Jazz Recommendations

Jan 6 2019

Best of 2018 #37: Tim Daisy’s Fulcrum Ensemble – “Animation”

 

This inside-out recording from Tim Daisy’s Fulcrum Ensemble possesses an enthusiasm that spreads like wildfire to anyone within listening distance.  Sometimes it echoes the swinging affairs from New Orleans past and sometimes it explodes in an avant-garde fury reminiscent of New York City loft scene of the seventies.  But in every instance, there’s a strong presence of the modern day, that the form of expression is always focused through the lens of musicians who know exactly where their feet stand and that they breathe the air of today.  Back when I first wrote about this recording, I said not to be surprised if this album makes an appearance in a later column.  The Best of 2018 is exactly what I had in mind then, and feel no less strongly about it now.

Released on Relay Recordings.

Read more on Bird is the Worm.

Music from Chicago, IL.

Available at:  Bandcamp

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Jan 6 2019

Best of 2018 #38: Trio Untold – “Trio Untold”

 

This album is what happens when a melody is perpetually living in only the present moment.  The Trio Untold of guitarist Mike Nord, pianist James Miley, and drummer Ryan Biesack conjure up a melodic presence that throws the door open wide and invites you into that world, and then goes about twisting it about, reshaping the melody’s form and distilling its substance down to its barest elements… all before bringing it back to a greater, but different fullness.  And as it happens, the music is moody and alive and in possession of a strangely captivating beauty.

Released on PJCE Records.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Music from Portland, Oregon.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jan 5 2019

Best of 2018 #39: Anteloper – “Kudu”

 

Kudu really does come close.  In a live setting, the Anteloper duo of trumpeter Jaimie Branch and drummer Jason Nazary are a hyperactive ball of melodic fragments, electronic turmoil, and hopscotch tempos, and the energy they generate from the stage does not allow for detached listening from the audience.  It is an aggressive form of engagement that just so happens to occasionally give a warm melodic hug from time to time.  On their 2018 release, the duo give a pretty close approximation of the live performance energy.  This music is fun, inventive, and the boundless originality that fuels the modern scene today.

Released on International Anthem.

Music from New York City.

Read more on Bird is the Worm.

Available at:  Amazon | Bandcamp

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Jan 5 2019

Best of 2018 #40: Maisha – “There Is A Place”

 

This sounds nothing like the classic Pharoah Sanders Impulse Records releases of the 60s, and yet the sublime unity of peace and chaos emblematic of the saxophonist’s approach to spiritual jazz echoes strongly in the 2018 release from the ensemble Maisha.  So does the potent imagery that becomes such an immersive experience that the totality of the recording feels like an epic journey through mystical lands and dream landscapes.  The album ends with the title-track, and since I’ve already set the precedent for speaking of There Is A Place in reference to classic jazz recordings, then I might as well state that this tune has that same resonant tranquility as John Coltrane’s “After the Rain.”

Released on Brownswood Recordings.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Music from London, UK.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jan 5 2019

Best of 2018 #41: Saunier, Halvorson, Miles – “New American Songbooks, Volume 1”

 

This is a conceptual Great American Songbook.  It is a collection of music that frames us as a country and defines our character in the same passing moments that it shapes us in return.  It’s with that thought in mind that the trio of cornetist Ron Miles, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and drummer Greg Saunier reinterpret works by Elliott Smith, the Beach Boys, the Partridge Family, Fiona Apple, and John L. Williams, and give a present day voice to music that situates itself as the modern collection of Tin Pan Alley tunes.  There isn’t a moment on this recording that doesn’t deal in fascination and reverence.

Released on Sound American.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Music from New York City and Denver, CO.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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