Self-Produced

Jun 25 2018

The Round-up: Sometimes, being close is the hardest thing

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

David Ake – Humanities (Posi-Tone Records)

It happens quite often on Humanities that a rising intensity becomes a conflagration, and if any attempt at control is being exerted, it has no effect.  And yet, despite it all, there’s a moodiness that hangs over the newest from David Ake, and it has the effect of framing hyperactivity as an introspective matter rather than an emotional one.  It’s why “Groundwork” possesses the hypnotic effect of burning embers even when its flames reach up to the night sky.  It’s why “Stream” etches a path from first note to last even as it pulls apart the bonds that keep it together in a recognizable shape and moving with a concentrated focus.  The pianist has a nice history on the Posi-Tone Records label, and can always be relied upon for doing something a little different with a straight-ahead sound.  Humanities might be the most enjoyable example of that trend.  The pianist is joined by trumpeter Ralph Alessi, guitarist Ben Monder, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Mark Ferber.  Music from Miami, Florida.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:   Amazon

 

Roger Kim – Portrait Maker (Self-Produced)

I’m not sure this chamber jazz session could be any more gorgeous.  Roger Kim‘s large ensemble of strings and wind instruments and voices possess an ethereal presence, but so great is its majesty that the sensation is of clouds that could sweep you off your feet and carry you away.  The guitarist (who also adds some banjo to the mix) titles the first track “Franny and Zooey in the Snow,” and the music captures the essence of a lovely winter day surrounded by snowflakes with the same immediacy that it does the resounding innocence clung to by many of J.D. Salinger’s storybook characters.  The album clocks in a little under thirty minutes.  It’s music that feels like it could go on forever and then suddenly ends too soon.  Music from Oakland, CA.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Emil Miszk & The Sonic Syndicate – Don’t Hesitate! (Alpaka Records)

The sudden transitions between soothing harmonies and caustic dissonance are quite jarring.  But the pattern repeats itself throughout this intriguing session from Emil Miszk & The Sonic Syndicate, and familiarity breeds friendliness.  The trumpeter leads an octet comprised half of wind instruments and the other half of guitar, piano, bass and drums.  It’s the former that’s most responsible for those lovely harmonic passages and the latter for the edginess.  There are moments, however, when the transfer of power between the two achieves a certain balance, a unity of expression, and everything makes sense.  An interesting debut.  Music from Gdańsk, Poland.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Attila Gyárfás – Cloud Factory (Sinistra)

There’s a very fun and wild personality exhibited by this debut from Attila Gyárfás.  Mixing punk rock, modern jazz and Frisellian effects, the drummer shuffles the deck of tones for atmospheric effect and edgy counterweights to the ambience.  He’s joined by the bass and guitar duo of Marco Zenini & Márton Fenyvesi, along with Felician Erlenburg and Jason Alder on wind instruments.  In addition to the changes in tone, the spikes of intensity are as thrilling as the peaceful moments are comforting.  Just a really neat album, and the kind of thing that really shouldn’t fly under the radar.  Not all of you will like this recording, but some of you will fall head over heels for it.  Music from Budapest, Hungary

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Bruno Heinen – Mr. Vertigo (Babel Label)

There’s a distinct personality to the music of Bruno Heinen.  Whether it’s an embrace of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Vivaldi or a set of songs that uses the children’s song “Twinkle Twinkle” as their basis or a spin with the Bill Evans songbook, Heinen’s perspective cuts to the heart of the matter.  His newest is a solo venture, and it’s particularly intriguing to hear how previous projects filter into a solitary setting.  This is especially true of revisiting his Tierkreis project, and how the music box environment falls right into place in the flow of expressionism that marks this set.  Music from London.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

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Jun 20 2018

Want some protest music to focus your rage? The Christopher Ali Solidarity Quartet has got what you need

 

Everything about this album screams protest music.  To Those Who Walked Before Us has got an attitude of stand up for what’s right, stand up and fight.  There’s plenty of different directions a musician can take when giving form to that expression.  Certainly an approach of hard-charging, fist-pounding tempos can be the catalyst for an invocation of principles.  There’s also an open to go subtle and work with a melancholy, almost mournful tone, where the thoughts of what’s lost are the gentle whispers that cause the people to rise up.  The Christopher Ali Solidarity Quartet runs with a method of motion, of pairing a dancing groove with anthemic melodies.  It’s where a bit of catchiness offers up the handholds to spur a protest into action, and to carry it forward like a chant, a meditative state of furious activity.

The quartet of saxophonist Christopher Ali Thorén, oudist Filip Bagewitz, double bassist Alfred Lorinius and drummer Anton Davidsson Norén bring together avant-garde, Swedish and Arabic folk musics and modern jazz for a spellbinding force of language.  There’s a unity to it all, even when one influence takes hold over all others and makes its presence felt.

There are moments of ferocity when the concept of structure barely registers.  And then there are moments of effortless groove, and the flow of the music is like a lighted path of the way ahead.  The best moments incorporate both of those extremes, and the fight and the flow become as one… a place where the act of aggression acquires a certain poetry through motion.  This is best embodied by the staggered shuffle of “Al-Maghrib” and how it possesses a motion resembling that of dance, inciting it from others, but still with that fighting spirit that makes it so much more than a means to an end.

This is a pretty thrilling album.

Your album personnel:  Christopher Ali Thorén (tenor & soprano saxophones), Filip Bagewitz (oud, fretless electric guitar), Alfred Lorinius (double bass) and Anton Davidsson Norén (drums).

This album is Self-Produced.

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from Gothenburg, Sweden.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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Jun 18 2018

The Round-up: Those times were hard

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Eyolf Dale – Return to Mind (Edition Records)

This music dances on air.  Sometimes it skips across the clouds, sometimes it soars a graceful arc high above them, and sometimes it bounces along the currents and surrenders to the will of the motion.  And on Eyolf Dale‘s newest, the path to get there is full of life and activity.  The pianist’s octet works the range of expressionism between modern Euro-bop and chamber, and makes the difference between the two appear as nothing, as but a single breath of imagery.  Wind instruments, strings and percussion abide in equal strengths on his latest, and that balance feeds right into the music’s singular vision.  There are more than a few moments on Return to Mind that stopped me from what I was doing just to marvel at their beauty.  Those moments haven’t lost a bit of their power through the process of repeat listening.  I don’t expect they will for you either.  Music from Oslo, Norway.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Bryan Smith – This Is Water (Self-Produced)

It’s all about the melody on the latest from Bryan Smith.  The saxophonist doesn’t get fussy with those melodies.  It’s all about clear lines of definition and a calm touch with their delivery.  From there, his quintet with guitarist Ryan Meagher, pianist Matt Tabor, bassist Andrew Jones and drummer Jonas Oglesbee take the melody for a short drive, and the road ahead never drops off the map.  There’s something comforting about seeing the entire path, and ending up where everything seemed to lead to in the first place.  It’s a special kind of luxury for a listener to be able to let their guard down and simply appreciate a melody for its beauty, as if from a distance.  “Are We Athletes?” adopts an upbeat tempo and a voice to match, but for the most part, this album resides in territory best suited for contemplation.  That just so happens to be where the album shows its best side.  It’s been a while since I listened to it, but I recall enjoying Smith’s 2011 recording See, See.  Music from Portland, Oregon.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Luis Verde Quartet – Vientos Cruzados (Self-Produced)

The immediate impression made by Viento Cruzados is that Luis Verde had a lot on his mind and wasn’t going to hold back when translating it to a sonic form of expression.  At times, this sprawling work comes off as a bit disjointed, where the flow of thoughts from one to the next isn’t as fluid as one might hope.  But then certain themes get revisited across the duration of fourteen tracks, and a distinct cohesion begins to emerge.  And those moments when the flow converges with the prevailing imagery, the music explodes with life.  The saxophonist’s quartet with pianist Moisés Sánchez, double bassist Reinier Elizarde and drummer Mark Schilders traverses ample territory, and the effect is amplified by the inclusion of several interludes.  As stand-alone pieces, these interludes are intriguing in their own right, but their deft placement in the sequence of events has a resounding impact far greater than their individual traits.  Music from Madrid, Spain.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Matt’s Mates – Bodies of Water (SuperSonic)

There’s an intriguing combination of solemn and lively tones on this set from Matt Luff.  The saxophonist’s octet identifies John Coltrane as their guiding music spirit for this recording, and it’s pretty clear right from the start that this was no blithe namedrop.  The ferocity inherent in these tunes has a benevolent presence, and the illusion of contradiction in those qualities makes the music resonate that much greater when it reveals itself, instead, as unity.  Music from Brisbane, Australia.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Kastenfaul – Kastenfaul (Self-Produced)

The Kastenfaul duo of saxophonist Ali Onur Olgun and drummer Ozan Aktuna is pure gasoline.  They light their music on fire and laugh while fanning the flames.  It’s as simple as that.  It’s also that thrilling.  This two-track EP retails at Name Your Price, so a nice opportunity to explore some new, obscure music at a price that fits your budget.  Music from Istanbul, Turkey.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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Jun 11 2018

The Round-up: Between steel and sky

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Shake Stew – Rise and Rise Again (Traumton Records)

Shake Stew is the congregation and their new album Rise and Rise Again is a testament to the choice of expressing spirituality via euphoric motion or solemn contemplation.  Ultimately, the septet take both routes, and in both instances, their church bursts with a celebration of life.  Skittering grooves and thick melodies feed off the energy of one another, a playfulness of motion like the dance between shadow and sunlight.  Tenor saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings sits in for a couple of tracks, and it’s a shame it’s just for two, because he is a perfect fit for this band on this album.  Music from Vienna, Austria.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Kevin Sun – Trio (Endectomorph Music)

There’s an undercurrent of aggression on the newest from Kevin Sun, and it flows through the music no differently when it veers into avant-garde territory as it does when the trio is simply laying down a pretty melody.  Joined by bassist Water Stinson and drummer Matt Honor, the tenor saxophonist rolls out an impressive display of expressionism, where the method of delivery is what binds the album together instead of the cohesion of sound.  That’s pretty cool, and it’s why the ever-changing landscape of Trio feels like it’s keeping to a predetermined path.  Music from Brooklyn, NY.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Michael Moss Accidental Orchestra – Helix (Self-Produced)

What’s most astounding about this fascinating free jazz release is how Michael Moss is able to spotlight individual rivulets of melody in the dense wave of his big band harmonics.  Violinist Jason Kao Hwang, trombonist Steve Swell and tabla player Badal Roy are a few of the familiar names in Moss’s Accidental Orchestra, and symbolic of the sonic diversity that powers Helix.  There are countless surges intensity, and how they pull apart at the seams of a piece and then suddenly coalesce into a singular vision is just one of the many fascinating qualities offered up.  Another is Michael Lytle dishing out fire on bass clarinet.  Don’t be surprised if this album makes some noise in year-end lists.  Music from NYC.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Konrad Bogen Trio – Transit (Self-Produced)

The trio of pianist Konrad Bogen, bassist Mischa Frey and drummer Samir Böhringer develop a seriously friendly chatter on their latest, and what makes it so compelling is how that level engagement maintains its electrical charge regardless of the tone of a particular piece.  And so, the contemplative tunes possess the same magnetism and friendly demeanor as do those tunes that move with a lively hop and bounce.  As they did on their previous release, United, the trio takes a Kendrick Lamar tune for a spin, and with equally successful results.  Definitely musicians to keep on your radar.  Music from Berlin, Germany.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Matt Carmichael – Matt Carmichael Quartet (Self-Produced)

A promising debut from tenor saxophonist Matt Carmichael.  A calm intensity and casual delivery makes for an appealing combination.  That, in addition to some well crafted melodies, is the source of this EP’s charisma.  Though I suppose it shouldn’t be overlooked how each of these four pieces demonstrate that the quartet understands the value of making a strong opening statement.  Joining Carmichael are pianist Fergus McCreadie, bassist Ali Watson and drummer Tom Potter.  Music from Glasgow, Scotland.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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Jun 4 2018

The Round-up: Disconnected from the seasons

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Walter Smith III – TWIO (Whirlwind Recordings)

You really can’t go wrong with this set from Walter Smith III.  This is for those times when you just want to hear some serious tenor saxophone lyricism… perhaps something original and new and perhaps some new takes on old classics.  That’s what you get with TWIO.  I’m always down with a saxophonist’s take on a Monk tune; something about how the wind instrument floats like a butterfly when applying Monk’s skittering melodicism makes tracing the flight patterns a real delight.  Smith’s cover of “Ask Me Know” is Exhibit A for why I gravitate to that combo.  But it’s Smith’s canny rendition of Wayne Shorter’s “Adam’s Apple” that shines brightest on this recording, and how an icy melody slowly dissolves into a rhythmic mist.  Drummer Eric Harland and bassist Harish Raghavan round out Smith’s trio, with Christian McBride and Joshua Redman guesting on bass and tenor sax.  Music from Los Angeles.

 

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Kekko Fornarelli – Abaton (Eskape Music)

Kekko Fornarelli has always had a flair for the dramatic.  The key to the pianist’s success is his talent for pushing the emotional intensity to the very edge and never sacrificing its sincerity.  His 2011 release Room of Mirrors still stands as the embodiment of that trait, but his newest release has plenty of moments that match it.  A rendition of Beck’s “Lonesome Tears” is the most obvious example, and the one most likely to resonate strongest.  And, just as Beck did on Sea Change, Fornarelli brings in a string section for this session.  Fornarelli’s trio is comprised of himself on piano, bassist Federico Pecoraro and drummer Dario Congedo.  Music from Bari, Italy.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Amazon

 

Fabien Mary Octet – Left Arm Blues (Jazz & People)

Nice throwback sound from trumpeter Fabien Mary, who hits the sweet spot where the consideration of arrangements allow the free flowing expressionism of bop to thrive.  It’s an album where the simple joy of thoughtful solos is all the reason you need to hit the play button.  And it’s always nice to hear Thomas Savy in action, this time with baritone sax (instead of bass clarinet), and part of an octet that comes strong with the brass (five vs. guitar, bass and drums).

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Giacomo Zanus Trio – Searching for the North (Self-Produced)

Why, yes, if your album reminds me of various Bill Frisell works, I will gladly say something nice about it.  With its moments of looping effects and bracing tranquility and a lively hop, this trio set by the Giacomo Zanus Trio was right up my alley.  How this music resonates from the slightest of gestures, like a fiercely burning ember in a cold fireplace, is its winning quality.  The pieces that hit more straight-ahead territory are all well and good, but those tunes that echo the music of Frisell’s In Line and Ghost Town are when this album shines its strongest.  All of these Frisell references should in no way obscure the fact that Zanus is expressing his own voice and his own point of view.  It’s also an especially nice touch when Zanus switches over the classical guitar, as are those tracks when David Boato sits in on trumpet and flugelhorn.  Double bassist Mattia Magatelli and drummer Max Trabucco round out the trio.  Music from Treviso, Italy.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Zach’s Moonshine Runners – Bootleg 11-18-2017 (Self-Produced)

There’s an appealing languid atmosphere to this music, even though it moves predominately at a brisk pace.  Zacharie Bachand‘s sextet works straight-ahead territory, though sometimes that’s in an old-school context and sometimes a modern one.  Two saxophones and a trombone give the music plenty of harmonic loft to just float away upon, while guitar, bass and drums keep things focused and upbeat.  It’s retailing at Name Your Price, so you have a nice opportunity to explore new music at a price you can afford.  Music from Montreal, Québec.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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