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.
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 
There’s an unsettling moment at the peak of a morning sunrise, when the sun has cleared the horizon, and the shades of pinks, oranges, and deep blues show signs of daytime, and the city, which had been hushed to that point, begins to hum with wakefulness and activity. It’s a moment that produces cracks in the serenity with the knowledge that peacefulness is coming to an end, and the clash and motion and disruption of daily life is the next thing to crest the horizon. That is the embodiment of The Anatomy of Light. The Sly Horizon trio of trombonist Rick Parker, seven-string guitarist 
Precise like origami, swift as a knife fight, and cryptic as midnight: These are the qualities that
Jan 21 2020
Best of 2019 #58: Avram Fefer Quartet – “Testament”
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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By davesumner • Recap: Best of 2019 • 0 • Tags: Avram Fefer, Best Jazz of 2019, Chad Taylor, Clean Feed Records, Eric Revis, Marc Ribot, New York City