Jazz Recommendations – 2016 releases

Crisp melodies and hyperactive tempos are positive markers of the recording career of saxophonist Ben Wendel, both in his solo projects and with Kneebody.  And he’s achieved a proficiency with the methodology of getting one to bounce off the other, a sort of kinetic interaction where the force of their collisions don’t so much as enhance their individual qualities as simply add dynamic sparks to an already electric atmosphere.  With his newest release, proficiency has proven to evolve into technical expertise, and all of those tiny collisions are effected at such a rate of speed and with seeming effortlessness that the music of What We Bring exists in a perpetual state of motion blur, where frenetic tempos yield long, seemingly motionless melodic states, a sort of illusory tranquility that allows Wendel’s quartet to explore them at a leisurely pace… even as the rhythm section continues to slam down on the gas pedal.

It’s why the melody of “Amian” can pour out slowly even though bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Henry Cole are spurring the song on relentlessly, and it’s why the flurries of pianist Gerald Clayton don’t clash with the nice and casual expressions of melody on “Fall,” and it’s why the darting motion of “Spring” still radiates a hint of serenity on a song that can’t sit still.  And when they do slow the pace down, as on “Doubt,” it brings into sharp relief just how savvy this music is for its melodic dexterity under extreme conditions.

But while there’s plenty here to appreciate from a conceptual standpoint, a track like “Song Song” is the immediate reminder that what this album’s heart bleeds is tuneful music to the point of being irrevocably catchy, and related in a conversant tone that is as riveting for the shaping of the words as their actual meaning.

Your album personnel:  Ben Wendel (tenor sax, bassoon), Gerald Clayton (piano), Joe Sanders (bass), Henry Cole (drums) and guest:  Nate Wood (percussion).

Released on Motema Music.

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

Jazz from the Brooklyn scene.

Available at:  Amazon | eMusic

There’s those lazy Saturday mornings when the sunlight blankets the room in warmth and a solemn peacefulness hangs in the air and you don’t move an inch for fear that any motion at all would dispel the massive tranquility.  The latest from pianist Anat Fort is your soundtrack for those times.  Thoughtful interactions and gentle solos mark the enjoyable set Birdwatching, as does the way in which the quartet of alto clarinetist Gianluigi Trovesi, bassist Gary Wang and drummer Roland Schneider allows the music to settle into silent pauses like stones breaking the water’s surface just prior to drifting slowly to the ocean floor.  Tracks like “Not the Perfect Storm” and “Jumpin’ In” add a welcome dose of edge here and there and the occasional rhythmic outburst to keep things from ever getting sleepy, but make no mistake… this is dreamy music for dreamy afternoons.

As long as there are sunrises, I will listen to the music of Anat Fort.

Your album personnel:  Anat Fort (piano), Gianluigi Trovesi (alto clarinet), Gary Wang (double bass) and Roland Schneider (drums).

Released on ECM Records.

Jazz from the Tel Aviv, Israel scene.

Available at:  Amazon

There’s nothing normal about The New Breed, and considering that guitarist Jeff Parker has spent his career contributing to an impressively varied spectrum of projects, it’s no small thing that he’s able to keep offering up works that possess distinctly individual personalities.  What triggered his latest album is the simple act of unpacking.

Where most people find that CD or shirt or spare key that had gone missing for ages, Parker discovered some old home recordings.  Those became the foundation for The New Breed.  Both the found sounds and the brand spankin’ new music are rooted in groove and beats and an old-school funk given new life in the present day.  It wouldn’t be a far leap to expect something of an upbeat album of party anthems and get-down-and-dance moves.  But that would be wrong.  The New Breed has a seriously unsettling presence.  It’s heavy, even when light on its feet.  It circles the dance floor and only infrequently does it leap toward the center.  Sometimes the music is a detached groove, rung from a hollow beat.  There’s signs of life, a burning ember, solitary and nested at the bottom of a tin can… a subdued heat burning bright, signs of use and age all around.

There are moments of brilliance.  The cool groove of “Get Dressed” is counterbalanced by its unabashed euphoria.  The effects and samples on “Executive Life” and how they’re set into conflict with live instruments is more than a little fascinating, giving the sense of a song recorded from both sides of the ocean’s surface with one mic submerged underwater and the other blanketed in afternoon sunlight.  And the woozy ballad of “Visions” with its slow gait and patient melodicism has an appealing personality, and it best epitomizes this album’s vague warmth and uneasy presence.  Bobby Hutcherson’s original rendition of his composition is about as sweet of a lullaby you could ask to be at your bedside to send you off into gentle dreams.  Parker’s rendition might also conjure up some dreams of its own, but they’re not likely to be quite as tranquil, nor as sweet.

This is a genuinely intriguing album.

Your album personnel:  Jeff Parker (electric guitar, Korg MS20, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, loops and samplers, MIDI and drum programming), Josh Johnson (alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron), Paul Bryan (electric bass guitar), Jamire Williams (drums) and guests: Jay Bellerose (drums, percussion) and Ruby Parker (vocals).

Released on International Anthem Recording Co.

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

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

Whether the quartet sighs out a melody or rolls out some thick lengths of harmony, it’s the way those sounds tumble through the unrelenting rhythmic action that carries this excellent post-bop session from the quartet Underground Mafia.  There are times on Vol. V when the quartet allows the tempo to go unchecked, and watching the song’s form quickly disperse is pretty damn thrilling on its own, but when you boil it all down, it’s when the tempo is focused and driven that things really take off.  “Ecuador Blues” achieves this with a modern jazz-rock form of expression whereas “Otro Día Igual a Mañana” runs with a classic post-bop sound.  And then there’s a track like “Sr. Anderson” that rings with a sound that echoes a straight-ahead of the bop era.  Adding some changes to tempo and tone are tracks like “Lava Plástica” and “”Chiquitita,” which shrug from its shoulders the concept of form and structure.

A nice example of how the new straight-ahead can keep on sounding brand spankin’ new… and also a nice glimpse into the the Buenos Aires jazz scene.

Your album personnel:  Francisco Salgado (trombone), Hernán Samá (tenor sax), Ivan Viaggio (bass) and Sebastián Groshaus (drums).

Released on Kuai Music.

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

Jazz from the Bueno Aires scene.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon