Listening Booth: Mario Pavone, Rodrigo Amado & more

Started writing these a few weeks ago, but held the post back until I got to at least five write-ups. Sadly, things have prevented me from writing more here, and as I had hoped to put 2010 on the shelf come the end of January, I'll just post the ones I managed to write now, with a few more records below with only the (tentative) grades added. My apologies to both the artists and potential readers.

• Mario Pavone Orange Double Tenor: Arc Suite t/pi t/po (Playscape Rec.) - Veteran bassist and composer Mario Pavone has a knack for writing twisting and twirling themes, but always with a solid sense of propulsion, most often provided by his own bass work. This time around he gets a lot of assistance from pianist Peter Madsen in that department. Long time associate Tony Malaby plays tenor and soprano, Jimmy Greene also plays tenor, and together with trumpet player Dave Ballou they explore the interwoven melodies. The always reliable Gerard Cleaver plays drums, while Steven Bernsein assists with slide trumpet on one track. The music is slightly jagged but equally sure footed and rhythmically engaging, 'though at times perhaps a bit too restrained. I was actually at more than one time reminded of some of the early George Russell compositions, perhaps because of some of the shared duties by the bass and the piano. Not quite as good as Deez To Blues or Ancestors (both on Playscape), but still enjoyable (6/10) *

• Rodrigo Amado, Kent Kessler & Paal Nilsen-Love: The Abstract Truth (European Echoes, 2008) - A trio date with Kent Kessler on bass and Paal Nilsen-Love on drums, Amado playing tenor and baritone saxophone. With Kessler (Vandermark 5 and others) and Nilssen-Love you'll get both hard swing and some solid punch, which is exactly what they provide here, complementing Amado's deep sound, who swivels around the rough'n'tumble rhythms with gruffs, riffs or spurts of melodic ideas, every now and then slowing things down, which leaves us with some welcome breathers. The album is not very heavy on melodic themes, though, so some of the numbers seem to glide into the next, separated more by changes in tempo or mood than anything else. That said, the tough "Universe Unmasked" is a highlight, with deep, rumbeling bass vamps that release more driving sections, Amado huffing and puffing on baritone. (7/10)*

• Rodrigo Amado, Taylor Ho Bynum, John Hébert & Gerald Cleaver: Searching For Adam (Not Two, 2010) - This quartet recording was apparently at least partly inspired New York and the traffic of cities. There is a lot of ebb and flow -- quiet and loud, organized and free -- in the music here, so that makes sense to me. Amado plays more melodically here, while Ho Bynum (trumpet) brings in the more abstract elements, as Hébert (bass) and Cleaver (drums) keeps things moving along nicely. (7/10)*

Note: Rodrigo Amado was recently a guest on Jason Crane's The Jazz Sessions. Go listen!

I also received a third release by Amado, Motion Trio (European Echoes, 2009), with Miguel Mira on cello and Gabriel Ferrandini on drums, but I have not gotten around to play it more than once yet, so I'll refrain from writing anything on it here.

• Jason Adasiewicz with Mike Reed and Nate McBride: Sun Rooms (Delmark) 7 *

• Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth: Deluxe (Clean Feed, 2010) 7

• Lisa Mezzacappa Bait & Switch: What Is Known (Clean Feed, 2010) 7*

• Mike Pride's From Bacteria to Boys: Betweenwhile (AUM Fidelity) 7 *

• Jason Moran: Ten (Blue Note, 2010) 6*

Addendum: I've written a lot about the Moran record in various posts on the blog previously, and there's no point in repeating all of it. There is no doubting Moran's talent, I just happen to find his musical ideas and themes fairly uninteresting, especially here (I like Black Stars quite a lot, though). Also, though I don't hold the following against Moran, it deserves a mention: The fact that Tom Hull apparently got stick for not appreciating the record enough after the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll was announced, which Ten won in a landslide, says a lot about the state of a section of the modern jazz audience as well. To them, Moran is the new leading star; the John Coltrane or Miles Davis of his generation. Fact is, though, jazz was never just about Coltrane or Davis. It was and will always be much, much more than those two, just as the jazz of 2010 was much more than Moran.

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

Pazz & Jop 2010

The results for The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll have just been posted. This year, not very surprsingly won, in a landslide victory, by Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. A quick count reveals that eight of the top 10 are on my own year-end list, even if not all of them are very high on said list, which has to be a record of some sorts. The highest placed jazz record is Mary Halvorson's Saturn Signs at 135.

Catching up with last year's records: William Hooker's Earth's Orbit

Inspired by various year end lists ,as well as some late purchases/arrivals, I've be assessing and/or reassessing some records from last year. More will be posted in the coming days.

• William Hooker: Earth's Orbit (NoBusiness) - A limited edition double LP, the first of which, "Bliss (East)", is a live recording with Adam Lane on bass and Darius Jones on alto from The Stone in New York. "Bliss (East)" is groovy, freewheeling jazz, where Hooker's wonderfully skitting drums is pushed along by Lane's deep and rumbeling bass, while Jones honks and screams on top. They mix the heady with mellower parrts, which adds dynamics, and Lane's knack for a groove plus Jones bluesy tone give the music some focus between and during the more rip-roaring parts. Highly exciting set, slightly reminicent of Charles Gayle's great Touchin' On Trane. The secod part, "Bliss (West)", is a live quartet set recorded in San Fransisco with Aaron Bennett on tenor, Weasel Walter on guitar, and Damon Smith on bass. It leans more towards free improvisation, with plenty of skronk provided by both the sax player, the guitarist as well as some bowed bass. In between, they slip into some sludgy noir-like bluesy parts, and with Hooker shouting from behind his kit. "Bliss (West)" is the less engaging of the two sets (I'd say "Bliss (East)" is even close to an 8) but not without it's charms and exciting parts. As a whole, though, Earth's Orbit showcases Hooker as an inventive and lively drummer, playing in two different set-ups with slightly different outcomes, but still keeping an artistic unity which works very well over the space of two vinyl LPs. (7/10)*

* 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.

2010 Voice Jazz Poll - Moran the same

The 2010 Voice Jazz Poll just went online, not surprisingly won by Jason Moran's well made, but not terribly exciting Ten (and I stand by my claim that the Monk cover is not very good at all). I find the choice a bit uninspired, but there you go. Nice to see Mary Halvorson, Henry Threadgill, Nels Cline and Mostly Other People do the Killing among the top 50, and Threadgill deservedly won best reissue.

Very disappointed, 'though, that Adam Lane's wonderful Ashcan Rantings nor Mark Lomax Trio's bluesy-and-kicking The State of Black America are not on the list at all. Was Tom Hull the only one voting for them? Lane's record was released late in the year (in November, if I remember correctly), so that may have played a part, and both his and Lomax's are on failry small labels and may have limited review copies available, but surely records as good as these must have been picked up by a few others ("go buy a copy, you tight ass") and my disapointment stands nevertheless (naturally, differences in taste come into play as well. I'm just being a bit of an ass here to get my feelings accross). I guess it is up to mr. Hull and myself to continue to spread the word about these two very good records.

EDIT: just got around to the individual ballots, and both Troy Collins and Jeff Stockton have Ashcan... in their top 10s, Ludwig van Trikt have Lomax' as his third favorite of 2010.

Comments on the year in jazz by Tom Hull can be accessed here, and his thoughts on the poll itself here. Good comments regarding review copies, or "who gets what", and we seem to be on the same page re: Moran. Some of his older records are very good indeed.

Everybody else is doing it... Jazz faves of 2010

I've been reluctant to post this now, as I often am, since I still feel there are a few more records to cover. This year, more than the previous five or so years, I've also not been able to hear a handful of well received albums that I suspect might have had an impact on the list.

In a few cases, such as William Hooker's Earth's Orbit (NoBussiness) - which also has contributions from Adam Lane and Darius Jones, who ended up topping this year's and last year's lists respectively - the albums have been exclusively available as vinyl only imports. The same goes for Jason Ajemian's Protest Heaven (482 Music), much praised by Stef Gijssels. I'm very much pro-vinyl, but it makes it difficult for jazz writers like me to get a listen (copies have been ordered, but will probably not arrive until well into the new year). Another one I am yet to hear is Billy Bang's Prayer For Peace, which Tom Hull has as his number one pick. I've not been able to find it on eMusic, which I rely on for a good percentage of new jazz, nor on iTunes or any of the streaming sites available to me. I am currently not on TUM's mailing list, either, so ... (EDIT April, 2011: Got the Bang record just after his passing. It would certainly make a push for a top 5 spot. Still, I'll let the list below stand as published).

I have, 'though, been spinning a few of records that have popped up on various year-end lists here and there, such as Jason Moran's Ten (Blue Note), but none of them have impressed me in any particular way. The Moran record seems to be a hot tip for consensus jazz album of the year, but apart from a promising first few tracks, to me the bop-derived albeit modern sounding music on the album seems too safe, and Moran over plays at times, especially on the (failed, in my ears) Monk cover "Crepuscule With Nelly". For Monk interpretations, I have more faith in the more humor friendly and angular approach of The Microscopis Septet, whose new record of Monk tunes, Friday the 13th (Cuniform), is another one I'm yet to hear.

Anyway, complaining about the records I haven't gotten around to is useless, so here is a list of the jazz records I have been able to hear, "won", as it were, by a record of vibrant post-Mingus jazz (even Ellingtonian at times) filtered through Loft Jazz and informed by avant-rock, full of both powerful and beautiful music: Adam Lane's Full Throttle Orchestra's Ashcan Rantings.

1. Adam Lane: Ashcan Rantings (Clean Feed)
2. The Mark Lomax Trio: The State of Black America (Inarhyme Records)
3. Mostly Other People Do the Killing: Forty Fort (Hot Cup)
4. Dual Identity (Rudresh Mahanthappa & Steve Lehman): Dual Identity (Clean Feed)
5. Angles: Epileptical West - Live in Coimbra (Clean Feed)
6. Wadada Leo Smith & Ed Blackwell: The Blue Mountain (Kabell, rec. 1986)
   
7. David S. Ware: Onecept (Aum Fidelity)
8. Mike Reed's Loose Assembly: Empathetic Parts (482)
9. The Nels Cline Singers: Initiate (Cryptogramophone)
10. Henry Threadgill's Zooid: This Brings Us To, vol. 2 (Pi Recordings)

Ten more:

• Mary Halvorson Trio & Quintet: Saturn Sings (Firehouse 12)
• Mike Reed's People, Places & Things: Stories and Negotiations (482)
• Vandermark 5 Special Edition: The Horse Jumps & The Ship Is Gone (Not Two)
• Jon Irabagon: Foxy (Hot Cup!)
• Steve Swell Slammin' the Infinite: 5000 Poems (Not Two)
• Henry Grimes & Rashied Ali: Spirits Aloft (Porter)
• Zanussi Five: Ghost Dance (Moseróbie)
• Rudresh Mahanthappa & Bunky Green: Apex (Pi Recordings)
• Juxtaposed: Tsar Bomba (Bolage)
• Tarbaby: The End Of Fear (Posi-Tone Records)
  

Edit (Dec. 29th, 20109:

I did not add a list of reissues when I wrote this, and as I don't have a reasonably good overview in front of me as I write this addition, I won' t attempt to make one ('though, I know Air's Air Raid and Marion Brown's Why Not? is on the list on the 2010 section of the blog). Still, I'd be surprised if any reissue could topple the Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air box set released by Mosaic. Threadgill was, and still is, one of the most exciting and original jazz composers of the past 35 or so years -- not to mention a terrific sax player -- and both his Sextet(t) and not least Air with Fred Hopkins and Steve McCall were among the best and most exciting groups during that same time frame. Add to that statement the fact that I regard both Air's Air Lore and the Sextet recording Rag, Bush and All, both included in the set, as solid 10s (or A+, if you are so inclined), and that all of the other albums on here are interesting and exciting, and most of them highly engaging and original to boot, both in terms of composition and execution, my reasons for naming it my fave reissue of 2010 should be clear. If there is one draw back to the set, it would be the the orignal albums are spilt between discs, meaning one half of a record may appear on one disc, the other half on another, with the first few tracks of a second album following. Since I own the ones I truly treassure on original vinyls and/or CDs, this is not a big issue with me. But other listeners may want to program their CD players (or import the discs to iTunes or similar and spilt them into their respective albums there) to get the record by record listening experience.

JJA Jazz Awards 2010 - a comment

The 2010 JJA Jazz Awards took place last night. You can see the full list of winners and nominees here.

Many congrats to Vijay Iyer, who won the award for musician of the year. Well deserved recognition for a guy who contines to deliver exciting and fresh music. I must say, though, that some of the picks seem totally uninspired to me.

It may just be a simple matter of taste, of course, but when the consensus is that a safe (but rather dull) Joe Lovano record is the pick of the bunch in a year when there were plenty of really good jazz records - many of which released by fairly young artists - you'll have to question whether the majority of the voters have bothered to look beyond name recogniton when they checked out new records. Or it may simply be that their tastes are too damn conservative. Yes, I've been on that horse before. To me, part of the joy and excitement of jazz is a willingness to experiment, try new things, twist'n'turn and look at things a bit differently, seek new paths, whether indivudual voices or the structures of jazz music itself. After all, that has been a large part of the history of jazz. When did those qualities stop being important?

The "Bassist of the Year" category is a case in point. Won by Dave Holland (63) - who admittedly still delivers from time to time but is still a pretty safe pick - and where only Christian McBride of those nominated is under the age of 50 - Ron Carter (73), Charlie Haden (72, bless him), John Patitucci (51) filling the other spots. None of them can really be said to be particularly adventurous these days either. Where are the Adam Lanes and the "Moppa" Elliotts? William Parker (who is over 50, but is more experimental than those nominated), Joe Morris, Ben Allison, Hilliard Greene or Linda Oh? I could go on.

I may do a rundown of the categories later this week if I feel like it. Allthough I disagree with a good few of the picks and nominees, others were not too shabby. To close this post, though, I want to congratulate Nate Chinen on winning the Helen Dance-Robert Palemer Award for Review and Feature Writing. Chinen is a seeker, and kudos to him for that.