R.I.P. Ted Curson

News have been circulating on Twitter these last few hours that trumpeter Ted Curson has passed away at the age of 77, most citing a French website as a source. Sad news indeed. Curson is perhaps best know for his tenure with Charles Mingus, although he also played with such luminaries as Archie Shepp (Fire Music), Cecil Taylor and Andrew Hill, as well as recording a dozen or so records as a leader or co-leader.

Curson can be heard at the paek of his powers on "Folk Forms No. 1" from Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid, 1960), together with Mingus, Eric Dolphy and Dannie Richmond. Some band, that.

Late fall jazz playlist

I've had a busy couple of weeks (writing for print media as well as some other, less exciting stuff), hence no Listening Booth nor much of anything else posted here lately. Still, I thought I'd put up a list of (new) jazz releases I've received (promos & DLs), streamed or bought, and have been listening to since the last LB, just to keep things alive over here. Although I have a few scrambled notes and tentative grades for a couple of these, I'll leave them out for now and rather return with more on these, as well as others, later. I will say this, though: several of these are good to really good, Grass Roots is ace. Things will hopefully pick up here soon. Maybe it's time to set a schedule and update on certain days of the week. We'll see.

• Bad Plus: Made Possible (eOne)
• Sean Conly, Alex Harding, Darius Jones, Chad Taylor: Grass Roots (AUM Fidelity)
• Charles Gayle Trio: Look Up (live 1994, ESP Disk)
• Jon Irabagon, Mick Barr & Mike Pride: I Don't Hear Nothin' But the Blues Vol 2: Appalachian Haze (Irabbagast Records)
• Jon Irabagon's Outright!: Unhinged (Irabbagast Records)
• Kalle Kalima & K-18: Out to Lynch (TUM Records)
• Brad Mehldau Trio: Where Do You Start (Nonesuch)
• William Parker: Centering: Unreleased Early Recordings 1977-1987 (NoBussiness)
• William Parker Orchestra: Essences of Ellington (Centering/AUM Fidelity)
• Resonance Ensemble: What Country Is This? (NotTwo)
• Jason Robinson: Tiresian Symmetry (Cuniform Recordings)
• Wadada Leo Smith & Louis Moholo-Moholo: Ancestors (TUM Records)

Other recent releases of note (in no particular order): Taylor Swift Red, Titus Andronicus Local Business (reviewed for Klassekampen, Oct. 22, 2012), Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Tom Zé Tropicália Lixa Lógico, The Coup Sorry to Bother You, Serengeti C.A.R., Iris Dement Sing the Delta, Dwight Yokam 3 Pears.

R.I.P. David S. Ware

I woke up today to the sad news of David S. Ware's passing. As you may know, Ware had a kidney transplant a few years back, but recovered and made something of a triumphant comeback with a handful of records, including a solo recording, and a return to the quartet format that used to be his primary vehicle throughout his career.

I will try to write a more thorough post about his recordings and career later. For now, I'll copy and paste what I wrote on Twitter about "Aquarian Sound", one of Ware's best known compositions, earlier today:

"David S. Ware's "Aquarian Sound" is, to my mind, one of the most powerful pieces of music, never mind jazz, of the past 20 odd years. William Parker plays the bass riff as if plucking at your heart strings, Mark Edwards (on the album version) enters next, carefully hitting the ride cymbals as if for comfort. A few bars in, Matthew Shipp joins laying down four plaintive chords and sounds crestfallen. Next, Ware enters, doubling Parker's bass lines on his tenor and then... just... soars (pic and sound slightly out of sync. on the video):"

o):

David S Ware - Aquarian sound by MrDrive

Henry Threadgill's Society Situation Dance Band

Henry Threadgill's Society Situation Dance Band never recorded commercially, it was a band made for the purpose of live performance, but short clips from a TV recording of a performance in Hamburg, Germany, in 1988 have been available on YouTube for some time. Recently, though, a user called redobstacle has uploaded the full recording in three parts. This is a treasure, not only because it seems to be the only way to hear (and see) what the Society Sitation Dance Band was about, but also because it's truly great music.

Oliver Lake at 70

Saxophonist, flutist, poet and composer Oliver Lake turns 70 today. The great man has dabbled in several strains of jazz, from ferocious honking and hard swinging Loft Jazz, to the bluesy and funk-tinged to more lyrical improvisational music. In addition to various band constellations under his own name, he played in the Human Arts Ensemble, with Charles Bobo Shaw, among others. Then there's the seminal World Saxophone Quartet, which he co-founded with Hamiet Bluiett, Julius Hemphill and David Murray, and in recent years, Trio 3, together with fellow elder statesmen Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille. As well as countless recordings as a sideman (whether or not he's a full member of the exciting Tarbaby yet, I do not know). To celebrate his birthday, here are a couple of highlights from his career as chosen by yours truly. It's by no means an exhaustive list, rather it's an attempt to look at the breadth of his work:

• Human Arts Ensemble featuring C. Bobo Shaw: Whispers of Dharma (Universal Justice Records, 1972. Re-released on Arista Freedom in 1977) - HAE was a reeds, brass and percussion ensemble, and this was their first recording: two lengthy pieces on one LP side each, the first of which is all whispers and bells and gongs. The second side, however, is a whirlwind of drums and percussion, horns, whistles and shouts (literally): Very free, chaotic even, but given patience, you'll notice how the instruments slip in and out from the foreground, each yielding space for the others to say their piece. The Art Ensemble of Chicago would plow similar terrain on a couple of their records around the same time, but combine that with more rhythmic propulsion. The music here has seemingly no desire to move forward, for better or worse, but I can't but admire its relentlessness.

• Oliver Lake: Holding Together (Black Saint, 1976) - Lake has recorded for Black Saint and its sister label Soul Note several times over the years, but this is arguable the pick of the bunch. Together with Pheeroan akLaff (credited here as Paul Maddox, his name prior to his conversion to Islam) on drums, Michael Gregory Jackson on guitars, percussion and flute, and the bass playing wizard Fred Hopkins, Lake balances intense, propulsive Loft Jazz with calmer moments, especially on the albums second half. Jackson plays counter lines to those of Lake, as well as piercing stabs here and there, while the always impressive akLaff and Hopkins makes certain the music moves forward nimbly and assertively. Highlight: "Hasan", a four plus minute piece which opens with ferocious speed and energy, and then settles into a into a damn hooky groove set by Hopkins just before the two minute mark. The opening track, "Trailway Shake / Sad Lo-uis" is pretty good too:

• Oliver Lake & Jump Up: "Trickle Down Theory" (Gramavision, 1983) - In the mid-80s, Lake, like many of his contemporaries, tried his luck with a more funk oriented style of jazz. Well, it was hard funk really, period. Between 1982 and 1991, he released several albums on Gramavision, not all of them jazz funk, mind you. Plug it, which had contributions from Pheeroan akLaff and pianist Geri Allen, spawned this single, "Trickle Down Theory":

• World Saxophone Quartet: Political Blues (Justin Time, 2006) - Perhaps not a typical example of WSQ's music, as on this record they added bass, drums, vocals and brass in order to vent their frustrations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but it remains a favorite. New Orleans funk, heavy, bluesy, energetic, soulful and groovy. Now, while there are videos from this album on YouTube, I'll compromise and post this excerpt from Night Music of just the original WSQ instead:

• Trio 3: Time Being (Intakt, 2005) - Since around 2000, Lake has recorded with bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Adrew Cyrille, both legends in their own right, under the name of Trio 3. On their most recent albums, they've been joined by Geri Allen (At This Time and Celebrating Mary Lou Williams) and Irene Schweizer (Berne Concert), but the free spirited and loose music centered on the collectively solid interplay of the trio is perhaps best heard on Time Being from 2006. Below is a live video recorded by Paul Brown and michael Zimmerman:

Notification

A notification: Late summer/early autumn round-up should be posted in the coming week, including notes on William Parker's Essence of Ellington project, Grass Roots, Jon Lundblom & Big V Chord and more. Things have been busy since coming home from vacation, and last night my left hand took a serious beating as I foolishly tried to separate two cats fighting (one of them being mine, naturally, otherwise I would likely not have cared), so typing lengthy posts is more difficult than usual at the moment. 

Anyway, 'till then.

C

Perfect Sounds' Jazz faves of 2012, so far.

We've crossed the half way line to 2013 a while ago, but seeing as I'm midway through my summer vacation and only now have found the time to sit down at my laptop, this may be as a good a time as any to look back at some the jazz related releases I've enjoyed the most in 2012, so far. In roughly descending order:

• Steve Lehman Trio: Dialect Flourescent (Pi Recordings) - Jagged and complex yet catchy, bouncy and propulsive, Lehman and his cohorts -- the impressive Matt Brewer on bass and hard hitting Damion Reid on drums -- look to some of their outward-seeking post-bop heroes for inspiration and fuses that legacy with Lehman's own brand of knotty avant-jazz, resulting in one of the most intriguing, exciting releases of the year, and one of the strongest in the ever impressive Pi catalog.

• Vijay Iyer Trio: Accelerando (ACT) - Aided by his long-standing compatriots Stephan Crump and Marcus Gilmore, Vijay Iyer serves up some rhythmically astute and melodically solid originals mixed with carefully picked covers, the pick of the latter being Henry Threadgill's "Little Pocket Devils", a tune by a man who knows how to fuse funky rhythms with tricky improvisation to great effect. Exactly the type of music Iyer is aiming for, and hitting, here.

• Mike Reed People, Places & Things: Clean on the Corner (482 Music) - Mike Reed's efforts to unearth Chicago's great hard-bop and avant-garde legacy through both doing covers and writing original material with that tradition in mind, continues on Clean on the Corner, which in turn may be his best effort yet. Saxmen Tim Haldeman and Gerg Ward both battling and joining forces up front, while Reed and bassist Jason Roebke push from the back. The result is that the fast ones are boisterous and exciting, the slow ones bluesy and, dare I say, lovely. Guest appearances by Craig Taborn and Josh Berman.

• Charles Gayle Trio: Streets (Northern Spy) - Named after Gayle's alter ego, Streets the Clown, this latest effort sees him return to the sax, bass and drum format that helped make his name. Although Streets further proves Gayle's penchant for fiery music, it contains less of the rushing, headlong power of yesteryear. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because instead we get Monk-like rhythmic and melodic patterns, exemplified by bassists Larry Roland's percussive stop-start plucking and Michael TA Thompons jittery drumming. Streets proves the old man can still blow a horn, but also that there's place for a bit of humor in his version of fire music. (Longer post on this album can be accessed here.)

• Devin Gray, Dave Ballou, Ellery Eskelin & Michael Formanek: Dirigo Rataplan (Skirl) - This band, with Devin Gray as it's leader, has been playing together for a few years already, and the opening track, "Quadraphonically", can be seen and heard in a live recording dating back to 2010 on YouTube. Not that the music here seems planned out: the playful improvisation and skittish rhythms come at you like spontaneous and excitable burst of sound, intricate yet it never feels hectic nor crowded.

• Mary Halvorson Quintet: Bending Bridges (Firehouse 12)
• Fly: Year of the Snake (ECM)
• Darius jones Quartet: Book of MæBul (Another Kind of Sunrise) (AUM Fidelity) (Notes on this album has been posted previously here.)
• Henry Threadgill Zooid: Tomorrow Sunny/The Revelry, Spp (Pi Recordings)
• The Thing with Barry Guy: Metal! (NoBussiness)

There have also been interesting music by Elliott Sharp (Aggregat, Clean Feed), Wadada Leo Smith (Ten Freedom Summers, Cuniform), and Branford Marsalis Quartet (Four MFs Playin' Tunes, Marsalis Music), to name three. The second half of 2012 looks very promising too, with releases by William Parker's Essence of Ellington project and Grass Roots, a new band with Darius Jones, Alex Harding, Sean Conly and Chad Taylor, among the most mouth watering ones.

Mike Reed's People, Places & Things, live in paris 2012 (videos)

I have a "2012 so far in jazz" thing in the pipeline, but I came across these three great videos of Mike Reed's People, Places & Things today that I though I'd post while I put the finishing touches on that post. They were recorded live at Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, Dec. 11, 2010. The band is the core of PP&T, meaning Mike Reed on drums, Jason Roebke on bass, Tim Haldeman on tenor sax. and Greg Ward on alto sax.

Vision Festival 17

The 17th Arts for Art Vision Festival kicked off this week, sadly without me in attendance. Lucky for us, they are streaming the entire festival at Ustream.tv. The Vision Festival channel can be found here. Yesterday's line-up was particularly impressive, and I stayed up late last night and caught the last part of the Farmers By Nature (Gerald Cleaver, William Parker & Craig Taborn) set, as well as the entire Darius Jones Quartet set. The latter played material solely from his latest album, Book of Mæ'Bul (Another Kind of Sunrise), but both sets were strong.

William Parker's In Order to Survive (Parker plus Cooper-Moore, Rob Brown, Roy Lewis Barnes and Hamid Drake), one of the best jazz ensembles of the past 15 or so years, were up next, but I fell asleep (they were due on stage around 4 or 5 AM over here). Lucky for us, yet again, they have put up the recorded shows on Ustream as well. You can watch the In Order to Survive set here, or on the embedded video below.

EDIT: the recorded video of In Order to Survive seems to have been removed. Live streaming from the festival should continue throughout the festival, though. Just click on the channel link above.

Unheard tapes from Mingus' 1964 Town Hall concert to be released

This is what you get for not paying close enough attention to the Twitter and Facebook updates of people you follow. On March the 8th earlier this spring, it was announced on Mingus' Facebook page (run by his widow Sue, I assume) that tapes for a Part 2 of the great 1964 Town Hall Concert featuring Eric Dolphy was being prepared for release. The message explained that the tapes had not been issued earlier as they (i.e. Sue and Charles) had ran out of funds after the release of part one, or what is just known as Town Hall Concert (1964). There's also a possibility for a Mosaic box set.

Read the full FB update here.

Listening Booth, week 19: catching up with 2011

These notes have been sitting on my hard drive for ages, and since I don't have anything else written at the moment, I thought I'd just throw them out there. I'll hopefully have notes on the new Mary Halvorson Quintet and the Wadada Leo Smoth 4 disc set ready shortly.

• Ambrose Akinmusire: When the Heart Emerges Glistening (Blue Note, 2011) - Big on year-end lists and polls for 2011. In short: hip-hop and nu-R&B colored modern post-bop. Akinmusire's  trumpet tone is rounded and smokey, and the band here is solid, if a bit safe. The biggest problem is that I don't find his thematic and melodic ideas very interesting nor terribly engaging, and the rhythmic patterns, with their latin-tinged hip-hop leanings, sound dated and uninspired to me. He's definitely got talent, and I really do like his tone. 6*

• Gerald Cleaver Uncle June: Be It As I See It (Fresh Sound, 2011) - Adventurous drummer Gerald Cleaver leads a rollicking and big sounding semi big-band with several "younger" heavy hitters of modern jazz, among them Drew Gress (bass), Tony Malaby (soprano and tenor sax) and Craig Taborn (piano). At times the album is boisterous, as reeds and piano pile on over a steady rhythmic backdrop, but these sections are counter balanced by more meditative pieces, some with voice. Electro-acoustic noise adds color. The five part "Fence & Post (For Mom & Dad" is the centerpiece. Ambitious, even if it fails to hold my attention throughout. 6*

• Orrins Evan: Captain Black Big Band (Posi Tone, 2011) - Fairly straight forward formally, but big and punchy, just the way I like it, and there are some good tunes as building blocks, especially the slow building "Easy Now." The ancestor seems to be Basie rather than Ellington, but the tempos are definitely bop-derived. Enjoyable. 7*

• DJ Quik: The Book of David (Mad Science, 2011) - Expert veteran beat maker adds shrapnel to his vintage good spirited electro funk, and bite to his rap, particularly on the opener "Fire and Brimstone." He's always up for killer dope and good times, and serenading women, especially the "real women." "I don't need nobody," he claims on the albums best tune, as if he only cared about himself, and yet he brings his special brand of the electric boogie to the party and manages to spread more good vibes than most these days. 8*

Some records with grades but missing notes:

• Tim Berne: Insomnia (Clean Feed, 2011) - 7*
• Ralph Carney's Serious Jass Project: Seriously (Smog Veil, 2011) - 7*
• Cities Aviv: Digital Lows (mixtape, 2011) - 7*
• Freddie Gibbs: Cold Day In Hell (mixtape, 2011) - 5*
• Kendrick Lamar: Section.80 (Top Dawg Entertainment, 2011) - 7*
• Neptune: Silent Partner (Northern Spy, 2011) - 6*
• The Rapture: In the Grace of Your Love (DFA/Modular) - 6*
• Craig Taborn: Avenging Angel (ECM, 2011) - 7*

* The Perfect Sounds Listening Booth series is where I post jotted down thoughts and impressions of records. The writing of these notes is mostly done during listens, without too much consideration to composition and/or argumentation, and while the intention is that these notes will form the basis of possible future reviews, they should not be considered fully formed reviews in and of themselves. The grades are tentative and liable to change.

R.I.P. Adam Yauch aka MCA

Very sad to learn that Adam Yauch has passed away. Not sure I how to process it at the moment, bar spinning old Beastie Boys tunes. LOUD!

“I’m gonna die gonna die one day 
Cause I’m goin and goin and goin this way 
Not like a roach or a piece of toast 
I’m going out first class not going out coach"


EDIT: Sasha Frere-Jones has a lovely, and personal, piece up on his New Yorker blog.

Listening Booth, week 16, 2012: Darius Jones Quartet

Darius Jones Quartet: Book of Mæ'Bul (Anther Kind of Sunrise) (Aum Fidelity) - In his ongoing epic, Darius Jones seems intent on picking musicians to fit the music he has imagined for each album, or verse, as he calls them: For the excellent raw and bluesy debut Man'ish Boy, he enlisted elder statesmen Cooper-Moore (diddley-bo and piano), and Rakalam Bob Moses (drums), while for the groovier and punchier follow-up Big Gurl (Smeel My Dream), Adam Lane (bass) and Jason Nazary (drums) were brought in. This trend of building a band around the music continues on Book of Mæ'Bul, where the band has been expanded from a trio to a quartet, adding piano to the sax-bass-drum mix.

The first thing you hear on the opener "The Enjoli Moon", are the hushed tones - Satie like in it's minimalism - of Matt Mitchell's piano, before bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Ches Smith join Jones in stating a plaintive theme. From this, they spin out into a short, controlled frenzy, only to return to the theme. The song fluctuates between these sections, until, towards the end, the tune lifts to a crescendo, before the band lands safely back into the original theme as the song ebbs out. It's a perfect opener, as it contains much of the elements that typifies the album, and that sets it apart in Jones' discography.


There's not much of the swagger, groove, and headlong excitement that typified the music on Man'ish Boy and Big Gurl here; only the sprightly post-bopish "Winkie" speeds things up beyond mid-tempo. Mæ'Bul is in turn looser, freer and also has a softer touch: the airy "So Sad" is one of the albums highlights. Yet for all its differences, Jones' unique personality and tone permeates the music here as it does on all of his records. 


 Where Jones' trios were like a three-pronged spear with Jones in the middle, the roles here seem more set. The dexterous rhythm section of Dunn and Smith mostly stay back and provide a loose-knit platform for the melodic/thematic and solo duties shared between Jones and Mitchell. But here and there, the interplay and the ceding of space between the main soloists comes across almost like turn-taking exercises, as in the latin tinged mid-section of the otherwise lovely "Be Patient With Me", rather than to organically rise from the themes. As such, oarts of the otherwise lovely music here seems jagged and disconnected. 


 Bill Shoemaker noted in his review in the March, 2012 issue of Point of Departure that the previous records have "largely documented potential" and that that this record is "a significant step forward." I'm not so sure I agree. Book of Mæ'bul dips to a much greater degree into the classic jazz landscape, albeit the classics that came out of the more avant-leaning post-bop of the 60s, such as, say, the music of Andrew Hill. That he is able to weave more "classic" sounding jazz into his own music suggests that this is definitely a broadening of horizon, the addition of the piano also helps. But in turn the record loses some of the energy and freshness that made Man'ish Boy and Big Gurl such exciting and stand-out albums. This punk rocker-at-heart firmly believes that well articulated energetic music can be as mature a statement as so-called contemplative-meaning-quieter music, and so I found that Mæ'bul's predecessors' more vigorous tempos and rougher edges were fully formed statements in their own rights, and perhaps even better documents of Jones' unique voice as a musician and composer in the modern jazz landscape. 7*


* The Perfect Sounds Listening Booth series is where I post jotted down thoughts and impressions of records. The writing of these notes is mostly done during listens, without too much consideration to composition and/or argumentation, and while the intention is that these notes will form the basis of possible future reviews, they should not be considered fully formed reviews in and of themselves. The grades are tentative and liable to change.

R.I.P. Levon Helm

Just got that news that drummer, singer and mensch Levon Helm, "[T]he only drummer who can make you cry", has passed away. It was to be expected, perhaps, considering the recent news about his deteriorating health. I'm nevertheless devastated. R.I.P.

JJA Jazz Awards 2012 Nominees: Notes

The 2012 JJA Jazz Awards Nominees were announced recently. I've copied & pasted them below, with some wholly off-the-cuff and knee-jerk comments. My picks in bold, but what does that matter, as I'm not allowed to vote.

1) LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN JAZZ

Muhal Richard Abrams

Ron Carter

Wayne Shorter

Horace Silver

I'm guessing Wayne Shorter will win this, and it's not like he doesn't deserve it. I just happen to prefer Muhal Richard Abrams, but he's too much of a fringe artist for the majority, I think.

2) MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR

Ambrose Akinmusire

Vijay Iyer

Joe Lovano

Christian McBride

Sonny Rollins

I miss a whole bunch in this category, but the most obvious one is Craig Taborn, who was all over the spectrum, with great results, last year. Of the nominees, I'd pick Sonny.

3) COMPOSER/ARRANGER OF THE YEAR

John Hollenbeck

Guillermo Klein

Vince Mendoza

Maria Schneider

Hmm, hard one. I liked Kris Davis' arrangements on Tony Malaby's Novela, as well as Ben Allison's on his 2011 album. Still, Hollenbeck is a gifted arranger too.

4) UP AND COMING ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Chris Dingman

Tyshawn Sorey

Ben Williams

Warren Wolf

There's a wealth of talent around these days, my favorite being Darius Jones. He's been around a few years, though, but so has Tyshan Sorey, who'd be my pick of the above.

5) RECORD OF THE YEAR

James Farm (Nonesuch)

Keith Jarrett, Rio (ECM)

Christian McBride's Big Band, The Good Feeling (Mack Avenue Records)

Sonny Rollins, Road Shows, Vol. 2 (Doxy Records)

Wadada Leo Smith's Organic, Heart's Reflections (Cuneiform Records)

Craig Taborn, Avenging Angel (ECM)

Miguel Zenon, Alma Adentro – The Puerto Rican Songbook (Marsalis Music)

Naturally, I miss a host of nominees here: Avram Fefer, Darius Jones and Tony Malaby's efforts chief among them (See my favorites section or my 2011 Jazz Critics Poll ballot for more. Plus, does Keith Jarrett have to be nominated for an award every time he squeezes out a record? Oh, he does. Well, sorry then. I guess one wouldn't want angry Jarrett harassing you.) Of those nominated, I'd pick Wadada Leo Smith's (Disclaimer: I've not heard the McBride album yet).

6) BEST HISTORICAL OR BOXED SET

Miles Davis, Bootleg Sessions, Vol 1, Quintet Live in Europe 1967 (Columbia Legacy)

Julius Hemphill, Dogon A.D. (Mbira/Freedom-International Phonograph)

Bill Dixon, Intents and Purposes (RCA Victor-International Phonograph)

Roscoe Mitchell, Before There Was Sound (Nessa)

The Complete Jimmie Lunceford Decca Sessions (Mosaic)

I actually really enjoyed all of these, but Hemphill edges it for me.

7) LABEL OF THE YEAR

Clean Feed

ECM

Pi Records

Sunnyside Records

You know, I'm inclined to say Engine, a tiny label out of Chicago. Clean Feed is still releasing ace quality jazz albums, but have been stronger in previous years. ECM is, well, ECM, so I’m going with Pi here.

8) LARGE ENSEMBLE

John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra

Maria Schneider Orchestra

Mingus Big Band

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra

No strong preference here, really, 'though I would've like to see Captain Black's Big Band get a look in.

9) SMALL ENSEMBLE

James Farm

Jason Moran & Bandwagon

Joe Lovano Us Five

SFJazz Collective

James Farm is a super group of sorts, so I'd either put my money on them or Moran's group to win it. I have absolutely no preference among these, though. I wish Avram Fefer's Trio - with Eric Revis and Chad Taylor, by now a working group - was nominated. There's also the exciting Endangered Blood, as well as the great Mostly Other People Do the Killing, who toured and released a live album in 2011. So where does that leave us ...

10) MALE SINGER OF THE YEAR

Freddy Cole

Kurt Elling

Giacomo Gates

Gregory Porter

11) FEMALE SINGER OF THE YEAR

Karrin Allyson

Rene Marie

Gretchen Parlato

Tierney Sutton

I'm betting on Parlato to win this, but my fave female singers of 2011 was Andrea Wolper and Fay Victor, though the latter probable belongs in a separate category all together: ace performer of the year.

12) TRUMPETER OF THE YEAR

Ambrose Akinmusire

Tom Harrell

Brian Lynch

Wadada Leo Smith

You just know Akinmusire will win this, but I'm a Wadada fan myself.

13) TROMBONIST OF THE YEAR

Steve Davis

Robin Eubanks

Wycliffe Gordon

Steve Turre

14) MULTI-REEDS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

James Carter

Anat Cohen

Roscoe Mitchell

Ted Nash

Scott Robinson

15) ALTO SAXOPHONIST OF THE YEAR

Lee Konitz

Rudresh Mahanthappa

Phil Woods

Miguel Zenon

Darius Jones all the way for me, but he's not here, so I'll go with Mahanthappa, 'though he was arguably a greater presence in 2010 than in 2011.

16) TENOR SAXOPHONIST OF THE YEAR

J.D. Allen

Joe Lovano

Chris Potter

Sonny Rollins

As much as I love and worship Sonny Rollins, I'd love to see J.D. Allen get some plaudits, but I'm guessing Rollins or Lovano will win it.

17) BARITONE SAXOPHONIST OF THE YEAR

James Carter

Ronnie Cuber

Claire Daly

Gary Smulyan

18) SOPRANO SAXOPHONIST OF THE YEAR

Jane Ira Bloom

Dave Liebman

Branford Marsalis

Wayne Shorter

19) FLUTIST OF THE YEAR

Jamie Baum

Nicole Mitchell

Lew Tabackin

No preference. I should note that Henry Threadgill toured in 2011, so one wonders why he wasn't nominated. Would win it for me if he was.

20) CLARINETIST OF THE YEAR

Don Byron

Evan Christopher

Anat Cohen

Ken Peplowski

21) GUITARIST OF THE YEAR

Mary Halvorson

Bill Frisell

Pat Metheny

John Scofield

Halvorson for me. Frisell a close second.

22) PIANIST OF THE YEAR

Vijay Iyer

Keith Jarrett

Matthew Shipp

Craig Taborn

Close one, but Taborn appeared on several great albums in 2011, proving he's an innovative and interesting musician in several different settings, and I'd vote for him. Iyer has a new album out this year, and Shipp is still a major player who I follow with great interest.

23) KEYBOARDS PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Joey DeFrancesco

Larry Goldings

Mike LeDonne

Gary Versace

No preference.

24) BASSIST OF THE YEAR

Ben Allison

Ron Carter

Christian McBride

William Parker

Esperanza Spalding

William Parker is one of my favorite living musicians regardless of instrument, but I still miss several nominees in this category. Adam Lane did stellar work on Darius Jones' record, Eric Revis perhaps even more so with Avram Fefer. There was John Lindberg on Wadada Leo Smith's Heart's Reflection's and Trevor Dunn with Endangered Blood. Still, Parker's work with Taborn on the second Farmers By Nature album was stellar as always, as was his playing on Fay Victor & Other Dimensions In Music's Kaiso Stories and with David S. Ware on Planetary Unknown. Ben Allison is a great musician, arranger and composer, but he'd place below my nominees. I admire McBride greatly, and Ron Carter is a legend, but neither of those impressed my nearly as much in 2011 as my nominees.

25) VIOLINIST/VIOLIST/CELLIST OF THE YEAR

Billy Bang

Regina Carter

Mark Feldman

Jenny Scheinman

R.I.P. Billy Bang.

26) PERCUSSIONIST OF THE YEAR

Cyro Baptista

Hamid Drake

Sammy Figueroa

Marilyn Mazur

Adam Rudolph

Poncho Sanchez

27) MALLETS INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR

Gary Burton

Stefon Harris

Joe Locke

Warren Wolf

Uh, where's Chris Dingman?

28) TRAPS DRUMMER OF THE YEAR

Jack DeJohnette

Eric Harland

Roy Haynes

Paul Motian

Matt Wilson

You'd think Paul Motian would win this posthumously. Such is the way human nature works. Flabbergasted that neither Pheeroan akLaff (for his work on Wadada Leo Smith's Heart'sReflections. He was the heart, after all) nor Damien Reid for his work on Greg Ward's Phonic Juggernaut aren't nominated.

29) PLAYER OF INSTRUMENTS RARE IN JAZZ

Edmar Castaneda, harp

Gregoire Maret, harmonica

Toots Thielemans, harmonica

Gary Versace, accordion

Meh. 'Though, there's Jacob Sacks' work with harpsichord.

On hiatus...

...not "dead". Posting will resume sometime in the 2nd week of April.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cecil Taylor alone at the piano (video)

Cecil Taylor turns 83 today (or on the 25th, depending on your sources), and I was made aware of the this wonderful video of Cecil improvising alone at the piano by he guys at Destination: Out, and so I felt the urge to post it here on the blog as well.

Regular posting will resume sometime next week, with notes on the new Darius Jones Quartet, Mary Halvorson Quintet, Ro Sham Beaux, Devin Gray and more.

Listening Booth week 7: Charles Gayle Trio

• Charles Gayle Trio: Streets (Northern Spy Records, 2012) - Streets is Charles Gayle's first studio album since his two 2006 releases, Consider the Lilies (Clean Feed) and the solo piano Time Zones (Thompkins Square.) Streets is also the first album to feature Gayle's alter ego, Streets the clown, the significance of which I shouldn't speculate too much on, although Gayle has performed in clown painting for a while. Me, I figure the title refers to his many years spent homeless on the streets of New York. If the clown somehow allows him to put himself in the mood of that period, well, then all the better. Charles Gayle has become somewhat of a sax-bass-drum trio specialist over the years. 'Though he hasn't performed exclusively in that format, much of the time he has, and his most memorable albums are trio albums: the soulful Homeless (Silkheart, 1988), with the deep rolling bass of Norris "Sirone" Jones and Dave Pleasant on drums, and the heady rush of the now deservedly classic Touchin' On Trane (FMP, 1991), with William Parker's rumbling, talking drum-like bass lines and the fleeting drumming of Rashied Ali. As with those two albums, Streets is a trio recording, and also one very much marked as much by Gayle's compatriots as his own distinct style and timbre. Bassist Larry Roland's playing here is the very essence of plucking, creating percussive patterns with only minimal sustain, barring the odd sections such as the intro to "March of April." Gayle himself has never been too occupied with themes or melodies. He is all about feel. It's as if he just steps up to the podium and speaks his mind. So it is perhaps fitting that the first thing you hear on Streets is the sharp sound of Gayle's tenor. He has, either by age or by design (I'd be inclined to say the latter), by and large abandoned the lung bursting runs and screams that used to be synonymous with much of his music. Rather, him and Roland play in bursts, with sudden stops or pauses, and the rhythmic pattern becomes almost Monk-like, especially on "Compassion II." Drummer Michael TA Thompson is much more of a constant, laying down a platform for Gayle and Roland's interplay as well as pushing them on. Although these are patterns and elements you'll find throughout the album, they are used to different effect: "March of April", with Roland's aforementioned menacing bass intro, is ominous, the closing "Tribulations" is fierce and a nod back to Gayle's older material, and the prayer "Glory & Jesus" is peaceful and gorgeous. Streets is not only a worthy addition to Gayle's discography, I'd be tempted to say it's also his best since Touchin' On Trane. 8*

* The Perfect Sounds Listening Booth series is where I post jotted down thoughts and impressions of records. The writing of these notes is mostly done during listens, without too much consideration to composition and/or argumentation, and while the intention is that these notes will form the basis of possible future reviews, they should not be considered fully formed reviews in and of themselves. The grades are tentative and liable to change.

Pazz 'n' Jop 2011: notes

As you may know by now, The Village Voice's 2011 Pazz 'n' Jop Critics Poll results were announced last night. The albums winner is tUnE-yArDs' w h o k i l l, which surprised me a bit, albeit pleasantly so; even if it is some way down on my personal 2011 favorites list, I can hear why it is an affecting record, warts and all. The singles winner is Adele's Rolling in the Deep, which seemed like a safe bet beforehand.

My ballot can be found here. My top seven records have been pretty much nailed on for a long time. Those seven records stand out, for me, by being more consistent and more solid works than the rest, and I attempted to indicate that by the scores I handed out for my ballot. Below those seven, there has been some fluctuation -- compare my pazz 'n' jop ballot to the latest revision of my favorites list -- though have revisited Paul Simon numerous times lately, I'm tempted to put it in the same category as my top 7.

A couple of points:

• None of my top 10 albums finished in the poll's top 10, but two are in the top 20, Frank Ocean and Fucked Up. If we go to the top 25, there are three counting Pistol Annies.
• My number one pick, Wussy's Strawberry, landed at 109th place, getting ten mentions.
• I was the only one to vote for Avram Fefer's Eliyahu and Wadada Leo Smith's Heart's Reflections (misspelled in the poll). Both are jazz records, and Eliyahu got only two votes in Rhapsody's Jazz Critics' Poll, from Tom Hull and myself, so that's no surprise, really. Darius Jones Trio's Big Gurl (Smell My Dream) , the third jazz record I voted for, got two more votes, from Steve Dollar and Tad Hendrickson.
• Matana Roberts' Coin Coin Chapter One... was the highest placed jazz album at 78, unless you count Colin Stetson, which we probably should, at 42.
• My sole Norwegian pick, Razika's giddy ska tale about the pains of growing up in "Vondt i Hjertet", got one other vote, incidentally by current poll organizer Maura Johnston.

Hoping to post some non-list related writing here during next week. I have a piece on jazz drumming in the pipeline plus, hopefully, a 2011 catch-up of Listening Booth notes, and the return of The 1984 Box Set.

The 2011 Jazz Critics' Poll + notes

Late last year, I was invited by Francis Davis to vote in the 6th edition of the Jazz Critics' Poll, which he has been running the past five years at the Village Voice, but has now been moved to the US based streaming site Rhapsody. Over 120 jazz writers participated, and the results were posted yesterday. Tom Hull has the individual ballots at his site, including mine (look for me in the batch "Kaplan - Nastos", or under Ballots [4])

I predicted the runner-up to win it, based upon what I've read on over the past year, 'though I suppose Sonny Rollins was among the favorites also. A few quick observations:

• Six of my chosen ten picks made the top 60
• Of those, Wadada Leo Smith placed highest, at no. 13.
• My runner-up, Darius Jones Trio, was second highest at no. 19.
• My number one pick, Avram Fefer, received only two votes: Me and Tom Hull, who had it as his runner-up.
• I count 13 among the top 60 that are also on my "2011 favorites" list (records graded 7, i.e. recommended, or higher.) (Though, I have some five records in my pending pile that made the list.)

My three picks for best reissue also made up the top three in the results, albeit not in the same order. I'd also note that had I known Monk's Music had been reissued this year, it would have been my number one pick, it quite possibly being my favorite Monk album. Then again, the record has been widely available for a while in various formats, so it doesn't quite feel like a reissue in the same way my top three does.