Jan 6 2013
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble – “Man Of Constant Sorrow”
Here’s a video of a live performance by the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble. It features a song that will be appearing on the Jan. 2013 release Songs I Like A Lot (Sunnyside Records).
At some point I’ll be doing a review of that album, but in the meantime, enjoy the video.
Your video personnel: John Hollenbeck (drums), Ben Kono (flute/soprano/alto saxophone), Jeremy Viner (clarinet, tenor sax), Tony Malaby (tenor & soprano sax), Dan Willis (tenor & soprano sax, flute, english horn), Bohdan Hilash (bass clarinet, baritone sax, contrabass clarinet, bass saxophone), Mark Patterson, Mike Christenson, Jacob Garchik, Alan Ferber (trombones), Tony Kadleck, John Bailey, Dave Ballou, Laurie Frink (trumpets, flugelhorns), Kermit Driscoll (bass), Matt Mitchell (piano), Patricia Franceshy (mallet percussion), Theo Bleckmann (voice), Kate McGarry (voice), and JC Sanford (conductor).
Have a great Sunday!
Cheers.
If I had to point to one album that exemplified the thriving state of Jazz, and its undeniable hope for the future, it would be The Imaginary Delta. By mixing traditional instruments and forms with modern instruments and composition, Fairhall is simultaneously forward-thinking while still tending to the roots of Jazz’s past. And, really, both those things are important. Jazz is about tradition, just as Jazz is about innovation. Most jazz musicians are able to do one of those things well, a smaller group are able to do one of those things great… but it’s a rare thing for an artist to do both of those things, simultaneously, great. Fairhall has done that here. Inventive music that echoes the spirit of Charles Mingus. The Bird is the Worm 2012 Album of the Year. 
A trio of piano, vocals, and bass clarinet/sax. A storytelling flair that could give Tom Waits a run for his money. Heartbreak stories about hopeless cases who can’t stop hoping for the best. Siskind has plenty of page-turning moments on keys, but doesn’t hog the spotlight from his trio mates. Harms has a way with vocals that give jawdropping turns of vulnerability and disarming playful missives. Pino charms on bass clarinet, and provides a noir-ish ambiance to an album that is moody as hell. Also, what you hear on the album is what you get live… the trio is just as evocative in a live setting. One of those albums that just seems to materialize out of thin air, full of intensity and presence.
From a live performance while on tour, Robbins brings a studio warmth to the vivid persona of a live recording. Robbins knows how to giftwrap a complex melody into a simple present, and it’s the highlight of this album. Interplay between quartet members an added bonus, but it’s the tunefulness of the album tracks that makes this recording so damn addictive. I already had a pretty strong like of past Robbins’ recordings, but he really upped the bar to my mind with this release. Robbins is making his mark.
Jesse van Ruller’s trio of guitar, bass clarinet, and bass brings the moodiness of the Netherlands scene full-on, and applies it to a chamber jazz format. Sparse and haunting, yet so full of warmth. Quiet music for quiet moments, but performed in a way to keep the brain’s synapses fully occupied. This album has been in regular rotation on my stereo since I first discovered it, and it’s showing no signs of going away. I’m a fan of sleepy music, but it’s the albums that also let some life shine through that gain my esteem. One of those albums that does more with less.
The music of Paul Motian isn’t an easy safe to crack, possessing a quiet strength that’s both subtle and obtuse. Drummer Jeff Cosgrove found a way in, however, and came back out with his own sound and vision of Motian’s music. With an overt bluegrass/folk sheen to his jazz interpretations, Cosgrove’s ensemble found the right mix of haunting warmth to do honor the late great drummer, while also bringing a unique recording to the table. This is the type of album I listen to only on occasion but when I do, I completely immerse myself in it. This music is self-contained, like losing oneself for a short time in a little-known far-away place. Very cool.
Based on a book that gave the freedom to approach the story in different ways, so it goes on Rayeula that complexities and wrinkles are woven into the fabric of beautifully textured music. This is one of those recordings that dropped my jaw the first time I heard it, then slowly displayed other, more subtle reasons to appreciate it over the course of time. Zenon increasingly establishes himself as one of the premier voices in Jazz on saxophone, and Coq shows himself to be the perfect foil on piano, counterbalancing Zenon’s fire with some keyboard ice. The inspired decision to include Dana Leong on cello and trombone, and add tabla and various other percussion to Dan Weiss’s ensemble responsibilities both add elements to the music that imbues it with a vibrant color that elevates this album up a notch. Challenging music that is simple to enjoy.
I’m enamored with the premise of building an album around compositions based on the children’s lullaby “Twinkle Twinkle.” It’s the right kind of clever. However, while there is a soothing nighttime quality to this music, these ain’t song to fall asleep to. When I first sat down to listen to this recording, my assumption is that it would be something not unlike an ECM piano trio snoozer. But, actually, most tracks are quite lively, and far more representative of Babel Label’s inventive catalog of releases. Solid, from first note to last.
Threads Orchestra’s sophomore release leaves behind much of the genre-warping it artfully performed on its debut Threads, and instead focus on a seamless mix of jazz, classical, and folk as its vehicle for presenting some of the more compelling music on the scene. A cinematic presence with a theatrical flair, the album reflects the music for unperformed theater as dreamt up in composer Jonathan Brigg’s head. This ensemble has proven over the course of two albums that they won’t hesitate to experiment without having to compromise making their music an effortless listen.
There’s a relentlessness to this album that’s always appealed to me. It can be felt even when di Benedetto’s ensemble takes to the sky to soar or when it slows things down to slowly crunch over earth. A straight-ahead recording that should appeal to both new and old-schoolers alike.
This is music in motion. This is music that flows with grace, whether expressing a calm nature or something more on the wild side. Yokai, the excellent release by drummer Anne Paceo, makes its mark by establishing a lovely fluidity despite having many different parts in play.
On Oskar Schönning‘s 2012 release, The Violin, he cooks up a recipe that is one-half old-school bop and one-half modern Nordic jazz, and he presents them slowly, one at a time, like photos in a slideshow, one after the other, joined not by music elements, but by the totality of the story.
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Mar 25 2013
Dan Tepfer & Ben Wendel – “Small Constructions”
Some of that is attributable to the environment of a duo collaboration, especially one between piano and reeds… a pairing that has a distinguished line of albums as evidence of the rewards this particular match can generate. But mostly the direction to look in is the musicians themselves. Wendell has proven his versatility and collaborative ease in a variety of settings that sit on the fringes of Jazz, whether his participation in the jazz-rock outfit Kneebody, his contribution to Indie-jazz ensemble Todd Sickafoose’s Tiny Resistors, or genre-obliterating work with artists like electronica DJ Daedelus. Tepfer excels in trio & duo environments, and his background in classical seems to lend a quirky elegance to his jazz performances. Also, his blog reflects an artist who relishes the act of delving into the theory of his craft, and talking about it in a way that holds an attraction even to non-musicians (check out his recent post on the SuperCollidor and rhythm becoming pitch).
So, yeah, put these two in a studio for a couple days with some instruments and recording toys, and something special is gonna come out of it. The ‘it,’ in this instance, is Small Constructions.
Your album personnel: Dan Tepfer (piano, Fender Rhodes, and alto sax on the last track) and Ben Wendel (saxophones, bassoon, melodica, and piano on the last track).
Opening track “Still Play” is representative of the demeanor of several songs on this album. A tune with a surging tempo that borders on mesmerizing. In this example, the propulsion originates with Tepfer on piano, but Wendel’s sax adds an additional push forward in space. What ensues is a series of seamless transitions, a unison achieved that makes their flight appear even swifter, and more graceful, too.
Especially notable are their renditions of two Thelonious Monk compositions. First up is second track “Pannonica.” The duo finds the commonalities between their own idiosyncratic approach to this album and Monk’s free-spirited eccentricities on the original composition. The duo’s version is spritely and contemplative both… as so much of Monk’s music is… engaging both heart and head, inciting brain synapses to spark and the foot to tap. The staggering beauty of autumn leaves whipping about in a swift breeze. And their rendition of “Ask Me Now” captures the way Monk could speak the blues with a devastating sadness even as his piano radiated a sunny disposition.
Third track “Jean and Renatta” brings on a contemplative tone. Wendel with long slow notes on sax, Tepfer taking small steps, a persistent evoking of the quiet nobility of a waltz. Such a pretty tune.
And at this point, it’s a good time to highlight one of this album’s best attributes… the ability of the musicians to switch between emotional charges and intellectual expressions in a thoughtful, yet daring way. The first three album songs sound nothing like one another, yet they possess a cohesion which signifies, without a whisper of a doubt, that they belong to the same recording session, the same creative expression… all the while, the exact nature of how those creative thoughts are actually expressed is varied and unexpected. It’s a way to keep the listener guessing while also providing a reassuring confidence that the artists aren’t just wandering blindly through a series of unmapped compositions and haphazard improvisations. It all makes sense.
They also perform a rendition of Lennie Tristano’s “Line Up.” Tepfer’s Fender Rhodes prances along on a happy jaunt. Wendel matches the pace on sax, shadows it step for step, even when it takes the lead. The song has a dreamy sense of time. The fluttering breakdown of this track is outstanding. Later, they also perform the classic “Darn that Dream.” Frail. Smokey. Wispish.
“Nines” is a nifty, slow build of repetition and pattern play, and “Rygabag” is a boozy tune, a staggered blues with a theatrical flair.
“Gratitude” is the embodiment of quiet moments lost in thought. Soulful calls from saxophone and melancholy phrases from piano. A song that sounds like a soundtrack to no movie that’s ever been made, to every movie that’s ever been made. A universal thought expressed uniquely.
Their rendition of Handel’s “Variation 1 in D minor” is arguably the album’s shining moment. A stunning beauty with a disconnected presence. Wendell records parts on sax and bassoon, and Tepfer records on piano over the top. The effect is a dynamic tapestry of sound, but with instruments and musicians sounding detached from one another… a coherent conversation, but from opposite ends of the room and their backs turned to one another. Sax is solemn, piano is a chatterbox, yet somehow it fits together so beautifully. A seriously engaging tune that speaks mostly to the heart.
And really, that last statement might be the best way to sum up the entirety of Small Constructions. The title alludes to acts of crafting and engineering, of utilizing learned skills and absorbed theory… and yet the end result is evocative music more likely to connect at an emotional level. And if further evidence of this claim is required, the duo provides it with the album’s closing track “Oblique Strategy.” For this tune, the musicians switch instruments… Wendel on piano and Tepfer on sax. It’s a simple song with simple statements, and serves as a perfect send-off, representative of the beating heart behind all of the composition and recording machinations preceding it. Performing on instruments that aren’t their first line of defense, they create with all heart.
Just a remarkable album.
Released on the Sunnyside Records label.
Jazz from NYC.
Available at eMusic. Available at Amazon: CD
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations, Jazz Recommendations - 2013 Releases • 0 • Tags: Ben Wendel, Dan Tepfer, Sunnyside Records