New York City

Jan 18 2020

Best of 2019 #69: Alexa Tarantino – “Winds of Change”

 

I don’t like doing the comparison thing.  It’s an easy target for snark, practically asking to be rebuked, and, when you get to the heart of it, it’s a lazy writing device.  BUT… not for nothing, when I listen to Winds of Change, it’s like the rush of springtime and hope and rejuvenation that I feel when listening to a classic hardbop recording like Duke Pearson’s Sweet Honey Bee.  There’s nothing quite like an album with melodies that loft upward as if given wings, harmonies that stir up gentle breezes that are somehow both warm and cool, and tempos that elicit a sense of what a walk through the park in low-gravity conditions might do for the soul.  Alexa Tarantino brings all this on her 2019 release.  There’s something delightfully old-school about this recording, and sometimes that’s everything.

Your album personnel:  Alexa Tarantino (alto & soprano saxophones, alto flute), Christian Sands (piano), Joe Martin (bass), Rudy Royston (drums), and Nick Finzer (trombone).

Released on Posi-Tone Records.

Music from New York City.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Amazon

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Jul 4 2019

The Round-up: Eventually, the sky surrendered

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Joe Martin – Étoilée (Sunnyside Records)

This is one of those recordings that speaks with a soft voice, but carries as if shouted from the rooftops.  The key is how the quartet of bassist Joe Martin, saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Kevin Hays and drummer Nasheet Waits boost the resonance of a gently stated melody.  There’s an almost casual complexion to the delivery of each tune on Étoilée, which seems counter-intuitive to just how riveting they are.  It’s reminiscent of Clifford Jordan and his Magic Triangle quartet sighing out “One for Amos” on a quiet evening, and how it is charged with a relentless electricity.  Music from NYC.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Organic Pulse Ensemble – Transcending the Sum (Urban Waves Records)

Here’s your modern spiritual jazz fix for today.  The ensemble is actually a one-musician crew of Gustav Horneij.  This album is all about the grooves, and how Horneij layers one section of instrumentation over the other until the dividing lines between melody, harmony and rhythm becomes indistinguishable.  It’s springtime, and this is the kind of soundtrack you want to help erase the memory of yet another winter passed.  Music from northern Sweden.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Tune iusto – Tune iusto (Utopia Records)

This is an outstanding session.  It all hangs on the melody, even when it’s barely mentioned at all.  There’s a sense of heightened improvisation, where the orbit of the music circling that melodic inspiration might move with the patience of the moon crossing the nighttime sky.  Saxophone, piano, drums, some effects are the ingredients used to form all kinds of cohesion between the musicians.  Sometimes the music has a little hop to it, sometimes it sighs contentedly, sometimes it skips briskly like a stone across the water, and sometimes it drifts slowly like a thick fog.  I can’t find anything online about this album.  There’s nothing.  I may have tracked down the Facebook pages of two of the musicians, but it’s difficult to confirm.  But there isn’t a weak link on this recording.  Solid from start to finish.  Music from Moscow, Russia.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Qi Gang – Music For Elevators (Self-Produced)

This likable session is where modern jazz fusion meets jam band.  Aside from one track where volatility eclipses structure, this is by and large one long expression of a single melodic idea.  Guitar and keys and drums and some effects, and it just kind of rolls along like the currents of a river curving along the embankment while the sun sparkles upon its surface.  Music from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Contrast Trio – Music For Luminale IM (Bimba Records)

There plenty of fascinating moments on this jazz-electronica session from Contrast Trio.  Its sound and imagery is heavily cinematic, which could be just as much to do with the musicians’ normal expressionism as it does that this music was intended for a soundtrack.  Drums and saxophones fall right into place with modular synths and samplers.  Field recordings and Ukrainian folk augment what already shakes out as a pretty cool sound.  Music from Frankfurt, Germany.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

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Jun 19 2019

Album of the Day: Romain Collin – “Tiny Lights”

 

Artist:  Romain Collin

Album:  Tiny Lights

Label:  XM Records

Style:  Electro-acoustic

Favorite Track:  “Overflow”

Music from:  New York City

What I like about it:  This is something completely new from Romain Collin, but the change is not terribly shocking.  The pianist has previously displayed a proclivity for diving deep into a melody, and focusing not just on the depth of its waters, but also the way flickers of sunlight were captured on its rippled surface.  I like how Tiny Lights simply sees that approach to its logical conclusion, and how the dramatic surges of melodic intent are less about an evolving sound and more about Collin wanting to reflect changes through the shapes of the initial splash upon contact.  I like how the pianist amps up the use of electronic effects on some pieces, where before he might have gone more with restraint.  I also like the addition of strings and electric guitar and the huge waves they elicit, but I also like the small touches, like the gentle, tuneful whistle on tracks “Los Angeles” and “Reprise.”  Perhaps most of all, I love the experience of being there as a musician explores new and existing paths over the course of their life, and how those manifest in the thrilling landmarks of new recordings.

Your album personnel:  Romain Collin (piano, moog Taurus, vocal effects), Matthew Stevens (electric guitar), Obed Calvaire (acoustic and electronic drums, kazuma jinnouchi string arrangements) and guests: City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Available at:  Amazon

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

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Apr 23 2019

The Round-up: This is where we’re at

 

Here is some very good new music

 

Anat Fort Trio – Colour (Sunnyside Records)

There’s a comforting fireplace presence to the latest from Anat Fort, and in the way she brings a melody to light, there’s also a hypnotic effect not unlike the flickering motion of flames dancing off the surface of wood.  Influences of modern jazz, blues, gospel and folk shift back and forth, exerting their influence just enough to be felt, while maintaining an equilibrium between the different forms of expression that color the album’s pieces.  This is music that will fit any time or place.  Long-time collaborators bassist Gary Wang and drummer Roland Schneider contribute to this session, and thus continue a long and fruitful partnership with Fort.  Music from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Artist site | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Fergus McCreadie Trio – Turas (Self-Produced)

A really strong debut from Fergus McCreadie.  The pianist lets the melody speak with a bold voice, and then lets it linger long after his trio has begun seeing where it will take them.  That kind of resonance especially pays off when they circle back to the opening statement, and so there’s a satisfying sense of returning home.  Along with bassist David Bowden and drummer Stephen Henderson, McCreadie’s trio sticks primarily to a modern straight-ahead sound for piano trio, a style particularly represented by Brad Mehldau.  And that works to this music’s favor, where harmonic potential is the doorway to melodic exploration.  This is actually the second time recently that McCreadie has made an appearance in a Round-up column.  Music from Glasgow, Scotland.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Elisha, Carter, Harlos & Elisha – Before or After (EYEtone Records)

What carries this album along is the way in which a focused intensity is maintained even during the performance’s sparsest moments.  Pianist Haim Elisha, wind instrumentalist Daniel Carter, bassist Jeremy Harlos and drummer-percussionist Ehran Elisha exhibit a chamber sensibility in the course of free improvisation roaming tendencies, and it creates fertile soil in which to nurture the natural tension created by shaking free of a self-imposed structure.  Music from NYC.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Max Johnk Quartet – allweather (Self-Produced)

There’s all kinds of straight-ahead goodness on the sophomore release from Max Johnk.  The bassist and his quartet with tenor saxophonist Chris Schuster, trombonist Steve Wallevand and drummer Joel Beseler-Thompson find the right balance between melodic warmth and rhythmic heat, and gets it to where one feeds off the other in an unending cycle of lively energy.  Those interactions between the musicians when they’re all moving in different directions while keeping a tight center of focus to make the motion seem completely in sync is when the quartet shines strongest.  Music from Fargo, North Dakota.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Kliment Angelovski Trio – Inquistion (PMG Recordings)

Well, this is a fun and intriguing session.  Guitarist Kliment Angelovski, accordionist Gjorgji Serafimovski and percussionist Mihail Parushev have created an album that has a presence as thick as a fog, and just as ethereal.  There’s a looseness to the delivery that is plenty appealing, and just the nature of its unconventional sound makes it tough to stop listening.  It appears this session was recorded back in ’96 and just now seeing the light of day.  Not sure exactly, but I definitely wanted to get a quick mention in.  Music from Macedonia.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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Feb 27 2019

Album of the Day: Jennifer Wharton’s Bonegasm – “Bonegasm”

 

Artist:  Jennifer Wharton’s Bonegasm

Album:  Bonegasm

Label:  Sunnyside Records

Favorite track: “Low Ball”

Style:  New old-school

Music from:  New York City

What I like about it:  Maybe I’m just anxious for the cabin fever gloom and cold of winter to end or maybe it’s that Jennifer Wharton has synthesized down a day’s worth of glorious spring weather into sonic form.  I like how free and light this music is, and, yet, much in the same way that sunlight can express a heady presence, all that lightness to the trombonist’s debut possesses a certain gravity, like a serious expression of idle fun.  Three other trombonist’s fill out slots in Wharton’s septet, and I like how she makes full use of the harmonic possibilities without it suppressing the rhythmic dialog.

Your album personnel:  Jennifer Wharton (bass trombone, vocal), John Fedchock (trombone), Nate Mayland (trombone), Alan Ferber (trombone), Michael Eckroth (piano), Evan Gregor (bass), Don Peretz (drums) and guest: Mauricio Herrera (percussion).

Available at:  Amazon | Bandcamp

Be sure to check out the artist’s site.

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