Wait, did you think this site would be a refuge from holiday music?  Wrong.  Oh so wrong.  But before you go thinking you got a lump of coal for your present, don’t forget that coal is where diamonds come from, too.

This deconstruction of popular holiday tunes might not meet your standards for gemstones, but the quartet of tenor saxophonist Brad Linde, soprano saxophonist Patrick Booth, guitarist Aaron Quinn and drummer Jonathan Taylor have served up a little gift with this free improv session.

Each track gets increasingly more strange.  It starts with the subtle restraint of “Little Drummer Boy,” ratchets things up with a peaceful-to-chaotic impression of “Let it Snow,” then shifts over to an ominous “Up On the Housetop” before ending with a version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” that might’ve been pulled straight from a Tom Waits holiday-themed nightmare.

This is Cleats, and their album Xmas And…

Your album personnel:  Brad Linde (tenor sax), Patrick Booth (soprano sax), Aaron Quinn (guitar) and Jonathan Taylor (drums).

The album is Self-Produced.

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

Jazz from the Washington, DC scene.

Available at:  Bandcamp

Some albums have already pulled away from the curb and sped down the street before they finish their first melodic statement.  And if they’re able to string that melodic utterance along for the entirety of the journey, the melody’s gradual unraveling at high speeds can be as thrilling as the music is beautiful.  This live recording from João Paulo Rosado Sinopse is one such example.  Of the seven tracks on Ao Vivo na Porta Jazz, five of them hit double digits in playing time (and the other two still clock in at no less than eight minutes apiece), and over the course of that duration, Rosado’s quintet builds each song around the development of those melodic ideas, both through the steady work of group effort and a relay of soloists.

And most of this happens at a gallop.  Opening track “Chester” keeps a brisk pace from start to finish, and yet the song is rolled out with a disarming patience… almost negating the high-speed effects upon the sensation of the melody, as if the tempo wasn’t an accurate barometer of the passing of time.  Meanwhile, “Ilusão” shows that the wonderful shaping of these songs isn’t reliant on a fast start.  The quintet begins the song with the gentleness of a lullaby before gradually picking up the pace, and peaking just before a return to peace for the finale.  On “Barbante,” the rhythm section goes old-school, and the inclusion of some swing and a bassline that walks with a familiar cadence is a comforting reminder that even the more out there tracks really haven’t wandered all that far from home.

A seriously absorbing album.

Your album personnel:  João Paulo Rosado (double & electric basses), João Guimarães (saxophones), António Pedro Neves (guitar), Hugo Raro (piano) and António Torres Pinto (drums).

The album is Self-Produced.

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

Jazz from the Porto, Portugal scene.

Cool cover art by Maria Monica.

Available at:  Bandcamp