Jazz Recommendations

Jun 29 2018

It’s Friday and it’s probably been a shitty week, so here is the antidote for all that: Avi Granite 6 “Orbit”

 

This music is boisterous.  This music dances like its life depends on it.  The motion is a storm and the wind whipping around in all directions, and this music is the euphoria of standing dead center and feeling so alive in all that chaos.  This music will make you skeptical at the number indicated by the ensemble name Avi Granite 6.  This music is big, and has a presence that suggests twice its numbers.  But the winning quality of Orbit is found in the details, and how its facets shine like mad from the heart of this music.

This music is the hop and glide melody of “When the View Became the Way.”  This music is the solemn Sunday morning church of “Like a Magazine (for Paul Motian).”  This music is the locomotive cadence of “Hortez The Chihuahua.”  This music has a booming voice and a snappy vocabulary and steps up beaming a wide smile.

This music will make you happy.  Go buy it.

Your album personnel:  Avi Granite (guitar), Jim Lewis (trumpet), Peter Lutek (reeds), Tom Richards (trombone), Neal Davis (bass) and Ted Warren (drums).

Released on Pet Mantis Records.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Toronto, Ontario.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jun 27 2018

Recommended: Nolatet – “No Revenge Necessary”

 

There’s a cheerfulness to these pieces that is positively addictive.  They’re catchy, though they don’t cast out any blatant hooks.  It’s the same magnetism generated by a friendly smile that means it… it just draws the recipient in.  At times, No Revenge Necessary hints at a re-envisioning of classic holiday tunes much in that same way John Zorn’s Dreamers ensemble gave fresh life to music of the holiday seasons.  Or that way some of you incorporate John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” into your winter holiday soundtrack; This, too, will a find a place in that playlist.  Heartbreak and hurricanes are some of the inspirations that led to the latest from the quartet Nolatet, but, ultimately, the music shakes out in an atmosphere of optimism and joy.

Sometimes it’s an impression from the very start, as on “Homer and Debbie” with its delightful bounce and a melody as welcoming as Christmas lights beckoning through a frosted window.  Other times, as on “Malabar,” the personality emerges suddenly from a flurry of rhythmic snowfall.  The album has more than a few reminders that the holiday season is perfectly capable of delivering an icy blast, but it’s never long before it’s followed with a comforting warmth.  The electric buzz and sizzle of guitar and bass go hand-in-hand with the sunny tones of vibraphone and piano, a complementary relationship beneficial to the best of each their melodic traits.

You really can’t go wrong scooping this one up.

Your album personnel:  Mike Dillon (vibraphone), Brian Haas (piano), James Singleton (bass) and Johnny Vidacovich (drums).

Released on Royal Potato Family.

Music from New Orleans, LA.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jun 25 2018

The Round-up: Sometimes, being close is the hardest thing

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

David Ake – Humanities (Posi-Tone Records)

It happens quite often on Humanities that a rising intensity becomes a conflagration, and if any attempt at control is being exerted, it has no effect.  And yet, despite it all, there’s a moodiness that hangs over the newest from David Ake, and it has the effect of framing hyperactivity as an introspective matter rather than an emotional one.  It’s why “Groundwork” possesses the hypnotic effect of burning embers even when its flames reach up to the night sky.  It’s why “Stream” etches a path from first note to last even as it pulls apart the bonds that keep it together in a recognizable shape and moving with a concentrated focus.  The pianist has a nice history on the Posi-Tone Records label, and can always be relied upon for doing something a little different with a straight-ahead sound.  Humanities might be the most enjoyable example of that trend.  The pianist is joined by trumpeter Ralph Alessi, guitarist Ben Monder, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Mark Ferber.  Music from Miami, Florida.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:   Amazon

 

Roger Kim – Portrait Maker (Self-Produced)

I’m not sure this chamber jazz session could be any more gorgeous.  Roger Kim‘s large ensemble of strings and wind instruments and voices possess an ethereal presence, but so great is its majesty that the sensation is of clouds that could sweep you off your feet and carry you away.  The guitarist (who also adds some banjo to the mix) titles the first track “Franny and Zooey in the Snow,” and the music captures the essence of a lovely winter day surrounded by snowflakes with the same immediacy that it does the resounding innocence clung to by many of J.D. Salinger’s storybook characters.  The album clocks in a little under thirty minutes.  It’s music that feels like it could go on forever and then suddenly ends too soon.  Music from Oakland, CA.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Emil Miszk & The Sonic Syndicate – Don’t Hesitate! (Alpaka Records)

The sudden transitions between soothing harmonies and caustic dissonance are quite jarring.  But the pattern repeats itself throughout this intriguing session from Emil Miszk & The Sonic Syndicate, and familiarity breeds friendliness.  The trumpeter leads an octet comprised half of wind instruments and the other half of guitar, piano, bass and drums.  It’s the former that’s most responsible for those lovely harmonic passages and the latter for the edginess.  There are moments, however, when the transfer of power between the two achieves a certain balance, a unity of expression, and everything makes sense.  An interesting debut.  Music from Gdańsk, Poland.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Attila Gyárfás – Cloud Factory (Sinistra)

There’s a very fun and wild personality exhibited by this debut from Attila Gyárfás.  Mixing punk rock, modern jazz and Frisellian effects, the drummer shuffles the deck of tones for atmospheric effect and edgy counterweights to the ambience.  He’s joined by the bass and guitar duo of Marco Zenini & Márton Fenyvesi, along with Felician Erlenburg and Jason Alder on wind instruments.  In addition to the changes in tone, the spikes of intensity are as thrilling as the peaceful moments are comforting.  Just a really neat album, and the kind of thing that really shouldn’t fly under the radar.  Not all of you will like this recording, but some of you will fall head over heels for it.  Music from Budapest, Hungary

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Bruno Heinen – Mr. Vertigo (Babel Label)

There’s a distinct personality to the music of Bruno Heinen.  Whether it’s an embrace of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Vivaldi or a set of songs that uses the children’s song “Twinkle Twinkle” as their basis or a spin with the Bill Evans songbook, Heinen’s perspective cuts to the heart of the matter.  His newest is a solo venture, and it’s particularly intriguing to hear how previous projects filter into a solitary setting.  This is especially true of revisiting his Tierkreis project, and how the music box environment falls right into place in the flow of expressionism that marks this set.  Music from London.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

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Jun 22 2018

The Lenny Marcus Trio makes me not hate the Game of Thrones theme song

 

Considering how much I despise the original, it’s sort of remarkable what a sucker I am for renditions of the Game of Thrones theme.  The Lenny Marcus Trio is the latest example of jazz musicians turning that piece of coal into a sonic gem.  And it’s not like the trio does much with it.  A simple recitation of the melody sits at the center where wistful blues flourishes and harmonic expansions set the whole thing humming happily along.

But this album is more than just that tune.  However, most of Gloria’s Step builds upon that same approach taken to the HBO show’s theme.  Clear, crisp recitations of a succinct melody become the jump off point for tangents, textures, and deviations that add all kinds of personality to the opening statements.  The tunes never traverse great distances from their starting point, instead choosing to explore a small patch of turf for everything its got.

Bonus points for a rendition of McCoy Tyner’s “Contemplation,” a song that really isn’t covered nearly enough and from an album that is one of the greatest hard bop recordings ever.  A few guests add some depth and colors to the mix.  Brian Mesko‘s guitar accompaniment on “Welcoming” is especially nice.

Marcus and crew develop a real pleasant and engaging conversational tone.  It makes for an easy-to-like recording.

Your album personnel:  Lenny Marcus (acoustic grand piano, flute), Rick Eckberg (double bass, fretless electric bass), Larry Scott (drums) and guests:  Vladimir Espinosa (percussion), Brian Mesko (guitars), Ken Hitchcock (flutes; saxophone).

The album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Roanoke, Virginia.

Available at:  Bandcamp

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Jun 20 2018

Want some protest music to focus your rage? The Christopher Ali Solidarity Quartet has got what you need

 

Everything about this album screams protest music.  To Those Who Walked Before Us has got an attitude of stand up for what’s right, stand up and fight.  There’s plenty of different directions a musician can take when giving form to that expression.  Certainly an approach of hard-charging, fist-pounding tempos can be the catalyst for an invocation of principles.  There’s also an open to go subtle and work with a melancholy, almost mournful tone, where the thoughts of what’s lost are the gentle whispers that cause the people to rise up.  The Christopher Ali Solidarity Quartet runs with a method of motion, of pairing a dancing groove with anthemic melodies.  It’s where a bit of catchiness offers up the handholds to spur a protest into action, and to carry it forward like a chant, a meditative state of furious activity.

The quartet of saxophonist Christopher Ali Thorén, oudist Filip Bagewitz, double bassist Alfred Lorinius and drummer Anton Davidsson Norén bring together avant-garde, Swedish and Arabic folk musics and modern jazz for a spellbinding force of language.  There’s a unity to it all, even when one influence takes hold over all others and makes its presence felt.

There are moments of ferocity when the concept of structure barely registers.  And then there are moments of effortless groove, and the flow of the music is like a lighted path of the way ahead.  The best moments incorporate both of those extremes, and the fight and the flow become as one… a place where the act of aggression acquires a certain poetry through motion.  This is best embodied by the staggered shuffle of “Al-Maghrib” and how it possesses a motion resembling that of dance, inciting it from others, but still with that fighting spirit that makes it so much more than a means to an end.

This is a pretty thrilling album.

Your album personnel:  Christopher Ali Thorén (tenor & soprano saxophones), Filip Bagewitz (oud, fretless electric guitar), Alfred Lorinius (double bass) and Anton Davidsson Norén (drums).

This album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Gothenburg, Sweden.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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