Jazz Recommendations – 2017 releases

Dec 27 2018

Album of the Day: “Pagan Panic” by Manu Pékar

 

Artist:  Manu Pékar

Album:  Pagan Panic

Label:  dbMP(x) Projects

Style:  Storyteller jazz

Favorite Track: “A Maze in Greece”

Music from:  Paris, France

What I like about it:  I adore how immensely expressive this music is, even though it frequently adopts a laid back delivery… in that way a storyteller can instill a sense of the epic from the casual surroundings of a campfire setting and with a voice that matches the calmness of the flickering flames.  I like how the string quartet sometimes enhances the folk music qualities, sometimes adds a graceful chamber presence, and sometimes takes flight in a way that transcends both influences.  I like how this album exhaustively spans the gamut of emotions, and, yet, in the end, reaches its conclusion sooner than I’d like and leaves me wanting more.  I have been addicted to this recording from the very start, and that addiction hasn’t faded even a little bit.

Your album personnel:  Manu Pékar (guitars), Daniel Beaussier (wind instruments), Jean-Lou Descamps (violin), Pierre Marcault (percussion), Jean-Lou Descamps (violin), Jean-Claude Tcheurekdjian (violin), Sophie Groseil (viola) and Frédéric Kret (cello).

Available at:  Bandcamp

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

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

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Sep 16 2018

Cortex performing in Lexington is rare good news for a Monday

 

It would be a pretty good idea to be in Lexington, KY on Monday night.  Cortex is gonna be in town for a September 17th show at the Jacob Niles Gallery on the University of Kentucky campus.  The Skien, Norway-based quartet straddles the distance between old-school and new-school sounds.  They are more likely to stomp and roar rather than bop and swing, but in the tradition of 1960’s inside-out jazz, strong transmissions of the blues come through loud and clear… before disappearing again into the chaos of free improvisation.  What it all boils down to is that there will be some warmly familiar sounds to tap your foot along to accompany all of the thrilling wildness of the moment.

This is outstanding stuff, and it’s a great opportunity to catch some tunes that don’t normally float through Kentucky.

The quartet is comprised of trumpeter Thomas Johansson, saxophonist Kristoffer Berre Alberts, bassist Ola Høyer and drummer Gard Nilssen.  Their latest release Avant-garde Party Music (on Clean Feed Records) doubles as a succinct description of that mix of old and new music I mention above.  Here’s a track from the album, which you can buy on Amazon.

This is the 15-year anniversary, and Event #204, of Ross Compton’s Outside the Spotlight series.  Ross is one of those local music scene heroes who devotes a ton of sweatwork bringing great music to his community.  There have been a ridiculous wealth of talent from the experimental and jazz pools that has performed in Lexington because of Ross’s efforts.  And most of those shows, like this one, is free to the public.  Also, a shout-out to WRFL 88.1 FM for their support.

It happens tomorrow, Monday, September 17th.  Show starts at 7:30pm.

Where it’s at:  Jacob Niles Gallery on the UK campus, 160 Patterson Dr, Lexington, KY 40508.

Ticket cost:  Free!  Bring money to buy CDs!

Here’s a video of a live performance of the album’s opening track…

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Jul 4 2018

Recommended: Jack Radsliff – “Migration Patterns”

 

Where did this album even come from?

The first it showed up on my radar, Thanksgiving approached on the calendar, which signaled not just turkey & stuffing, but also the preparation of year-end Best Of lists.  Naturally, I was still hitting the new releases lists on various sites, but not with the same zeal as I do most rest of the year.  November is a wind-down month on quality releases, and December is typically a dead zone, bleak as a Chicago winter at 3am.  I made additions to my follow-up list, sent out some promo requests, and all the while bracing myself for the inevitable meltdown of selecting a handful of albums from the hundreds deserving mention as the best 2017 had to offer.

It wasn’t too long after I’d submitted my ballots and finalized my own site’s Best Of list that I really got to sit down with Migration Patterns by Jack Radsliff.

It happens every year.  Some excellent new album hits the shelves at year-end and gets lost in the deluge of holiday theme recordings that dominate November’s and December’s release cycle.  Every year there’s a gem, some diamond in the snow, and it gets a mention in the subsequent year’s edition.  It’s inevitable.  What isn’t expected is for it to be a debut recording.  A self-produced debut recording.

Some waves are deceptive.  They roll in slowly, envelop and wash over you, seemingly harmless until the undercurrent grabs hold and pulls you away from shore, and suddenly the sheer immensity of the sea becomes imposingly clear.  That’s a melody on Migration Patterns.  The melodies ring out with a crisp beauty, but the harmonic undercurrent is what triggers the magnitude of that beauty.  The rhythmic wash that follows simply drives that point home.  Much in that way the Brian Blade Fellowship can make a ten minute piece feel like an epic journey, Radsliff’s sextet does the same with opening track “Ruby.”  The ensemble lightens the mood with the buoyant “61 North,” shifting the influence a bit from new school to old school.  The title-track hints at ballad then works a sleight-of-hand shift into something much wilder and free.  “Breathe” is melody that’s let go and watched as it drifts off to the horizon.  It’s also a precursor to “Vero” and the return to the surging melodic intensity that marks this excellent recording.  Even when Radsliff ends the recording with the sublime blues of “From the Lectern,” the accumulated emotional impact up that point amplifies the resonance of a tune that’s fit more for moonlight than magnitude.

I’m still not sure where this album came from, but it should end up in all of your music libraries.

Your album personnel:  Jack Radsliff (guitar), Joshua Hettwer (tenor sax, clarinet), Tony Glausi (trumpet, flugelhorn), Torrey Newhart (piano), Milo Fultz (bass) and Ken Mastrogiovanni (drums).

The album is Self-Produced.

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

Music from Eugene, Oregon.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jun 14 2018

Recommended: Jason Stein – “Lucille!”

 

There is an intriguing sense of detachment between the quartet members on the latest from Jason Stein.  It’s not that they behave as if unaware of the presence of one another, but more along the lines of a conversation where each participant has their individual perspective of the central theme.  What this does is create fascinating lines of melodic tangents, where the points of connectivity are almost happenstance and the near-misses are textures rich with the personalities of all involved.  Front and center is how Stein’s bass clarinet interacts with the tenor sax and contrabass clarinet of Keefe Jackson.  Sometimes they roll out the melody like a flurry of punches and sometimes it’s the chirping of birds after the rain.  But when that interaction settles into the friendly chatter from bassist Joshua Abrams and drummer Tom Rainey are the moments that the album truly comes alive.  It’s when the connections are revealed within the seeming detachment, and that contradiction of impressions makes it difficult to know where to focus attention.  Keeping the ear guessing like that is no small feat, and speaking from personal experience, it’s a form of engagement that makes an intellectually stimulating affair something that’s supremely fun.  A catchy melody and personable rhythmic chatter serve as the delivery system for questions like “What comes next and where’s it coming from and how is it all going to shake out?”

Some Stein originals are bundled up with covers of Monk, Bird and Tristano.  Here, Stein is clearly evidencing a comfort level with where he is as a musician.  The music is made personal in his own voice, while also honoring the originals in both spirit and sound.  How that carries through in terms of song identity and the transitions between the songs benefits the album with a sense of cohesion.  It also makes it more personable, as if Stein had opened a window to the outside so everyone could give a listen to a conversation meant only to be heard by the four musicians.  The connection that forges is no small thing, and it is in no small part a reason why Lucille! is so damn addictive.

Your album personnel:  Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Keefe Jackson (tenor saxophone, contrabass clarinet), Joshua Abrams (bass) and Tom Rainey (drums).

Released on Delmark Records.

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

Music from Chicago.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

And this is a good time to remind everyone that Stein just recently released After Caroline with his trio Locksmith Isidore.  It was one of my recent Best Jazz on Bandcamp selections, which you can check out at The Bandcamp Daily.

 

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Jun 6 2018

The motion is where it’s at on the latest from drummer João Lencastre’s Communion 3

 

The motion is where it’s at on the latest from drummer João Lencastre.  Whether it’s a series of free improvisations or a rendition of Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman,” Lencastre creates rhythmic flurries that are positively captivating.  It’s a very in the moment kind of thing.  The pieces of Movements in Freedom don’t ever evince a sense of shape or cohesion… except in the present moment, when everything feels interconnected and everything sounds like it falls into its right place.

Pianist Jacob Sacks is the melodic flame lit by Lencastre’s spark, and the light it produces is lively and gorgeous and enchanting.  Bassist Eivind Opsvik has long displayed a talent for adding color and tones to the melody while providing texture to the rhythm.  In the trio format, and on an album so wide open for improvisation, he’s really able to shine with an abundance of activity and still have plenty of room for nuance and subtlety.  And most of these pieces are improvisations, which really makes the cohesion-in-the-moment trait so much more impressive. All of that space to move around in and wander, a sense of the limitless horizon, and yet the trio remains insanely focused on the motion of the moment.

The rhythmic flurries are symbolic of the album’s strength, but when silence permeates a pieces, as it does on “Walk on Clouds,” the music is no less enchanting. It’s just a different type of conjuring performed by the trio.  Opsvik adding bass arco plays no small part in the music’s spellbinding nature.

I really enjoyed Lencastre’s 2014 release What Is This All About? (on Auand Records).  It had a boozy demeanor, loose and unfocused in the best of ways, where the music’s unpredictability informed both the motion and melody.  Then, too, like on his newest, Lencastre has a way on drums of giving a whisper the force of a shout.  It is the way the calm before the storm contains an electricity as highly charged as when the sky comes pouring down, but delivered with a soothing calm that draws you right in to the center of things.

A seriously beautiful album.

Your album personnel:  João Lencastre (drums), Jacob Sacks (piano) and Eivind Opsvik (bass).

Released on Clean Feed Records.

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

Music from Lisbon, Portugal.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

And definitely check out Lencastre’s 2014 release What Is The All About?  It features an entirely different line-up.  Sacks is on piano, but the ensemble also has David Binney, Phil Grenadier, André Matos, Thomas Morgan, Sara Serpa and more.

 

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