Dec 27 2016
Best of 2016 #17: Alexis Cuadrado – “POÈTICA” (Sunnyside Records)
The Alexis Cuadrado project POÈTICA is brilliant on many levels. The bassist’s ensemble brings together multilingual poetry, Flamenco and both modern straight-ahead and Latin Jazz for glimpses into the challenges of immigrants new to America. I’ve written about this fantastic recording quite recently (go read it), so I’ve no additional insight to provide here… except this: The changes in tone, both emotionally and musically, infuse things with a story arc feel. It echoes the imagery of movies telling the immigrant’s story from their perspective. And the subjects of cultural dislocation and societal apprehension, fear even, they radiate a sense of immediacy that echoes the events and perspectives of today. The timeliness and relevancy of this project provides a level of clarity of no less importance than how damn amazing the music is.
Jazz from Brooklyn, New York.
Read more about the album at Bird is the Worm (LINK).
The 12-piece band Skadedyr is out doing its own thing, and there’s really nobody else that comes close to sounding like them. That said, they’re not all alone. Arguably, they could be considered the Nordic counterparts to the jazz inventiveness of NYC musicians Todd Sickafoose and Chris Lightcap. On the wildly expressive Culturen, Skadedyr mixes in psychedelic pop music, ambient electronica, indie-rock, Nordic folk and anything else that seemed like a good ingredient at the time. But the point isn’t so much the ingredients as it is the determined process of using whatever tools available to forge a raw tunefulness out of misshapen melodies. The grumble and growl of “Bie” leads into a raucous chorus bordering on euphoria. “Datavirus” wobbles between states of post-bop and post-jazz. Or how about the way that “Trålertrall” transforms from an acerbic dissonance to waves of gorgeous harmonies. There’s nothing conventional about the means or the methods employed by the ensemble, and yet it’s made to coalesce in kaleidoscopic imagery that almost seems logical.
The large ensemble AfroFree tethers Carpathia to the folk music traditions of Central Europe, and by incorporating Afro-Jazz rhythms and modern jazz improvisations, it results in music that is strangely hypnotic and immensely tuneful. A large regiment of wind instruments opens up all kinds of harmonic possibilities, and the ensemble takes advantage of every single one of them. Potent melodies run throughout the session, and the way that AfroFree uses them as launching points for some lovely harmonic passages is just one of this album’s winning characteristics. The casual way trombonist Tomasz Ożóg is able to dance a melody through a talkative rhythmic landscape and break from the abiding melodic direction is emblematic of how open and free this music behaves in the complex environment the ensemble set for itself. There are some moments of stunning beauty here.
Last year, alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa earned one of the top slots on the
Dec 27 2016
Best of 2016 #16: Cyro Baptista – “BlueFly” (Tzadik)
Jazz from NYC.
Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm (LINK).
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By davesumner • Recap: Best of 2016 • 0 • Tags: Jazz - Best of 2016