Jazz Recommendations

Jan 29 2018

The Round-up: Naming the places you’ve dreamed

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Slivovitz – Liver (MoonJune Records)

It’s pretty easy to imagine this band being a whole bunch of fun to see perform live.  The septet Slivovitz kicks up a party-hard tempo that is all but a command to dance.  They keep the melodies simple and unfussy, and watching their shape evolve under a heavy rhythmic pressure is not only an essential ingredient of the enjoyment, but also adds some cerebral intrigue to the affair.  This recording of a 2016 Milan concert gives a pretty decent indication of the electrical charge a live show can generate, while hinting that buying the ticket for an actual seat brings so much more.  Cool stuff, and certainly in line with their 2015 studio release All You Can Eat.  Music from Naples, Italy.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

TOLV – Électrons Libres (Label Manivelle)

There’s a seductive quality to this collaboration by the TOLV duo of guitarist Jaime L. Pantaléon and flautist Etienne Lecomte.  That allure is particularly effective in the way it provides balance and contrast with the album’s electronic frisson.  The music is ambient as hell, but something about how the duo warps the ethereal melodies of Électrons Libres results in sound with a bite to it.  Music from Barcelona and Paris.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Peter Kenagy – Standard Model (Self-Produced)

There’s a simple charm to this straight ahead session from Peter Kenagy.  It’s like pulling a random Prestige Records CD off the shelves and feeling confident that no matter which one it is, there’s a certain reliability that some quality bop is going to fill the air.  The trumpeter eschews any compositions that date back to those times when bop was was the reason for the season, but each of his originals certainly could travel back in time and find a home there.  He’s joined by alto saxophonist Jeremy Udden, pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Greg Ryan and drummer Austin McMahon.  Music from Boston.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Andrew Bain – Embodied Hope (Whirlwind Records)

Good god, this whole album explodes with life.  The melody is where it’s at, possessing a tightly focused intensity that branches off like a tesla coil.  Drummer Andrew Bain captures some of the Noir-bop of Clifford Jordan’s 1970’s Magic Triangle sessions, situated in a place where poetry and chaos fall into an easy embrace.  With tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon, double bassist Michael Janisch and pianist George Colligan in the fold, Bain has assembled a cast with a proven track record of working the transitions between form and freedom, composition to wild improvisation and back again.  This is a seriously thrilling album.  Music from Birmingham, England.

 

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Alfred Artigas Quartet – Permiso (Underpool Records)

This session from guitarist Alfred Artigas is at its best when his quartet bubbles with excitement, causing the rhythm to stretch outside the lines of its prevailing structure.  That perpetually disjointed state of rhythmic existence incites a seriously lively chatter and makes the melody crackle with life.  There’s nothing wrong with those tunes that work methodically through the blues, but the dynamic qualities of this music shine strongest when the quartet is in motion.  Pianist Toni Saigi, double bassist Marc Cuevas and drummer Oriol Roca round out that quartet.  Music from Barcelona.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

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Jan 24 2018

Recommended: Trio S – “Somewhere Glimmer”

 

This music is about water.  It’s also about dreams.  Were that not stated up front, it wouldn’t really have mattered.  The nebulous presence of Somewhere Glimmer would’ve inspired imagery of a similar, ethereal nature.  The melodies twist and rise like plumes of smoke… or perhaps rivulets of water breaking free from the pool and searching out new directions, or just the hallucination of one.  It all comes back to the same place.

This is Doug Wieselman‘s second such album, three years after the release of 2014’s From Water.  For his newest, the clarinetist expands from the solo project to include cellist Jane Scarpantoni and percussionist Kenny Wollesen.  The impact is immediate.  Whether it’s the rising tide of intensity on “Dreambox” or the cry and hum of “New River” or the amicable chatter of “That Way,” Wieselman’s vision is much more fleshed out with the additional melodic and harmonic possibilities the trio format affords him.  The wildly creative expressionism that his Kamikaze Ground Crew work elicits was present in the solo set From Water, but by sharing some of the workload, it emerges with more nuance and an enticing dash of restraint.

As part of the year-end wrap up of 2017, I wrote a column that included some of my favorite albums of the year.  That column could’ve been much longer.  Somewhere Glimmer would’ve been one such reason.  I’ve lost count of how often this gorgeous album has hit me right in the heart.

Your album personnel:  Doug Wieselman (clarinets, loops, banjo), Jane Scarpantoni (cello) and Kenny Wollesen (drums. wollesonics).

The album is Self-Produced.

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

Music from NYC.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jan 23 2018

Recommended: Mark Wade Trio – “Moving Day”

 

The latest from the Mark Wade Trio gives the sense that they’re really settling in as a working unit.  There’s a confidence to their method of revealing the lovely melody to “Autumn Leaves” time and again that’s emblematic of Moving Day, and how their flight patterns are locked in place.  From a rhythmic perspective, the bassist is the conversational bond between pianist Tim Harrison and drummer Scott Neumann.  For the most part, that bond manifests as the shepherd to a focused message, but even when the method of engagement is one of interplay between musicians, an enduring unity shapes the flow of dialog.

This is straight-ahead modern jazz done right.  Nothing groundbreaking, nothing experimental, and everything to like.

Your album personnel:  Mark Wade (bass), Tim Harrison (piano) and Scott Neumann (drums).

Released on the Edition46 label.

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

Music from NYC.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jan 22 2018

The Round-up: Dancing with distance

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Barry Altschul & The 3dom Factor – Live in Krakow (Not Two)

For some musicians, the process to the performance is 1.) Pour gasoline, 2.) Light match.  On this live set from drummer Barry Altschul, bassist Joe Fonda and saxophonist Jon Irabagon, the flames are unleashed on the city of Krakow, and there’s just no end to it.  Even the brief reprieve of “Irina” barely serves as a breather with its insistent extrapolation of the blues.  This album really only has gears that operate at high speeds, and that’s exactly the reason you want to scoop this one up.

Artist site | Buy:  Amazon

 

Henrique Eisenmann – The Free Poetics Of (Red Piano Records)

That way in which a roomful of conversations can take on a life of its own, and achieve a unity that verges on a distinct dialog all to itself… that’s the sensation from this new release by Henrique Eisenmann.  The crosscurrents of melody ripple across the dotted surface of multi-rhythmic expressions, and it crackles with life.  Even during contemplative interludes, that electricity hums quietly just beneath the surface and gives off an animated charge.  The pianist has soprano saxophonist Gustavo D’Amico, double bassist Jorge Roeder and percussionist Rogerio Boccato at his side.  Music from Boston, MA.

Artist site | Buy:  Amazon

 

Tony Burkill – Work Money Death (ATA Records)

Some soul, some bop and plenty of heat to drive it all ahead.  This throwback recording to the old school when hard bop was looking inward at its soul and outward to other musics is plenty addictive.  Saxophonist Tony Burkill finds a way to make the music catchy when at its most intense, and introspective when it’s time for the intensity to catch its breath.  It’s a pattern he has on repeat, and it never grows old, not even a little bit.  The rhythmic attitude of Work Money Death is let’s dance, and while the tempo might not point to any formal method of motion, it elicits a compulsion to move all the same.  Music from Leeds, UK.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

John McNeil & Mike Fahie – Plainsong (Destiny Records)

Nice straight-ahead set from the trumpeter John McNeil and trombonist Mike Fahie.  They stick to the area where hard bop and post-bop can blend into the same crowd and remain relatively indistinguishable one from the other.  “Rain Song, Plain Song” is one of a couple exceptions where the modern influence reigns supreme, and the decision to take this course gives the album its personality.  This doesn’t stray far from the winning formula of McNeil’s Hush Point group.  For this session, it’s pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Billy Hart rounding out a quintet.  Music from Brooklyn, NY.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Giovanni Di Domenico & Abschattungen – The Ear Cannot Be Filled With Hearing (El Negocito Records)

This large ensemble performance led out by pianist Giovanni Di Domenico goes big and gives it everything they’ve got.  They toe the line where sonic wildness becomes random dissonance, and so each of the four extended pieces of his 2017 release perpetually cycle between states of dispersal and reformation.  The thing that triggers the transition back to structure is a groove.  It’s as if it suddenly emerges from beneath the surface of the song, like the earth swelling up and grumbling out a heady tempo.  It’s an arresting feature of an interesting album.  Music from Brussels, Belgium.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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Jan 21 2018

Name Your Price: Ezra Collective – “Chapter 7”

 

Today’s featured Name Your Price recording is Chapter 7 by Ezra Collective.

Their 2017 release Juan Pablo: The Philosopher illustrated the group’s arresting concoction of Afrobeat, modern fusion, cosmic jazz, post bop, hip hop and any number of other influences that seemed interesting to them at the time.  Their 2016 release Chapter 7 doesn’t spread out quite so far, and interesting to hear how they reformulate the ratios to which influences make their mark and how.  It’s the same quintet as on Juan Pablo, just without the guest musicians.

If you’re new to Ezra Collective, Chapter 7 is a nice introduction.  If you’re hip to their 2017 release, then count this album as more of the good stuff.

Your album personnel:  Dylan Jones (trumpet), James Mollison (tenor sax), Joe Armon-Jones (piano), TJ Koleoso (bass) and Femi Koleoso (drums).

Learn more about the album, and download it, at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

It’s also available at Amazon for five bucks.

Every Sunday, we’ll be featuring an album set to sell at Name Your Price.

A quick note about Name Your Price etiquette:  Whether marked Free or Name Your Price, this music is free for you to download.  You should.  The musicians want you to have it in your music library to enjoy.  But if you’re reading this site, no matter how diverse your backgrounds and experiences and lives may be, I’m completely certain that you all give a damn about the musicians who make your lives better with their creative pursuits, and you’d like to support them.  So, for those of you who don’t have a lot of familiarity with the Bandcamp NYP/Free models, here’s some approaches people commonly take:

  • Download the album, entering $0.00 as the price (for the Name Your Price), and if you like the music, you go back to download it again and this time enter a dollar amount that you think is fair; and if you don’t like the album, pay nothing.
  • Download the album, entering $0.00 as the price, and if you like the music, you go check out their proper studio recordings and buy one of those instead.
  • Download the album, entering $0.00 as the price, and if you like the album, you go buy a ticket to one of their shows and check them out live, and maybe shoot them an email or social media comment letting them know their free album compelled you to support their show.

Obviously, any funds these musicians raise is gonna get invested in making more music, so it’s in everyone’s best interests that we financially support the musicians who build the creative supports that we rely upon to get through life and to remind us how beautiful life can be.

Cheers.

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