Mar 7 2017
Recommended: Odd Draft – “Odd Draft”
There’s an appealing balance of cinematic melodicism of new-school jazz and an older blues-based inventiveness from this self-titled release from the quartet Odd Draft. The mix of 1970s-style jazz and that of the present day adds some nice textures from approach and perspective, where melodies can take a sharp angle or wide curve, and the tempos are already situated on a shifting foundation that anticipates this sort of creative drift. Adding further intrigue is how the equation flips when a tune switches between upbeat and slower tempos. A brisk tune like “Chow Long” is cut from the cloth of Clifford Jordan’s Magic Triangle, whereas a track “Péplouze” sings with the heartbreak of a classic ballad. The oddball “Être Bill” tries to shake its form as it speaks in hushed whispers, which makes for a nice contrast with “Two Into” and the way it changes its mind between taking the form of a Parisian jazz reverie on peacefulness and random introverted musings. It’s why Odd Draft strikes the right amount of casual cool and drawn intensity.
Plenty to enjoy on this under-the-radar session.
Your album personnel: Gilles Varon (tenor sax), Jacques Graindorge (piano), Clémence Gaudin (double bass) and Frédérik Bilhaut (drums).
The album is Self-Produced.
Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.
Available at: Bandcamp
This is protest music at its best. The tonal changes between unrestrained fury and celebratory cheer mirror the shifting emotions that strike the heart during those moments of despair when we rise up and shout ‘no.’ Time and again, the
Mar 8 2017
These are videos that I like: Nicole Mitchell at Teatro Manzoni, Marta Sanchez and Tomoko Omura at the Jazz Gallery
Our first featured video is from the Marta Sánchez Quintet. The pianist’s 2015 release Partenika was one of the very best things to get released that year. It’s an album I still find myself returning to with some frequency. That album got a warm reception on this site (go read it), and this performance of the title-track at a 2015 performance at NYC’s Jazz Gallery is a good indication why.
Your video personnel: Marta Sánchez (piano), Jerome Sabbagh (tenor sax), Román Filiú (alto sax), Matt Brewer (bass) and Jason Burger (drums).
You can listen to music from the album by checking out this site’s write-up or go straight to the artist’s Bandcamp page.
Our next video is from Nicole Mitchell and her Black Earth Ensemble. The flautist has consistently put out some of the most compelling music over the last decade, and the music with her Black Earth Ensemble is my personal favorite. I saw them play at the 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival, and to this day, I still struggle to adequately describe the effect it had on me. The best I can come up with is illuminating, but even that descriptor falls short. To give you a sense of things, here’s this 2012 performance of “Meadow Sunlight In the Swinging Fields” at the Teatro Manzoni in Milano, Italy.
Of relevance, I will have some exciting news to report about this ensemble before much longer.
And we’ll return to the Jazz Gallery for our final video, a March 2016 performance from Tomoko Omura. The violinist’s 2015 release Roots received a strong recommendation from this site (go read it) and subsequently earned the #6 slot on this site’s Best of 2015 list. The song “Hometown” is one of the album’s tracks.
Your video personnel: Tomoko Omura (violin), Jeff Miles (guitar), Glenn Zaleski (piano, keyboards), Noah Garabedian (double bass) and Jay Sawyer (drums).
You can listen to music from the album by checking out this site’s write-up or go straight to the artist’s Bandcamp page.
And you get a bonus Omura video. I’m immediately establishing a new Bird is the Worm These Are Videos That I Like rule: I will feature any cat video that’s accompanied by the artist’s music. Here is Tomoko Omura’s cat, who, like so many other cats out there, have an odd fascination with plastic grocery bags.
*****
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By davesumner • These are videos that I like • 0