Listening Booth: reviews 4th quarter, October and November, 2013

Considering year-end lists and requests for poll participation are already popping up, and I need to send in one ballot by the end of the week, I thought I'd post an overview of my published reviews from October through to November. All things going well, I'll post short notes on more albums of note, many of which date back to late summer/early fall, throughout the week.

• Adam Lane Trio: Absolute Horizon (No Business) – 8* (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, October 14, 2013. 5,5 out of 6. I also wrote an alternative write-up for the Black Friday Special, hosted by Tom Hull, which can be accessed here.)

• Pixel: We Are All Small Pixels (Cuneiform) – 7* (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, October 28, 2013. 4,5 out of 6)

• Mopti: Logic (Jazzland Recordings) – 6* (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, October 28, 2013, 4 out of 6)

• Ralph Alessi: Baida (ECM) – 8* (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, November 18, 2013. 5 out of 6)

• Tim Berne: Shadowman (ECM) – 7* (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, November 18, 2013. 4,5 out of 6)

• Ola Kvernberg Trio: Northern Tapes (Jazzland Recordings) – 6* (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, November 25, 2013. 4 out of 6)

• Karl Seglem: NyeSongar.no (NORCD) – 5* (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, November 25, 2013. 3,5 out of 6)

• Gisle Torvik: Tranquil Fjords (NORCD) – 4* (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, November 25, 2013. 3 out of 6)

* Grades have been re-adjusted for the PS scale.

(New) Air live in the 80s

As many live jazz videos that have been uploaded to You Tube, coming across one of Air or even (New) Air (heck there aren't even one of Henry Threadgill's great 80s Sextet(t)), have proven a fruitless. That is, until yesterday.

While the video was uploaded a year or so ago, it was buried several pages into a search for "Threadgill" that I conducted last night. The video is taken from a film called A Place For Jazz, filmed live at the 1369 Jazz Club in Somerville, Ma., as part of a documentary on that venue, which closed in 1988. There is more info on the club and the documentary here:

Andrew Cyrille joins Henry Threadgill and Fred Hopkins here, which suggests this was filmed sometime around 1986, when Cyrille also joined Hopkins and Threadgill for gigs in Europe under the name (New) Air (Pheeroan AkLaff had taken over the drum stool after Steve McCall left in 1982).

It's a short clip, and not one of the band at their most ferocious or, *ahem* killing, but a gem nonetheless.

R.I.P. Ronald Shannon Jackson

Albert Ayler, Charles Tyler, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, James Blood Ulmer, and again with Ulmer in The Music Revelation Ensemble, Last Exit with Peter Brötzmann, Sonny Sharrock and Bill Laswell, Power Tools with Bill Frisell and Melvin Gibbs, John Zorn, and not least his very own The Decoding Society.

That's some resumé. And those are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head, just after the incredibly sad news of Ronald Shannon Jackson's passing ticked in via Vernon Reid on Twitter last night. Reid was a follower, fan and friend of Jackson, and played with him in The Decoding Society. I think it's fair to say that some of that experience seeped into Reid's music with Living Color, too, which indicates that Ronald Shannon Jackson's legacy is not solely tied to the realm of the avant jazz/rock/harmolodic funk/noise amalgam that he had helped shape ever since he supported Albert Ayler's spiritual cries some time in the mid '60s.

Jackson's playing was both joyous and ferocious, mirrored in his music as well as that of his collaborators: from Coleman's harmolodic masterpiece Dancing In Your Head to Last Exit's violent and confrontational skronk. His discography contains many highlights: Albert Ayler Quintet's Live at Slug's Saloon, recorded in 1966 and released on various labels over the years, Ornette Coleman's aforementioned Dancing In Your Head (Horizon/A&M Records, 1977), Cecil Tayor's Cecil Taylor Unit (New World Records, 1978) and 3 Phasis (New World Records, 1979), James Blood Ulmer's Are You Glad to Be InAmerica (Rough Trade, 1980), Music Revelation Ensemble's No Wave (Moers Music, 1980), Eye On You (About Time, 1980), Nasty (Moers, 1981), Man Dance (Antilles, 1982) and Decode Yourself (Island, 1985) with his The Decoding Society, Last Exit's self titled debut (Enemy, 1986), John Zorn's Spillane (Elektra Nonesuch, 1987), Power Tools' Strange Meeting (Antilles, 1987). And yet we've only scratched the surface.

Below are a few videos of Jackson with various collaborators, most of the uploaded to an account attributed to Ronald Shannon Jackson (whether the account was genuinely his or merely set up in his honor, I do not know).

 Ornette Coleman & Prime Time

Ronald Shannon Jackson & The Decoding Society

Power Tools (Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Frisell & Melvin Gibbs)

Last Exit

Listening Booth: reviews 3rd quarter, August and September, 2013

Not many album reviews published in this quarter here, partly due to Musikkmagasinet taking July off, and me covering parts of the Oya Festival and Oslo Jazz Festival instead.

• Superchunk: I Hate Music (Merge) - 8 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, August 19, 2013. 5,5 out of 6)*

• Mary Halvorson Septet: Illusionary Sea (Firehouse 12) - 8 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, September 9, 2013. 5 out of 6)

• Lars Vaular: 1001 Hjem (Mer Musikk/Universal) - 7 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, September 16, 2013. 4,5 out of 6)

• Ornette Coleman: Friends and Neighbors – Ornette Live at Prince Street (BGP/Ace) - 9 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen,  September 30, 2013. Not graded)

Additional published writing:

• Alabama Shakes – live at Øyafestivalen, August 7th, 2013 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, August 12, 2013. 5 out of 6)

• Haim – live at Øyafestivalen, August 10th, 2013 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, August 12, 2013. 5 out of 6)

•  Reports from Oslo Jazzfestival, 2013 (program overview and live reviews, no grades. For Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, August 26, 2013)

* Grade slightly adjusted for the Perfect Sounds scale.

The end of EW and tributes to Robert Christgau

It's a sad and beautiful thing at once. A couple of weeks ago, news filtered through that MSN were cutting down on their original content, and in turn letting their writers go. Among the casualties would be Robert Christgau and his Expert Witness blog. EW has been an outlet for Christgau's music writing since 2010, after he was let go from the Village Voice – a paper he helped to shape into one of the finest places to read about music and culture – a few years earlier, and writing a short-lived version of his Consumer Guide for MSN in between. That one of music journalisms giants once again would lose an outlet is a crying shame, and an indication of how poorly culture journalism at large is treated these days.

Via the community that over the years has formed around the EW blog (hats off in particular to Cam Patterson and Jeffey Melnick), people have been invited to write a few words, a testimonial, in honor of Christgau and his work, a tribute to the blog and the rather unique place that is the comment section, a place which has been (almost entirely) refreshingly free of trolls and other internet evils, and instead a venue for discussions big and small about Christgau's writing, music, culture, politics and other topics of interest

Since the last reviews were posted this Friday, tributes have been pouring in from readers, music fans, fellow writers and critics, and musicians, Chuck Cleaver (of the Ass Ponys and Wussy) and Adam Weiner (Low Cut Connie) among them.

The testimonials have told stories of discovery, inspiration, personal encounters, and much, much more. All have been worthy reads, to various degrees touching, and inspirational themselves. I was trigger happy, and posted a few words a week early, and added some further thoughts on Friday. As an attempt at explaining what makes Christgau one of a kind, and why he's been such an inspiration, my words were inadequate. However, fellow critic and writer Joe Levy stepped up and with his lovely tribute, which I'll allow myself to qoute a few pertinent lines from, pretty much hits the nail on the head:

"The reading [of Christgau's writing] has opened up worlds of new music, of course, but also something else: new ways of thinking, of being in the world. Music is about these things. But so much writing about music is like talking about music. That is, it’s about matters of taste: I like this, you like that, and here’s why everyone who feels differently than we do is wrong, wrong, wrong. 

Bob’s writing is about something else. Many somethings else, in fact. Culture and politics, you bet, but also the whole panoply of experience summed up in that moment right at the start of the New York Dolls’ “Human Being,” when Johnny Thunders invents the Ramones and David Johansen restates the entirety of John Locke’s social contract with these words: “If I’m acting like a king, well, that’s 'cause I’m a human being.” And also a lot stuff about love, and about fighting for your right to party with the same person for as long as possible."

Gary Bartz, Jazz Education & Improvisation

An interesting interview with Gary Bartz on All About Jazz which I was alerted to via @freeformjazzy on Twitter. He makes some interesting observations regarding the jazz study programs and young students – Bartz is a professor at the Jazz Studies Program at Oberlin Conservatory of Music – as well as the notion of improvisation.

On jazz students:

• "My students come in and they can't listen because their first (music) education was reading," he shares. "That's backwards! Your ear is the most important thing in music and you have to start by really listening."

• [H]is wish to get music out of the classroom and back into the streets more where young people will learn it the same way they learned to talk. Music, he points out, is a language, one he thinks we should learn from a young age.

• [S]tudents are learning someone else's version of a composition rather than listening and figuring it out for themselves. 

• "I didn't just listen. I studied. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was studying the music and that developed my ear."

• "[Students] go to school to learn jazz which means they miss out on a whole lot of stuff. If all they are studying is jazz, they are not studying music. They need to study music and then they can play whatever they want."

On improvisation:

•  "Listen to the dictionary definition for improvise: 'unstudied, off-hand, unprepared, unplanned,'" he reads from the dictionary app on his iPhone. "I resent all of that. I've studied too hard over all these years to have what I do described that way." The term Bartz uses instead is "spontaneous composition." Practicing some days for 12 hours at a stretch, he says he knows what he is going to play, even if it is only the second before he plays it. He only improvises if he makes a mistake.

I don't know which dictionary Bartz consulted, but Merriam-Webster is a bit kinder: "to compose, recite, play, or sing extemporaneously" or "to make, invent, or arrange offhand". However, I see where he's coming from. It's not like jazz musicians, when they do not consult or stick to written charts, pull things out of the thin air. No, their knowledge is tied to Bartz' first points, by having listened, then played, made up their own thoughts about what was going on and developing that further. It's what I understand when I hear "improvisation", but using "spontaneous composition" (reminds me of the late Butch Morris' conductions, described as a spontaneous arranging method) might rectify some misconceptions that could still be out there concerning playing jazz-related music.

R.I.P. Cedar Walton

News filtered through on Twitter today that the much loved hard bop pianist and composer Cedar Anthony Walton jr. passed away this morning. Born on January 17, 1934 in Dallas, Texas, Walton played as a leader and sideman on over 200 recordings (discogs.com has him credited 239 times as a performer, even more as composer and arranger, and even that may be missing a few). He has played with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Abbey Lincoln, Clifford Jordan, Hank Mobley and many others.

To say I have a grasp of his discography would be lying. In fact, I got into him fairly late, and so am in reality only beginning to dig into his work. But I do have my faves from what I've heard, topped by the first epynomous record by the band Eastern Rebellion, which in addition to Walton consisted of George Coleman, Sam Jones and Billy Higgins.

Recorded and released in the mid 70s on Timeless, it comes from an era where my jazz interest have always tended towards the avant-garde (e.g. New York loft-jazz, AACM, European freejazz), so it's perhaps no surprise I discovered it late. But Eastern Rebellion is a damn fine piece of hard bop, beatutifully recorded and masterrfully played, and both the compositions and the individual intstrumental contributions are tastefully inventive yet at the same time devoted to no-nonesense, purposeful, straight ahead jazz. The record also includes a fine cover of John Coltrane's "Naima", yet it is the opening track, Walton's own "Bolivia", I would pick as the album's highlight. R.I.P Cedar Walton:

Listening Booth: half year round-up, Jazz, pt.2

Well, my plan went belly up, so I will have to finish this at a later date. Among the remaining releases I have jotted down notes for (from approxomately January to late June 2013) are Tylor Ho Bynum Book of Three: Continuum 2012, Jonathan Finlayson Moment & the Message, Rich Halley 4 Crossing the Passes, and Mike Pride Birthing Days, plus a few pop/rock/rap releases. Part two of this will therefore consists of exactly one album, but I'll add some tentative grades for a couple of other releases from the "in" pile, too:

• Gerald Cleaver's Black Host: Life in the Sugar Mines (Northern Spy) – Late 60s chant-like spiritual jazz, shredding guitars, deep grooves and soaring saxophone cries crash together with splashes of electronics for spice. Half of the eight tracks here stretch beyond the 10 minute mark, the best of which move through free form outbursts, surging grooves, and quieter sections at varying intervals, the opening "Hoover" being a prime example. The lesser ones seem more bound to one motif or idea but end up treading water: "Gromek" keeps churning and churning, but moves very little in any direction. The band, drummer and main man Gerald Cleaver with Cooper-Moore on piano, Darius Jones on alto, Pascal Niggenkemper on double bass and Brandon Seabrook on electric guitar, stir up massive, raw and alluringly violent music at times – "Ayler Children", with its ascending sax and guitar lines over a rapid-fire rhythm, rocks, for lack of a better term. Though not without meditative moments, the ferociousness of this album is its most captivating quality. 7*

• Chris Potter: The Sirens (ECM) – 7*
• Ches Smith & These Arches: Hammered (Clean Feed) – 7*
• Craig Taborn: Chants (ECM) – 6*
• Trespass Trio + Joe McPhee: Human Encore (Clean Feed) – 6*

 * 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.

Listening Booth: half year round-up, Jazz, pt.1

The next couple of days, I will be posting thoughts on some of the records I've heard these past 6 months, by and large 2013 releases, that I haven't reviewed for Musikkmagasinet or in any other capacity but have listening notes for. I'll try to round up most of these releases by the end of this week, when I leave for a largely internet free vacation by the sea side for a couple of weeks. Starting with a couple of post of jazz records and hopefully come Friday, finishing off with some notable relases of rock/pop/rap/other. Possibly even a top 10 or so list of "2013 faves so far". Some of these albums stretch back to the beginning of the year, some may have been mentioned in previous posts, and may even already appear on the (admittedly not very up-to-date) 2013 favorites page.

EDIT: for info about my published reviews from January to June 2013, see here and here.

• Barry Altschul: The 3dom Factor (TUM Records) – Veteran drummer whips up 10 tunes of playful, loose and at times refreshingly humorous free spirited jazz in collaboration with the bustling sax of Jon Irabagon and the meaty bass of Joe Fonda. Melodies, always central here, spin out of purposefully tumbling yet resolute and pivotal rhythms as the musicians expertly straddle the rowdy and the buoyant. 8*

• Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Brooklyn Babylon (New Amsterdam Records) – Nothing if not ambitious, the second outing by the Darcy James Argue conducted jazz-rock-avant jazz-post-rock-folk big band is a musical story of sorts about a mythic Brooklyn, in part a collaboration with visual artist Danijel Zezelj. Ellington-esque in vision though not necessarily execution, the music is at times both interesting and even engrossing in its scope, mimicking the hustle-and-bustle of urban life through a variety of styles and techniques, the tunes decisively moving forward. But quite often the music is too rigid, like a cab stuck in the stop-start of rush hour traffic where you'd want it to be like the street wise kid nimbly working his way in and around a crowded street. To put it another way: the jazz doesn't rock enough nor the rock swing enough, and vice-versa. 6*

• Terence Blanchard: Magnetic (Blue Note) – Rhythmically, this recalls both syncopated modern R&B – think D'Angelo's band in their pomp – and modern post-bop/post-fusion. Not unlike such similarly inclined Blue Note releases as the recent Robert Glasper projects, even if this leans heavier on jazz. Spearheaded by the husky tone of Blanchard's trumpet, the playing is tactful, almost restrained at times, which in particular suits the low key ballads neatly. Blanchard also graciously gives plenty of room for the rest of the band: Brice Winston shines on "Jacob's Ladder", for example, while good ol' bass master Ron Carter owns the sprightly "Don't Run", not to take anything away Blanchard and Ravi Coltrane's solos. A gorgeous sounding album, not all of this works: some of it is hampered by a rather schematic turn-taking of solos, and the insistence on building layers-upon-layers in tunes like the title cut, feels a bit heavy handed in the long run. 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.

Listening Booth: reviewed albums w/ grades, 2nd quarter (April to June), 2013

• Steve Coleman & Five Elements: Functional Arrhythmias (Pi Recordings) - 8 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasint/Klassekampen April 15., 2013: 5 out of 6)

• Billy Martin's Wicked Knee: Heels Over Head (Amulet Records) - 8 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen April 15., 2013: 5 out of 6)

• Atomic: There's a Hole In the Mountain (Jazzland Recordings) - 7 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen May 6., 2013: 5 out of 6)*

• Chrome Hill: Country of Lost Borders (Bolage) - 6 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen May 6., 2013: 4,5 out of 6)*

• Ceramic Dog: Your Turn (Northern Spy) - 8 (Reviewed for Klassekampen/Musikkmagasinet June 17., 2013: 5 out of 6)

• Made to Break: Provoke (Clean Feed) - 7 (Reviewed for Klassekampen/Musikkmagasinet June 17., 2013: 5 out of 6)*

• Eric Revis Trio: City of Asylum (Clean Feed) - 8 (Reviewed for Klassekampen/Musikkmagasinet June 24., 2013: 5,5 out of 6)*

 *Dodged a notch for the PS scale.

The Yeezus conundrum

If the music has lyrics, they matter.

Some people do them better than others, some put more care and effort into them than others do, some words may seem more prominent or salient than others do. But the same goes for the music. Simply put: If there are words to the music, I'm not going to ignore them.

The balance between the music and the words is another matter. Rarely has a song won me over on the strength of its words alone, whereas the other way around is the norm, I would say, for most people.

A strong lyric – be it witty, thoughtful, wise, true, or simply a well put or cleverly written string of words – will most surely enhance a songs impact. Conversely, a weak lyric – ignorant, stupid, bigoted, or simply a weakly put together string of words – will likely stick out like a sore thumb, and possibly taint or ruin an otherwise decent song. If the songs bad to begin with, then hey... (Dumb lyrics is another matter. Dumb lyrics can work masterfully set to music, and the examples are too many to start listing here).

Then there is the question of voice, which is another matter. Randy Newman is the master of giving voice to people with, let's say, views people like me are less likely to sympathise with. Sometimes to spite them, other times (see e.g. "Rednecks"), they effectually highlight the silliness of either side of the isle.

I've not made up my mind regarding Yeezus yet, and the conversations around the Internet and, to a lesser degree, printed press have been hard to ignore. There are some things on the album that grate, and it's not really the music. With the above in mind, the next few spins of Yeezus should prove interesting.

Bonus reading: Man in the Mirror: the politics of Yeezus (added June 21st, 2013)

Listening Booth: reviewed albums w/ grades, January to March, 2013

Haven't posted notes with any regularity of late, to put it mildly. I'm hoping to rectify that over the coming weeks. The below are albums and EPs that I've reviewed in 2013 up until this week for Musikkmagasinet in Klassekampen, coupled with their original published grades plus my "translated" grades for my 1-10 system.

• Yo La Tengo: Fade (Matador) - 8 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, Jan. 7., 2013: 5 out of 6)

• Burial: Truant/Rough Sleeper EP (Hyperdub) - 7 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, Jan. 14., 2013: 4,5 out of 6)

• Charles Mingus: The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-65 (Mosaic) - 9 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, Jan. 21. 2013: not graded)  

• Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Slippery Rock (HotCup Records) - 8 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, Jan. 28., 2013: 5 out of 6)

• Parquet Courts: Light Up Gold (What's Your Rupture?) - 8 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, Jan. 28., 2013: 5,5 out of 6)*

• My Bloody Valentine: mbv (self-released) - 7 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, Feb. 11., 2013: 5 out of 6)*

• Foxygen: We Are the 21st Century Ambassodors of Peace & Magic - 6 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, Feb. 11., 2013: 4,5 out of 6)*

• Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 (Columbia) - 8 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasinet/Klassekampen, Feb. 25., 2013: not graded)
   
• Kris Davis: Capricorn Climber (Clean Feed) - 7 (Reviewed for Musikkmagasint/Klassekampen, Mar. 18., 2013: 4,5 out of 6)

* Dodged a notch for the PS scale.

Treasure: Griot Galaxy "Androgyny" - live in 1984

Music history is filled with artists and recordings that remain rare or obscure to us for a myriad of reasons. Jazz arguably more so than other genres. Some may have been projects, one offs or long standing, that for whatever reasons never officially recorded (the Henry Threadgill Society Situation Dance Band is a famous example). Others may be bands and artists that may have recorded their music, but did so for small and independent labels that eventually (and perhaps inevitably) folded and that time forgot. Even in this day and age of crate digging, specialists re-issue labels and the like, not everything gets picked up, and as such many a recording has faded into obscurity.

Griot Galaxy belong to the latter category, 'though given the length of their existence and the extent of their touring, one might argue they somehow fit in the former as well. Formed in Detroit, Michigan, sometime around 1972 by saxophonist and poet Faruq Z. Bey, who sadly passed away last year, Griot Galaxy only recorded one proper album: the fabulously weird, free, sci-fi jazz-funk of Kins, released by Black & White Records in 1982.

Griot Galaxy consisted of Bey, saxophonist Anthony Holland, bassist Jaribu Shahid and drummer Tani Tabbal. Other musicians have also been part of the group, among them percussionist Panda O'Bryan, who appears on the live album Opus Krampus, recorded while the band was on tour in Europe in 1984, and notably saxophonist David McMurray, who played on both Kins and GG's other live recording, Live at the D.I.A.. Their music had elements of rambunctious free jazz and propulsive funk, perhaps reminiscent of some of Ornette Coleman's harmolodic bands, as well as a hint of The Art Ensemble of Chicago, not least in their expressive and eye catching imagery.

 GG disbanded in 1989 some time after Faruq Z. Bey had been seriously injured in a motorbike accident. From what I can find, Anthony Holland seems to have done little in terms of music since then. On the other hand, David McMurray have played with everyone from Was (Not Was), Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop and Khaled, while Tani Tabbal and Jaribu Shahid have remained more closely involved in jazz. The both appear on some of James Carter's early recordings, for example, and they have both played with David Murray at various times. In fact, I was lucky enough to see Shahid play with Murray's Black Saint Quartet at Molde Jazz Festival in 2008, though at the time I was not aware that the bassist I was seeing and hearing was the very same that had played on Kins.

This leads me to this amazing recent discovery on YouTube: a live video, no less, of Griot Galaxy playing a tune called "Androgeny", recorded in 1984 at St. Andrews Hall for the Metro Times Music Awards. The picture is good, and the sound is surprisingly good, too. On this evidence, they must have been some live band in their day. (From left: Anthony Holland, David McMurray, Faruq Z. Bey, Tani Tabbal and Jaribu Shahid).

 

Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris Feb. 10 1947 - Ja. 29 2013

I received the sad news late last night that cornetist, arranger and "conductionist" Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris passed away only 65 years old, succumbing to cancer which he was diagnosed with last year. A fiercely original musician, he had worked closely with saxophonists Frank Lowe during the 70s, and David Murray for much of the 80s and early 90s some of it along with Butch's brother, Wilber, on bass.

"Butch" Morris developed a way for large ensembles to play improvised music using what he called conducted improvisation, or conduction for short. The resulting music straddled and blurred the lines between avant garde jazz and new music. The 1985 album Current Trends in Racism in Modern America was the first recorded example of Morris' conduction.

Ben Ratliff has written a fine obituary for "Butch" Morris in the New York Times.

Here's a lovingly put together video example of Morris' music, "The Composition of Conduction".

R.I.P.

The 2012 Jazz Critics' Poll

The now Rhapsody hosted Jazz Critics' Poll results for 2012 were announced yesterday. My ballot can be found here (scroll down. More comments regarding my fave jazz albums of the year here, posted on these pages just before Christmas). Album of the year was won, not surprisingly, by Vijay Iyer Trio's offering Accelerando, while reissue of the year went to the Charles Mingus box set The Jazz Workshop Concerts 1964-65 on Mosaic.

I'll echo Tom Hull's comments regarding these reissues, 'though. I voted for the Mingus set, but were lucky to get a copy in the first place. Regular albums, even if you don't get copies from the record companies or their PR agents, are usually cheap enough or accessible via streaming services, meaning you'll be able to check out a whole lot of albums if you have the time and/or inclination to do so. Box sets, especially of the limited edition sets in the mold of the lovely Mosaic sets, are a different issue. I would in normal circumstances not be receiving one from Mosaic, as I'm not on their mailing list. And these sets are usually too expensive to buy. In this instance, I had to skip the Coleman Hawkins set, also on Mosaic, and hence I couldn't vote for it, even if I'm almost certain the music on there would more than deserved a place on my ballot too. I don't know how many voters got or bought both box sets, I'm guessing not too many, so it seems to me the reissue list is probably less reflective of the critical consensus than the regular album list.

Still, the main list in particular makes for an interesting read. My biggest disappointment is that my number two album of 2012, Grass Roots (AUM Fidelity), didn't make the top 50.

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