Jazz Recommendations

Jan 21 2019

Best of 2018 #2: Walking Distance – “Freebird”

 

It’s not unlike experiencing Charlie Parker again for the first time.  Not necessarily the sound per se, but that highly charged reaction to high voltage music.  As I wrote for The Bandcamp Daily about Freebird, “There’s a giddy euphoria that comes with the discovery of the music of Charlie Parker- the thrilling experience of hearing crisp melodies formed under the pressure of high speeds of swing.  That same response is the best proof of Freebird’s success.”  As if taking a clipping and planting it into new soil, the Walking Distance quartet (along with a superb guest spot from Jason Moran) embrace passages from Parker’s tunes and then release them as something quite new.  But the newness isn’t a measure of the jazz age the music most sounds like.  It’s about capturing that joyful spirit of Parker’s music, and the power and grace it possesses to launch a person’s heart and soul into space.  It’s also about music’s ability to inspire, a timelessness that continues to affect minds and hearts long after the creator has passed, and to ignite in future generations a desire of their own to take that spark and create fires of their own, burning bright.  Everything about this album is representative of everything that is great about jazz.

Released on Sunnyside Records.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Available at:  Amazon | Bandcamp

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Jan 21 2019

Best of 2018 #3: Quin Kirchner – “The Other Side of Time”

 

When this album was released, a year ago January, I wrote for The Bandcamp Daily that “it’s way too early to be saying things like this is the best thing I’ve heard all year,” and then naturally went on and declared, “but this is the best thing I’ve heard all year.”  As it turned out, too soon was predicative of now’s the time.  The Other Side of Time is both a throwback to a past era of spiritual and free jazz and a symbolic proclamation of the pounding heartbeat of the modern scene.  In that way Quin Kirchner achieves a communion between his own modern pieces and renditions of past works by Mingus, Sun Ra, Cohran and Motian, the seamless flow of thoughts and theory and imagery between jazz eras brings to mind that of blood through the circulatory system, and the inescapable sense that there is no past and present eras, but simply a common language that perpetually reveals more of itself in coordination with our changing perception of time.

Released on Astral Spirits Records.

Music from Chicago, IL.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jan 20 2019

Best of 2018 #4: Thumbscrew – “Ours” and “Theirs”

 

The Thumbscrew trio of guitarist Mary Halvorson, drummer Tomas Fujiwara, and double bassist Michael Formanek had two simultaneous releases in 2018, but for all intents and purposes, they should be viewed as a single recording.  Ours consists solely of compositions from the trio members, while Theirs features compositions by jazz giants Wayne Shorter, Herbie Nichols, Jimmy Rowles, and Misha Mengelberg.  However, Theirs is Ours, too, because these three musicians, each with their own striking personal voice, bring that same individuality as a trio to that music from a past jazz age and make it sound as brand new as tomorrow’s sunrise.  The language of jazz is passed on down through the generations, and in that way each successive generation is shaped by the environment they are born to, they give new shape to the music language they’ve inherited.  Thumbscrew is a priceless example of how old and new can sound nothing alike and yet still exist in a state of unity like one slow exhalation of the most enchanting sound ever.  Jazz never dies.  It evolves.  And then there are those instances, like Theirs and Ours, when sometimes, instead, it is an act of reincarnation.  These are the tiny miracles that music can convey upon our lives.  Be sure to celebrate them.

Released on Cuneiform Records.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Available at: (Ours) Bandcamp | Amazon and (Theirs) Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jan 20 2019

Best of 2018 #5: Makaya McCraven – “Universal Beings”

 

I’m not sure how much more I can say about this recording.  I originally included Makaya McCraven‘s Universal Beings in my Best Jazz on Bandcamp column, in which I explained how “Four concerts in four different cities [and] four casts of collaborators lead to four different perspectives on the expressionistic range of modern jazz.”  Later, for the Best Bandcamp Jazz in 2018 column, I added that his “cohesive vision of the strength and diversity of today’s talent pool… is a statement, and that statement is: This is jazz today.”  And then, finally, for its inclusion on The Best Albums of 2018, which included music for all genres, I summed up that “Universal Beings reveals the wealth of riches right there in front of us.  You don’t need to hold onto 1959; Makaya McCraven can give you today.”  McCraven captures four different takes on the modern jazz sound with four different ensembles performing in four different cities, further cementing the fact that this music is everywhere and that its potential for expression is limited only by the space on the planet and how that affects the space within artists heads and hearts and souls.

Released on International Anthem.

Music from Chicago, IL.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jan 19 2019

Best of 2018 #6: Ambrose Akinmusire – “Origami Harvest”

 

This album is stunning.  It’s stunning, and it comes from all directions, in all contexts.  Ambrose Akinmusire brings together an exquisite unity of modern jazz, hip hop, chamber music, R&B, pop, rap and spoken word that is unlike anything else out there.  The influences are like swirling tides in a single body of water, entering confluences and then breaking apart and colliding.  The themes of racism, political divides, and societal barriers possess an immediacy that never goes away even as you drift away to the beauty of the music.  The motion of the music incites the image of dance, elicits it from the listener.  Rarely does spoken word and rap merge so well in a jazz setting as it does here, where the powerful meaning of the words melts lovingly into the flow of the instruments, one not taking a dominant role over the other, while also allowing the cadence of the vocal delivery to behave, too, as an additional percussive instrument.  This album is stunning in that way it brings classic forms of expression into the fold with those modern, as if attempting to prove that the passing of time is merely a device of perception and that all music of all ages truly exists all in the same breath.  Origami Harvest is stunning, and it is sublime, and with the passing of time and opportunity for contemplation, those qualities are likely to resonate with ever increasing strength.

Released on Blue Note Records.

Music from New York City.

Read more on Bird is the Worm.

Available at:  Amazon

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