Aug 3 2012
Tiny Reviews: Aruan Ortiz, Joel Remmel Trio, Mary Halvorson, Jure Pukl, & Ehud Ettun
Tiny Reviews, featuring Aruan Ortiz Quartet Orbiting, Joel Remmel Trio Lumekristall, Mary Halvorson Quintet Bending Bridges, Jure Pukl Abstract Society, and Ehud Ettun Heading North.
*****
Aruan Ortiz Quartet – Orbiting
Since making the move from Cuba to NYC, this classically trained violinist-pianist has been grabbing ears with his compositional skills, as well as his sound. Making a statement over the last few months with Afro-Cuban music (for instance, Mark Weinstein’s El Cumbanchero, reviewed HERE), Aruan Ortiz comes back this time with a modern jazz piece. It’s an album of constant motion, simultaneous soloing, and swarming rhythms. It’s an excellent album of how Modern Jazz is able to put its stamp on the developmental timestream of the Jazz genre, yet not sacrifice its ties to the past as it carves out its own identity. Thoughtful music with an edge to it.
Your album personnel: Aruan Ortiz (piano), Eric McPherson (drums), Rashaan Carter (bass), and David Gilmore (guitar).
Released on the Fresh Sound New Talent label. Jazz from NYC.
Available on eMusic.
Joel Remmel Trio – Lumekristall
The Joel Remmel Trio are very much a part of the Norwegian jazz sound. Music that lends to plenty of introspection. Melodies that drift and rhythms that scatter like dust. Bass player likes to get plenty of arco action in, which adds some pleasing tension to many of the tunes. Album closes with the solitary vocal track, a trend which I’m kind of fond of, and works fine here, too.
Your album personnel: Joel-Rasmus Remmel (piano), Heikko-Joseph Remmel (double bass), and Aleksandra Kremenetski (drums & percussion).
Released on Paw Marks Music label (no website). Jazz from the Tallinn, Estonia scene.
Available at eMusic.
Mary Halvorson Quintet – Bending Bridges
Guitarist Mary Halvorson doesn’t put out conventional albums. Often, they’re placed in the jazz genre because of her and her bandmates’ ties to other jazz albums, but most of Halvorson’s music defies categorization anyway. On this recording, her second with the quintet, she adopts (for much of it) a pleasant front porch ease. Not to say that this is lazy Sunday music, but it’s much less aggressive than past recordings, and it makes for a strong effort. The sudden shifts of tempo within the span of a tune can be pretty damn exhilarating, especially when Finlayson’s sax calls out over the top while Halvorson shapes the song with warped curvy notes.
Your album personnel: Mary Halvorson (guitar), Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet), Jon Irabagon (alto sax), John Hébert (bass), and Ches Smith (drums).
Released on the Firehouse 12 Records label. Jazz from NYC.
Available at eMusic.
Jure Pukl – Abstract Society
This is one where modern jazz composition overlaps what may have once been viewed as avant-garde. Soprano & tenor sax man Jure Pukl leads a stellar quartet featuring Vijay Iyer on piano, Joe Sanders on bass, and Damon Reid on drums. Yes, there’s some clash and dissonance on this recording, but there’s elements of swing, and more noticeably, roots the trace back to the blues. The occasional interludes of serenity are a refreshing wash. Nothing boring about this album, it engages on many levels.
Released on Storyville Records. Jazz from the Velenje, Slovenia scene.
Available at eMusic.
Ehud Ettun – Heading North
Bassist Ehud Ettun shows some real promise on his debut album, best illustrated by some of the quieter tunes, like the title-track, which seems to withhold new notes as a way of building anticipation (and it works). At times, the music comes off as a bit overproduced on the contemporary side. For instance, the track “Night Portrait” is reminiscent of some of the rock-new age fusion that Andy Summers & Robert Fripp were putting out in the 80s, though it’s worth mentioning that those are still very fun albums to spin. Overall, the high moments on this album make it worth the purchase, and if you live somewhere that gets lots of rain, maybe even more so.
Your album personnel: Ehud Ettun (bass), Tal Gur (saxophones), Haruka Yabuno (piano), Nathan Blankett (drums), and Hagai Perets (guitar).
The album is Self-Produced. Jazz from the Boston, MA scene.
Available at eMusic.
*****
Portions of some of these reviews were originally used in my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…
“New Arrivals Jazz Picks“ and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks“ and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks“, reprints courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2012 eMusic.com, Inc.
As always, my sincere thanks to eMusic for the gig. Cheers.
Aug 5 2012
The Safety Net: Kammerflimmer Kollektief – “Absencen” (2005)
The Safety Net, a Bird is the Worm series which highlights outstanding older albums that may have flown under the radar when first released.
*****
Notably different from the rest of their discography, Absencen has an exceptionally relaxed stroll, one which conjures images of shady Summer afternoons enjoying a cool breeze, and which effortlessly tames the occasional bursts of free jazz saxophone wails, percussion revolts, and avalanches of electronic effects. The cohesiveness of sound on the album keeps it tethered, and creates a sense of layering of one song atop the other, ultimately making a rich sonic experience by the time the last note is achieved.
Your album personnel: Dietrich Foth (alto & baritone sax), Johannes Frisch (double bass), Christopher Brunner (drums, glockenspiel, percussion, vibes, marimba), Jurgen Galli (trumpet, flugelhorn), Thomas Weber (guitar, piano, Wurlitzer, autoharp, zither, percussion, electronics, E-bow), Heike Aumuller (Harmonium), Martin Siewert (lap, pedal steel guitar), Heike Wendelin (violin, viola). and guests: Marco Preitschopf (noises), Pirmin Ullrich (baritone clarinet), and Helmut Dinkel (soprano & tenor sax).
The various woodwinds set the tunes on fire, interspersed skronking and screeching, expressing their freedom from the confines of the hip groove that the rhythm section lays down. Trumpet typically strolls through tunes, while lap steel guitar draws long luxuriant arcs overhead. Electronics and effects either simmer underneath or wash over everything in sight. The various strings and harmonium accentuate the chilled atmosphere, sometimes driving it ahead. Odd bits of percussion burrow through the songs, then suddenly burst from the soil and provide dynamic color and texture. Many of the tracks are only a couple minutes long, giving the sense of interludes orphaned from the songs they were meant to be transition points for. But for an album this cohesive, it’s perhaps a mistake to consider anything an interlude; it all is just music that falls between beginning and end, and the point of “tracks” loses its meaning as well.
I discovered Kammerflimmer Kollektief at the tail-end of 2009 when I happened upon this album. It was one of those evenings when I followed new music like trails of breadcrumbs from artist to artist, the tv on mute and turned to Sportscenter or Law & Order, and the hours ticking away late into a night filled with new names and new sounds. Three years later and still enjoying it immensely, I wanted to put something down in print about Absencen. It’s the reason I created the Safety Net series.
Released on the Staubgold label.
Jazz from the Karlsruhe, Germany scene.
Available on eMusic. Available on Amazon: CD
| MP3
| Vinyl
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, The Safety Net • 0