Jul 27 2012
Tiny Reviews: Jerome Sabbagh, Miles Okazaki, Chicago Underground Duo & The Kentucky Derby
Tiny Reviews, featuring: Jerome Sabbagh Plugged In, Miles Okazaki Figurations, Chicago Underground Duo Age of Energy, Various Artists The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved.
*****
Jerome Sabbagh – Plugged In
Tenor saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh gets around. Capable of thriving in all types of jazz environments, he’s worked with a disparate group of artists (Ben Monder to Guillermo Klein, to name one such range), not to mention albums under his own name. On this current release, Sabbagh leads a quartet that rounds out with Fender Rhodes/keyboards, electric bass, and drums. Inclusion of electric keys and electric bass might give the impression that this album is heavy on groove. In fact, it’s a practical dissertation on how an artist can create hazy melodies while still resting the entire foundation of the composition upon its back. Beautiful.
Your album personnel: Jerome Sabbagh (tenor sax), Jozef Dumoulin (Fender Rhodes, keyboards), Patrice Blanchard (electric bass), and Rudy Royston (drums).
Released on the Bee Jazz label. Jazz from NYC.
Available at eMusic.
Miles Okazaki – Figurations
Guitarist Miles Okazaki albums feel like a definitive road map for distractible drivers. What begins as a set course often includes several tangential paths taken on the way to the destination. The result is thrilling ride full of diversity and change. Figurations is the third in his planned trilogy of albums, and performed live.
Your album personnel: Miles Okazaki (guitar), Miguel Zenon (alto sax), Thomas Morgan (bass), and Dan Weiss (drums).
Released on the Sunnyside Records label. Jazz from the Brooklyn, NY scene.
Available at eMusic.
Chicago Underground Duo – Age of Energy
Sixth release as the Chicago Underground Duo from Chad Taylor and Rob Mazurek. A mix of free jazz, world jazz instruments, and a Sonic Boom dose of electronic effects. Cornet, drums, mbira, drum machine, and electronics are the arsenal of choice. Much of the album was recorded live with no overdubbing. Switches seamlessly between music of fire, air, and water. Really a wonderful album that throws enough curveballs to keep the album perpetually interesting and uncategorizable. The sort of avant-garde music that could appeal to a wide cross-section of genre fans.
Released on the Northern Spy Records label. Jazz from the Chicago scene.
Available at eMusic.
Various Artists – The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved
A mixed set of spoken word and music. Based on the Hunter S. Thompson piece on the Kentucky Derby, various actors (and artist Ralph Steadman) read sections of the story with the accompaniment of Bill Frisell and frequent collaborators Curtis Fowlkes (trombone), Ron Miles (trumpet), Eyvind Kang (viola), Doug Wieselman (woodwinds), Jenny Scheinman (violin), Hank Roberts (cello) and Kenny Wollesen (drums, percussion). Hal Willner is involved in this project, which should give many of you an idea of how strange and alluring this project is.
Released on 429 Records label. Visit their site for streaming samples and free tracks.
Available at eMusic.
*****
Portions of these reviews were originally used in my Jazz Picks weekly article for eMusic, so here’s some language protecting their rights as the one to hire me to write about new jazz arrivals to their site…
“New Arrivals Jazz Picks“ and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks“ and “New Arrivals Jazz Picks”, reprints courtesy of eMusic.com, Inc.
© 2012 eMusic.com, Inc.
As always, my sincere thanks to eMusic for the gig. Cheers.
Aug 14 2012
Sunny Kim – “Painter’s Eye”
I keep saying that I’ve reached my limit on Jazz vocals albums for 2012, but it seems like every month there’s a new one to make me reverse that decision. Today, it’s Sunny Kim‘s Painter’s Eye.
Recalling the heavenly symbiosis of Latin vocalist Gabriela and guitarist Bill Frisell, the collaboration of Kim’s Korean lyrics and Ben Monder’s moody guitar make Painter’s Eye absolutely shine. The entire album is something of a stunning experience, and it might just break a few hearts, too.
Your album personnel: Sunny Kim (vocals), Ben Monder (guitar), Chris Speed (tenor sax), Sean Conly (bass), Angelica Sanchez (piano), and Richie Barshay (drums), Pheeroan AkLaff (drums).
A vocalist that sounds driven to elicit the imagery of her words with the methods of an Impressionist artist, Kim’s delivery evokes permutations of the melody without ever needing to definitely state it. Bending notes that dive and rise without warning, yet never veer into the avant-garde aeronautics of, say, a Jen Shyu (who is an experience all to herself), Kim’s voice provides thrilling moments while remaining tethered to the earth.
The music is based on the work of Korean painter and poet Sun Doo Kim, and though that is the source of the initial inspiration, it clearly blossomed in the recording studio.
As mentioned in the opening, the interaction between Kim and Monder makes this album smolder with emotion. Songs like “Passing,” “In Silence,” and “A Slow Landscape” find Kim matching tension-filled vocals with Monder’s slow dramatic notes on guitar. Even when other instruments provide accompaniment, the music is a movie scene of two actors sitting across from one another and locking eyes; everything else is just fuzzy imagery in the background.
However, when the compositions bring the other musicians into the spotlight, the album resonates just as strongly. The sound of Conly’s bass like footfalls ominously approaching from the darkness and the twinkling starlight of Sanchez’s piano are the treatments that bring black & white photos their vibrancy and life. The drums of Aklaff and Barsay are the spray and foam of waves that never make it to shore; not the same, but related in form and purpose. Speed’s tenor sax brings a luxuriant heat that ably counterbalances the heavier aspects of the recording.
And though the album is best defined by its smoldering intensity, there are songs that present facets of that sound with an alternate touch.
“A Tree and a Bird” has the whimsical seriousness of a children’s lullaby, providing strange truths in a simple melody.
On “In Between,” Sanchez’s piano and Speed’s sax add a warmth to Kim’s voice that is like the rising sun fighting back the cold winter night that had settled over the city. The music is soft and sublime and takes all the hurt away.
“Bloom and Wither” comes off as a bit scattered, but it doesn’t sound unintentional. The proof of intent is best illustrated when Speed enters at the song’s halfway mark and provides the thread that weaves all the parts into a cohesive whole.
And “Worm,” surges and ebbs with the motion of the creature the song titled shares its name with.
Painter’s Eye doesn’t cover a lot of ground. Instead, it stares at a small spot and slowly, delicately, explores the glorious intricacies and their infinite possibilities, exalting the worlds within worlds, with the unhurried grace of one with all the time in the world on their hands. This is an album that will, in turn, slowly reveal itself as something very special.
There is a very nice passage written by Kim about her inspiration for the album on the album label’s artist page for Kim.
Released on the Sunnyside Records label. Jazz from NYC.
Available at eMusic. Available at Bandcamp. Available at Amazon: CD | MP3
Like this:
By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2012 Releases • 1