Jazz Recommendations – 2012 Releases

It’s Friday, so that means…  Tiny Reviews edition!

Featured album:  Russafa Ensemble & Albert Sanz Russafa Ensemble.

Plus:  Lionel Belmondo Trio European Standards, Espen Rud Lovsamleren, GoGo Penguin Fanfares, Neon Quartet Subjekt, and Traeben Push.

*****

Russafa Ensemble & Albert Sanz – Russafa Ensemble

Formed at the Cafe Mercedes Jazz in Valencia, Spain, the Russafa Ensemble performed and then, eventually, recorded a self-titled album of their music… in the place where it all began.  Teaming up with pianist-composer Albert Sanz, they offer up an album that has all the rousing electricity of a live performance and the celebratory energy of a large ensemble recording.

Your album personnel:  Albert Sanz (piano, compositions), Pau Moltó (French horn), Sergio García (trumpet), Vicent Pérez (trombone), Víctor Giménez (alto sax), Borja Baixauli (tenor sax), Jesús Díez (tuba), Alessandro Cesarini (bass), Miguel Asensio (drums), and guests:  Toni Belenguer (trombone) and Carlos Martin (cajon).

Things start out at a thrilling dash with “Entre el 7/4″… the kind of album opener where the musicians just launch themselves into space and it’s a thin line between flying and falling… breathless.

Some tracks like “Jus d’orange” and “Paisatge del Seu Cor” see them taking their foot off the gas pedal a bit, getting into a nice groove, and maintaining it even when the natural exuberance of the large ensemble threatens to take over.  Horns bound over the top of a wealth of harmonies while piano climbs and rappels over percussive landscapes.

Some tracks just don’t fit any general category, and just add to the breathtaking array of dimensions on display here.  “Gnawans” begins with sax laying out over the top of piping high-pitched counterpoint.  This leads into a hypnotic overlay of strings, beneath which percussion gurgles just below the surface.

But most tracks are full of energy, matching the pace of the album opener.  That includes the big finale of “Riffin / La Senyoriro,” a celebratory tune with an abounding energy and chipper attitude.

Released in late October 2012, I never really got the opportunity to fully take this recording in.  However, now with time to give it plenty of listens, it’s very likely it will end up on my Best of 2012 supplemental list at some point.  That it’s even garnering consideration for inclusion should give you an idea of how good this album is, if the review hasn’t already.

Released on the Comboi Records label.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon:

Other Albums of Note:

Lionel Belmondo Trio – European Standards

Saxophone trio release by reedman Lionel Belmondo (who also plays flute on this recording).  Expect thoughtful expressions from Belmondo, who doesn’t get out of sorts even when he jacks up the voltage a notch or two.  Solid music that bops and swings and sways.  For a different view of Belmondo, I highly recommend his album Hymne au Soleil, a sublime recording that pairs him with orchestral accompaniment, and a likely target of a Safety Net review in the near future.

Your album personnel:  Lionel Belmondo (tenor sax, flute), Sylvain Romano (bass), and Laurent Robin (drums).

Released on the Discograph label.

Available at eMusic.

Espen Rud – Lovsamleren

Nifty new release by drummer Espen Rud, who has a knack for adding a variety of elements to an album without it ever sounding fussy or complicated, and presenting music that maintains a calm demeanor.  Some tracks come with a gentle swing, others a hazy melody.  Modern jazz that gives a little pop music flavor to its melodies.  Opening track “Isle of Youth” is just wonderful… tendrils of saxophone notes drift upward, dancing in the light of vibes’ flickering warmth.

Your album personnel:  Espen Rud (drums), Terje Gewelt (bass), Jari Bakken (guitar), Rob Waring (vibes), Nils Jansen (alto sax, flute), John Paul Inderberg (soprano & baritone sax), and guest:  Lars Klevstrand (voice).

Released on the Curling Legs label.

Available at eMusic.

GoGo Penguin – Fanfares

Debut release by piano trio GoGo Penguin, which whips a disparate array of influences into a pop song confection.  Part of the new generation of UK jazz musicians.  Similar to the infectious sound to the Neil Cowley Trio, though where Cowley grooves, Go Go Penguin skitters.  A very likable recording, and one that should easily cross genre lines.  Notable that this is the first release by the fledgling Gondwana label that doesn’t feature Matthew Halsall or Nat Birchall.  A promising sign of things to come.

Your album personnel:  Chris Illingworth (piano), Grant Russell (bass), and Rob Turner (drums).

Released on the Gondwana Records label.

Available at eMusic.

Neon Quartet – Subjekt

Neon Quartet is comprised of UK jazz musicians who have their hands on a variety of projects, and names that you’ll recognize from other reviews on this site. Full on modern jazz. Perpetually shifting sounds like the changing of contexts within dreams. Some tracks quite outstanding, like the hypnotic “Springs and Neaps.”

Your album personnel: Stan Sulzmann (sax), Kit Downes (piano), Jim Hart (vibes), and Tim Giles (drums).

Released on the Edition Records label.

Available at eMusic.

Traeben – Push

Though their roots are in Scandinavian territory, Traeben offer the brand of modern jazz this quartet plays is more akin to the Pacific Northwest region of the USA.  Strong melodies that don’t resolve so much as just drift away, rhythm sections that remain amicable, even under duress, and an inherent moodiness even though perpetually standing in sunshine.  Easy to like.

Your album personnel:  Jens Larsen (guitar), Søren Ballegaard (tenor sax), Olaf Meijer (bass), and Haye Jellema (drums).

Released on the Jarr Records label.

Available at eMusic.

*****

The Russafa Ensemble review is original to Bird is the Worm, but portions of the other reviews were originally used in my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights to that reprinted material as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…

“New Arrivals Jazz Picks,“ and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks“ and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks” reprints courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2012  eMusic.com, Inc.

As always, my sincere thanks to eMusic for the gig.  Cheers.

Tiny Reviews, featuring:  Jonathan Orland Homes, Jussi Fredriksson Jazz Wars I & II, and Peter Knudsen 8 Sagas of the Present.

*****

Jonathan Orland – Homes

Here’s one for the straight-ahead jazz fans who like their music to embrace the music of an era past.  On his debut album Homes, saxophonist Jonathan Orland leads a sextet through a series of originals (plus, renditions of Dave Brubeck and Ray Noble compositions) that will delight jazz fans who don’t care for any of the modern funny-business.  Most of the album tracks keep their foot on the gas pedal, though never break the speed limit.  Up-tempo, plenty of bounce and swing, emitting the kind of heat comparable to a toasty fireside seat.  There are two tracks that bring the ballad, and it’s the first of those two, “Chassidot,” that may be the strongest tune on the recording.

George Garzone sits in for three of the album’s eight tracks, and it’s the interaction between his tenor and Orland’s alto on “The Pope and I” that breathes a little welcome fire into the session.

Your album personnel:  Jonathan Orland (alto & soprano sax), Sharik Hasan (piano), Greg Duncan (guitar), Lim Yang (double bass), Jun Young Song (drums), and guest:  George Garzone (tenor sax).

Released on the Bee Jazz label.

Jazz from the Paris scene.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: MP3

Jussi Fredriksson – Jazz Wars I & II

This nifty release has remained on my periphery for many months now.  Jussi Fredricksson‘s two-part Jazz Wars recording is definitely out of the Brian Blade school of nu-jazz.  A mix of modern conventions that adopt post-rock meandering, mainstream jazz brightness, some bop swing, and lots of jazz that focuses more on story telling than story structure.

At the heart of this recording is music of a serene nature.  But what has kept me coming back to this album is that it often presents itself with a heat level that contradicts the serenity it radiates from inside.  For instance, the scorcher “Battle” is nothing that’s ever going to get mistaken for a peaceful ECM label recording, yet it is clearly informed by the same calming presence of album opener “Home.”

Just one of those albums that aspires to do achieve something great, and at times, comes very close to reaching it.  Under-the-radar recording, and one deserving of attention.

Your album personnel:  Jussi Fredriksson (piano, Rhodes, minimoog), Joonatan Rautio (sax), Jukka Eskola (trumpet), Marzi Nyman (guitar), Jori Huhtala (bass), and Jukkis Uotila (drums).

No audio to embed, but Fredriksson streams four album tracks on his site.

Jazz from the Helsinki, Finland scene.

Originally the album was Self-Produced, though it appears it may now be offered on a label called Helsinki Jazz Underground, which may or may not be a Fredriksson project.  It also would explain why the album is no longer available at eMusic, since label switches are one of the biggest reasons for an album to drop of their site.

EDIT:  Available again at eMusic.

Available at Amazon: MP3

Peter Knudsen 8 – Sagas of the Present

Lively set by pianist Peter Knudsen.  On Sagas of the Present, his compositions allow sufficient room for the voices of many instruments the room to really step up and speak out, while tying them all in together into a seamless whole, thus maintaining an equanimity that prevents the album from becoming just another series of solos and accompaniments.  The album has a refreshing, even flow… a strong current of music that borders, at times, on the thrilling.

That said, it’s when the ensemble slows things down, like on tracks “Aurora Borealis” and “Saga Of The Gingerbread Castle” when they really shine.  Some moments of captivating beauty.

Your album personnel:  Peter Knudsen (piano), Emil Strandberg (trumpet, flugelhorn), Andreas Gidlund (sax, clarinet, flute), Gustav Rådström (sax, clarinet), Thomas Backman (sax, bass clarinet, flute), Lisa Bodelius (trombone), Pär-Ola Landin (bass), Sebastian Voegler (drums), and guest:  Anders Johansson (glockenspiel).

Released on the CamJazz label.

You can stream much of the album on the album page on the CamJazz label site.

Jazz from the Stockholm, Sweden scene.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

Tiny Reviews edition!

Featured album: David Caldwell-Mason Cold Snap.

Plus:  Michael Feinberg The Elvin Jones Project, Andrei Pushkarev Bach Vibrations, Flu(o) Encore Remuants, Massimorganti Quartet Musiplano, and Parallaxe Der Zweite Raum.

*****

David Caldwell-Mason – Cold Snap

Possessing an intuitive knack at creating strong melodies, pianist David Caldwell-Mason displays that he also knows how to showcase them.  Because there’s more to the melody than just making it memorable.  Equally important are the abstractions and sleights-of-hand, the heady deconstructions and altered restatements of the melody to get it to sit plumb with the other song elements while simultaneously keeping things interesting.  On Cold Snap, Caldwell-Mason nails it.

Your album personnel:  David Caldwell-Mason (piano), Kellen Harrison (bass), and Ari Hoenig (drums).

There is a clear pop music presence to this msuic, and Caldwell-Mason’s unpretentious embrace of that characteristic allows him to mutate it into shapes and sizes that take it a refreshing distance from a product designed for mass consumption, all the while ending up with a recording that might just appeal to the tastes of that same crowd.

The album opens with “Unfold.”  A melody with an appealing staggered gait, it triggers a sense of deja vu, of something memorable dipped in nostalgia of things past.  “Don’t Worry, Mama” is a series of diagonal passes perpetually intersecting… a game of hopscotch where the chalk lines never stay in one place.  The playfulness with the motion around melodies continues on “With Fear and Trembling,” where Caldwell-Mason develops phrasings on piano like mysterious staircases leading upward, then glides down the bannister before beginning the climb all over again.  His rendition of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” is genuine and unironic, which is the reason he’s able to pull it off.  He treats the composition’s melody with care and respect, and then launches off into his own view of the song from there.

It’s an album of moments like these.  Music that remains fun and easy to engage.

This album is Self-Produced.

Jazz from the

Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

Other Albums of Interest:

Michael Feinberg – The Elvin Jones Project

Bassist Michael Feinberg‘s inspiration for this album was the result of his observations of the relationships various Coltrane bassists had with drummer Elvin Jones. For this session, he has drummer-extraordinaire Billy Hart sitting in “Elvin’s chair”… an inspired choice that gives the room some extra space to breathe.  A wonderful album of beautifully textured music, and one hundred percent Jazz, top-shelf vintage.

Your album personnel: Michael Feinberg (bass), Billy Hart (drums), George Garzone (sax), Tim Hagans (trumpet), Leo Genovese (piano), and guest: Alex Wintz (guitar).

Released on the Sunnyside Records label.

Available at eMusic.

Andrei Pushkarev – Bach Vibrations

Solo vibraphone performance of Bach’s “Inventions For Two Voices.” A surprisingly vibrant album, and not unlike how pianist Bill Evans would approach jazz through classical music. Nice.

Your album personnel: Andrei Pushkarev (vibes).

Released on the Gramola Records label.

Available at eMusic.

Flu(o) – Encore Remuants

Modern jazz-rock fusion, often heavier on the latter of those two elements. Electronic effects, mostly for the sake of textural dissonance. Some interesting moments. I don’t know if Cuong Vu was the father of this type of jazz-rock fusion, but this album sounds as if inspired by him.

Your album personnel: Christian Pruvost (trumpet), Olivier Benoit (guitar), Stefan Orins (piano), Christophe Hache (bass), and Peter Orins (drums)

Released on the Circum-disc label.

Available at eMusic.

Massimorganti Quartet – Musiplano

Trombonist Massimo Morganti leads a peaceable quartet in an exploration of the melodic side of trombone.  A few covers, a few originals.  It’s mostly straight-ahead jazz, though with a modern flair, both in terms of composition and the occasional use of effects.  Very likable.

Your album personnel:  Massimo Morganti (trombone), Angelo Lazzeri (guitar),  Gabriele Pesaresi (bass), and Stefano Paolini (drums).

Released on the Neuklang Records label.  Stream an album track on their soundcloud page.

Available at eMusic.

Parallaxe – Der Zweite Raum

The Parallaxe quartet is very much from the mod Euro-Jazz scene, which means you’ll get some avant-garde-ish stuttering tempos and angular melodies, but somehow they’ll fit in some time to swing and bop, too.  Enjoyable album.

Your album personnel: Daniel Schmitz (trumpet), Oliver Maas (piano), Jan Östreich (bass), and Christian Fischer (drums).

Released on the Gligg Records label.

Available at eMusic.

*****

The David Caldwell-Mason review is original to Bird is the Worm, but portions of the other reviews were originally used in my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights to that reprinted material as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…

“New Arrivals Jazz Picks,“ and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks“ and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks” reprints courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2012  eMusic.com, Inc.

As always, my sincere thanks to eMusic for the gig.  Cheers.

This is an album that creeps up on the ear, and like a ocean tide slowly overtaking the shore, before one knows it, the music has completely immersed the listener.  For Momentus, Michael Webster has assembled a strong group to perform his original compositions, and the choice of personnel pays off big time.  For this is something of an alternate reality of a modern jazz recording… music with a sense of shifting phases just off the fringes of the expected.  And as several of this album’s personnel have proven on other recordings, this hazy medium is where they excel.

Your album personnel:  Michael Webster (tenor sax), Chris Dingman (vibes), Ingrid Jensen (trumpet, flugelhorn), Jared Schonig (drums), Ike Sturm (bass), and Jesse Lewis (guitar).

The music on Momentus presents itself with ambient textures that reveal their substantive side in sneaks and peeks.  This approach suits Dingman’s style perfectly, as he’s previously displayed a talent for eliciting a dreamy atmosphere from his vibes.  And while Lewis does have some combustible moments on guitar, like “Train Song,” his performance just further proves the hypothesis that guitar-vibes pairings are the perfect synthesis of bright heat and icy warmth.  And Webster utilizes his sax to wrap those two up with a bow while simultaneously guiding the ensemble through each song.

Jensen and Sturm pick their spots on trumpet and bass.  Of particular interest is the interplay between Jensen’s trumpet soaring over top of Dingman’s methodically constructed vibraphone rhythms.  Equally compelling is the engine-caboose effect of Schonig’s drums often meeting the charge of Webster’s sax while Sturm’s bass trails off the sentences off Dingman’s vibes.  When those two effects work in tandem, even better the results.

The tune “Beam Me Up” is a notch more upbeat than the other album tunes, and it gives the artists an opportunity to step up and solo a bit.  There gets a point during this tune that the album threatens to break the album’s overall ambient texture, but then Dingman meshes into a Jensen solo with a frenetic wave of vibes that transforms into a near drone, and that combo snaps the song into place.  And not even the heat brought by guitar and sax just after can do anything to break it.

The title-track is a breakthrough moment for the album.  Appearing half-way through the album’s span, it encapsulates much of what has come before and how the album will continue.  A driving tempo that plays out like a lazy drive through the countryside, vibes and sax construct layers of repetition that change incrementally while trumpet arcs overhead in a path that drums etch into the ground, and bass and guitar frame the song at opposite edges.  The volume and tempo rises and peaks and recedes and quiets.  There is a sense of unfinished thoughts, as the ensemble changes direction before waves crest.  And it’s the amalgamation of that series of unfinished thoughts that coalesces into a breathtaking mosaic, delivered in a soft and unassuming way.

Nifty how “Train Song,” with its heavy reliance on melodic and harmonic development contrasts with the rhythm-first approach of “Train Song Reprise.”

The album opens and closes with tunes that drift across the room.  “First Sunrise” gives hints of things to come.. a little thunder here, a little serenity there, slow loping notes on sax and trumpet contrasting with a rapid pace by bass and drums.  Whereas on album closer “Simple Wish,” the ensemble brings a sense of finality to the proceedings… a definitive touch.

An album that slowly unfolds, revealing its excellence in its own time and with a soft touch.  It’s not a recording that will require much patience to connect with, but I highly recommend sticking around for awhile until it does finally make that solid first impression.

Released on the Origin Arts label.

Jazz from NYC.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3