Jazz Recommendations – 2018

Feb 20 2019

This Bobby Broom video has me all up in my Chicago nostalgia

 

There were days in Chicago that made it blindingly obvious how glorious it felt to be alive.  Yes, Chicago is brutal in the summertime.  The heat is bad all on its own, but when it comes in off the lake to batter you with an unrelenting blast of humidity, god damn, it can bleed you of good cheer and drain your will to live.  Or at least stop you from going outside or anywhere there isn’t air conditioning and beer.

But there are days when the electricity of the city and its people just hums right along to the pulse of your heart, and it carries you right along with it, making you feel as one with the City… a strange and euphoric communion.

This Bobby Broom video really got me thinking back to those days.  It’s been a long time since I’ve lived in Chicago, so it doesn’t take much to ignite my nostalgia.  This video did it.

Bobby Broom has got a new album out.  Soul Fingers is mostly renditions of older rock and pop songs.  Normally not my kind of thing, but, hey, this is Bobby Broom.  He’s got a warm sound and a way of approaching a melody that is gonna treat the ears right no matter what tune he’s playing.  This video is one of the album’s tracks.  I really enjoyed his rendition of “Come Together.”

You can scoop it up at Amazon.

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Feb 19 2019

Album of the Day: Colorlist – “Full Circle”

 

Artist:  Colorlist

Album:  Full Circle

Label:  Serein

Style:  Ambient Jazz

Favorite Track: “Electricity”

Music from:  Chicago, IL

What I like about it:  I like how the newest from Colorlist has a real edge to it… well, at least in comparison to their previous recordings, which tended to enter a thick drone and bubble up from there.  But the electronic effects of Full Circle char the edges of the harmonies, and burn at the center of things so that the prevailing motion breaks apart and disperses in many directions.  I like how this creates a different environment for their minimalist approach to bring about a bloom of melody.  I like how this project keeps finding new ways to express a familiar, enjoyable sound.

Your album personnel:  Charles Gorczynski (woodwinds, synthesizers), Charles Rumback (drums) and John Hughes (synthesizers, electronics).

Available at:  Amazon | Bandcamp

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

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

Cover art by Maxwell Loren Holyoke-Hirsch.

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Feb 18 2019

The Round-up: I never really slept anymore

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Jorge Rossy Vibes Quintet – Beyond Sunday (Jazz & People)

For many, the name Jorge Rossy will be associated with the drums via his long stint in Brad Mehldau’s trio, and so it’ll always be a refreshing change of pace for those times when he leads out on vibraphone.  This modern session with saxophonist Mark Turner, guitarist Jaume Llombart, bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Al Foster has a rhythmic drive at its core, but it’s their melodic compulsions that steer each tune.  In fact, it’s a formula not far removed from Rossy’s FOX trio with Pierre Perchaud and Nicolas Moreaux.  There are some subtly captivating passages on this recording.  Music from Barcelona.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

E Scott Lindner – Port of Dreams (Infinity Gritty)

This album has been a refuge for me since it first got on my radar.  This post-jazz recording from E Scott Lindner has a massively cinematic presence, inciting in me imagery so strong that I remain convinced that I must’ve seen it originally on a movie screen.  Incorporating a bevy of wind instruments and strings go a long way to explaining the rich textures and soothing harmonies Port of Dreams has to deliver.  Of those contributions, familiar names like Tomoko Omura, Hailey Niswanger, Sara Schoenbeck and Andrew Gould are among the album personnel.  There are moments this album is so beautiful that I feel like my heart can’t take it all in and remain in one piece.  Music from NYC.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Piet Verbist Quartet – Suite Réunion (Origin Records)

Piet Verbist is far more off the radar than he should be.  The bassist has a real talent for creating modern works that balance expertly between new- and old-school forms of expression.  The axis of this meeting point is where deeply melodic forays and from-the-heart blues occupy the same space, unconflicted.  His latest is yet another example, and well worth scooping up.  Note that Bram Weijters is the pianist in Verbist’s quintet; Weijters is a site favorite, and is on a whole bunch of new releases right now.  Music from Antwerp, Belgium.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Johnaye Kendrick – Flying (Self-Produced)

Johnaye Kendrick first hit my radar via her captivating vocal contribution to John Ellis’s 2014 release, MOBRO.  Her sound is one that generates a huge feel out of a seemingly effortless delivery, and it’s a quality that she puts to excellent use on her sophomore release, Flying.  While Kendrick certainly knows what to do with a ballad, it’s an upbeat track like “Scorpion” that really allows her innate tunefulness to shine bright.  Pianist Dawn Clement, bassist Chris Symer and drummer D’Vonne Lewis keep to a straight-ahead sound that’s a perfect fit for this session’s choice of originals and renditions.  Music from Seattle, WA.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Amazon

 

Alfie Copoví Trio – Flight (Sedajazz Records)

I’m really taken with this modern trio session from the Alfie Copoví Trio.  They craft a pretty melody, nothing fussy, and then let it sail for as long as the breezy rhythm will take it.  Sometimes it’s hints of gospel, sometimes hints of the blues, sometimes the music hops, but mostly this music grooves.  Music from Valencia, Spain.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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Feb 16 2019

Album of the Day: Okidoki – “When Oki Meets Doki”

 

Artist:  Okidoki Quartet

Album:  When Oki Meets Doki

Label:  Linoleum Records

Style:  Jazz Noir

Favorite Track:  “Looking at Kuniga”

Music from:  Toulouse, France

What I like about it:  There’s a sly lyricism to the music of the Okidoki quartet.  It’s got a sense of humor.  That’s undeniable.  But it’s presented with such gravity as to allow just enough uncertainty to force the question if the humor obscures a serious truth far removed from a reflex of laughter.  That kind of contradiction engenders a sense of mystery, and I like how that creates an undercurrent of tension.  The 2016 release by Laurent Rochelle and Okidoki (which was one of the best things to come out that year) was moodier in tone than their latest, which isn’t afraid to bask in the sunlight and play.  It’s not much of a departure, but it makes all the difference and I like how it shows me that this collaboration has more facets to reveal.  I look forward to many more.

Your album personnel:  Anja Kowalki (vocals), Laurent Rochelle (bass clarinet, soprano sax), Frédéric Schadoroff (piano) and Eric Boccalini (drums).

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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Feb 14 2019

Album of the Day: Miguel Zenón – “Yo Soy La Tradición”

 

Artist:  Miguel Zenón featuring Spektral Quartet

Album:  Yo Soy La Tradición

Label:  Miel Music

Style:  Chamber

Favorite Track: “Viejo”

Music from:  New York City & Chicago

What I like about it:  I love how this album dances.  I love how the music flutters and soars, and how it also exudes a weighty presence, giving the impression of the mighty flapping of wings.  I like how Miguel Zenón weaves lovely patterns into the surface of Spektral Quartet’s string harmonies, and I love how the two elements seem as separate entities even when they enter a state of perfect unison.  Throughout his career, the alto saxophonist has focused on his native Puerto Rico; its roots in Jazz, its folk music and folkloric traditions, of what it means to be Puerto Rican in the context of the island and as an immigrant in New York City, and so many of the facets that will never fully comprise some elusively defined whole… all the while searching for his own personal creative voice on alto saxophone.  That his trajectory is one that sees him still achieving new, original plateaus of his chosen form of expression is something I very much like, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to see that trajectory continue to unfold.

Your album personnel:  Miguel Zenón (alto sax), Clara Lyn (violin), Maeve Feineberg (violin), Doyle Armbrust (viola) and Russell Rolan (cello).

Available at:  Amazon

Listen to more of the album on Soundcloud.

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

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