Listening Booth, week 41, 2011: Darius Jones Trio

There haven't been much activity here, and there won't be until after the 15th of Nov. at the earliest. Below are a few notes on Darius Jones latest plus some grades for a couple of other records I've listened to lately, but do not have any notes to speak of.

• Darius Jones Trio: Big Gurl (Smell My Dreams) (AUM Fidelity) - Darius Jones debut, Man'ish Boy (a Raw and Beautiful Thing), was stunning. A riveting and deeply moving album by a saxophonist with a distinct voice, both in terms of his playing and his compositions. His new record, Big Gurl (Smell My Dreams), may lack some of raw emotion of his debut, but it makes up for it in power and groove. Replacing multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore and drummer Rasid Bakr in the trio is Adam Lane on bass, an original musician and composer in his own right, and Jason Nazary on drums, who both played on the debut's "hidden track". Big Gurl is full of hard hitting, groovy free-bop sprinkled with more contemplative pieces, such as the haunting "I Wish I Had a Choice". Jones alto sound is stirring, sometimes piercing, and he is wont to leaps and shrieks, but always maintains a strong sense of melody and theme. Adam Lane plays thick, powerful, syrupy yet somehow nimble lines and riffs as only he can, while Nazary glides in and out of the beat. The opener "E-Gaz" and the menacing closer "Ol' Metal-Faced Bastard", with it's rhythmically stumbling sections, come charging at you with swagger and purpose, while the above-mentioned "I Wish I had a Choice" and "My Special 'D'" are quieter, more reflective pieces. There's also a reworking of "Chasing the Ghost", one of the center pieces of Man'ish Boy. While much of the allure of he original version was how Jones sounded like he was losing his way on this headlong chase, here, augmented by Lane's stubborn bass lines, it sounds galvanized, more confident, as if with a renewed sense of mission. Somehow very fitting, I think. 9*

• Dave Alvin: Eleven Eleven (Yep Roc) - 7*
• Girls: Father: Son, Holy Ghost (True Panther) - 8*
• Jens Lekman: An Argument With Myself (Secretly Canadian) - 8*
• Mekons: Ancient and Modern: 1911-2011 (Bloodshot Records) - 8*
• Kanye West & Jay-Z: Watch the Throne (Def Jam) - 8*

* 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 rather than final reviews.

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.

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.

Perfect Sounds Listening Booth, Fall 2010: Adam Lane

• Adam Lane's Full Throttle Orchestra: Ascan Rantings (Clean Feed, 2010) - Adam Lane's talents as a distinctive bassplayer, composer and bandlander continue to shine on Ashcan Rantings. While the speed and agility of the music Lane has played in nimbler, smaller ensembles has always been full of excitement, the full punch and power of his compositions came into fruition on his previous record with the Full Throttle Orchestra, New Magical Kingdom, a brash and joyfull record by a "little big band" that seemingly took its cues from Charles Mingus and David Murray's Octet while simultaneously being spurred on by an affinity for the noisier realms of rock. At least half of the ten compostitions on Ashcan Rantings have appeared on previous Adam Lane related albums. The ominous title track, for example, was a highlight on the 4 Corners album from 2007 that Lane recorded with Ken Vandermark, Paal Nilsen Love and Magnus Broo, but appears here in a more fully formed version. The band on Ashcan ..., an octet consisting of several up-and-coming players -- such as trumpet player Tylor Ho Bynum -- sounds great; full bodied yet loose, with the man himself leading from the center with assertive basslines. While the music here shares the boisterous energy and brash confidence as well as the occasional excursions into skronkier territories that was typical of much of New Magical Kingdom -- as for example in "Nine Man Morris" and the playful "House of Elegant" -- the compositions and arrangements are now more lush and expansive. Ashcan Rantings is just as fierce and lively as it's predecessor, but it is also much more than that. Listening to songs such as the closing "Bright Star Calypso", you realize that it is also at times very, very beautiful. (Reassessed grade as of Dec. 1st, 2010 10/10). *

* 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.

Note: the write-up has been slightly corrected and edited for clarity since it was first posted.

Brilliant 4 Corners: Lane, Vandermark, Broo, & Nilssen-Love make a beautiful racket

When some of my favorite "young" guns teamed up for a record, the result was always going to be interesting.

4 Corners is the four-headed monster that is Adam Lane (bass), Ken Vandermark (reeds), Magnus Broo (trumpet), and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), who recently teamed up for some live dates and a subsequent recording thereof for the Portuguese label Clean Feed.

Adam Lane impressed me with three very good records last year - his two playful trio outings with Vinny Golia and Vijay Anderson, but especially his powerful Full Throttle Orchestra release New Magical Kingdom, which ended up being one of my fave records of 2006. Lane is a talented composer and bandleader with plenty of fresh ideas, but I'm equally impressed with his skills as a bass player. His approach to the bass mirrors that of his compositions; one foot in the harder post-bop/free-bop tradition, the other in fields such as noise rock. On 4 Corners, he shifts between rapid and bouncy walks across the bass' register - as on "Spin with the EARth", something of a Lane standard - but he just as often sink into low-end riffs, at times playing through a distortion pedal, which may seem like a novelty act to purists but the result is heavy and groovy.

With Vandermark and Nilssen-Love by Lane's side, 4 Corners was bound to have a tougher edge than his trio dates with Golia and Anderson. Vandermark's tone is gruffer than Golia's, and he also plays heavier horns here, and Nilssen-Love is no stranger to the punkier side of jazz through his projects with noise makers such as Mats Gustafson and Thurston Moore.

The fourth man is Magnus Broo on trumpet, a colleague of Nilssen-Love in Atomic. I've often felt that trumpet players have sounded out of place - too clean and light - in similar power-jazz / post-bop settings, which for my tastes have been better suited for reed instruments. But Broo asserts himself well here; his tone is powerful and gritty - more Booker Little than Miles.

Vandermark and Lane split the writing credits 3 to 4 between them. Through much of the well over 7o minutes of music here, this group proves my two notions that speed thrills - as on "Tomorrow Now (for Lester Bowie)" - and that at a slower pace, a deep swining groove rocks (check e.g. "Alfama (for Georges Braque)", which nods to both Funkadelic and Black Sabbath, and the closing of "Spin...").

But it's not all gung-ho. They're smart and dynamic enough to balance not just between speed and groove, but they also let things calm down at times. The lovely ballad (!!!) "Lucia" is a welcome breather midway through the set, as the group start grooving again on "Ashcan Rantings" (a tribute to the Ash Can School, per chance?).

4 Corners is an exciting project and record displaying a dynamic, fresh, and powerful approach to jazz that is most welcome. I sincerely hope to hear more from this group in the future. Any festivals interested in a show stopper?

Clean Feed's records may be difficult to find in record shops, but 4 Corners is available at these online shops:

• Clean Feed.com (ships from Portugal, Europe)
• ejazzlines.com
• Squid Co.com (ships from the U.S.)
• eMusic (mp3 downloads) - offers sound bits/tasters through this link.