Dec 7 2018

Album of the Day: “Let Me Be Unwound” by Weird Turn Pro

 

Who:  Weird Turn Pro

Album:  Let Me Be Unwound

Label:  Self-Produced

Style:  Post-jazz that phases between states of post-bop, minimalism and drone-rock

Favorite Track:  Finlandia

Hometown:  New Hampshire, Seacoast region

What I like about it:  This sextet really floats my boat how they enter into a seriously captivating melodic drone.  It’s like staring at warped sunlight rippling at the bottom of a blue pool.  It’s comforting as hell.  But I’m just as thankful for when they break into something more common to the modern post-bop sound, when some bounce and some heat nullify the risk of the music dissipating into just atmospheric bliss.  I mean, there would’ve been nothing wrong with that, but it suits the band well that they’re not afraid to break listeners from their thoughts.

Extra notes:  I also wrote about their last album The Repeatedly Answered Question.  I’m no less fond of it now than I was then.  If you like their new one, there’s absolutely no reason not to scoop that one up, too.

Your album personnel:  Mike Effenberger (keyboards), Rob Gerry (bass), Mike Walsh (drums), Matt Langley (reeds), Chris Gagne (trombone) and Chris Klaxton (trumpet).

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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

Be sure to check out their artist site.

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Dec 6 2018

Now up: November’s Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations

 

Now up, my latest Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations for The Bandcamp Daily.  The newest monthly installment covers albums for November 2018.  There’s ten primary recommendations in total, but, as always, I’ve added some sidecar recommendations to boot.  Because, really, ten is not enough.  There’s some familiar names to regular visitors of this site (and my other outlets), and, of course, there’s some names that’ll be brand new to you just as they were to me.

Follow this LINK to read those recommendations and listen to music from each album.

And check out past recommendations by running through the archives.

Have fun going through the list!

Cheers.

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Dec 3 2018

The Round-up: The process had lost its magic long ago

 

Here is some very good new music

 

Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble – The Lullaby Project (Tapestry Records)

Felipe Salles doesn’t have to come at you with a hard sell on his latest.  The comforting sighs of melody and soothing waves of harmony are plenty evidence of his intent to compose for jazz orchestra the Brazilian lullabies of his childhood.  Even when his ensemble lets loose a surge of intensity, there’s always a sense of goal=sweet dreams.  The whole album is gorgeous, but good god, that fourth movement is stunning.  Music from NYC.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Amazon

 

Andrew Hadro – For Us, The Living II: Marcescence (Tone Rogue Records)

This is the second release in Andrew Hadro‘s For Us, The Living series, and, really, the important point to let sink in is that this is seriously engaging music.  Sometimes the engagement is how a ballad gets the listener to sink into its embrace, and sometimes that engagement comes via a riveting dialog, full of lyricism and vivid imagery.  The same could be said about the initial recording, which I still enjoy playing from time to time.  The theme of the two recordings is a focus on living composers, and that’s always thrown me a bit, since the first in the series was mostly Hadro originals.  The current installment swings the ratio in the other direction (including comps by Wayne Shorter, Sean Pentland, Chris Cheek, and Julian Shore… who also performs on the newest), and seems more in line with the intent.  Included among the renditions is a cover of Radiohead’s “Faust Arp,” and I don’t care how many of you groan god, do we really need another Radiohead cover? my answer is always yes, we do.  The frequency of occurrence in no way negates how much loveliness available to jazz musicians to suss out from a Radiohead tune.  There’s also a cover Bill Frisell’s “Throughout,” which as any casual reader of this site knows, that’s the fastest way to get my attention.  The act of recognizing a new jazz songbook of modern standards is an intriguing concept, and seems like the kind of thing that could bring a sense of cohesion to a modern scene that is (wonderfully) unconstrained and fragmented in its forms of expression.  The idea of one original included among those composed in the modern era appeals to me; it’ll be interesting to see if Hadro continues in that direction.  Music from NYC.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Sons of Kemet – Your Queen is a Reptile (Impulse Records)

Though justifiably attributed as a focal point of the resurgent London music scene, the thing of it is, Shabaka Hutchings creative trajectory covers more geography than just one locale.  The latest from Sons of Kemet is a testament to that, and this is something measured by its sonic perspective as well as one political.  The rhythmic dialogues are like points on a map, marking a journey between cities, countries and continents.  The album and song titles are a shout across the bow, simultaneously undercutting the idea of royal lineage and lofting up an alternate suggestion of who is the true royalty of these times.  But transcending the intriguing underpinnings of this album is how supremely joyful the music is.  The tuba of Theon Cross is just as responsible for the delightful rhythmic bounce as the cast of drummers who contribute, and the guest vocalists add some heat to the affair along with additional saxophonists Nubya Garcia and Pete Wareham.  Music from London.

Artist site | Buy:  Amazon

 

Rafael Thomaz Septeto – Ainda dá tempo? (Tratore)

This is just a gorgeous session from guitarist Rafael Thomaz.  A unity of Brazilian, classical and jazz, his septet brings out the beauty of each melody, and lets the harmonies shine like the heavens opening up for all to see.  There are some interludes spread throughout, and their introspective nature is a nice contrasting element.  Flutist Cesar Pereira, oboist Tiago Marques, clarinetist Alexandre Ribeiro, saxophonist Bruno Cabral, bassist Henrique Tarrason and drummer Fabio Augustinis join Thomaz on this lovely recording.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

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Nov 29 2018

Christian Balvig has shattered my skepticism

 

I kept expecting this album to make me feel silly.  At some point, the thinking went, I would achieve a certain perspective, and everything I believed about this recording would be revealed as a bit premature.  But over and over and over again I listen to this gorgeous new album by the Christian Balvig 6tet, and I’m starting to think that my swooning first impressions was an accurate one.

Look, sometimes I really connect with a recording.  I hear something beautiful, something that strikes me dead center of my heart, and I go up to the rooftops and shout its name to the world.  And, sometimes, after some acclimation to the music’s beauty, I modulate my opinion down a bit, and regard the music as something more of an ordinary beauty deserving of an even-handed assessment.

This is not an apology, nor am I even a little bit embarrassed about some of my more effusive posts that my preamble refers to.  I cherish those initial connections to beautiful music as much, if not more, than those states of connection where a calm pragmatism instructs my emotional response.  It’s just, well, sometimes I hold off before running up to the rooftops preparing to shout.  It’s a learned skepticism.

Christian Balvig’s exquisite chamber jazz recording Music for Humans had me wary.  It’s true.  It just seemed too beautiful.  The way he gets a string trio to swoop right in and take his piano trio’s melodic phrasings airborne had me hooked right from the start.  The rhythmic chatter that makes the comforting effect of raindrops seem pale by comparison got those hooks in deeper.  That way he brings an ominous tone to a track like “How Many Eyes Are Mirrored In The Moon,” a reminder that as beautiful as the storm may be, it has the power to damage, provides some necessary weightiness as a counterbalance to all of the uplifting moments.  These are a few of the album’s qualities that have left me moonstruck.  To itemize them feels, to me, as if I’m diminishing their effect, as if skewing the perspective that this album’s majesty is revealed in its fullness and not its bullet points.

I know I should hesitate before saying things like this is one of the most beautiful things I’ve heard all year.  I know better.  Except it’s true.  This is one of the most beautiful things I’ve heard all year.  And if that sounds familiar, it’s probably ’cause you heard me shouting it from the rooftops.

Your album personnel:  Christian Balvig (piano), Louise Gorm (violin), MIkkel Schreiber (viola), Maria Isabel Edlund (cello), Jens Mikkel Madsen (bass) and Siv Øyunn Kjenstad (drums).

Released on AMP Music & Records.

Music from Oslo, Norway.

Available at:  Amazon

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Nov 24 2018

The Round-up: There was nothing to do except for what I always did

 

Here is some very good new music

 

Steve Swell – Music for Six Musicians: Hommage à Olivier Messiaen (Silkheart Records)

It says it right there in the title:  Six musicians.  And, yet, every time I’ve sat down to write about this album, I do another google search to confirm that, in fact, Steve Swell did not invite an orchestra to perform on this recording.  This music is dense, yet precise, like staring down at the intricacy of a microchip.  It’s also rich with textures, a kaleidoscopic explosion of sound that is difficult to absorb in its totality.  The difference between the states of volatile dissonance and comforting melodicism are a fine line, and it’s a quality that behaves as a unifying force.  The NYC-based trombonist is joined by alto saxophonist Rob Brown, violinist-violist Jason Kao Hwang, cellist Tomas Ulrich, percussionist Jim Pugliese and Robert Boston on both piano and organ.  This music is immense.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Yoni Kretzmer’s New Dilemma – Months, Weeks and Days (OutNow Recordings)

I didn’t fully appreciate the furious blasts of avant-garde dissonance that leads out this recording until it slowly receded into a lovely harmonic bliss of chamber music.  This jazz improv-chamber session from Yoni Kretzmer’s New Dilemma hits all the right notes, but how it all unfolds is why this music is so damn charismatic.  Just outstanding.  New Dilemma is tenor saxophonist Yoni Kretzmer, violist Frantz Loriot, cellist Christopher Hoffman, bass clarinetist Josh Sinton, double bassist Pascal Niggenkemper and drummer Flin Van Hemmen.  Music from Brooklyn, NY.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Jesse Peterson Quartet – Man of the Earth (Ears & Eyes Records)

There’s an infectious enthusiasm to the debut from Jesse Peterson.  But above and beyond that effusiveness are the thick melodies and rhythmic engagement that possesses an anthemic nature.  When you’re feeling a bit down in the dumps, this is the album you go have a beer with to get your spirits picked back up.  The drummer is joined by saxophonist Adam Scheit, pianist Jorn Swart and bassist Andrew Schiller.  Music from NYC.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Auziņš/Čudars/Arutyunyan – Baltic (Self-Produced)

The title-track on this curious recording from the trio of saxophonist Kārlis Auziņš, guitarist Matīss Čudars and drummer Ivars Arutyunyan digs into a blues riff and milks it for all its got.  It’s addictive and it’s seductive and it’s the kind of track that can rope a listener in and not let them go.  But it’s those pieces where dissonance comes in sudden bursts and the concept of song structure isn’t one given much regard when the album shines its strongest.  It’s an odd album with an odd sound, and it’s got a magnetic personality.  Music from Riga, Latvia.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Evan Salvacion Levine – Mestizo (Shifting Paradigm Records)

There’s a pleasant, breezy atmosphere to this trio session from bassist Evan Salvacion Levine, guitarist Matt Gold and drummer Andrew Green.  Pointed melodies are delivered with a casualness that almost belies their sharp precision.  That alone is pretty compelling, but the charm of the recording radiates from the rich rhythmic dialog the trio develops along the way.  That person you know who is just so amicable and easy to like and gets along with everyone?  This album is the sonic equivalent.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

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