Dec 28 2017
Best of 2017 #08: Red Planet with Bill Carrothers – “Red Planet with Bill Carrothers” (Shifting Paradigm)
There’s a fireplace warmth emitted by the guitar-bass-drums trio Red Planet, and it’s a quality of their music whether the tune be a post-bop or folk jazz piece or an adaptation of something else altogether. There’s an icy precision to the way that pianist Bill Carrothers delivers a melody, and this is true if it’s framed by a conventional jazz structure or something freer and disembodied from a typical format. Together, on Red Planet with Bill Carrothers, those opposing characteristics take on a complementary relationship, and the result are dreamy tunes with stark outlines. What’s remarkable about this recording is that this inimitable sound carries with the same strength whether they are performing an original composition or something by Coltrane or Monk. This is not in-your-face music. It’s warm and welcoming and often quite beautiful. But it’s singular personality makes a huge impression, stamps itself into every note, each phrase, and it’s why the memory of the songs continues to linger long after the album is over. Just outstanding.
Music from Minneapolis, MN.
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Of the many protest albums to surface in 2017, the recording debut of Irreversible Entanglements is what rises up and above the crowd. A quintet of vocalist Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother), alto saxophonist Keir Neuringer, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, double bassist Luke Stewart and drummer Tcheser Holmes, they stand up to what’s wrong, voice and instruments in unity and channeling a rage that won’t be contained. In a year when it seemed so much went to hell and the flaws emerged all around us, Irreversible Entanglements is what it sounds like to fight back. And in a context outside of politics and society, this album isn’t so easily carried through. Spoken word and free improvisation rarely see such a remarkable confluence as on this recording, where each word seems perfectly married to an instrumental phrase, where the changes of intensity of the former rise and fall with those of the latter, and where inflections and patterns and running narratives have a complementary relationship like they were fated to be together from the very start. Irreversible Entanglements has a specific perspective, a blunt point of view, and it resonates with a power that transcends its personal meaning and touches upon the protest against everything that’s corrupt. This is the gold standard for protest albums.
The music of Hvalfugl is so damn beautiful. The trio’s debut album By stakes out territory where Scandinavian folk and Nordic Jazz share a border, which means you’re gonna get some lovely melodic imagery cast out into a thick, moody ambiance. Some of this music dances joyfully about, while other pieces are made from the stuff of serenity. Opening track “Novemberhymne” still reels me in as easily as the very first time I hit play on this lovely recording, and the melodic hooks of “Op Nord” and title-track “Hvalfugl” make sure my ear isn’t going anywhere. The trio of bassist Anders Juel Bomholt, guitarist Jeppe Lavsen and pianist Jonathan Fjord Bredholt put on an excellent display of how economical melodies can result in a wealth of emotional connections. By remains one of the most beautiful things I’ve heard in 2017
Though primarily a work of modern jazz and chamber, Clean is informed by the music of Steve Reich, Kendrick Lamar and Philip Glass… influences that bleed into the music with a remarkable subtlety. Their effect is revealed in harmonic roll-outs, pulsing rhythms, a narrative-like melodic development, and moments of stunning minimalism at the eye of a storm… an undercurrent of influence like an untold strategy guiding the hand of active participants. It’s an effect not unlike that of an author mapping out a storyline, which is an apt metaphor in light of the structure Paul Jones provides his excellent 2017 recording. Full of recurring themes, dramatic plot twists, and inter-character tensions, there’s an abiding sense of novella in sonic form. There are countless jaw-dropping moments of beauty on this album, and at times, it seems like it could go on forever… and then it’s suddenly over, far too soon. This recording fell just outside the official Top Ten, but there’s every argument to be made that not only did it deserve to be included, but that it earned a slot in the top half. Just a wonderful album.
Dec 29 2017
Best of 2017 #07: Anne Quillier 6tet – “Dusty Shelters” (Label Pince-Oreilles)
Music from Lyon, France.
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By davesumner • Recap: Best of 2017 • 0 • Tags: Anne Quillier, Jazz - Best of 2017, Label Pince-Oreilles, Lyon (France)