The Round-Up

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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May 27 2019

A rundown of what Hubro Music has been up to lately (Pt.1)

 

We need to have a talk about the Hubro Music label.

 

Frode Haltli – Avant Folk

I’ll admit it right now:  Initially, I didn’t spend enough time with this recording.  But these last months, I’ve been revisiting a bunch of Hubro Music releases from 2017 & 2018, and this April 2018 release from Frode Haltli is floating my boat even more than it did when first I gave it a listen one year ago.  The accordionist fashions a most intriguing fusion of Nordic folk, modern jazz and chamber music, and the final image ranges anywhere between jaw dropping beauty and object of fascination.  There’s a whimsy to this music that builds humor with a serious intent… a combination that has driven the avant-garde expressionism of musicians like Frank Zappa, Kamikaze Ground Crew and the Flaming Lips.  Avant Folk received some year-end Best Of list consideration at the time, but as I find myself hopelessly addicted to this recording on my second go-around, I realize, had I had more time, Avant Folk would certainly have been given a slot on this site’s Best of 2018 list.  It’s that good.  Music from Svartskog, Norway.

Your album personnel:  Frode Haltli (accordion), Erlend Apneseth (Hardanger fiddles), Hans P. Kjorstad (violin), Rolf-Erik Nystrøm (saxophones), Hildegunn Øiseth (trumpet, goat horn, vocals), Ståle Storløkken (harmonium, synthesizers), Juhani Silvola (guitars, electronics), Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir (guitar, vocals), Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson (double bass) and Siv Øyunn Kjenstad (drums, vocals).

Read more on the Hubro Music site.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Amazon

 

Splashgirl – Sixth Sense

The tag doom jazz gets tossed about when describing Splashgirl, and it’s not without cause.  The trio’s cinematic atmospherics exhibit a dramatic flair that borders on ominous, and its tendency toward ambient drones more often than not ramps up the intensity to higher and higher levels.  Their latest release Sixth Sense embraces these tendencies with even greater zeal, and the result is an immersive experience that almost forbids the act of daydreaming… even as the music displays those qualities that make conditions ripe for drifting away into deep, fanciful thoughts.

Your album personnel:  Andreas Stensland Lowe (keyboards), Jo Berger Myhre (bass, guitar, electronics) and Andreas Lonmo Knudsrod (drums, percussion)

Read more on the Hubro Music site.

Read more about Splashgirl on Bird is the Worm.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Amazon

 

Stein Urheim – Utopian Tales

There’s no end to the fascinating patterns that emerge from a Stein Urheim project.  The guitarist unleashes a kaleidoscopic array of sounds and textures and imagery.  Perhaps most impressive is how distinct one project is from the next, so that even though the approach and motives may be the same, the visceral experience of the music is as different one from the next as the sound manifesting from its beating heart.  On Utopian Tales, there’s a space age electronic pulse and haze that drives the affair, light years distant from the rustic folk and psychedelic ambient of previous recordings.  But differences aside, it is no less riveting or lovely than its counterparts.  Music from Bergen, Norway.

Your album personnel:  Stein Urheim (slide guitar, guitar, vocals, tambura, lute, bass, sampler, sound collages, electronics), Kjetil Møster (saxophones, bass clarinet, electronics), Mari Kvien Brunvoll (vocals, sampler, electronics), Per Jørgensen (trumpet, vocals), Ole Morten Vågan (double bass), Jørgen Træen (synths, effects), Kåre Opheim (drums, percussion) and contribution from the Cosmolodic Orchestra.

Read more on the Hubro Music site.

Read more about Stein Urheim on Bird is the Worm.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Amazon

 

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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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Apr 4 2019

The Round-up: I nodded off and waited for the sun to rise

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Human Feel – Gold (Intakt Records)

Some of this music still feels like I only discovered it yesterday.  This comment is particularly useful in explaining my disbelief that Human Feel has been together for thirty years.  Alto saxophonist Andrew D’Angelo, tenor saxophonist Chris Speed, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and drummer Jim Black, as a quartet and on their own separate projects, have been responsible for some of the more forward-thinking and adventurous music to rain down upon jazz territory in this century.  This has been true for a while.  And, yet, it still feels strange to be speaking of them as veterans of the scene.  Some of this disconnect has much to do with how fresh and vital and forward-thinking their newest music is, sharing those same qualities that made past recordings so special on their own merits.  Gold continues the musicians’ habit of eschewing genre conventions and standard expectations of the current day, and instead letting a melody go where it chooses and capturing a sound in the moment to coalesce around it and create something beautiful, something edgy, something that will always sound young and new and exciting.  Music from NYC.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Peter Hess – Falling (Diskonife)

There’s everything to like about this trio session from tenor saxophonist Peter Hess, vibraphonist Matt Moran and drummer Jeff Davis.  The music dances with a light step, yet doesn’t refrain from touching down with a stomp.  That contrast between motion and impact yields all kinds of riveting moments.  So, too, does the limitless supply of endearing melodies that make it so easy to connect with everything that follows.  This music hops, it smoulders, and it sometimes takes flight.  This album really needs to be registering on people’s radars.  Music from Brooklyn, NY.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Blessing in Disguise – Live Exchange (Lava Thief)

There’s all kinds of intriguing moments on this live improvisation session from Get the Blessing ensemble members.  Trumpeter Pete Judge, bass guitarist Jim Barr, and saxophonist Jake McMurchie play both sides of the thunderstorm… there’s moments of intensity that swell up like lightning and rain crashing down upon the world, and then there’s those interludes when the electricity settles into a serene state of existence, and a certain peacefulness expands outward from that volatile core.  Music from London.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Træ – Træ (Self-Produced)

There’s an appealing dreamy presence to this trio set from guitarist Johannes Maikranz, saxophonist Simon Spiess and drummer Samuel Dühsler.  They settle into a melody and then launch it skyward like a kite riding the wind on a calm, summer day.  The album is retailing at Name Your Price, so it’s a nice opportunity to buy some good music that’ll fit your budget.  Music from Basel, Switzerland.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Marco Moura Quartet – The Quadrant (Self-Produced)

This four track EP splits its time between old-school and new-school forms of expression, and while there’s plenty to like about the way Marco Moura‘s quartet expresses each jazz era, it’s when things shade to the modern day that the music really shines strongest.  Music from both London, UK and Porto, Portugal.

No artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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Mar 1 2019

The Round-up: It threatens to scatter me everywhere and nowhere at all

 

Here is some very good new music.

 

Richard Sears – Iron Year (Slow & Steady Records)

The melancholy quality to the melodies of Iron Year make this music smoulder like mad, like a fireplace that is mostly embers but still kicks out enough heat to fill up the room.  It’s an effect that holds tight when Richard Sears‘ sextet picks up a headwind, but it’s especially true when they settle into a patient hard bop cadence.  The combination of melancholy and propulsion is a potent one, and it makes for the perfect kind of album for standing in a window and watching the rain fall… just before deciding, screw it, I’m going to the bar to have a drink… and these melodies stick with you the entire time.  Music from Brooklyn, NY.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Tenderlonious – The Shakedown, featuring the 22arkestra (22a Music)

Of the many tedious bullet points offered up by the knuckleheads stating Jazz is dead is that jazz used to be dance music, but no more.  Well, The Shakedown is Ed “Tenderlonious” Cawthorne‘s deafening fuck you to those jackasses… because this is music for the clubs and it’s music made to get people moving and it’s music for kicking back with friends on an electric Friday night, some whiskey and good laughs.  Jazz is life and life is a groove, and The Shakedown provides all kinds of ways to move on through it.  Music from London, UK.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Muze Jazz Orchestra – New Horizons (Self-Produced)

It’d take a real black heart not to fall for this mix of folksy charm and boisterous grooves from the Muze Jazz Orchestra.  The way the large ensemble begins with some laid-back playfulness of melody and suddenly shifts gears into a hard charging cadence gets increasingly addictive with each successive revolution of the cycle.  That they bind it all together with some lovely harmonic voicing puts it over the top.  Music from Heusden Zolder, Belgium.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

Tal Arditi Trio – Portrait (Ancor Records)

There’s a dreamy melodicism that boosts the enjoyment potential on this straight-ahead session from Tal Arditi.  There’s something about the way the guitarist lets a melody breathe that makes it resonate with just a little more strength than what might otherwise be expected.  The result is a shimmering effect, a subtle motion that makes a bright tone shine with a softer, but more brilliant tone… like in that way a fireflies light attracts the eye’s attention more than a nighttime sky full of stars.  A solid debut.  Music from Berlin, Germany.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp – Amazon

 

Michael Brenneis – Plutonium (Rattle Tick Buzz Records)

This album doesn’t advance one foot after the other.  This octet session led out by Michael Brenneis isn’t shy about taking detours and shifting the pace of action.  Sometimes there’s a lot of parts in motion, and sometimes this spreads things out to where the center of the music loses its focus.  I’m not sure that’s even a criticism, really, because it’s during those passages when the ensemble seems to abandon the idea of moving in a singular direction that leads to some of the more exciting moments.  Six woodwinds, bass, and drums.  Music from Madison, Wisconsin.

Artist site | Listen | Buy:  Bandcamp

 

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