Jan 26 2020
Best of 2019 #38: Massimiliano Milesi – “Oofth”
“There’s a lot going on in Massimiliano Milesi’s debut album,” is how I began my write-up of this album for The Bandcamp Daily. It’s true. And considering it was released on the Auand Music label, it’s no surprise that the music swims in the cross-currents of modern post-bop, indie rock, electronic music, avant-folk, and a few unidentifiable influences that may or may not originate on this planet. My conclusion was that while the “influences inspire a cryptic dance with a curious synchronicity, the complexities are a simple course to navigate when you lead with melodies as embraceable as these.”
The theme of the 2019 release by Massimiliano Milesi is the sci-fi story by Walter Tevis “The Ifth of Oofth.” The elasticity of tempos, the boozy motions, the electronics and organic instruments folding back upon themselves, they are all qualities of the music that pay homage to the story. But this music is more than a tally of its inspiration’s characteristics. The grooves springing from the electro-acoustic back and and forth, the melodies that chart the fastest course to the listener’s heart, the harmonies that separate and return to a state of unison like rapids curling around rocks in a lively river, it all adds up to one of the more straight-forwardly strange recordings of the year, a rare accomplishment of the unusual as something easily accessible.
Your album personnel: Massimiliano Milesi (tenor sax), Emanuele Maniscalco (wurlitzer piano, synthesizers), Giacomo Papetti (bass VI, electric bass) and Filippo Sala (drums).
Released on Auand Records.
Music from Bergamo, Italy.
I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.
The beguiling new release from 
The New American Songbooks series seeks to dissect the concept of the Great American Songbook, and translate it to the music of today. It is as much conceptual exercise as pragmatic creativity. Jazz musicians, by and large, endlessly practice their craft, and immerse themselves in the music as it was, as it is, and as they want it to be. They study the jazz masters that came before them, the theory and works that are now part of the lore, and take that knowledge for themselves and make part of their own, personal lore. It is why the past is often an essential component of new music that might sound alien and unfamiliar and strange.
Writing about this album for
Jan 26 2020
Best of 2019 #37: Muriel Grossmann – “Golden Rule”
On Golden Rule, Muriel Grossman captures it about as well as anyone I’ve ever heard. She gives it her own voice and imbues it with a life that speaks to the present day, but it fills an emptiness in the soul that’s existed since Coltrane moved onto more avant-garde territories and, eventually, moved on to another plane. But, truly, Coltrane never dies, because music like this is timeless, and the way Grossman creates it, the manifestation is the stuff of life.
Your album personnel: Muriel Grossmann (soprano & tenor saxophones), Gina Schwarz (bass), Uros Stamenkovic (drums), and Radomir Milojkovic (guitar).
The album is Self-Produced.
Music from Ibiza, Spain.
Listen | Read more | Available at: Bandcamp – Amazon
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By davesumner • Recap: Best of 2019 • 0 • Tags: Best Jazz of 2019, Ibiza (Spain), Muriel Grossmann, Self-Produced