Jan 19 2020
Best of 2019 #64: Malboro Bled – “Malboro Bled”
Damn but I like how this trio flexes a melody. It’s all about the shows of strength on the eponymous debut from the Malboro Bled, but the charm of the album is in how that strength translates to its momentum. The motion, judged on its own merits, is pretty addictive, but how it shapes a melody’s development or the way in which it builds to a peak of harmonic bliss or digs into a thick groove is where the power’s true source of goodness shines through. It’s also why the moments of peacefulness resonate so much more strongly. Cellist Bruno Ducret, drummer Maxime Rouayroux, and bass saxophonist Fred Gastard have put together an album that is exciting as hell, and it’s often not until the ride is over that it sinks in just how much fun it is, too.
Your album personnel: Bruno Ducret (cello), Maxime Rouayroux (drums), and Fred Gastard (bass saxophone).
The album is Self-Produced.
Music from Bled, Slovenia.
I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.
Jan 31 2020
Best of 2019 #18: Laughing Bastards – “Unanimal”
There’s a pretty big statement made when you drop your own original compositions into the mix with those of Carla Bley and John Lurie, and they fall in with the crowd like family. The quintet Laughing Bastards clearly subscribe to the idea of strange and beautiful music, and hold the sentiment that collisions of melodic ideas are the best kind of dissonance. There’s a curious allure to these pieces by the Belgium-based ensemble, an attraction that isn’t immediately attributable to one particular quality or characteristic. But then, and quite suddenly, one of those jumbled melodic concepts become a concrete vision, and it’s as gorgeous a spectacle to behold as gold sunlight breaking through the deepest clouds of grey. I have no idea how this album flew under the radar of so many, but it’s a shame that it did, because it’s one of the most beautiful things to hit the shelves in 2019.
Your album personnel: Michel Mast (tenor sax), Jan-Sebastiaan Degeyter (guitar), Anneleen Boehme (double bass), Marcos della Rocha (drums), and Eline Duerinck (cello).
The album is Self-Produced, and released as Ham Records.
Music from Ghent, Belgium.
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By davesumner • Recap: Best of 2019 • 3 • Tags: Best Jazz of 2019, Cello, Ghent (Belgium), Laughing Bastards, Self-Produced