and shouts (literally): Very free, chaotic even, but given patience, you'll notice how the instruments slip in and out from the foreground, each yielding space for the others to say their piece. The Art Ensemble of Chicago would plow similar terrain on a couple of their records around the same time, but combine that with more rhythmic propulsion. The music here has seemingly no desire to move forward, for better or worse, but I can't but admire its relentlessness.

• Oliver Lake: Holding Together (Black Saint, 1976) - Lake has recorded for Black Saint and its sister label Soul Note several times over the years, but this is arguable the pick of the bunch. Together with Pheeroan akLaff (credited here as Paul Maddox, his name prior to his conversion to Islam) on drums, Michael Gregory Jackson on guitars, percussion and flute, and the bass playing wizard Fred Hopkins, Lake balances intense, propulsive Loft Jazz with calmer moments, especially on the albums second half. Jackson plays counter lines to those of Lake, as well as piercing stabs here and there, while the always impressive akLaff and Hopkins makes certain the music moves forward nimbly and assertively. Highlight: "Hasan", a four plus minute piece which opens with ferocious speed and energy, and then settles into a into a damn hooky groove set by Hopkins just before the two minute mark. The opening track, "Trailway Shake / Sad Lo-uis" is pretty good too:

• Oliver Lake & Jump Up: "Trickle Down Theory" (Gramavision, 1983) - In the mid-80s, Lake, like many of his contemporaries, tried his luck with a more funk oriented style of jazz. Well, it was hard funk really, period. Between 1982 and 1991, he released several albums on Gramavision, not all of them jazz funk, mind you. Plug it, which had contributions from Pheeroan akLaff and pianist Geri Allen, spawned this single, "Trickle Down Theory":

• World Saxophone Quartet: Political Blues (Justin Time, 2006) - Perhaps not a typical example of WSQ's music, as on this record they added bass, drums, vocals and brass in order to vent their frustrations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but it remains a favorite. New Orleans funk, heavy, bluesy, energetic, soulful and groovy. Now, while there are videos from this album on YouTube, I'll compromise and post this excerpt from Night Music of just the original WSQ instead:

• Trio 3: Time Being (Intakt, 2005) - Since around 2000, Lake has recorded with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Adrew Cyrille, both legends in their own right, under the name of Trio 3. On their most recent albums, they've been joined by Geri Allen (At This Time and Celebrating Mary Lou Williams) and Irene Schweizer (Berne Concert), but the free spirited and loose music centered on the collectively solid interplay of the trio is perhaps best heard on Time Being from 2006. Below is a live video recorded by Paul Brown and michael Zimmerman:

Notification

A notification: Late summer/early autumn round-up should be posted in the coming week, including notes on William Parker's Essence of Ellington project, Grass Roots, Jon Lundblom & Big V Chord and more. Things have been busy since coming home from vacation, and last night my left hand took a serious beating as I foolishly tried to separate two cats fighting (one of them being mine, naturally, otherwise I would likely not have cared), so typing lengthy posts is more difficult than usual at the moment. 

Anyway, 'till then.

C

Perfect Sounds' Jazz faves of 2012, so far.

We've crossed the half way line to 2013 a while ago, but seeing as I'm midway through my summer vacation and only now have found the time to sit down at my laptop, this may be as a good a time as any to look back at some the jazz related releases I've enjoyed the most in 2012, so far. In roughly descending order:

• Steve Lehman Trio: Dialect Flourescent (Pi Recordings) - Jagged and complex yet catchy, bouncy and propulsive, Lehman and his cohorts -- the impressive Matt Brewer on bass and hard hitting Damion Reid on drums -- look to some of their outward-seeking post-bop heroes for inspiration and fuses that legacy with Lehman's own brand of knotty avant-jazz, resulting in one of the most intriguing, exciting releases of the year, and one of the strongest in the ever impressive Pi catalog.

• Vijay Iyer Trio: Accelerando (ACT) - Aided by his long-standing compatriots Stephan Crump and Marcus Gilmore, Vijay Iyer serves up some rhythmically astute and melodically solid originals mixed with carefully picked covers, the pick of the latter being Henry Threadgill's "Little Pocket Devils", a tune by a man who knows how to fuse funky rhythms with tricky improvisation to great effect. Exactly the type of music Iyer is aiming for, and hitting, here.

• Mike Reed People, Places & Things: Clean on the Corner (482 Music) - Mike Reed's efforts to unearth Chicago's great hard-bop and avant-garde legacy through both doing covers and writing original material with that tradition in mind, continues on Clean on the Corner, which in turn may be his best effort yet. Saxmen Tim Haldeman and Gerg Ward both battling and joining forces up front, while Reed and bassist Jason Roebke push from the back. The result is that the fast ones are boisterous and exciting, the slow ones bluesy and, dare I say, lovely. Guest appearances by Craig Taborn and Josh Berman.

• Charles Gayle Trio: Streets (Northern Spy) - Named after Gayle's alter ego, Streets the Clown, this latest effort sees him return to the sax, bass and drum format that helped make his name. Although Streets further proves Gayle's penchant for fiery music, it contains less of the rushing, headlong power of yesteryear. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because instead we get Monk-like rhythmic and melodic patterns, exemplified by bassists Larry Roland's percussive stop-start plucking and Michael TA Thompons jittery drumming. Streets proves the old man can still blow a horn, but also that there's place for a bit of humor in his version of fire music. (Longer post on this album can be accessed here.)

• Devin Gray, Dave Ballou, Ellery Eskelin & Michael Formanek: Dirigo Rataplan (Skirl) - This band, with Devin Gray as it's leader, has been playing together for a few years already, and the opening track, "Quadraphonically", can be seen and heard in a live recording dating back to 2010 on YouTube. Not that the music here seems planned out: the playful improvisation and skittish rhythms come at you like spontaneous and excitable burst of sound, intricate yet it never feels hectic nor crowded.

• Mary Halvorson Quintet: Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12)
• Fly: Year of the Snake (ECM)
• Darius jones Quartet: Book of MæBul (Another Kind of Sunrise) (AUM Fidelity) (Notes on this album has been posted previously here.)
• Henry Threadgill Zooid: Tomorrow Sunny/The Revelry, Spp (Pi Recordings)
• The Thing with Barry Guy: Metal! (NoBussiness)

There have also been interesting music by Elliott Sharp (Aggregat, Clean Feed), Wadada Leo Smith (Ten Freedom Summers, Cuniform), and Branford Marsalis Quartet (Four MFs Playin' Tunes, Marsalis Music), to name three. The second half of 2012 looks very promising too, with releases by William Parker's Essence of Ellington project and Grass Roots, a new band with Darius Jones, Alex Harding, Sean Conly and Chad Taylor, among the most mouth watering ones.

Mike Reed's People, Places & Things, live in paris 2012 (videos)

I have a "2012 so far in jazz" thing in the pipeline, but I came across these three great videos of Mike Reed's People, Places & Things today that I though I'd post while I put the finishing touches on that post. They were recorded live at Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, Dec. 11, 2010. The band is the core of PP&T, meaning Mike Reed on drums, Jason Roebke on bass, Tim Haldeman on tenor sax. and Greg Ward on alto sax.

Vision Festival 17

The 17th Arts for Art Vision Festival kicked off this week, sadly without me in attendance. Lucky for us, they are streaming the entire festival at Ustream.tv. The Vision Festival channel can be found here. Yesterday's line-up was particularly impressive, and I stayed up late last night and caught the last part of the Farmers By Nature (Gerald Cleaver, William Parker & Craig Taborn) set, as well as the entire Darius Jones Quartet set. The latter played material solely from his latest album, Book of Mæ'Bul (Another Kind of Sunrise), but both sets were strong.

William Parker's In Order to Survive (Parker plus Cooper-Moore, Rob Brown, Roy Lewis Barnes and Hamid Drake), one of the best jazz ensembles of the past 15 or so years, were up next, but I fell asleep (they were due on stage around 4 or 5 AM over here). Lucky for us, yet again, they have put up the recorded shows on Ustream as well. You can watch the In Order to Survive set here, or on the embedded video below.

EDIT: the recorded video of In Order to Survive seems to have been removed. Live streaming from the festival should continue throughout the festival, though. Just click on the channel link above.

Unheard tapes from Mingus' 1964 Town Hall concert to be released

This is what you get for not paying close enough attention to the Twitter and Facebook updates of people you follow. On March the 8th earlier this spring, it was announced on Mingus' Facebook page (run by his widow Sue, I assume) that tapes for a Part 2 of the great 1964 Town Hall Concert featuring Eric Dolphy was being prepared for release. The message explained that the tapes had not been issued earlier as they (i.e. Sue and Charles) had ran out of funds after the release of part one, or what is just known as Town Hall Concert (1964). There's also a possibility for a Mosaic box set.

Read the full FB update here.

Listening Booth, week 19: catching up with 2011

These notes have been sitting on my hard drive for ages, and since I don't have anything else written at the moment, I thought I'd just throw them out there. I'll hopefully have notes on the new Mary Halvorson Quintet and the Wadada Leo Smoth 4 disc set ready shortly.

• Ambrose Akinmusire: When the Heart Emerges Glistening (Blue Note, 2011) - Big on year-end lists and polls for 2011. In short: hip-hop and nu-R&B colored modern post-bop. Akinmusire's  trumpet tone is rounded and smokey, and the band here is solid, if a bit safe. The biggest problem is that I don't find his thematic and melodic ideas very interesting nor terribly engaging, and the rhythmic patterns, with their latin-tinged hip-hop leanings, sound dated and uninspired to me. He's definitely got talent, and I really do like his tone. 6*

• Gerald Cleaver Uncle June: Be It As I See It (Fresh Sound, 2011) - Adventurous drummer Gerald Cleaver leads a rollicking and big sounding semi big-band with several "younger" heavy hitters of modern jazz, among them Drew Gress (bass), Tony Malaby (soprano and tenor sax) and Craig Taborn (piano). At times the album is boisterous, as reeds and piano pile on over a steady rhythmic backdrop, but these sections are counter balanced by more meditative pieces, some with voice. Electro-acoustic noise adds color. The five part "Fence & Post (For Mom & Dad" is the centerpiece. Ambitious, even if it fails to hold my attention throughout. 6*

• Orrins Evan: Captain Black Big Band (Posi Tone, 2011) - Fairly straight forward formally, but big and punchy, just the way I like it, and there are some good tunes as building blocks, especially the slow building "Easy Now." The ancestor seems to be Basie rather than Ellington, but the tempos are definitely bop-derived. Enjoyable. 7*

• DJ Quik: The Book of David (Mad Science, 2011) - Expert veteran beat maker adds shrapnel to his vintage good spirited electro funk, and bite to his rap, particularly on the opener "Fire and Brimstone." He's always up for killer dope and good times, and serenading women, especially the "real women." "I don't need nobody," he claims on the albums best tune, as if he only cared about himself, and yet he brings his special brand of the electric boogie to the party and manages to spread more good vibes than most these days. 8*

Some records with grades but missing notes:

• Tim Berne: Insomnia (Clean Feed, 2011) - 7*
• Ralph Carney's Serious Jass Project: Seriously (Smog Veil, 2011) - 7*
• Cities Aviv: Digital Lows (mixtape, 2011) - 7*
• Freddie Gibbs: Cold Day In Hell (mixtape, 2011) - 5*
• Kendrick Lamar: Section.80 (Top Dawg Entertainment, 2011) - 7*
• Neptune: Silent Partner (Northern Spy, 2011) - 6*
• The Rapture: In the Grace of Your Love (DFA/Modular) - 6*
• Craig Taborn: Avenging Angel (ECM, 2011) - 7*

* The Perfect Sounds Listening Booth series is where I post jotted down thoughts and impressions of records. The writing of these notes is mostly done during listens, without too much consideration to composition and/or argumentation, and while the intention is that these notes will form the basis of possible future reviews, they should not be considered fully formed reviews in and of themselves. The grades are tentative and liable to change.

R.I.P. Adam Yauch aka MCA

Very sad to learn that Adam Yauch has passed away. Not sure I how to process it at the moment, bar spinning old Beastie Boys tunes. LOUD!

“I’m gonna die gonna die one day 
Cause I’m goin and goin and goin this way 
Not like a roach or a piece of toast 
I’m going out first class not going out coach"


EDIT: Sasha Frere-Jones has a lovely, and personal, piece up on his New Yorker blog.

Listening Booth, week 16, 2012: Darius Jones Quartet

Darius Jones Quartet: Book of Mæ'Bul (Anther Kind of Sunrise) (Aum Fidelity) - In his ongoing epic, Darius Jones seems intent on picking musicians to fit the music he has imagined for each album, or verse, as he calls them: For the excellent raw and bluesy debut Man'ish Boy, he enlisted elder statesmen Cooper-Moore (diddley-bo and piano), and Rakalam Bob Moses (drums), while for the groovier and punchier follow-up Big Gurl (Smeel My Dream), Adam Lane (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums) were brought in. This trend of building a band around the music continues on Book of Mæ'Bul, where the band has been expanded from a trio to a quartet, adding piano to the sax-bass-drum mix.

The first thing you hear on the opener "The Enjoli Moon", are the hushed tones - Satie like in it's minimalism - of Matt Mitchell's piano, before bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Ches Smith join Jones in stating a plaintive theme. From this, they spin out into a short, controlled frenzy, only to return to the theme. The song fluctuates between these sections, until, towards the end, the tune lifts to a crescendo, before the band lands safely back into the original theme as the song ebbs out. It's a perfect opener, as it contains much of the elements that typifies the album, and that sets it apart in Jones' discography.


There's not much of the swagger, groove, and headlong excitement that typified the music on Man'ish Boy and Big Gurl here; only the sprightly post-bopish "Winkie" speeds things up beyond mid-tempo. Mæ'Bul is in turn looser, freer and also has a softer touch: the airy "So Sad" is one of the albums highlights. Yet for all its differences, Jones' unique personality and tone permeates the music here as it does on all of his records. 


 Where Jones' trios were like a three-pronged spear with Jones in the middle, the roles here seem more set. The dexterous rhythm section of Dunn and Smith mostly stay back and provide a loose-knit platform for the melodic/thematic and solo duties shared between Jones and Mitchell. But here and there, the interplay and the ceding of space between the main soloists comes across almost like turn-taking exercises, as in the latin tinged mid-section of the otherwise lovely "Be Patient With Me", rather than to organically rise from the themes. As such, oarts of the otherwise lovely music here seems jagged and disconnected. 


 Bill Shoemaker noted in his review in the March, 2012 issue of Point of Departure that the previous records have "largely documented potential" and that that this record is "a significant step forward." I'm not so sure I agree. Book of Mæ'bul dips to a much greater degree into the classic jazz landscape, albeit the classics that came out of the more avant-leaning post-bop of the 60s, such as, say, the music of Andrew Hill. That he is able to weave more "classic" sounding jazz into his own music suggests that this is definitely a broadening of horizon, the addition of the piano also helps. But in turn the record loses some of the energy and freshness that made Man'ish Boy and Big Gurl such exciting and stand-out albums. This punk rocker-at-heart firmly believes that well articulated energetic music can be as mature a statement as so-called contemplative-meaning-quieter music, and so I found that Mæ'bul's predecessors' more vigorous tempos and rougher edges were fully formed statements in their own rights, and perhaps even better documents of Jones' unique voice as a musician and composer in the modern jazz landscape. 7*


* The Perfect Sounds Listening Booth series is where I post jotted down thoughts and impressions of records. The writing of these notes is mostly done during listens, without too much consideration to composition and/or argumentation, and while the intention is that these notes will form the basis of possible future reviews, they should not be considered fully formed reviews in and of themselves. The grades are tentative and liable to change.

R.I.P. Levon Helm

Just got that news that drummer, singer and mensch Levon Helm, "[T]he only drummer who can make you cry", has passed away. It was to be expected, perhaps, considering the recent news about his deteriorating health. I'm nevertheless devastated. R.I.P.