Jazz Recommendations – 2016 releases

Julian Shore provides an endless supply of distractions on Which Way Now?  The rhythmic pitter-patter trade of nuance between piano and drums, the soft whispers of cymbals blending in with the hush of saxophone harmonies, the swirling piano lines circling the soaring contrails of saxophone solos, the deep voice of bass sometimes as an undercurrent of piano’s melodic incursions and sometimes as the driving force of guitar’s lyrical expansions… all of it contributes to this album’s kaleidoscopic beauty.  And much like the kaleidoscope, there’s a clockwork precision in play here, evidence that the unfolding beauty is the result of fluid logic and planning.  Shore complements his core sextet with guest musicians on instruments as diverse as pedal steel and dobro, bass clarinet and a string section, adding more textures to an album drowning in ’em.

Jazz from Brooklyn, NY.

Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm (LINK).

There’s an undeniable magic to the way pianist Giovanni Guidi and trombonist Gianluca Petrella shape the melodies of Ida Lupino before launching their afterimages deep into improvisations.  This quartet date with clarinetist Louis Sclavis and drummer Gerald Cleaver brings out one beautiful tune after the next… and they maintain a sense of song throughout, even though they go about exploring the different avenues and detours each composition affords them.  Both Guidi and Petrella can sink their teeth into a melody, but it’s how their complementary approaches provide a fullness to the expression that’s particularly rewarding.  Guidi works a melody like the breeze creating ripples on the water’s surface, seeking to use motion to accentuate the sparkle and shine of sunlight beaming down upon it.  Petrella’s motion is more direct, and his lyricism has a strong gravitational pull as his trombone displays an innate lyricism… sometimes in a booming voice, sometimes as a peaceful cooing.  And all of it is magical.

Jazz from Foligno, Italy.

Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm (LINK).

This series of duo collaborations is seriously absorbing.  Saxophonist Joakim Berghäll has embarked on a four-part series of duets with his Finnish counterparts.  The first installment centered on the pianists.  The second, and current, project recording, Dialogues II, has him matched up with guitarists.  As one might imagine, duets with ten different musicians is going to result in ten different conversations.  What isn’t so likely to see coming is how fascinating each and every one of them are, and, inexplicably, that they all come together with something resembling album cohesion.  The range of expressions are all over the map, from a jazz-rock edge to serene minimalism to avant-garde clashes of dissonance to Frisellian looping effects and over to a Finnish folk music influence.  To enhance the range of possible expressions, Berghäll brings his alto, soprano, tenor & baritone saxophones and a bass clarinet, to boot.  The imagery is strong and the diversity of sound expansive, but the nature of the duet invokes a sense of intimacy, and it’s why all of these dialogues present themselves with a certain disarming warmth… no matter how lovely and strange the music may get.

Jazz from (all over) Finland.

Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm (LINK).

Islands is all about the imagery.  The first image a song presents is never the last, and the transformations that occur over the duration of one song, and over the length of the recording, is never the same picture and it never takes the same path twice.  But it always begins with the melody.  Pianist Rob Clearfield is just as deft shaping a crisp melody as he is building up to a composite from individual facets, and on this trio session, both methods lead to a myriad of results.  The winding trail of “With and Without” is fraught with cutbacks and sudden detours, while at the other end of that spectrum, “Ralph Towner” dives into the details of a melodic fragment and doesn’t come up for air until the final vision is complete.  Even the tunefulness and warmth of the title-track is deceptively simple, which becomes increasingly apparent with each melodic turn of phrase.  The formation of patterns here and there help provide a sense of album, but this recording eschews cohesiveness for a massively immersive experience, one that occurs moment to moment… which is exactly how the album should be enjoyed.

Jazz from Chicago.

Read more about the album on Bird is the Worm (LINK).