Jazz Recommendations – 2015 Releases

Max Frankl has a nifty new album out.  Fernweh sees him switching between acoustic, electric and classical guitars with a seamless fluidity, to where the variations provide the album depth without causing any risk to cohesion.  His last album, Stories (with his Francis Drake trio), displayed a nice lyricism, especially in the moodier colors of the spectrum.  His newest has him raising the temperature with more abandon.  The result is a wider range of expressionism, with the byproduct of greater definition to the moodier pieces by way of contrast.

The dreamy melody of “Zurich” keeps the song drifting peacefully along, but a switch to electric guitar on “Aufbrechen” not only increases the tempo, but transitions the sound from a Nordic serenity to a contemporary sheen.  It’s an interesting scene change that works far better than one might assume beforehand.  However, that Frankl’s quartet, mid-song, shifts back to a Nordic serenity (and an associated shift back to acoustic guitar), it brings the album into an entirely new focus… a sense that the unpredictable is to expected and that any outbound flight is likely to come with a return home.

Some tracks, like “Copy/Paste,” scoot right along, juxtaposing motions of short intervals with solos that surge ahead with longer strokes.  Other tracks, like “80’s,” are constructed like a jigsaw puzzle, where the precise mathematical construction yields seriously vivid imagery.  “Schweben” hints at a groove while letting the soloists go wandering, whereas “Second Thoughts” brings some heat and structure in a blue-rock-jazz hybrid.

Plenty here to like.  Definitely a nice option for the jazz guitar fan who likes their guitarist to hit some unexplored horizons.

Your album personnel:  Max Frankl (acoustic, electric & classical guitars), Reto Suhner (soprano & alto saxes, alto clarinet), Dominique Girod (bass) and Claudio Strüby (drums).

Released on Unit Records.

Jazz from the Zurich, Switzerland scene.

Available at:  eMusic | Bandcamp | Amazon

*****

And definitely check out Frankl’s 2011 recording, Stories, recorded by his Francis Drake trio.  It was one of the better albums to come out in 2011.  I recapped it briefly back then, which you can read here (LINK).

An album that I’m very taken with lately is Lagrima Latina, the new one from pianist & composer Jean-Marie Machado.  Seeking to highlight the musics of the Mediterranean as well as those that influenced him during his childhood, his compositions are situated firmly in folk music with jazz as just one element of the entire mix.  Three vocalists, Sardinian, Portuguese and French, each add their language to the proceedings, which is backed by the Danzas orchestra.

Machado offers up an abundance of liveliness with this recording, finding ways to develop a big sound by focusing on the tiny details.  The swift transitions between regional influences, and the flow of these changes from track to track leads to a series of thrilling moments.  Possessing a riveting lyricism, the music jumps with enthusiasm and purrs with the sweetest melodic passages.

It’s an album whose beauty develops from its rich personality.  Go scoop this one up.

Your album personnel:  Jean Jacques Machado (piano), Simonetta Soro, Claudia Solal, Sofia Ribeiro (voices), Antonio Placer (poetic libretto), Didier Ithurssary (accordion), Jean-Charles Richard (soprano & baritone saxes), Joce Mienniel (flute), François Thuillier (tuba), Cécile Grenier (viola), Claus Stötter (flugelhorn, trumpet) and Stracho Temelkovski (percussion, mandolin).

The album is Self-Produced.

Jazz from the Paris scene.

More listening

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon

Mario Pavone has a new album out.  The veteran bassist can always be relied upon to present challenging music that directly engages the listener, refusing to allow the ear to fall into a state of passive listening.  Blue Dialect keeps that reputation intact.  Adopting a classic piano trio formation, Pavone is joined by drummer Tyshawn Sorey and pianist Matt Mitchell.

There is a Monk-like tunefulness to much of this music, with a melody that bounces crisply along the surface of unconventional and aggressive rhythms.  Hints of a hurried swing cut between percussive attacks that skitter right along with a rapid-fire pulse or those where each of the trio members express the tempo through their own point of view before coalescing near a song’s conclusion.

There aren’t any sit-back-and-bliss moments on this recording.  Tempos keep to a brisk pace and melodies are to the point.  The compositions provide a nice framework for dialog, and improvisations don’t stray too far from the pack.

A solid recording from an artist whose catalog you should spend some time exploring.

Your album personnel:  Mario Pavone (double bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums) and Matt Mitchell (piano).

Released on Clean Feed Records.

Jazz from Connecticut.

Available at:  eMusic | Amazon

There’s an excellent new album out from Emanative (an alias for drummer percussionist and producer Nick Woodmansey).  The Light Years of the Darkness is full-on spiritual jazz, giving modern spins of old tunes expressed in a way that honors both the original renditions and the artists who penned them.  Woodmansey scoops up a nice assortment of musicians from the UK scene to help his vision along.

The album opens with a rendition of Alice Coltrane’s “Om Supreme.”  The wavering serenity constructed by the ensemble is a wonderful lead in to their rendition of Pharoah Sanders’ “Hum-Allah,” which dials down on the original’s intensity but holds nothing back on the spiritual infusion.  This, too, sets the table nicely for the easy-going groove of Don Cherry’s “Makondi.”  Catchy as all hell, it features Four Tet on thumb piano.

Tamar Osborn’s Collocutor has been raved about previously on this site (and is a former Pick of the Week from my old Wondering Sound column).  Here she guests on a rendition of Joe Henderson’s “Fire.”  A joyful sing-song melody winds about the dense rolling hills of the rhythm unit.  It’s a similar disposition expressed by the ensemble on their rendition of Arthur Blythe’s “As of Yet.”

Two takes on Sun Ra’s “Love In Outer Space” yield some enjoyable variations.  The alternate take is a space-station jingle that digs into a thick groove.  The other rendition bounces happily along, a buoyancy that is revealed by the way the ensemble jumps up to scratch at the surface of clouds as well as how it returns to earth by slamming its feet back down with authority.  They also take a spin on Sun Ra’s “Rocket Number Nine,” which opens with random dispersal before suddenly coalescing into a focused stream of thought, growing increasingly determined and intense before a peaceful outro.

The album ends with “Music is the Healing Force of the Universe.”  Emanative’s dance hall version diverges from Albert Ayler’s vision of the song, and yet, in some ways quite essential, the distance between the two is not as great a chasm as might seem at first blush.  The same can be said about the song’s relationship to the rest of the album.  It’s an intriguing way to close the show… a different way of expressing the joyful spirituality embodied by the album in its entirety.

Go buy this album.

Also, all proceeds of the album go to the Steve Reid Foundation.  The Foundation has a dual purpose, helping with music education initiatives as well as providing aid to musicians who are in crisis.

Your album personnel:  Nick Woodmansey (aka Emanative), Kieren Hebden (aka Four Tet), Ben Hadwen, Jessica Lauren, Tamar Osborn, Phillip Harper, Liz Elensky, Nick Haward, Jason Simpson, Tello Morgado, Ahmed Abdullah, Monique Ngozi Nri, Idris Ackamoor, Kenneth Nash, Ben Page, Tom Page, Wayne Francis, Ahmad Dayes, Yussef Dayes, Kareem Dayes, Mally Harpaz, Andre Espeut, Suman Joshi, Simon Finch, Maurizio Ravalico, Marco Piccioni, Olie Brice, Kevin G Davy, Finn Peters, Gemma Williams, Rob Gallagher and Valerie Etienne.

Released on Brownswood Recordings.

Jazz from the UK.

Available at:  Bandcamp | eMusic | Amazon