Jan 24 2020

Best of 2019 #46: Nérija – “Blume”

 

There’s so much joy that emanates from this music.  It’s irresistible, and, really, why would you even want to resist?  But it’s more than that.  The way grooves advance forward in unison and how melodies are cast like rays of sunlight beaming in all directions and how the musicians become entwined in a harmonic embrace, this joy has a shared quality, as if sprung from a collective, a collective joy that makes it easy to envision others enjoying this music at the same moment as yourself.  This is the kind of experience that makes a live performance so special, of mainlining great music like so much happiness and being surrounded by people doing no different.  The 2019 release from Nérija brings that collective experience, that shared joy, right into the home.  And that is something truly special.

Your album personnel:  Nubya Garcia (tenor saxophone), Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet), Cassie Kinoshi (alto saxophone), Rosie Turton (trombone), Shirley Tetteh (guitar), Lizy Exell (drums), and Rio Kai (bass).

Released on Domino Recording Co.

Music from London, UK.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at: Bandcamp – Amazon

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Jan 23 2020

Best of 2019 #47: Ben Goldberg – “Good Day for Cloud Fishing”

 

In a way, it would be inaccurate to view Ben Goldberg‘s explorations of poetry merely as some sort of phase in the clarinetist’s creative evolution.  Goldberg’s music has always been characterized by its poetic spirit, a quality revealed in the delivery as much as the lyricism.  Goldberg is certainly as capable of lighting things up as the next soloist, but when he’s approaching a piece with an economy of sound is when he’s at his strongest.  These are the moments when his choice of inflections and emphases fill the music with a presence, a spirit, that has both the weight of deeply considered thought and the boundless freedom to take flight and soar high above.

That being said, those projects that actually incorporate poetry into the fabric of the recording contain a certain delight that should not be dismissed as a mere extension of his natural sound.  Goldberg’s excellent 2015 release Orphic Machine was an ode to the poetry of Allen Grossman, utilizing his words as both foundation and frame.  On Goldberg’s latest foray into spoken word, Goldberg’s trio with trumpeter Ron Miles and guitarist Nels Cline recorded a new piece based on a poem by Dean Young.  Then, present in the recording studio, the poet was asked to write an entirely new poem from what he had just heard, which led to a new piece from the musicians, and thus continued a closed loop of creative spontaneity and inspiration, circling endlessly back upon itself.  From a conceptual standpoint, this is pretty damn cool, both as a mainline of improvisational technique and by way of its multi-medium crossover perspective.  And viewed in the context of the music alone, it’s a testament to Goldberg’s innate poetic spirit and how it manifests in yet more wonderful music.

Your album personnel:  Ben Goldberg (Bb clarinet, contra-alto clarinet), Nels Cline (electric guitar), Ron Miles (trumpet), and Dean Young (typewriter).

Released on Pyroclastic Records.

Music from Berkeley, California.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Cool album cover artwork by Spottswood Erving (which may be an alias for David Breskin).

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Amazon – Bandcamp

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Jan 23 2020

Best of 2019 #48: Colunia – “Zéphyr”

 

It’s hard not to fall under the spell Emilie Chevillard’s chromatic harp.  It possesses such a distinctive sound, and simultaneously stands out from and blends in with the other instruments.  It is that way a single tongue of flame can draw the attention from within a fireplace, even as it draws the other flames in close.  And this is true of the 2019 release from Colunia, where the heat of the flames and the way they dance amongst one another possesses a hypnotic effect while, simultaneously, keeping the listener bolted upright.  The conversational chatter from drummer Florian Chaigne, the arresting melodicism of saxophonist Gweltaz Hervé, the deep hum from bassist Emeric Chevalier, and guests on woodwinds and strings, all come together with a dazzling brilliance that makes the singularity of the fire far more resonant than any individual flame.  But all the same, this is one more example of a growing base of evidence that harp needs to be included far more often in a jazz setting.

Your album personnel:  Emilie Chevillard (chromatic harp, konnakol), Florian Chaigne (drums, konnakol), Gweltaz Hervé (soprano, alto & baritone saxophones), Emeric Chevalier (double bass), and guests: Linda Oláh (vocal), David Chevallier (guitars), Geoffroy Tamisier (trumpet), and Thomas Jacquot (sitar).

The album is Self-Produced.

Music from Nantes, France.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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Jan 23 2020

Best of 2019 #49: Zion80 – “The Book Beri’ah Vol.8: Hod”

 

There’s a nearly delirious euphoria that accompanies Zion80 as they switch between dancing a melody on a pinhead and grooving like a second line through the streets of New Orleans.  The dectet’s fusion of Jewish music and Afro-beat is a natural fit for John Zorn’s Book of Angels series, where the mysticism, mayhem, and celebratory cheer are complementary ingredients for one powerful drink.  Heady infusions of rock, Balkan music and punk attitude add a left hook to go with the music’s stinging right cross.  There’s something special about how this group embraced Zorn’s compositions.  It’s not a unique occurrence; these Zorn projects seem to bring it out of the musicians, and it’s why these installments are so beloved by music fans.  But the frequency with which this special quality manifests makes it no less precious each time it occurs.  The enthusiasm this music transmits is positively infectious.  It sounds like the band was in the studio having the time of their lives.  Perhaps they were.  This music is all the evidence they’d need to present, and that’s something we, as music fans, can never get enough of.

Your album personnel:  Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (bass), Yoshie Fruchter (guitar), Frank London (trumpet), Jessica Lurie (baritone & alto saxophones, flute), Jon Madof (guitar), Brian Marsella (keyboards), Greg Wall (tenor sax), John Zorn (sax), Yuval Lion (drums), Zach Mayer (baritone sax), and Marlon Sobol (percussion).

Released on Tzadik Records.

Music from New York City.

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Jan 23 2020

Best of 2019 #50: Shahbaz Hussain and Helen Anahita Wilson – “DIWAN”

 

The backdrop for this recording is the kind of thing that floats my boat.  A fortunate series of coincidences brought tabla player Shahbaz Hussain and pianist Helen Anahita Wilson together for this session, and their backgrounds in South Asian and contemporary classical, jazz, and devotional music are both separate and yet complementary to one another.  There is plenty of intrigue generated by this project before the first note is ever recorded.  But all of that fell by wayside the moment I became immersed in their dynamic conversations, back and forth, and felt the resulting serenity wash over me.  The rhythmic element of DIWAN has a gravitational pull that borders on irresistible, and it’s easy to see why it might receive the most attention.  But the way in which immaculately crafted melodies are set free upon the surface of those rhythms, and how they attain a momentum all their own before taking off into flight is about as exhilarating as it gets.  The conclusion of any one year brings two lists:  There’s the formal Best Of list, which methodically attempts to measure albums for their quality, significance and endeavor, and then, also, my personal Favorites list, a far more subjective encapsulation of those recordings that made my heart swoon, my soul dance, and my body channel the motion of the music.  The ranking of this recording for the former list is in the title of this post; As to the latter, DIWAN easily earns a spot on the top ten list of my favorite recordings of 2019.

Your album personnel:  Shahbaz Hussain (tabla) and Helen Anahita Wilson (piano).

Released on Golden Girl Records.

Music from Brighton and Rochdale, UK.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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