Belated by:Larm reports

The Nordic mini-version of South by SW that is by:Larm went ahead and finished just over a week ago, and just like last year I watched some gigs and did some writing. If you're interested, the paper I wrote for can be downloaded here. I only had entries for the Friday and Saturday editions, and the gigs I reviewed were Massely, Pow Pow, and Supersilent for the Friday edition, and Anna von Hausswolf, plus Kira Kira as well as Kråkesølv at the Stereogum stage for the Saturday edition.

Didn't get to see much, though, so I really can't comment on the hypes. My pick of the ones I did get around to see would be Masselys, whose electronically seasoned no wave funk caught me off guard. In a good way. Here's a taste, a song called "Better and Better", albeit not my favorite of theirs.

Music of the Week 6/10

One pretty decent song off a not-so-great album by a returning funky spoken word hero, a chirpy one from Hot Chip, a joyous piece of garage pop by a re-named band, a new monster of a tune by a power jazz group, and a re-discovered (at least for me) recording by a "super group" (via Destination-Out!)

• Gil Scott-Heron: "I'm New Here" (XL)
• Hot Chip: "Brothers" (Astralwerks)
• The Soft Pack: "C'mon" (Heavenly/Kemado)
• Fight the Big Bull: "Mothra" (Clean Feed)
• New York Contemporary Five: Consequences (Fontana)
  

Coming back ...soon + Lavelle on Davis on the New Thing

I don't intend to use this blog on a too personal level outside the spheres of music consumption and the like, but I have had a few very busy weeks, hence the lack of updates. As things calm down, posting will resume.

Meanwhile, I stumbled across a post by jazz trumpet player Matt Lavelle on the Brilliant Corners blog, discussing the grumpy side of Miles Davis and his problems with "the new thing". Go read!

Jerome David Salinger, 1919-2010. R.I.P.

He was getting old, it was bound to happen at one time or another. Still, I was very sad to learn that J.D. Salinger has passed away. A fine tribute over at NYTimes.

Favorite Jazz of 2009

I've put off posting my 2009 jazz list for long enough. Pazz & Jop came up the other week, and most other lists were done even before then. I had a plan to revisit records that placed high on some of those lists, and got through a few. For the most part, I stand by my initial opinions, which I dare say I nearly allways do. A few I didn't get too, others have been slightly upgraded or down graded, albeit not by much. I also thought about writing a few words about every album here, but in the end figured there's really no need (only a few of the lists at Jazz House have comments, so I guess I'm home free). Anyway, here goes:


A few months back, 2009 looked like it was going to be a good year for larger ensembles, with interesting records by the Steve Lehman Octet and Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, and later on records by Wadada Leo Smith and Graham Collier, among others. Then a flurry of sax/bass/drum-trio records tickled my fancy, notably Fully Celebrated, J.D. Allen Trio, Marcus Strickland and later on FLY. Add to those the less traditional trio set-ups of Darius Jones Trio and Digital Primitives, as well as the Matthew Shipp, Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey records, and jazz trios certainly made their mark on Perfect Sounds in 2009. A very welcomed and strong comeback by Henry Threadgill and his Zooid and a new incarnation of David S. Ware's Quartet (guitar replacing piano) saw old(-er) masters plow new ground.

My favorite jazz (and overall) record of 2009 is Darius Jones Trio's Man'ish Boy (a Raw & Beautiful Thing), with Darius Jones on alto saxophone, Cooper-Moore on the bass-like diddley-bo and piano, and Rakalam Bob Moses on drums. Raw and beautiful are certainly fitting words to describe the music on Man'ish Boy. The melodies are often rough-hewn and blues-like, and Darius Jones' ability to switch from teeth grinding grit, as on the epic 'Trane-crashes-into-Ayler "Chasing the Ghost", to the subtle and almost carfully quiet, as on the painfully lovely "Forgive Me", makes him a stand out saxophonist in today's jazz.

That said, Cooper-Moore is all over Man'Ish Boy. He is no stranger to the raw and beautiful himself. Often playing, as he does on several tracks here, the diddley-bo (or bow, if you will), an ancient instrument that functions more or less as a bass. It sounds at times like a slapped upright, at other times like a talking drum. His piano playing is assured and can sound jagged, almost Monk-like at times. Especially note the rough blues walk on the noir-like "Cry Out". His lovely Satie-like playing on "Forgive Me" demonstrates his range as a pianist as well.

Listening to Man'ish Boy from start to finish can give the impression of a journey of some kind: the get-up call of "Roosevelt", the confident and playful stride of "Cry Out", the harrowing ride of "Chasing the Train", and the thoughtful and beautiful "Forgive Me" at the end (that is, barring the bonus cut "Chaych" with the equally talented bassist/composer Adam Lane, as well as Jason Nazary on drums). Man'Ish Boy is a great album and well deserving of my top spot.

Now, for the list:

1. Darius Jones Trio: Man'ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing) (AUM Fidelity)
2. The Fully Celebrated: Drunk On the Blood Of the Holy Ones (AUM Fidelity)
3. David S. Ware: Shakti (AUM Fidelity)
4. Digital Primitives: Hum Crackle & Pop (Hopscotch)
5. Henry Threadgill Zooid: This Brings Us To, Vol.1 (Pi Recordings)
6. Matthew Shipp: Harmonic Disorder (Thirsty Ear)
7. Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity (ACT)
8. Tyshawn Sorey: Koan (482 Music)
9. Abdullah Ibrahim: Senzo (Sunnyside)
10. Brötzmann / Kondo / Pupillo / Nilssen-Love: Hairy Bones (Okka Disk)

11. Wadada Leo Smith: Spiritual Dimensions (Cuneiform)
12. J.D. Allen Trio: Shine! (Sunnyside)
13. Mike Reed's People Places & Things: About Us (482 Music)
14. Steve Lehman Octet: Travail Transformation & Flow (Pi Recordings)
15. Marcus Strickland: Idiosyncrasies (Strick Muzik)
16. John Zorn: Alhambra Love Songs (Tzadik)
17. Allen Toussaint: The Bright Mississippi (Nonsuch)
18. Graham Collier: Directing 14 Jackson Pollocks (Jazz Continuum)
19. Darren Johnston: The Edge of the Forrest (Clean Feed)
20. Fly: Sky & Country (ECM)
21. Tresspass Trio: Was There to Illuminate the Night Sky (Clean Feed)
22. Bill Dixon: Tapestries for Small Orchestra (Firehouse 12)
23. Quartet Offensive: Carnivore (Self released)
24. Ben Allison: Think Free (Palmetto)
25. Linda Oh Trio: Entry (Linda Oh)

Others of note: Darcy James Argue Secret Society: Infernal Machine (New Amsterdam), Gerald Cleaver, William Parker, Craig Taborn: Farmers by Nature (AUM Fidelity), Profound Sound Trio: Opus de Life (Porter), Circulasione Totale Orchestra: Bandwidth (Rune Grammofon), IPA: Lorena (Bolage), John Hollenbeck: Eternal Interlude (Sunny Side Records)

Lazy ears

Some of the points made by composer Graham Collier in this post, for example this passage "there is a pack mentality among many critics which, unfortunately for some of us, means they rarely look beyond the pile of CDs they receive to see what else is around", squares with what I wrote a while ago about how certain ever-presents on year end lists made me think too many jazz writers have "lazy ears" (That said, we all have our biases, of course. I wont deny I have mine).

I still have issues with a few of his points:

1. Seeking out new jazz (or new music in general) is time consuming work, but should be part of any reviwers job. Not merely sit and wait for CDs to fall into ones lap. However, being as it is that jazz writing in particular is being cut from the arts pages of newspapers and magazines, as well as the fact that it doesn't pay very well and that jazz PR is virtually nonexcistent these days, it can also be expensive work. We're more in need of word-of-mouth and communication - critic to critic, fan to fan, critic to fan and vice versa, musician-to-critic and vice versa - than most other arts writing departments. This need not necessarily take the form of free, physical copies being mailed to us, but dropping a line about upcoming releases does help. (For my own part, I pay for 99% of the jazz I write about. It's fair to say my jazz writing is a labour of love. I make my money from doing other things).

2. The comment borrowed from Chris Kelsey about some of the "formally conventional" big band records, is A): something I feel is not entirely correct in all instances (more formally conventional, perhaps, than Collier's) and B): makes me want to point out that paying attention to formality is something that, while certainly especially important to jazz composition, must not take the place of other important aspects of music, such as attitudes, values, stories and meanings, and the musicianship necessary (or adequate) to convey these. This is, for example, where critics of classic cinema often fail. Formality is part of the package, and can inform other aspects, but it is not the be all and end all.

By the way, at #49, is Vijay Iyer Trio's Historicity the highest placed jazz record on the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop in recent years? (Album list here. Other jazz records I've spotted so far: Darcy James Argue, Henry Threadgill's Zooid, Wadada Leo Smith, Ben Allison, Darius Jones Trio (whoop-whoop!), Steve Lehman Octet and John Hollenbeck. There are probably more).

RIP Kate McGarrigle

Touching words from Carl Wilson here.

RIP Teddy Pendergrass

RIP Jay Reatard

As you may know by now, Jay Reatard, née Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., passed away in his sleep last night. He lived (and played) fast, that's for sure, but I didn't expect him to die so young. More here.

MOPDtK's Forty Fort is a winner

I have to say that Mostly Other People Do the Killing is fast becoming one of my favorite bands of recent times. 2007's Shamokin!!! won me over with it's high energy and catchy tunes (and remains one of my fave albums of the noughties), the follow up This Is Our Moosic confirmed that here we had a unique and magnificent band with a refreshing take on the jazz idiom, and the new Forty Fort hammers down that they are truly a great band. The record is currently top of my (admittedly early and short) 2010 list.

Forty Fort is available at Dusty Groove America and SquidCo, with more merchants to follow.

Ben Ratliff on NYC Winter Jazzfest

Go read Ben Ratliff's piece on the NYC Winter Jazzfest, which featured Perfect Sounds favorites such as Vijay Iyer, JD Allen Trio, Mike Reed's People Places & Things and others. It drew a crowd of about 2.500 on Saturday. That's a creditable turn out, I think.

2009 Voice Jazz Critic's Poll + Happy New Year

My personal fave jazz records of 2009 with comments will be posted sometime over the weekend. My apologies for the delay. Until then, a happy new year to all readers & music fans (jazz and other), plus a few thoughts on the 2009 Voice Jazz Critics' Poll results that were posted on Tuesday (29th of Dec.).

The list turned out to be pretty interesting. The top two of Vijay Iyer's Historicity and Henry Threadgill's This Brings Us To, Vol. 1 are both great records and near the top of my list, too. Darcy James Argue's on 4th (winner in the debut category) and Steve Lehman's on 5th are also enjoyable releases. My fave of the year, Darius Jones Trio's Man'ish Boy made it into the top 20 (17th, 2nd best debut), while J.D. Allen Trio, David S. Ware and Tyshawn Sorey also made the list. Nice to see Allen Toussaint, Bill Frisell, Wadada Leo Smith and Ben Alison there, too. I've yet to hear the latest Bill Dixon as well as the FLY record.

Dissapointing, though, not to see personal favorites (and great records) such as Fully Celebrated's Drunk On the Holy Ones, Matthew Shipp's Harmonic Disorder, and Mike Reed's About Us anywhere. Perennial entries by Joe Lovano (ok-ish record) and Keith Jarret (yawn) makes me think too many Jazz critics have lazy ears, don't search hard enough for good music anymore, or are plainly just too conservative. Fair enough, I just wanted to have a pop there.

Xgau on Monk

The only thing disappointing thing with this piece on Monk is that Xgau fails to mention Wilbur Ware. For me, Ware's distinct, percussive approach to the bass fit Monk more than any other bassist he worked with. He is all over Monk classics such as Monk's Music and Thelonius Monk with John Coltrane. For more, see Ethan Iverson's piece on Do the Math from 2006 (via Wayback Machine). Other than that, the Dean is spot on.

Listmania, Nate's a mate, & more

NY Times' Nate Chinen's 2009 list proves that the expressions of values, emotions and attitudes he looks for in music is not found merely within one "field" (I'm loathe to use "genre") of music. This is a view that seems to be a rarity among jazz-based music writers, who perhaps are just being protective of their field of expertise, which is understandable. We wish to make the point that jazz can be and still is a relevant music today. However, I think Chinen's juxtaposition of different types of musical expressions in his 2009-list argues that point in a more convincing way than "genre" specific ones.

Nate's picks are interesting in their own right, too. The only record I don't like particularly well is the Grizzly Bear one, though I'm yet to hear Fly's Sky & Coutry. Brad Paisly's "Then", Sonic Youth's "Antenna" and Miranda Lambert's "Making Plans" are all my favorite songs off their respective recent records, too.

The only other jazz-based writer I can think of off the top of my hat who seems to think about music in a similarly "all-inclusive" way is mr. Tom Hull (see e.g. his Pazz & Jop ballot).

Ironically, just to regress to the genre specific, I plan to post my year in jazz here in a few days time. I don't think I'll bother with a decade overview. My much touted 25 anniversary celebration of 1984 will have to wait a bit because of technical issues, but it's pretty much finished.

'Til then, happy holidays!

Perfect Sounds - in Norwegian is alive

Perfect Sounds - på norsk is up-and-running again, but will only be used for the purpose of linking to or posting articles I have written for publications in Norway. Many of the articles I've now put up there are taken from the free music mag FAN Fanzine, and have been posted on the blog as they were when I sent them in, sans editing (more info at the bottom of each article). Since FAN is a paper only magazine, the idea is that once a new issue is published, I'll post the article from the previous issue on PS - på norsk.

New This Moment in Black History: Public Square

This just in: the new record from frantic hard core rhythm 'n' blues-punks This Moment in Black History, Public Square, can now be ordered from Smog Veil Records. This is ahead of schedule, it seems, as it was originally slated for release February 2., 2010. Preview sound bites of the album here (from Amazon.com). It sounds, quite literally, like a blast. A picture of the cover art is posted below below.

Mostly Other People Do the Killing live videos and new album

University work and end of the aughties writing have kept me away from blogging, but there are projects in the pipeline. In the meantime, let me point you to the fine chaps in Mostly Other People Do the Killing, who a week or so ago posted their entire concert at Moers Jazz Festival on You Tube. I take the liberty to embed the videos below here. Note the Ornette Coleman-"quote" in video nr. 6.

MOPDtK also have a new album, Forty Fort, coming out soon. Enjoy!

Henry Threadgill link-a-thon & box set

Henry Threadgill's return to recorded music, with the excellent This Brings Us To, Vol. 1 (Pi Recordings), has gladly lead to a renewed interest in the great man and his music. Not only is there a long piece and interview in the latest issue of The Wire, Nate Chinen has written a profile for the New York Times (pub. Nov. 6th, 2009) (and add to those, my piece in the previous issue of the quality fanzine FAN).

The increasing interest in Threadgill and his music is of course welcome and long overdue. The really good news, though, is that Mosaic Records have announced that they have a Threadgill box-set scheduled for release in early 2010. I'm sure they'll allow me to copy/paste from their site:

"Henry Threadgill: The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air
(Release Date: Early 2010)

Henry Threadgill was among the first wave of distinctive and utterly original artists to emerge from Chicago’s Association for The Advancement of Creative Music along with Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton and the member of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago.

As a saxophonist, he delivers his unique style with a big, dry sound and precise articulation. As a composer, he was an American original, influenced by the entire spectrum of music. He creates distinctive sonic canvasses for a variety of ensemble. And his work is infused with a wonderfully dry, almost absurdist sense of humor.

This set covers three important eras in Threadgill’s career, beginning with the three albums that Air made in 1978-79 for Arista Novus including the celebrated “Air Lore” with unique reinterpretations of the music of Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton. Air was a remarkable co-operative trio formed by Threadgill, bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Steve McCall in 1975.

In 1979, Threadgill made his first album as a leader for Arista Novus. “X-75. Volume 1” featured the unique ensemble of four reeds, four basses and the voice of Amina Claudine Myers. A volume 2 was made and never issued. It is released for the first time in this set.

In 1981, Henry formed his Sextett, which consisted of seven musicians! This unique ensemble consisted of trumpet, trombone, cello, bass and two sets of drums as well as Threadgill. Beggining in 1986, the group recorded three albums for RCA Novus all of which are included here.

Threadgill closed out the century with three albums on Columbia (“Carry The Day,” “Makin’ A Move” and “Where’s Your Cup”) recorded between 1994 and ’96 with varying ensembles of unusual instrumentation.

This set cover three distinct and fertile peak periods in Threadgill’s long and ever creative career."

The albums included in the set should thus be Open Air Suite; Air Live at Montreux Suisse; Air Lore; X-75 Vol. 1 (all prev. on Arista Novus); X-75 Vol. 2 (prev. unreleased), You Know the Number; Easily Slip into Another World; Rag, Bush and All (all prev. on Novus); Carry The Day; Makin’ A Move and Where’s Your Cup (all three prev. on Columbia).

Most of these have been out of print for a while, although I've come across second hand copies on various occasions and web sites. Allthough all are great records, the availability of classics Air record Air Lore as well as the Sextett releases Rag... and Easily... are especially welcome.

Side note: my jazz list/grades has not been updated for ages, but both Air Lore and Rag, Bush and All receive top grades (10/10). I may have underestimated Easily..., I think it's better than the 8/10 I gave it a few years back, but I will wait until I have time to update the whole list with new records and grades before I decide whether to change it.

Catching up... Darius Jones & post-summer jazz records

I really should set, and stick to, a goal of writing at least one post a week, preferably on a specific day. Lately, other projects have prevented me from wiritng much here, and it's not been for lack of want or lack of music or topics to write about. A more structured time table should allow me to juggle various tasks more easily, and give me time to write more regularly here. There's been no "Music of the Week" for a while, and my much touted update of the 2009-list has not come to fruition.

So, I'd thought I'd use some space to do some catching up with a couple of the best jazz records I've come accross since sometime this summer (a few of them have been included on previous MotW posts). I'll only write a few lines about most of them, but the first certainly deserves extra space.

• Darius Jones Trio: Man'ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing)

Darius Jones is an up-and-coming saxophonist living in Brooklyn in New York having arrived form Richmond, Virginia in 2005. The Southern heritage is apparent in much of the music on this stunning debut. The record is bluesy, and (like the title says) both raw and beautiful, with Mr. Jones often using simple melodic lines as the basis of the music, much like Albert Ayler used to. There's a similarity between Jones and Ayler in the physicality of their playing and the wailing tones as well, 'though Jones can certainly hold his own and more often switches to softer themes than similar players tend to do. The band - with elder statesmen Cooper-Moore on the bass-like (and ancient) diddley-bo(w) as well as piano, and Rakalm Bob Moses on drums completing the trio - swithch between fairly loose structures and stricter blues based rhythms. Cooper-Moore has a knack for blending the seemingly simplistic and potent, as he does with his own band Digital Primitives.

On "Cry Out", for example, Cooper-Moore plays a rough blues walk on the piano, Bob Moses shuffles and Jones plays a slightly plaintive melodies on top. The tune has a certain noir quality to it. "Chasing the Ghost" is another highlight, with Cooper-Moore playing vibrating low bass notes on the diddley-bo(w), Bob Moses skitting over and under, while Jones plays variations and improvised lines over a strong melodic theme. The "chasing" of the title sends ones thoghts to one of Coltrane's classic work-outs, while the "ghost" part, well, it certainly opens up to other interpretations of what the piece is about. The result is nonetheless both beautifully disturbing and powerful. Having been roughed up by much of the music on the album, the simplistic loveliness of the closing "Forgive Me" becomes extra heartwrenching by the juxtaposition alone. Cooper-Moore plays a Satie-like chordal theme, with Jones seemingly exorcising his demons with a softer, almost weeping tone. It is simply one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've heard all year. A bonus track with Adam Lane on bass Jason Nazary on drums is more in line with a rougher blues-bop tradition, but it's still a collaboration I'd like to hear more from, Lane himself having a similar knack for roughing things up.

• Digital Primitives (Cooper-Moore, Assif Tsahar, Chad Taylor): Hum Crackle & Pop

Bluesy, slightly funky, free and with a hint of eastern and African melodic sensibility. Much like their previous record, but equally good.

• Quartet Offensive: Carnivore

Baltimore band, improvising over rock riffs and beats, made more apparent by the inclusion of a fuzz driven guitar. "Rock" means both Led Zeppelin and Fugazi here, and the result is often quite rivetng.

• Henry Threadgill Zooid: This BringsUs To, Vol. 1

The great man in a playful mood (when has he not been?) with what is probably his most interesting and flexible group since the amazing Sextet(t) of the 80s.

• J.D. Allen Trio: Shine

Tenor saxophonist J.D. Allens best record yet, a slightly more traditional post-bop sax, bass & drums trio, but one that has not gone untouched by later musical strains. The rhtyhm section blends simplistic power with great mobility, and Allan plays strong melodic themes as well as flying improvised solos. The track "Sonhouse" in particular is a favorite.

• Marcus Strickland Trio: Idiosyncracies

Another sax, bass, drums trio. Strickland plays tenor and soprano. The music is slightly soulful jazz, and rhythmically the music has tinges of modern R&B and hip-hop. The album includes reworkings of music by Björk, OutKast and Oumo Sangare, to name a few interesting choices. "Set Free", though, has a Coltrane-like quality.

Mike Reed's People, Places & Things - About Us

While we're waiting for the official release of exciting young drummer/composer Mike Reed's new offering, About Us, this post is to let you know that the entire album can be streamed from his homepage here (or click the image above).

First impressions: bloody good, as the English might put it. Mostly a bit slower tempo wise than the more ferocious Proliferation, a record I liked a lot, so I'm thinking while the previous record was inspired by Chicago's hard boppers such as Wilbur Ware and Johnny Griffin, perhaps this is a nod to more orchestrated Chicagoans such as Sun Ra and Muhal Richard Abrams. I'm just guessing. That said, there are enough uptempo tracks on About Us to convince me that Reed's inspirations are split pretty evenly between the two PP&T records.

Music of the Weeks 40 + 41

• Girls: Album (True Panther Sounds)
• Freddie Gibbs: MIDWESTGANGSTABOXFRAMECADILLACMUZIK (Mixtape/self released)
• David Murray & the Gwo Ka Masters: "The Devil Tried to Kill Me" from the upcoming album The Devil Tried to Kill Me (Justin Time Records)
• Mission of Burma: The Sound The Speed The Light (Matador)
• Miranda Lambert: "Only Prettier" from Revolution (Sony)
• Mountain Goats: "Psalms 40:2" from The Life Of The World To Come (4AD)
• Lulu: "Love Loves to Love" (Legacy)
  

Music of the Weeks 38 + 39

Skipped last week, 'though that was not due to a shortage of songs or albums as I've been listenng to plenty of good music lately. I'm late to the Jonatha Brooke record, which is both beautifully crafted and executed. The Henry Threadgill tracks that was posted on Destination-Out sound terrific and bode well for the album, and on the upcoming Lightning Bolt record, the wonderfully titled Earthly Delights, the duo occasionally slow things down, which may dissappoint those who enjoy them purely as an impact band. But fret not, their gung-ho instrumental post-hard core/thrash/punk/impro seems more purposeful as a result.

My "best of 2009-lists" needs to be updated. They've has barely been tweaked since mid-summer, and tens of records need to be added.

• Jonatha Brooke: The Works (Bad Dog Records)
• Henry Threadgill: "To Undertake My Concerns Open" and "After Some Time", This Brings Us To, Vol. 1 (Pi Recordings)
• Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity (ACT)
• Lightning Bolt: Earthly Delights (Load Records)
• Digital Primitives: Hum Craclke & Pop (Hopscotch)
• Deer Tick: Born on Flag Day (Partisan)
  
• Pill: "Glass" (4180: The Prescription (mixtape))
  
• Pixie Lott: "Here We Go Again" (Mercury)
  

Threadgill previewed * Destination: Out!

Head on over to Destination: Out! now for a preview of Henry Threadgill's upcoming album This Brings Us To, vol.1. Some thoughts by the man himself in that very same post.

Closing with a qoute from Studs Terkel:

“It would be difficult to overestimate Henry Threagill’s role in perpetually altering the meaning of jazz..…He has changed our underlying assumptions of what jazz can and should be.”

Quick round-up: new Henry Threadgill, the Feelies and Horace Tapscott re-issues

As mentioned in the recent Destination-Out post, the great Henry Threadgill will release a new album, called This Brings Us To, with his group Zooid on 27th of October (US date?). While I love his work with Air and his 80's Sextet and Sextett records, I've not been quite as taken with his later work. But the man is a favorite nonetheless and I am very much looking forward to this one. Destination-Out will preview the record next monday. There's a review of the record at Music & More (I've yet to read the whole thing myself, though).




The re-issue of the Feelies classic Crazy Rhythms is finally out on Bar/None after some trouble with the previous attempt by Water. Sasha Frere-Jones has some thoughts and valuable info on the Feelies and that record on his New Yorker blog.



Also re-issued is the great 1989 record The Dark Tree by pianist Horace Tapscott. Stef at Free Jazz has revied it here.

Music of the Week 37/09

• Luis Lopes, Adam Lane & Igal Foni: What Is When (Clean Feed)
  
• Raekwon: Only Built For Cuban Linx II (EMI)
• Q-Tip: Kamaal the Abstract (Arista/BMG Records)
• M.O.T.O.: "Crystalize My Penis", Single File (Criminal IQ)
  
• Natalie Imbruglia: "Want" (alright, so I'm slightly smitten. Who cares?)

Beatlemania...again.

It's to be expected, of course, with the arrival of a remastered back catalogue where the sound is x-times better than the 1987 versions + elaborate box sets.

Pitchfork reviews the albums, all of 'em, as I'm sure many others will do too. Still, one could hope these reissues would allow for at least some degree of revision of the Beatles and their music. Not so, according to Pitchfork at least. Rubber Soul (their best by far), Revolver (quelle surprise), Sgt. Pepper's... (great dream pop avant-fun), and Magical Mystery Tour (good songs, but very uneven) all getting perfect scores.

I'm still baffled by those who pick Revolver as the foursome's best (not to mention "best ever"). Plenty of great songs, sure, but the gaping void of stupidity that is "Yellow Submarine" ruins the listening experience for me. No matter how I look at the album (either counting songs or listening to it as a whole - e.g. how one song relates to the others etc.), "YS" simply does not work. It's silly, dumb, the singing is flat, nor does it work as an experimental break. Yet Plagenhoef has the gall to call it "an inventive and charming track too often derided as camp". Too often? Too rarely is more like it.

Well, that's my two cents, anyway. Rant over.

Fairytale...

...in the Supermarket. The Raincoats style. Their classic self-titled LP will be re-released (for the second time, but it's been a while since the previous) on Oct. 13th, but the LP can be pre-ordered directly from Kill Rock Stars here.

The Raincoats: "Fairytale in the Supermarket"

Music of the Week 36/09

• JD Allen: Shine! (Sunny Side Records)
• Polvo: In Prism (Merge)
• Marcus Strickland: Idiosyncrasies (Strick Muzic)
• White Denim: Live @ Garage, Oslo 03.09.09
• Brad Paisley: "Welcome to the Future", American Saturday Night (Arista)

Honorable mention: Units: History of the Units, The Early Years: 1977-83

When?

I'm working on something semi-big, but fun, that'll be posted on this blog sometime during next week. I won't say exactly what, but I can reveal this much: deciding whether to use recording dates or year of release to decide which year to file jazz records in is a bit of a bitch. Some writers go purely by recording date, which most jazz albums lists on the boklet or cover or dust jacket. Others use year of issue/release, but not all albums have that printed on the cover, especially if we're dealing with reissues. Allmusic often have both dates, but not always. A bit of searching around and you can find out, of course, but it's a bit of a pain and takes time.

One such problem cropped up with Dave Holland Quintet's Jumpin' In, which was recorded in '83 but released in '84. Now, since I go by year of release for pop/rock albums (as do most others) I'd prefer to do that for jazz too, but here the routines differ. Scaruffi has Jumpin' In on his '83 list, I'd have put it on my '84 list (few, if any bar the musicians and studio crew, heard the record in '83 I presume). One other such "problem" record is Henry Threadgill's Subject to Change (rec. '84, cover says released in '85).

Anywho, I'll deal with it somehow and add explanations when I post the thing. Watch this space.

Decades

A few days ago, I finished a quick piece for the fanzine I write for (FAN) about music from 1984, 'though in part it was also about how I feel 1980s popular culture have been misrepresented and treated with unfair disdain. I think, possibly, this was in part because many of the critics of 80s culture grew up in the 60s and 70s, a time where rock (and related) music was a shared thing - almost what you could call a monoculture - between most young people everywhere. Of course, there may have been Stones vs. Beatles feuds, but everybody knew who they were. (Now, I'm not saying there werent obscure and/or underground artists. Just wanted to set the record straight).

But by the 80s (or even late 70s), the shear amount of music - in part because of the spread of DIY on the one side and easier, cheaper, and faster ways to mass produce music (e.g. Stock Aitken Waterman) on the other - may have lead to the situation where the older critics just couldn't keep up. What had previously been a shared youth culture was by the 80s many separate youth cultures. Add to this, the birth of MTV lead to increased focus on image, something critics of rockist leanings would dislike, and images tend to stay in the consciousness for a while. So, since many popstars of that time wore bright colors and puffy clothes (to get noticed, you know), that's what they remember, and not the kids who wore jeans and Chuck Taylors at the R.E.M. gig, just what some might wear today.

Mostly, though, my gripe has been with Norwegian critics. I feel it's been different in other countries. The Brits have been proud of how the Smiths and the Housmartins were parts of their popular culture, while Americans have understood more than most others that there were several plains in popular culture in the eighties, e.g. the birth of AmerIndie, the birth of hip-hop, as well as mainstream giants like Springsteen and Prince (who at the same time, may have shared many values with the underground cultures at the time). Few critics have been better at writing about the music of the 80s than Robert Cristagau. He found, and still does find, values and sounds to be treasured or loathed all across the board. My kind of listener.

But I waffle. I just thought it a funny coincidence that I had just recently been writing about how a decade has been (mis-?)perceived, and that this week Pitchfork have started a 2000s countdown, with lists, essays and what not. Now, I like history and a can enjoy a good list like any other jerk, and I may have a "Best Jazz of 2000-09" or something to that effect by the end of the year myself, but I thought this was a bit too early. I had almost forgotten we'd come to the end of a deade.

Anyway. Decades, huh? Strange, isn't it.

Rashied Ali, R.I.P.

Dang! Only got the news today - attending Øya usually means I have very little time reading news online, and I've yet to read a word about Ali in a Norwegian paper. Rashied Ali is probably best known as the drummer for John Coltrane in the '60s, but he played on plenty of other great records as well, with Touchin' On Trane with William Parker and Charles Gayle a personal favorite.

Some nice words for Ali over at Do the Math.

The Summer of Oh Nine

Now that the annual Øya hoolabaloo is upon us, and since I've written very litle since Molde Jazz, I thought a quick Music of the Weeks (yes, plural), or rather summer, would be apropriate. A separate Øya review may or may not appear later.

• Cecil Taylor - solo piano live @ Molde Jazz, 15/07/09
• Frode Gjerstad (saxophone) & Han Bennik (drums) - live @ Molde Jazz, 16/07/09
• Leonard Cohen - live @ Molde Jazz, 17/07/09 + Live In London (Sony)
• Mario Pavone Double Tenor Quintet - live @ molde Jazz, 17/07/09
• New York Dolls - live @ Rockefeler Music Hall, Oslo

• Dj Quik & Kurupt: Blaqkout (Mad Science)
• Quartet Offensive: Carnivore (self released)
• Pissed Jeans: King of Jeans (Sub Pop)
• White Denim: "I Start to Run" (Fits, Full Time Hobby)
• An Horse: "Postcards" (Rearrange Beds, Mom & Pop Music)

Molly on John

"John saw something in me that I didn’t even see in myself. He had complete confidence in me as an actor, which was an extraordinary and heady sensation for anyone, let alone a 16-year-old girl. I did some of my best work with him. How could I not? He continually told me that I was the best, and because of my undying respect for him and his judgment, how could I have not believed him?"

From the New york Times.

Summertime Blues

Well, not exactly, but it works as a title to this post, which I write solely to let you know that Destinaton-Out! have re-posted their Air Lore-piece with two tracks, three if you count the Jelly Roll Morton one. Head on over, read, download, listen and enjoy.

George Russell R.I.P.

Goerge Russell, the influential and very innovative jazz composer and theoretician behind such album classics as Ezz-Thetic, passed away earlier this week. More from jazz.com here, and Ben Ratliff of the New York Times here.

Edit: More thoughts from Darcy James Argue and Frank Kaplan.

Double Nickels 25th anniversary

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of one of my favorite albums of all time together with Mike Watt, Richard Hell, and Michael T. Fournier seems like a decent way to spend the evening to me. Too bad I'm on the wrong side of the Atlantic to have any chance of joining in on the fun.

George Orwell got the year wrong, pt.1

Seems like me and Matos are on the same page.

Oh, yes!

Walter Cronkite, R.I.P

From the New York Times

It may seem strange to you that someone growing up in Norway would care a great deal about this, since his heyday was way before we had access to American TV, but even long before I started my North American studies Cronkite's voice and image was linked to several of the most notable events in US history (no doubt through documentaries aired over here) - I rarely think or read about the assasination of JFK, say, without picturung Cronkite announcing it on TV.

MoldeJazz '09, final pt.

Managed to see both Leonard Cohen and Mario Pavone Double Tenor Quintet yestereday, though as expected, I had to leave the Canadian early.

What to say about Cohen? Sound impeccable, very solid band (especially his Catalan classical guitar player and his bassist, their names escape me), most of his good songs done exquicitely, my favorites yesterday being "The Future" and "Democracy", perhaps because they have more groove the most of his other material and work a bit better in such a stadium context where the quieter moments can fizz out. "Dance Me to the End Of Love", "Ain't No Cure for Love" and "Tower of Song" were good too. Left just after the second set started.

Mario Pavone's men had played for almost half an hour when I arrived. Have to say I'm begining to like Pavone's music a lot. Although he has a foot in the loft swing/free bop tradition, his albums can vary a great deal in terms of attitude, tempo, sound and tone (Deez to Blues, for example, due to the addition of tuba and violin). He is also a solid, original but unflashy (and I mean that in a positive sense) bassist. His Double Tenor Ensemble reminds a bit of Reggie Workman's albums from the mid '90s, though this band adds a piano player in the mix, Peter Madsen. The rest of the group is Tony Malaby and Jimmy Greene on tenor and soprano saxophones (both) and Gerald Cleaver on drums. I like Green's playing in this band, he adds a certain funkiness to the rest of the bands more '60s post-coltrane vibe. Great gig to end my stay at this years MoldeJazz.

MoldeJazz '09, pt.3

Heard Leonard Cohen played 3 hours yesterday, meaning I'll miss Mario Pavone at 20.30 unless Leo cuts it short or I leave early, the latter more likely to happen.

Saw Fanfare Ciocarlia last night. Magnifique!

MoldeJazz '09 - Cecil Taylor, Frode Gjerstad & Han Bennik

Cecil Taylor played a solo gig on Wednesday evening. He was in good form, playing with great dynamism and verve, mostly concentrating on his percussive and rhtyhmically complex music, intercut by sudden quietude and pianissimo. I've heard it said that Taylor's so original that his style has yet to be picked up by younger musicians, but I dare say I hear some of his touch in the work of Vijay Iyer with Fieldwork, especially when it comes to the percussive elements, 'though the playing of Tyshawn Sorey in that same group may have influenced me in making that statement.



Multi reed player (he played clarinet, bass clarinet and alto today) Frode Gjerstad and Dutch drummer, comedian and contorionist (well, not really) Han Bennikk played a fun gig earlier today. Gjerstad is one of the country's best improvisational sax players (I'm quite fond of his work with William Parker and Hamid Drake). Han Bennik is nothing if not inventive - one of his more "normal" techniques involves using his foot to "mute" the drum skin - but that wouldn't matter unless he also had chops, which he does. His ability to go from all over the place to find forceful grooves is very enjoyable. He also is notorious for his antics, using found objects as percussion, which makes a musical experience with him humorous as well. But the antics sometimes distract from the music itself as the audience chuckle, and occasionaly today Gjerstad appeared to be overshadowed by Bennik. Most of the time, though, they played very well and make highly interesting music together. Oh, and Bennik dropped a cymbal on Gjerstad's foot. Ouch!

Molde Jazz '09

Apologies for the lack of updates. Been on the road for a while with only occasional internet access.

Missed the first two days of this years' Molde Jazz, 'though the only two gigs I may have attended are Atomic (seen them many times, so no big miss) and Thomasz Stanko. Will go and watch Frode Gjerstad and Han Bennik, plus possibly Supersilent and Fanfare Ciocarlia tomorrow. Got tickets for Leonard Cohen and Mario Pavone Double Tenor Quintet on Friday.

Just returned from a Cecil Taylor solo gig. Very enjoyable, probably better than the previous time I saw him. May write a few more words on that tomorrow. Plus, I need to step up the "music of the week" thingy.

'09, the first six months: an album round-up

Normally, I wouldn't do this, but since I haven't posted any "Music of the Week" for a while, and my 2009-list updates have been sloppy at best, I thought I'd post a top 20 records Jan. to June 2009 now.

1. Abdullah Ibrahim: Senzo (Sunnyside)
2. UGK: UGK4Life (Jive)
3. The Fully Celebrated: Drunk on the Blood of the Holy Ones (AUM Fidelity)
   
4. Matthew Shipp: Harmonic Disorder (AUM Fidelity)
5. Wussy: Wussy (Shake It)
6. David S. Ware: Shakti (AUM Fidelity)
7. Art Brut: Art Brut vs. Satan (Cooking Vinyl)
8. Sonic Youth: The Eternal (Matador)
9. Steve Lehman Octet: Travail, Transformation, and Flow (Pi Recordings)
   
10. Dinosaur Jr.: Farm (JagJaguwar)
    
11. Darren Johnston: The Edge of the Forrest (Clean Feed)
12. The-Dream: Love vs. Money (Def Jam)
13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz (Interscope)
14. White Denim: Exposion (EM/Tunecore)
15. Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You (Regal/EMI)
16. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band: Outer South (Merge)
17. Gerald Cleaver, William Parker, Craig Taborn: Farmers by Nature (AUM Fidelity)
18. Japandroids: Post-Nothing (Unfamiliar/Tunecore)
    
19. K'Naan: Troubadour (EMI/Virgin)
20. Staff Benda Bilili: Tres Tres Fort (Crammed)
    

Last goodbyes to MJ from the blogosphere

Darcy James Argue, Visionsong, Do the Math, Frank Kogan, Simon Raynolds, Le Matos (who's right on the money, just consider those R.I.P.s.) And I'm sure those are just the tip of the ice berg.

A side note:

Minutemen's "Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing" is one of my favorite songs of theirs. Although the stories vary as to the intent behind it, the main story goes that Mike Watt wrote MJ a letter with the lyrics hoping he'd use them in a song thinking he should use his immense popularity to speak about more, eh, important issues. I'm not sure Watt actually thought it would happen (though I disagree with those who claim the Minutemen were poking fun at him), but somewhere in my mind I can hear an aggressive synth bass and hectic drumming with MJ spitting the lyrics "organizing-the-boy-scouts for murder is wrong" - see e.g. "They Don't Care About Us".

In my opinion, tho', MJ was at his least intriguing when he tried to address social or political issues in his music - "Earth Song" and "Heal the World" never did it for me, and "They Don't..." is more interesting for it's rhythmic complexity and MJ's delivery of the lyrics rather than the actual lyrics themselves - tho' admittedly the repeated chores fits like a charm.

None of those songs reach the heights of "Ben", "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", "Off the Wall", "Wanna Be Starting Something", "Beat It", "Thriller", "The Girl Is Mine", "Smooth Criminal", "In the Closet"...

MJ & Sky Saxon, R.I.P.

Speechless.

Meltdown 2009 reports + Vision 2009

I've been asleep at my post regarding the Ornette Coleman curated (and sadly not attended by yours truly) Meltdown festival. There's a review of the Roots with mr. Coleman-gig in today's Guardian, and few more bits here. Yet to read any reviews of gigs by David Murray and the Roots, or his gig with the Gwo-Ka Masters. Add to those gigs by James Blood Ulmer, Yo La Tengo and Marc Ribot plus guests, but they've probably been covered by someone, somewhere.

Meltdown isn't the only ace festival that has been going on these past few weeks; this year's Vision Festival finished on Monday 15th. I'm searching for reviews as I type...

FAN no. 2

Crouch, Coleman & tradition

Excellent post on the Pi Recordings blog by one Rafiq on the problems and limitations of the teachings of Stanley Crouch and his followers, especially as it regards the problem of the "jazz tradition", as Crouch would have it, using Coleman as an example.

Music of the Week 23/09

• The Fully Celebrated: Drunk on the Blod of the Holy Ones (AUM Fidelity)
• Steve Lehman Octet: "Echoes" (Travail, Transformation, and Flow, Pi Recordings)
• Dinosaur Jr.: "Over It" (Farm, JagJaguwar)
• Pixie Lott: "Boys & Girls"
• Dolly Rockers: "Gold Digger"
  

Koko Taylor, R.I.P.

More @ Idolator.

Steve Lehman Octet - Threadgillian stuff

In what looks to be a decent year for large ensemble jazz records - Darcy James Argue's Secret Society and Hypnotic Jazz Ensemble, to name but two - the preview from Steve Lehman Octet's new record posted by Destinatio: Out! the other day sounds especially promising. The track, "Echoes", does the trick of sounding at once very contemporary and modern, especially in the way the horns and bass riff and in Tyshawn Sorey's hip-hop influenced drumming, while at the same time echoing (right!) the works of past masters. I have to agree with Ben Ratlif in hearing a similarity with Henry Threadgill's music in the ways the riffs and beats are orchestrated. Steve Lehman himself has a wail that is reminiscent of the great Eric Dolphy both because of his gruff tone and in how his solo leaps out and swirl around the rest of the music. I'm very much looking forward to hearing more of this record.

Travail, Transformation and Flow is released by Pi Recordings and is available from, among others, Jazz Loft and amazon.com (see below).

I mentioned that the talented Tyshawn Sorey plays on the record. In this Q&A he reveals himself as a man with diverse (and almost impeccable) tastes. Beefheart, Nirvana, Braxton and Prince. Gotta love it.

eMusic is growing

As reported in the NY Times yesterday, eMusic have struck a deal with Sony Music and will soon be able to offer (older) Sony records and songs as a part of the download site's ever growing catalogue. Very good news indeed, what with eMusic being my preferred place for legal downloads (I still prefer physical records, but eMusic's cheap enough to both download an mp3-version and buy the CD/LP if I feel it's good enough). They have good writers working for them too.

Now, if they only could do something about their frustrating search engine: a search for, say, William Parker gives you a dozen or so hits, including separate entries for William Parker Quartet and Trio, instead of one main entry with sub-entries. Maybe I should offer my services...

Music of the Week 22/09

A retro-filled Music of the Week this time:

• Maxwell: "Pretty Wings" (Columbia)
• Allen Toussaint: "Singing the Blues" (Bright Mississippi, Nonesuch)
  
• Archie Shepp: Kwnaza (Impulse, 1974)
• Cecil Payne: Zodiac (Strata East, 1973)
• Various - The Complete '1981' Box Set mp3s from Musicophilia
  

Music of the Weeks 20+21/09

• Pixie Lott: "Mama Do" (Mercury)
• New Boyz: "You're a Jerk"
• Lily Allen: "Not Fair" (Capitol)
• Staff Benda Bilili: Tres Tres Fort (Crammed Disc)
• Darcy James Argue's Secret Society: Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam)

Colson Whitehead, Sag Harbor, and background

Forgot to mention an interesting interview with the author Colson Whitehead in a New York Times Book Review podcast (podcast link here) from a few weeks back. Whitehead, whose new book Sag Harbor is out now, talks with Sam Tanenhaus about background ("black boys with beach houses") which links to my arguments on afro punk and "indie" in the sense that personal backgoround is more complex than black and white (note his comment on "authentic black experience"). A quite obvious point, really, but nonetheless one which seems to escape some critics of "indie".

Sonic debacle

K-punk has a go at Sonic Youth and their followers, but misses the point the way I see it.

The prime argument seems to be that SY are faux alternatives to the (a) mainstream, when in reality they are squarly within the mainstream albeit another part of it. K-punk's claim is that the thought that SY represent an alternative is the "fundamentl (rockist) fantasy". Now, while I'm sure some kids (yes, kids) harbor the idea (illusion) that SY are an alternative to a mainstream they feel left out of or don't want to be apart of, K-punk's assertion is in and of itself rockist (post-Adorno) in that he claims to know why people like SY.

Whether or not SY are an alternative to the mainstream or operate within the mainstream is beside the point. I'd argue that noone really sounds quite like SY, and at the same time that SY don't really sound like anybody else. So, yes, they are an alterative. Whether within or outside the mainstream doesn't really matter.

Claiming that SY have been "making the same record for over twenty years" kind of proves that point; the records sound like SY records, nothing else. As a great band once sang: "Mr. narrator/this is Bob Dylan to me". His Bob-ness was himself part of the mainstream while at the same time nobody really sounded like him.

Still, what should be discussed is the music, and this is where I feel K-punk's biggest mistake lies. He doesn't mention it at all, apart from staking the claim that SY have made the same record over and over. That's a populist claim, a claim that doesn't say why this is so, but one that will resonate in the ears of the naysayers and irritate those who disagree.

I find it quite easy to hear a difference between Sister and Rather Ripped. The first is more abrasive, the second smoother. But what it boils down to the songs, the tunes. Both records have good tunes in buckets, and while they sound somewhat different, the classic SY elements are there; Moore's chiming guitar sound, Shelley's pounding and staccato-like drumming, Ranaldo's longer tones, and Gordon's growl, wheter voice or bass. That K-punk can't tell the difference I suspect is down to his hang-up on the mainstream/not mainstream divide. That he doesn't like them I won't hold against him, I'd just wish he'd argument on the basis of the music instead.

Good post by Matt Ingram (welcome back!) on the same issue.

The printed word

In a move to counter the decline of printed music writing *, tomorrow will see the release of a fanzine-inspired magazine simply named FAN (wordplay, indeed), to which I'm a contributing writer. My first conrtribution concerns Arfican-American punk and "indie" rock, in some ways a commentary to the argument that modern rock has become the domain of white middle class boys/men. It's true, admittedly, but then again most areas in culture, popular and not, are dominated by white middle class boys/men. I attempt to argue that that's no reason to forget the contributions to punk rock from people with different backgrounds, and that using background as a sort of meassure of quality is problematic, to put it mildly. Anyway, here's the cover of the above-mentioned magazine.



* Since the question's been put to me; yes of course that line was intended to be a bit tounge in cheek.