The State of Mark Lomax Trio

WOW!

More and hopefully more eloquent on this at a later date.

But, DAMN!

Mid-week jazz related linkage

Simply because there are a couple of very interesting stuff out there:

• Richard Davis, jazz bassist extraordinaire, was recently celebrated with a marathon broadcast on WKCR, with interviews and selected tracks that included everything from his work with Dolphy and Hill up to sessions with Van Morrison and Springsteen. Archival files of the programmes should still be available @ Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches. Massive kudos to Hank Shteamer!
  
• Destination-Out! on Steve and Iqua Colson. The overlooked AACM. The last track previewed there is from The Untarnished Dream, which is available from CdBaby. Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille plays on it, damn it!
• A belated note that Nels Cline was interiewed by Jason Crane on the Jazz Sessions recently. Cline plays with Wilco, of course - who had a very good gig in Oslo this past Monday - but also has his own projects. Initiate, the Nels Cline Singers' double album released earlier this spring, and the basis for most of the conversation, is highly recommended.
  

R.I.P. Hank Jones

Pianist Hank Jones, older brother of trumpet player Thad jones and drummer Elvin Jones, passed away on May 16th, aged 91.

My knowledge of his work as a leader is sketchy at best: only The Hank Jones Quartet-Quintet is listed in my jazz section (which needs to be updated, btw), but his work as a sideman is pretty impressive, having played with Charlie Parker, and on Coleman Hawkins' Hawk Flies High, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk's We Free Kings to name only a few. Tom Hull has a longer list.

Air's Air Raid reissued

Note to self: read my e-mails once I get them!

Received notification from the JazzLoft on May the 13th that they have Air's second studio album, Air Raid (Why Not, 1976. 2010 reissue by Candid), available for orders (original recording details, courtesy of Lars Backström).

Air Raid is at times edgier and tougher than their first record, Air Song, and perhaps even better. The title track and opening piece of the record, starts off at rip roaing speed, but travels through some mellower patches, only to return to the "action" the title suggests we're in for. It's both a disturbing and almost beautiful contemplative piece of music. Fred Hopkins' powerful bass lines, or should I say "thundering runs", are particularly enthralling. That's not to say that Threadgill and McCall are out of step, by no means; Air Raid proves that this was a gorup whose interplay was second to none. The embodiment of free jazz' democratic principles, as outlined by Ornette Coleman.

Having said that about the album's opener, I thought I'd leave you with teaser of the second track instead. "Midnight Sun" slows things down after the heady run of "Air Raid", and stands as an early proof that Threadgill was developing a knack for a writing a damn good tune. Have a listen:




Note: the embedded track was lifted off a previous reissue of the album, and may not be indicative of the sound quality of the new version.

The Singles Jukebox debacle

I visit the Singles Jukebox nearly every day. Recently, I wrote this comment under the reviews of Robyn's "Dancing on My Own" which sparked some back'n'forth:

"Funny how how certain Singles Jukebox reviewers occasionally turn “rockist” or use the very same “indie scenester” logic they claim to oppose, as long as it suits their agenda.

“(…) scores two American top tens in the nineties, ignored by the rock press and Pitchfork; burrows into a studio with Klas Ahlund a few years later; rediscovered by Stylus and Pitchfork indie kids even though her American handlers treat her like she’s Amerie.”

“It’s not the band I hate, it’s their fans” as Sloan once so accurately put it. Once in a while, it would be wise to hand people a little more credit when it comes to their likes (and dislikes), even if this may lead to a windfall of praise for one artist you may not “get” or deem unworthy. Or better yet, write about the god damn music."

It was the quoted passage in the middle there that rubbed me the wrong way, but perhaps I should've taken a short breath before I wrote the comment.

I've enjoyed the Singles Jukebox as a safe haven away from the worst sins of the anti-pop post-Adorno music journalism, where pop fans are treated as a herd bereft of their own opinions, a rhetoric most often associated with certain "indie scenesters". One reason why the quoted passage annoyed me, was because it used a similar argument but turned it against "indie kids", as if the recent appreciation of Robyn by that paricular group of people was a good reason to dock a grade or two.

But I have no idea what stance the author of the review has re: rockism and "indie scenesters", and Matos took me to court for that (he also wrote "writing about the music is a nonstarter to me. Music encompasses everything around it, just like any other subject." to which it would've been tempting to comment "What?!? And you write about music?!?", but I know his writing well, and understands what he meant, and if you're used to reading my stuff you know I don't treat music as if it was in a vacuum either).

So what I perhaps should have written in the comments is something along theses lines:

"It was a bit dissappointing to see a review use a (bad) rhetoric usually associated certain "indie scenesters", when I'd considered the Singles Jukebox a safe haven from such low blows"

The rest is fine, though maybe I should've added "Write about the god damn music in a social context" to avoid (deliberate) misreadings.

There's one other thing that has puzzled me recently on the SJ. One Alex McPhearson doesn't seem to enjoy much of the music he's asked to review. The last ten reviews he's done for the site are graded like this: Roll Deep ft. Jodie Connor - "Good Times" 2; Christina Aguilera - "Not Myself Tonight" 5; Joy Orbison - "The Shrew Would Have Cushioned the Blow" 6, M.I.A. - "Born Free" 3, Robyn - "Dancing on My Own" 3, Robyn - "Fembot" 0, The National - "Bloodbuzz Ohio" 4, Sophie Ellis-Bextor - "Bittersweet" 3, Kate Nash - "Do Wah Doo" 2, Marina and the Diamonds - "I Am Not a Robot" 1. That's an average of 2,9 per song.

Two song by one artist apart, that's a pretty low average for what I deem to be a decent spread in both sound and quality. And only twice during the five reviews before those does he go above 6, Hole receives an 8 for their/her "Pacific Coast Highway" and Nas w/Damien Marley a 10, while tracks by Kelis (4), Titus Andronicus (3), and LCD Soundsystem (0).

Said writer also considers the opening of TA's track "A More Perfect Union" faux-desperate, comparing it unfavorably to Hole (whose singer I find to be the biggest melodrama queen of all, and lately not very convincing at that.) Chuck Eddy, on the other hand, says it sounds like "Hold Steady if they really meant it". Hmmm.

Still, I've written about the zero grade before, so go read there for further info. What I'll say for now is this: if you consider LCD Soundsystems "Drunk Girls" - a pretty dumb, unoriginal, straight forward stomper, though not without a certain silly charm - only worthy of a 0, you're living a too sheltered life.

Perfect Sounds Listening Booth, week 17, 2010

• Steve Swell's Slammin' the Infinite: 5000 Poems (Not Two, 2010) - I know trombonist Steve Swell from his plying on records by William Parker, Ken Vandermark, and Bill Dixon, but allthough he has also been putting out records as a leader or co-leader since the mid-nineties, this is only the second record I've heard with him in that role. The other one being the 2008 self titled Rivers Of Sound Ensemble release, with Hilliard Greene on bass, Roy Campbell on trumpet, and Sabir Mateen on saxes and Klaus Klugel on drums. Klugel and Mateen return on this fourth (if I'm correct) Slammin' the Infinite release, together with Matthew Hayner on bass and John Blum on piano. The music here seems rooted in NY's loft jazz tradition from the 70s - and by that I mean free jazz with a strong sense of propulsion and swing - where strongly stated opening riffs are used as a launching pads for improvisation. Bassist Hayner's riffs are prominent themes or anchors on at least two occasions, and the walk that both opens and closes "The Darkness Afoot" has shades of Mingus. Amid the violent sections and sound clusters the band conjure up, with Blum in partiuclar hammering away on the piano, they also slow down and use space and near silence, which are both welcome breathing spaces as well as serving as suspenders for the next turn of events. As such, the music is also quite playfull. Such playfulnes can also be found in the opening of "Sketch 1", where Swell plays with a mute, giving it a noir-like atmosphere. (7/10)*

• Mike Reed People, Places & Things: Stories adn Negotiations (482 Music, 2010) - The third installment of Reed's PP&T project, where the aim is to revisit Chicago's considerable hard-bop to free-bop legacy, up to the Vandermarks of the city via AACM. On the first album of the project, Proliferation, the piano-less quartet (Reed on drums, Jason Roebke on bass, Tim Haldeman and Greg Ward on saxes) played mostly material by the citiy's past masters. The second, About Us, consisted of mostly self-written material, and added Jeb Bishop on trombone, David Boykin on tenor, and Jeff Parker on guitar on various tracks. Both are highly enjoyable free-bop records. On Stories and Negotiations, Boykin and Parker are gone, but three elder statesmen join in: Julian Priester on trombone and Art Hoyle on trumpet, both former members of Sun Ra's Arkestra, and Ira Sullivan on tenor. The Sun Ra link is mirrored in the music too, as S&N has more of an avant swing feel to it. There are also shades AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams' work on records such as Blu Blu Blu. Recorded live in Chicago's Millennium Park, the group rev up some great numbers, finely balanced with some mellower moments. The opening, "Song of a Star", is especially good. The musicians start off individually, plying little trills and riffs, as if arriving from separate places, only to convene at the same place/piece at around 2:30 in, and the song lifts into a riveting piece of hard grooving avant swing. That kind of ebb and flow, propulsive rhythms, mixing fine solos and skronk, bouldering basslines and purpuseful swing makes this a very enjoyable record. (8/10)*

* Grades are tentative, based on three or four listens, sometimes a few more. Much of the writing is done during listens, and should be considered notes more than final reviews.

Buy: