Jul 2 2017
Your Sunday Morning Jazz Album: Bill Frisell – “Ghost Town”
Sunday morning is when the serenity comes down. Sunday morning is the cocoon from the heavy exhaustion of too much Saturday night fun. Sunday morning is when the city agrees to use its inside voice. Sunday morning is when a hush settles in over the land. It is a time for sitting still and listening to quiet music and silently praying the aspirin and coffee do something to stop your head from exploding. Drama and stress are strictly forbidden on Sunday morning.
Your Sunday Morning Jazz Album is just for you, for times just like these. If you possess the freakish compulsion to get-up-and-go when the clock strikes Sunday morning, this music is not for you. Go and listen to a Spotify EDM playlist or something. But whatever you decide, just do it quietly and far away from those of us who appreciate the true solemn nature of a Sunday morning.
Bill Frisell‘s first solo album was everything. The 2000 release Ghost Town shined a light on all of the special qualities that defined the guitarist’s music to date and the many elements that would inform later projects. A variation of the Frisell original “Tales From the Farside” displayed his talent at couching ominous tones in a comforting ambiance. “What a World” and “Outlaw” show his penchant for loops and effects, and how he weaves together the multiple threads into a fabric far richer than what the individual strands might otherwise indicate. Renditions of “Wildwood Flower” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” highlighted the guitarist’s immense talent at personalizing the songs of others, and how Frisell works those seamlessly into the flow of this individualistic recording is the ultimate proof of that talent. These tunes are steeped in folk and Americana, but the flirtations with the avant-garde keep the ear wary. And all of this, even at its most ferocious, keys in on the potent tranquility that lies at the heart of the music of Bill Frisell.
Ghost Town, as much as any album featured as a Sunday Morning Jazz Album, embodies everything the soundtrack of a Sunday morning person truly needs.
You need this album today, right now.
- Artist-Title: Bill Frisell – Ghost Town
- Personnel: Bill Frisell (electric & acoustic guitars, 6-string banjo, loops, bass)
- Proper Use: 1) Watching the distant lights of the city skyline blink on as day replaces night, 2) Immersing yourself in the sound of whispering leaves as a cool springtime breeze cuts a path through the open window, or 3) Writing that letter to your dear friend, who you’d lost touch with so long ago.
Released in 2000 on Nonesuch Records.
Music from Seattle, WA.
Available at: Amazon
Some of you keep your distance from jazz recordings that feature the flute. Look, I understand. Perhaps more than any other instrument in jazz, flute is most precarious. Too much intensity, and it sounds panicked and desperate. Conversely, lower energies generate a sound that teeters on the edge of insubstantial cheesiness. On Secreto, the quartet of flautist Fernando Brox, pianist Toni Siagi, bassist Pau Sala and drummer Andreu Pitarch strike a path right down the center of things, avoiding the pitfalls while accentuating the instrument’s strengths. This straight-ahead set keeps to an even-keel, and that self-containment brings out the most not just from the flute, but in how all four instruments come together as one.
Jul 3 2017
The Round-up: There is grace in us all
Here’s some new music I like. I wanted to give these albums a mention, no matter how brief. Let’s begin…
Leah Paul – We Will Do The Worrying (Skirl Records)
I first got turned onto the music of flautist Leah Paul back in 2012 with her excellent release Bike Lane. On a cold winter day, her music sang with a voice of Springtime and it felt like she’d discovered a way to encode sunshine into the DNA of MP3 files. Her newest release shows her infatuation with string trios (thankfully) hasn’t diminished, but she expands the sonic textures by inviting on board clarinetist Chris Speed, vibraphonist Nick Mancini and vocals from Afton Hefley. The crisp intonations of vibraphone is particularly resonant with all the thick harmonies blanketing each piece. And though not wordless, there’s a harmonic quality to the vocals that’s strangely reminiscent of the ambient soundscapes of vocalist Julianna Barwick. And, seriously, you need to give Bike Lane a listen (check it out on Bandcamp).
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp
Sly5thAve – Composite (Tru Thoughts)
I’m a sucker for ingenious reinterpretations of pop songs, and this new EP from jack-of-all-trades Sylvester Uzoma Onyejiaka II (aka Sly5thAve) is certainly that. Re-arranging and orchestrating songs by Frank Ocean, Rihanna, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Lil Wayne and Drake, Onyejiaka II reveals facets and potential in the originals as if documenting a day-by-day recreation of each song’s alternate life in a parallel universe. His production work in the studio is pretty damn marvelous, but the contributions of the ClubCassa Chamber Orchestra gives the music its heart and soul. Worth noting that he’s also collaborated on a similar project for Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters work, so if you like this, now you know where your next step should take you.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp – Amazon
Bruno Heinen & Camerata Alma Viva – Changing of the Seasons (Babel Label)
This isn’t just another reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It’s a hypothesis on how the original would have sounded were Vivaldi alive & kicking in the modern day. Bruno Heinen joins up with the Camerata Alma Viva ensemble for the lovely jazz-classical work. And while it’s a fascinating endeavor when viewed in the context of the original compositions, enjoyment of this recording doesn’t hinge on a familiarity with the album’s inspiration. There’s a pleasant synthesis between the pianist’s jazz improvisations and the large ensemble’s warm harmonics and melodic acrobatics. Heinen has a thing for thematic challenges such as these, and one other example, his release Twinkle, Twinkle received a slot on this site’s Best of 2012 list.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp – Amazon
Stuart Popejoy – Pleonid (Leo Records)
It’s seriously fascinating how this recording sounds both completely improvised and mathematically coordinated all at the same time. It’s not so much a jazz-classical crossover work as music that embodies the spirit of the motivations that drives those forms of expression. This one-hour continuous work from composer-bassist Stuart Popejoy, violinist Sarah Bernstein, vibraphonist Kenny Wolleson, alto saxophonist Avram Fefer and trombonist Steve Swell never stops surprising, feels nearly endless, then is over far too soon.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2017 releases • 0 • Tags: The Round-Up