This Is Jazz Today

Reis-Demuth-Wiltgen – Places In Between

The trio of pianist Michel Reis, bassist Marc Demuth and drummer Paul Wiltgen pour out every melody nice and slow, letting the light strike though them as gravity takes hold.  Of no less astounding beauty is the way they splash against the surface of the songs, creating ripples of rhythmic activity that give the melodies shape and accents to where cause and effect suddenly isn’t so clearly drawn.  This is an instance where the tempo and tone of a song doesn’t change the music’s abiding serenity, and it’s why even when the temperature gets raised on this lovely session, the music retains its dreamy quality.  So good.

Your album personnel:  Michel Reis (piano), Marc Demuth (bass) and Paul Wiltgen (drums).

Released on Double Moon Records.

Listen to another album track at the distributor’s Soundcloud page.

Available at:  Amazon | eMusic

Parker Abbott Trio – Elevation

The newest from the Parker Abbott Trio is very much like their previous recording, 2014’s The Wayfinders.  Elevation is an album of striking melodic interludes, the kind that could leave a serious imprint but for that they’re only momentary, as the trio is already giving form to the next spell of imagery before the last has settled in.  This kind of existence is one where maintaining a sense of shape or form or cohesion is a lost cause.  The result is an album where it lives only the moment, which is truly the best way to enjoy this strange but beautiful recording.  If the instrument has keys to press, then Teri Parker and Simeon Abbott are all over it.  Their small armory of keyboard instruments offer all kinds of options for introducing paint to canvas, while the drums and percussion of Mark Segger is probably all that keeps them from drifting away in the embrace of their own imagery.

Your album personnel:  Teri Parker (piano, Nord Electro, MicroKorg, Mopho x4, Glockenspiel, melodica), Simeon Abbott (piano, Hammond B3, Nord Electro, MicroKorg, Moog Sub Phatty, Microbrute) and Mark Segger (drums, percussion).

The album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

Joonsam – A Door

There’s an unconventional dichotomy of sharp orchestration and quirky eccentricity on this debut from bassist Joonsam Lee.  But even in this, it’s a little different, as A Door is just as likely to flash some fangs as craft a catchy melody aimed at eliciting a smile and spurring the foot into action.  That added dose of the unexpected is a big attraction for the recording, and it’s why the likelihood of developing a minor addiction isn’t entirely unexpected.

Opening track “Whirlwind” is a nice example of this, with Ralph Alessi’s trumpet voicing a melody that says, hi, come on in, nothing to fear, which, he later contradicts with a ferocious solo that’s more about blowing the roof off the joint than it is to get the foot tapping.  And then there’s the way Ben Monder rips through “Zadrak,” which, despite the hi-voltage electricity, has a melody that’s gonna get its hooks into anyone caught in its path.  Occasionally the guitar electricity subsides, and the way pianist Aaron Parks is able to work in a moody tone while honoring both the melody and the intensity that surrounds his contributions is an any-port-in-the-storm moment that shows this album in its best light.

Your album personnel:  Joonsam Lee (bass), Aaron Parks (piano), Nate Wood (drums) and guests:  Ralph Alessi (trumpet), Ben Monder (guitar), Yeahwon Sgin (vocal), Yvonnick Prene (harmonica) and Chung Eun Han (bamboo flute).

Released on Origin Arts.

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Soundcloud page.

Available at:  Amazon | eMusic

Stoop Quintet – Confession

There’s something particularly appealing about the way the bright melodies of Stoop Quintet cast a long shadow.  The music of Confession has a warm presence, but there’s also something a little ominous about it, too, and those dark tones add a complementary quality that makes all the difference between this being just another modern jazz session and something more special.  But pianist Jonathan Brigg lent a similar touch to his collaboration with Threads Orchestra on their 2012 release Ranch, and in light of the fact that Stoop Quintet’s debut utilizes several of those same compositions, it’s not altogether surprising that the album exudes a similar presence.  But it is refreshing to see that the band is a separate affair altogether, and expands on those compositions (and other originals) with some messy blues and messier free improv.

Your album personnel:  Sam Miles (saxophones), Alex Munk (guitar), Flo Moore (bass), Dave Smyth (drums) and Jonathan Brigg (piano).

Released on ASC Records.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Available at: Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

TAB – Seahorse

This intoxicating blend of folk, European-style jazz and chamber music is made for sitting in front of a fireplace and watching the snow fall outside.  TAB is a quartet of acoustic guitar, reeds, percussion and bansuri, and their album Seahorse is an immediate buy for anyone who has a huge collection of Oregon albums on their shelf and looking for still more.  The moodiness of each piece is no obstacle to a supreme tunefulness, and the bursts of intensity that inevitably strike in no way do anything to dispel the palpable tranquility that hangs over the entire album.  Seriously beautiful music.

Your album personnel:  Alex Beaurain (acoustic guitar), Tom Bougeois (soprano & tenor saxophones, bass clarinet), Frédéric Malempré (percussion) and Frederic Becker (bansuri).

Released on Home Records (.be).

Listen to more of the album at the label’s Bandcamp page.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | (not currently on eMusic, but check in later)

*****

The newest from Cyro Baptista is rich with percussion, as most of his recordings tend to be.  And, as with many of his other projects, that percussion is both the center of attention and the foundation on which to launch off into other forms of expression and tangential directions.  BlueFly began with an impromptu recording session with cellist Vincent Segal, bassist Ira Coleman, percusionist Tim Keiper and Baptista’s percussion.  Those songs became the heart of the album.  Over time, Baptista sought out the contributions of a diverse array of guest musicians, and added their sounds to the mix.

And it’s that combination of a vast array of instrumentation and musicians and stages of studio work that led to music that is mysteriously vague in influence, yet strikingly compelling in expression.  And yet even with the jaw-dropping spectrum of sound that Baptista and crew offer up, it’s often catchy and terrifically easy to connect with.  Nothing about this music is simple, except for the story each song tells.

BlueFly may very be the most captivating album you hear in all of 2016.

Your album personnel:  Cyro Baptista (percussion, vocals), Vincent Segal (cello), Ira Coleman (bass), Tim Keiper (Kamale ngoni, drum set) and guests:  Romero Lubambo (guitar), Kevin Breit (Mandolin Orchestra), Ikue Mori (laptop), Brian Marsella (shahi baaja, Andes #25f, Fender Rhodes), Cabello (percussion), Cadu Costa (guitar, clarinet), Leni Stern (no instrument listed), Amir Ziv (drums), Max Pollak, Zé Maurício, Chikako Iwahori (surdos) and Steve Sandberg, Marcelo Paganini, Andy Caploe, Franca Landau, Alessandro Ciari, Mark Ari, Gene Torres, Felipe Calderon, Justin Bias (samples).

Released on Tzadik Records.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Soundcloud page.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

It’s the way that guitarist Jan Sturiale skips along at his own casual pace while simultaneously jacking into the rhythms of his quintet that embodies the winning trait of Sturiale’s latest release, Two Roads.  That quintet, led out by trumpeter Audun Waage and pianist Marko Churnchetz and bolstered by the rhythm section of bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Ziv Ravitz, often chugs along at a different speed and draws melodic lines that don’t neatly parallel what Sturiale is envisioning at any one particular moment.  But Sturiale gives the impression of being constantly aware of potential points of synchronicity, so that no matter how much he might alter his cadence or send out crosscurrents of melody, there’s a perpetual sense of connectivity… even if the seams often threaten to come undone.  In fact, it’s the resultant tension from that effect that makes relatively restrained music come off as terribly thrilling at times.

But for all that phasing in and out of cohesion, this is, for all intents and purposes, a straight-ahead modern set.  The overall structure of group action interspersed by solos can be counted on from track to track.  A song like “Shades” does a mean folk-jazz-rock blend, with some spot-on infusions of tunefulness, complexity and salt-of-the-earth pragmatism, and “Cori” gets sufficiently hyperactive to where there’s some question whether the song was ever intended to hold form in the first place, but in the context of all the wonderful little things the quintet does to differentiate this music from the crowd, it still manages to keep to the center lane.  The album is stronger for it.

Your album personnel:  Jan Sturiale (guitar), Marko Churnchetz (piano, Fender Rhodes), Audun Waage (trumpet), Joe Sanders (bass) and Ziv Ravitz (drums)

The album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | CDBaby

This is an album where the melodies are as wide as the horizon line and as clear as the sky that frames it.  Pianist Arne Torvik keeps things uncomplicated on his new recording Northwestern Sounds, preferring for simple beautiful statements to ring loudly and with clarity.  The harmonic texture that bolsters those melodies is crafted by a front line that includes alto sax, trumpet, and guitar, and it’s the way they send out little individual ripples of melody out across the surface of those harmonies that makes all the difference between this being an ordinary album and one that’ll keep offering new discoveries with each listen.

The form of expression is something of a cross between Nordic jazz and mainstream jazz, and it’s a fusion of influences that drives a nice spectrum of cinematic qualities.  However, the crack rhythm section of bassist Dan Peter Sundland and drummer Tomas Jarmyr provide a spark of life and edge that keeps the album from ever getting sleepy or insubstantial.  The shifts between a casual type of dreaminess and a dramatic intensity are directly attributable to those two musicians.

One of those albums that, by keeping things simple, keeps the reasons for enjoyment coming.

Your album personnel:  Arne Torvik (piano, keyboards), Kristoffer Eikrem (trumpet), Martin Myhre Olsen (alto sax), Espen Jørgensen Bjarnar (guitar), Dan Peter Sundland (bass) and Tomas Jarmyr (drums).

Released on Øra Fonogram.

Listen to another album track at the artist’s Soundcloud page.

Jazz from the Molde, Norway scene.

Available at:  Amazon | eMusic