New York City

Jan 31 2020

Best of 2019 #17: Camila Meza & the Nectar Orchestra – “Ámbar”

 

The surprising thing about Camila Meza and her new recording Ámbar is that this really shouldn’t be that surprising.  And yet, it is.  In fact, it’s stunning.  The vocalist-guitarist made a huge impression with her contributions to Ryan Keberle’s Azul Infinito and Fabian Almazan’s Alcanza, her voice shining like a sun at the center of all things.  And she was a light who illuminated every other musician on the recording as brightly as she herself, and made it inconsequential who belonged to the orbit of the other.  That ability to be at the center of things while equally and inextricably connected to every other element of the music is an enviable balance for a vocalist to strike.  Her own recording, the 2016 Traces on Sunnyside Records, further displayed Meza’s talent for an arresting delivery that makes one snap to attention while also conveying a soothing comfort.

But even here, Ámbar seems like a plateau achieved more audacious than anything reasonably anticipated for her next recording.  The strings arrangements of her Nectar Orchestra melt into the firm embrace of both jazz ensemble and Chilean folk, except during those passages where the strings say to hell with staying grounded in rhythmic patterns, let’s go soaring.  This is an album of many great proclamations and big statements, yet never seems far removed from a poignant melody and soft touch.  Inspired renditions of songs by Elliot Smith, Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays, Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes, and Milton Nascimento snap right into place with Meza originals, and come off sounding like they’d all been meant for this project on exactly this very day.  It’s one of the very best recordings of 2019, and, in the context of Meza’s recording career, it wholly decimates all measures of what could and should be expected next from her.

Your album personnel:  Camila Meza (vocal, acoustic & electric guitars); Eden Ladin (piano, juno, celesta, keyboards), Noam Wiesenberg (bass, arrangements), Keita Ogawa (drums, percussion), Tomoko Omura (violin), Fung Chern Hwei (violin), Benjamin von Gutzeit (viola), and Brian Sanders (cello).

The Self-Produced album was released on Sony Masterworks.

Music from New York City.

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Jan 30 2020

Best of 2019 #22: Gerald Cleaver & Violet Hour – “Live at Firehouse 12”

 

In a modern jazz world where the forms of expression have become more varied and strange and untethered from the original sounds that marked the first giant steps of jazz, it’s a welcome experience to encounter a recording to remind us what got us all crazy about this music in the first place.  Gerald Cleaver’s live performance recording at Firehouse 12 with his Violet Hour ensemble swings like mad as it charges straight ahead.  The solos make you wish they’d never end except when the sextet comes back together and makes you wish for them to never part ways again.  The production is such that it brings the electricity of the live environment right into your home without any drop-off, and, yet, also leave you a bit jealous of those who were there to hear it in person.  This is Jazz today, this is Jazz as it ever was.

Your album personnel:  Gerald Cleaver (drums), J.D. Allen (tenor sax), Andrew Bishop (bass clarinet, soprano & tenor saxophones), Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), Ben Waltzer (piano), and Chris Lightcap (bass).

Released on Sunnyside Records.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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Jan 29 2020

Best of 2019 #26: Quinsin Nachoff’s Flux – “Path of Totality”

 

“It won’t take much convincing to believe that Quinsin Nachoff’s newest is inspired by a total solar eclipse,” is how I led off my write-up of the saxophonist’s outstanding 2019 release.  “Every bit of this sprawling epic radiates the kind of wonderment associated with the witnessing of celestial events.”  This is music on a grand scale.  There are many elements present on Paths of Totality that made it into past recordings, but there is a sense of interlocking pieces of familiar materials taking a shape far different than what they might have previously, under different conditions and a different time.  But key to this album’s success is how Quinsin Nachoff still makes the music accessible.  Every year there are a handful of projects that attempt to capture a majestic object or focus, and reflect that majesty with music of an equally imposing presence.  More often than not, the resulting music is something to marvel at as if from a distance, and never truly connect with.  But if Paths of Totality is the moon, his music brings the listener close enough to reach out an touch it.  That’s no small thing.  In fact, it might be everything.

Your album personnel:  Quinsin Nachoff (tenor & soprano saxophones), David Binney (alto sax, C melody sax), Matt Mitchell (piano, Prophet 6, modular synthesizer, Novachord, harpsichord, Estey pump harmonium), and guests: Kenny Wollesen (drums, Wollesonic percussion), Nate Wood (drums), Jason Barnsley (1924 Kimball theatre organ), Mark Duggan (marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, crotales, Tibetan singing bowls), Carl Maraghi (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet), Dan Urness, Matt Holman (trumpets), Ryan Keberle (trombones), Alan Ferber (trombone, bass trombone), Orlando Hernández (tap dance), and David Travers-Smith (Buchla 200E analog modular system, EMS Synthi 100 analog/digital hybrid synthesizer, Arp Chroma (Rhodes) analog synthesizer, clavioline, Oberheim SEM, modular Moog).

Released on Whirlwind Recordings.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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Jan 27 2020

Best of 2019 #31: Fabian Almazan Trio – “This Land Abounds With Life”

 

When writing about this album for The Bandcamp Daily, I reference both John Zorn’s Alhambra Love Trio and Marcin Wasilewski Trio’s January as two bird-of-a-feather recordings to This Land Abounds With Life.  On his 2019 release, Fabian Almazan crafts a series of immaculate tunes.  Viewed individually, there isn’t a single track on this album that isn’t pure gold was how I originally phrased it in my original write-up, and I see no reason not to include that statement in my year-end wrap-up.  It’s not just the finely crafted melodies or the rhythms that flow out like riveting conversation, but in how the pianist expands on the best qualities of each, making each piece resonate as something larger than it is when viewed in isolation.  And, of even greater import is how this carries over from piece to piece, as if each composition is having an undercurrent of dialog with each other piece throughout the duration of the recording.  It’s the equivalent of an architectural marvel providing a glimpse of the intricate skeleton of infrastructure that lies behind the ornamentation, illustrating how many types of beauty contribute to the beauty of the whole.  Almazan is doing some special stuff with his Biophilia Records label, and it’s so much more than just a vehicle to feature his own music.  Be that as it may, it’s a welcome opportunity to be able to shine the spotlight on one of his own gems on the Best of 2019.

Your album personnel:  Fabian Almazan (piano, percussion, electronics), Linda May Han Oh (acoustic & electric basses), Henry Cole (drums), and guests: Megan Gould (violin), Monica Davis (violin), Karen Waltuch (viola) and Eleanor Norton (cello).

Released on Biophilia 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 25 2020

Best of 2019 #41: Eri Yamamoto Trio and Choral Chameleon – “Goshu Ondo Suite”

 

Writing about this album for The Bandcamp Daily, I stated, “Even in the context of a modern jazz scene where so much is unconventional, this recording from pianist Eri Yamamoto stands out.”  And it does.  This live performance of Eri Yamamoto is a meeting point between modern jazz and Japanese folk, of her jazz trio and the choir Choral Chameleon.  This meeting point is one of collision.  There is no seamless confluence of different streams of influence here, and it’s this quality that makes the album so thrilling.  It is no different than attempting to pleasantly enjoy the soft twinkling of stars for their peaceful ambiance while simultaneously ruminate on how massive these stars truly are, that they are each a sun, emitting massive amounts of light across great distances, and that some are mere embers of what they once were by the time that light reaches our nighttime sky.  The combination of thoughts big and small, casual and consequential is the seven part Goshu Ondo Suite.

Your album personnel:  Eri Yamamoto (piano), David Ambrosio (bass), Ikuo Takeuchi (drums) and the Choral Chameleon choir.

Released on Aum Fidelity.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Bandcamp – Amazon

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