Jazz Recommendations – 2012 Releases

Dave Jackson Quartet – Cosmontology

No matter how religiously I scan the various outlets for new Jazz releases each week, there’s always gonna be a few solid recordings that slip past unseen and just fall into my lap outta pure dumb luck.  Such is the case with saxophonist Dave Jackson, who sent in an unsolicited submission to my queue at the AllAboutJazz download of the day feature.  When I was the dotd editor, I’d get plenty of unsolicited material, but much of it wasn’t up to snuff, and with so few slots actually open for unsolicited material, it usually had to be something special. Dave Jackson’s Cosmontology was one such example.

This is music that doesn’t do any one thing great or possess a unique trait that differentiates itself from the pack.  Jackson’s quartet does everything well, and most importantly, they do it well together, and as Jazz has illustrated over and over, one of its admirable characteristics is the quality of the interplay between group members and how it makes many individual things done well result in something far greater.  This album represents that characteristic, and it’s emblematic of the depth of the Jazz landscape today.

This is a modern jazz album, but the kind that definitely will find appeal to fans of the Hard Bop era.  These are tunes that know how to serve up a melody as the main course, then cast out lines throughout the song so that the melody lingers long after the quartet has developed it into something quite different.  These are tunes that offer up a rhythm that smokes, but coolly go about their business so that it all seems to go down nice and casual.  These are tunes that have two feet in the present, but can draw their lineage in direct thick lines to the past.  And, best of all, these are tunes that are so easy to enjoy, even when the music isn’t simple.  A sense of the effortless, from a quartet that plays seamlessly as one.  Solid.

Your album personnel: Dave Jackson (alto sax), Greg Hutchinson (drums), Orlando Le Fleming (bass), and Sean Wayland (piano).

The album is Self-Produced.

Jazz from the Sydney, Australia scene.

Download a free album track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artist.

Available at Amazon: MP3

Daniel Herskedal & Marius Neset – Neck of the Woods

Duo album between tuba player Daniel Herskedal and saxophonist Marius Neset.  Yes, it does sound like a premise for a jazz joke about walking into a bar, but this isn’t a whimsical affair.  Serene music that often takes to soaring, this is one for the quieter moments of the day.  A vague mix of Jazz, Classical, and Folk, with elements of each negating any definitive trait from taking over at any one time.  The duo has created their own little sound, and it’s pretty intoxicating in its way.  The interplay between the two is a delightful pantomime, but it’s when they break out the harmonies that this album comes into its fullest.

I had actually assume this recording would get used as part of my Something Different review series, but for all of its unconventional traits, this album is relatively straight forward, as far as these things go.  Good stuff.

Your album personnel:  Daniel Herskedal (tuba) and Marius Neset (saxophones), plus a choir on three of the album tracks.

Released on the Edition Records label.

Jazz from Norway.

Download a free album track, courtesy of the artists and label, by hitting the button on the player above (the one that looks like a downward pointing arrow).

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

The ensemble led by Marios Takoushis and Gabriel Karapatakis thread the needle as they bring together Jazz and Mediterranean influences for Seven Miles East.  This isn’t just two types of music mashed together.  For within those two primary activators, the types of Jazz and the facts of regional musics through which the music is shined alter throughout this intriguing album.  It’s a fine example of why the genre tag of World Jazz has become grossly inadequate.  It’s also a fine example of how excellent Jazz is alive and kicking all across this planet.

Your album personnel: Marios Takoushis (piano), Gabriel Karapatakis (bass), Zacharias Spyridakis (Cretan lyra), Stelios Xydias (drums), David Lynch (sax), and George Krasides (clarinet).

“Three Steps Above” begins as a Balkan style of post-bop, offering punchy phrases and stop-and-go rhythms.  But after that opening salvo, it slides right into a straight-ahead jazz sound right out of the USA.  Up-tempo, with piano speeding along, then handing the baton off to sax, who continues the established. Then, suddenly the floor drops out.  Bass and piano bring a hypnotic repetition which string begins to solo atop.  The tone is an ambient one, and even with the beautifully ferocious bowing of Cretan Lyre, the influence sounds more of an Italian jazz influence than a Greek one.  When sax re-enters, it’s long languid sounds, dreamy, paralleling that of strings.  They pick up the intensity, and the ensemble rejoins the fray and they go out with a big finish that is informed by all the influences introduced throughout the song.  It’s an impressive performance, finding a way to get all those influences to gel at the end.  It’s that ‘threading the needle’ I referred to earlier.

Most of the tracks do, however, rest more squarely in the Greek music Jazz tradition.  Album opener “Lazarus’ Smile” makes that apparent with lyra and piano trading folky phrases with some vocal harmonization and gentle crash of symbols.  The Mediterranean influence is clear, and that sextet makes their opening statement one of drifting tranquility is reflective over the overall tenor of this album.  “In Jasmine’s Words” is a nifty up-tempo piece, but makes sure to bring some lilting interludes to the party.  And “Whispers of a Silent Mile” mines similar territory, but does so with a slower casual stroll. “Seven Moments in a Clear Day” is a contemplative ballad accented by strong folk brush strokes.

The album’s prettiest track, “Forgotten April’s Waltz,” shows some influence of the Switzerland Jazz sound, which really shouldn’t come as a surprise.  There are some commonalities shared by the Swiss to the north, heading south down into regions of Italy, and then spreading across the Mediterranean… and the differentiation occurring in which local music the sound is expressed through.  It’s also worth noting that Karapatakis studied in the Netherlands.  In this instance of “Forgotten April’s Waltz”, it’s more Nordic than Grecian. Saxophone and clarinet flutter atop gentle splashes of percussion.  Bass notes gurgle up into the higher registers, a simmer growing into a boil.  Ecumenical piano accompaniment becomes fervent and leads the charge.  Woodwinds re-enter, and the sextet zips right along, but still with an unhurried ease.

The album ends with a live track.  Spirited and fun, and shows that their intriguing sound isn’t a false creation of studio craftsmanship.  They sound live like they do in the recording booth.

This is one of those under-the-radar albums that shouldn’t be. Fans of ECM label recordings should be taking a hard look at this album.

The album is Self-Produced.

Jazz from the Cyprus, Greece scene.

Download a free album track at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artists.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: MP3

Following on the success of their 2011 collaboration Imaginary Sketches, trumpeter Chad McCullough and pianist Bram Weijters display with their latest release Urban Nightingale that they are truly a perfect match creatively.

Despite originating from opposite ends of the globe, the two have a symbiotic connection from both a perspective of group interplay and also personal voicing.  Illustrated right from the first notes of album-opener “Nightingale,” the duo share an inclination to express smouldering evocative notes with a pensive, deliberate touch.  This often creates a sensation of holding one’s breath for just half-a-heartbeat, and enhancing the anticipation of subsequent notes.  It’s the quality that makes this recording, and the last, a positive winner.

Your album personnel:  Chad McCullough (trumpet, flugelhorn), Bram Weijters (piano, Rhodes), Piet Verbist (bass), and John Bishop (drums).

On Urban Nightingale, this trait is increasingly apparent, as they have upped the dramatic tension more so.  For instance, “Residue” is a song of burning coals… unthreatening until you feel the heat, and “Tired and Dizzy” slowly raises the temperature, imperceptibly at first, but then experienced all at once.  “Phyrgian” and “Flow” are less subtle than the other album tracks, upping tempo and volume, yet without sacrificing the meditative qualities that make their music so captivating.

But despite the preponderance of up-tempo pieces on the current recording, this quartet’s bread and butter are the ruminative cloudy-day tunes that give the impression of falling rain even when the sun is shining bright.  “Buildings in a Dark City” has a contemplative stillness that can’t be broken.  Album-closer “Downtime” is a melancholy tune with pop-music tinged melody that drifts serenely from first note to last.  “Residue” has a heavy heart that struggles to maintain a wide smile.

An impressive follow-up to an impressive initial release.  Looking forward to more of this.

Released on the Origin Arts label.

Jazz from the Seattle, Washington and Antwerp, Sweden scenes.

Cover photograph by Greg Nicholas, with John Bishop doing layouts & design.

You can stream the entire album, and purchase it, at the artist’s bandcamp page.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

Tiny Reviews, featuring:  Dom Minasi and Karl Berger Synchronicity, Jazz Bigband Graz Urban Folktales, and Shims Trio And Again.

Dom Minasi and Karl Berger – Synchronicity

Appealing duo recording from free jazz vets, guitarist Dom Minasi and vibraphonist/pianist Karl Berger.  Minasi’s inquisitiveness seems to match very well with Berger’s free-floating lines, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a “pretty” album, there is a surreal beauty to this music that proves avant-garde and free jazz need not get all up in the listener’s face to get its point across.  And yet another example of how guitar and vibes make the best jazz marriages… warm bright notes that often hang frozen in the air.  Berger has an established history with improvised and outside music, notably his co-founding the Creative Music Studio with Ornette Coleman.  Minasi has put out an array of recordings over the last decade that show his devotion to free improv music, but more importantly, his willingness to present it through as many facets as he can find.

Your album personnel:  Dom Minasi (guitar) and Karl Berger (vibes, piano).

Released on the Nacht Records label.

You can stream the entire album at the label’s bandcamp page.

There’s a bunch of free tracks from other Minasi albums available from his artist profile at AllAboutJazz, courtesy of the artist.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: MP3

Jazz Bigband Graz – Urban Folktales

This recording came out back in August 2012, and now approximately five months later, I’m finding myself increasingly drawn to it.  Some albums have staying power, but Urban Folktales by Jazz Bigband Graz gets incredibly stronger with the passing of time as it reveals all of its dynamic nuances and textures.  The thing to keep in mind as I briefly talk about this album is that it is, truly, first and foremost, a Big Band recording.  Yes, there is a tasteful use of electronic effects and programming, and they do manage to work a theremin, an electric zither, and synthesizers into the action.  But the most prominent characteristics of this recording are the moments of euphoria when saxophones and trombones combine for uplifting passages, and when trumpets and flugelhorns brightly light up the room with a heavenly brilliance, or the intrepid rhythmic adventures that drive some tunes on epic journeys.  Plenty of guests get worked into the fabric of the ensemble for wonderful effect.  “Rêve Africain” is about as beautiful a big band tune as you’ll hear.  Just a thrilling album that will reward listeners who make a sincere effort to spend time with it.

Your album personnel:  Horst-Michael Schaffer (co-director, trumpet, flugelhorn), Heinrich von Kalnein (co-director, soprano & alto saxes, flute), Christoph “Pepe” Auer (alto sax, clarinet), Herbert Berger (tenor sax, alto flute), Martin Harms (baritone sax, bass clarinet, flute), Bernhard Nolf, Andi Pesendorfer, Axel Mayer, David Jarh (trumpet, flugelhorn), Reinhard Summerer, Daniel Riegler (trombone), Wolfgang Tischhart (bass trombone), Uli Rennert (keyboards, synthesizers), Barbara Buchholz (theremin), Mattias Loibner (electric hurdy gurdy), Christof Dienz (electric zither), Henning Sieverts (acoustic bass, cello), Gregor Hilbe (drums, electronics, programming), and guests:  Theo Bleckmann (vocals), Hadja Kouyate (vocals), Gianluca Petrella (trombone), Nguyên Lê (electric guitar), Verneri Pohjola (trumpet), Robert Friedl (alto saxophone), Johannes Enders (tenor saxophone), Klaus Gessing (tenor saxophone), Robert Bachner (trombone), and Philip Yaeger (bass trombone).

Stream two album tracks here, on the label site.

Released on the ACT Music label.

Jazz from the Graz, Austria scene.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: CD | MP3

Shims Trio – And Again

Fast-paced recording by the Shims Trio.  The starting gun goes off just before the first note, and it’s never heard from again.  Tempos are what drives this album, and each trio member puts in his share of sweat equity to get the job done.  Quirky melodies are easy to find, but tough to tie down.  Most pleasing quality of this recording is that even amidst a sea of apparent randomness, the trio performs as a cohesive unit, bringing a sense of togetherness to chaotic sound.  Not an easy trick to pull off.  Nifty album.

Your album personnel:  Nathan Eklund (trumpet), Drew Gress (bass), and Don Peretz (drums, percussion).

The album is Self-Produced.

You can stream the album, and purchase it, at the artist bandcamp page.

Available at eMusic.  Available at Amazon: MP3

*****

The material is original to Bird is the Worm, but a portion of my Minasi/Berger review was 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,“ reprint courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2012  eMusic.com, Inc.

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