Best Jazz of 2019

Jan 21 2020

Best of 2019 #58: Avram Fefer Quartet – “Testament”

 

So very often on the 2019 release from Avram Fefer, the impression given is of one teetering on the brink of it all falling apart.  And, yet, there is another impression, much greater its impact so that it eclipses the first… and that is of a choreographed dance, where the chaos is merely a single component of a much larger theme of celebration.  And that is what Testament boils down to, a celebration, a dance of joy, of the blues for their sadness and their hope and their astounding approximation of the miracle/curse of life.  This was an album that 2019 needed desperately.

Your album personnel:  Avram Fefer (alto & tenor saxophones), Marc Ribot (electric guitar), Eric Revis (acoustic bass), and Chad Taylor (drums).

Released on Clean Feed Records.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at: Bandcamp – Amazon

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Jan 20 2020

Best of 2019 #59: Danketsu 9 – “Towards a Walk in the Sun”

 

Patrick Shiroishi knows how to make edgy music feel warm as sunlight. He takes the talent to its extreme on this gorgeous live session, 47 uninterrupted minutes of a tenuous serenity, like how a tiny splash from a pebble on the placid lake surface sends ripples everywhere, unending, an undercurrent of tension in an otherwise peaceful life.  Some of Shiroishi’s music gets pretty volatile, but even then, the comforting, almost contemplative presence that’s on full display here will exert its influence during moments of extreme intensity.  In terms of recorded music, the saxophonist had an excellent 2019; Let this be your launching point to discovering more of it.

Your album personnel:  Patrick Shiroishi (alto & tenor saxophones), Ang Wilson (flute), Dylan Fujioka (accordion, percussion), Jason Adams (cello), Ken Moore (double bass), Kelly Coats (flute), Mallory Soto (voice), Noah Guevara (guitar), and Pauline Lay (violin).

Released on Patient Sounds Records.

Music from Los Angeles, CA.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp

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Jan 20 2020

Best of 2019 #60: Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science – “Waiting Game”

 

When I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily, I stated, “There’s nuance to this music, but the message is undeniably blunt: On her new release, Terri Lyne Carrington is calling society out. Waiting Game is a rebuke to inequality, and each piece shines a spotlight on the ways it manifests itself in the world.”  There’s no way to write about this album without bringing in that context.

Many recordings, most even, it’s not difficult to interface with the music in an environment completely stripped of its context.  How we, as listeners, choose to interpret the music is entirely based on how each of us as individuals are wired, and the resulting imagery and messages may veer dramatically far away from the musician’s intent.  This is true of all art, and it is, in fact, a trait of creativity that is powerful and humanistic and essential.  But as the 2019 release from Terri Lyne Carrington proves so adeptly, some albums simply won’t allow the context to be shed quite so easily.  This is protest music through and through, it names names, and it forces us as listeners to see what’s really happening, gives us no other choice but to face up to it, no matter how much we’d prefer a reprieve from the world, just long enough to listen to some beautiful music.  Carrington’s Waiting Game, comprised half of mainstream jazz tunes and the other half an improvised suite, certainly is beautiful music in its way, but there’s no escaping the fact that it was created in a world full of so much ugliness.  Now, more than ever, we need this music.

Your album personnel:  Terri Lyne Carrington (drums, vocals), Aaron Parks (piano), Matthew Stevens (guitar), Morgan Guerin (bass, sax), Debo Ray (vocals), Kassa Overall (MC/DJ), and guest vocalists:  Rapsody, Mark Kibble, Nicholas Payton, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Meshell Ndegeocello, Esperanza Spalding, Maimouna Youssef, and Raydar Ellis.

Released on Motema Music.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Amazon – Bandcamp

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Jan 20 2020

Best of 2019 #61: Matt Mitchell – “Phalanx Ambassadors”

 

A strong gust of wind blows through and sweeps up everything in its path.  It whips about in all directions, seeming without purpose or causation, and a random assortment of objects caught in its grasp.  But eventually the motion transmits information, revealing something similar to coordination, a choreography of chaos.  And, suddenly, the random objects are viewed with the perspective of a singular entity, moving with a purposeful motion, and toward some unseen end.  The Matt Mitchell 2019 release Phalanx Ambassadors is the embodiment of this phenomenon.  The change in perspective occurs slowly, but powerfully, as many moving parts gradually coalesce into a unified entity.  And, with repeat listening, it becomes increasingly apparent that the unison was there from the very first note.  This music has jagged edges and whiplash movements and isn’t shy about annihilating a melody if that’s what the moment calls for.  But, ultimately, the signifying characteristic of this compelling album isn’t fury or destruction or entropy, but grace.  The motion of this music is that of walking through life, and all of the chaos that experience brings.

Your album personnel:  Matt Mitchell (piano, Mellotron, Prophet-6), Miles Okazaki (electric & acoustic guitars), Patricia Brennan (vibraphone, marimba), Kim Cass (double bass, electric bass) and Kate Gentile (drums, percussion).

Released on Pi Recordings.

Music from New York City.

Cool album art by Kate Gentile.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Amazon – Bandcamp

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Jan 20 2020

Best of 2019 #62: Led Bib – “It’s Morning”

 

There’s always been something seriously appealing about the raucous electronics jazz of Led Bib.  Some of it has to do with how their exuberance transmits an abounding sense of fun, a quality that increases the more over-the-top their music becomes.  There’s also the aspect of their music that extracts a cerebral reaction, in how the chaos of a particular piece exhibits a sturdy melodicism, not unlike an unsinkable ship in the middle of a malleable hurricane.  But it’s the addition of vocalist Sharron Fortnam to this session that elevates their latest recording up to a whole new plateau.  It was never apparent that a vocalist would ever mesh with this outfit, and yet the way it all shakes out, a vocalist in the fold was the most natural, logical decision ever.  That the music goes through this transformative effect while retaining all of the things that make the music so enjoyable to begin with was no easy task, and its achievement is a trait that makes It’s Morning one of the best recordings of 2019.

Your album personnel:  Sharron Fortnam (vocals), Chris Williams (alto sax), Pete Grogan (alto and tenor saxophones), Elliot Galvin (keyboards, piano), Liran Donin (bass, backing vocals), Mark Holub (drums), and guests:  Jack Hues (vocals), Susanna Gartmayer (bass clarinet), Irene Kepl (violin) and Noid (cello).

Released on RareNoise Records.

Music from London, UK.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at: Bandcamp – Amazon

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