Jul 2 2018
The Round-up: I wondered if the world would look different for me tomorrow
Here is some very good new music.
Adrean Farrugia & Joel Frahm – Blued Dharma (Gb Records)
It’s always nice to encounter one of those sax-piano duet recordings where it sounds like both musicians got together on a peaceful Sunday afternoon and played music to accompany the sunlight filtering in through living room windows. It’s more than just listening in on a conversation and more than a glimpse of the intimacy of two musicians focused solely on the actions of their counterpart; there’s an immediacy to the affair, a solemn atmosphere that emphasizes the ephemeral nature of creativity, and were it not for someone hitting a record button before they started playing, it would’ve been a treasure that only the two musicians alone would have been witness to. There’s something special about capturing those moments on the recorded medium, and Blued Dharma from pianist Adrean Farrugia and saxophonist Joel Frahm certainly honors that particular happening. The heat on this session is only ever comforting and the tranquility it generates compels the listener to remain attentive as a guarantee for experiencing every last bit it has to offer. Music from Toronto, Ontario.
Artist site | Buy: Amazon
Liebman/Nakatani/Rudolph – The Unknowable (RareNoise Records)
This music is all about the motion. Viewed in its entirety, The Unknowable is a pond. At times, it moves like the gentle currents coaxed along by a stiff breeze. Other times, it darts below the surface like fish seeking food or shelter or friends. And then there are those moments when it possesses the ethereal presence of mist hanging just above the water’s surface, making indistinguishable where water becomes air becomes light. Percussionists Tatsuya Nakatani and Adam Rudolph and saxophonist Dave Liebman are the elemental forces that guide things to final track “Benediction (Closing),” a piece as solemn as a reflection of the setting sun upon a gently rippling pond. Music from New York and New Mexico.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp – Amazon
(Thanks to reader Randy Lang for the location of the album’s Bandcamp page)
Mike McGinnis – Singular Awakening (Sunnyside Records)
I’m pretty cool with it if Mike McGinnis, Art Lande and Steve Swallow keep cranking out one of these albums every year. Much like their 2017 release Recurring Dream, the clarinet-piano-bass trio makes music that fits snug with any season your headspace is located in. This is music for kicking Autumn leaves as you crunch through them on a walk down a neighborhood street. This is music for watching snow fall from the safety and warmth of a bedroom window. This is music for greeting a late-July sun as it arcs its way to the zenith of its heat potential. This is the music of Spring, where every melody is a burst of new life and new delights. Music from NYC.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp – Amazon
Florian Favre Trio – On a Smiling Gust of Wind (Traumton)
There’s something lighthearted and free about this trio session from pianist Florian Favre, double bassist Manu Hagmann and drummer Arthur Alard, and it transcends just the sound of the music. It’s as if they walked into the recording studio with some melodic ideas scribbled down on a postcard and decided just to see where it took them. Pretty much across the board, it takes them far and wide. Rarely does a melody have a brief life on the trio’s 2018 release, and that time is often spent either in a state of peacefulness, a state of joyful enthusiasm or one that’s never short on thrills. A nice example of the modern piano trio form of expression. Music from Berlin, Germany.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp – Amazon
Noshir Mody – A Burgeoning Consciousness (Self-Produced)
I really don’t know what to make of my predilection for the music of Noshir Mody. It’s really not normally my kind of thing. If we’re looking to categorize it, we’re gonna use a term like contemporary jazz, and we’re gonna qualify that with an additional descriptor of world jazz that sometimes veers close to new age-prog fusion. This does not describe music I typically like, but I’ll be damned if I don’t keep enjoying his recordings. The guitarist puts together a tight, unfussy melody, and rolls it out like it had a bank of spotlights covering its movement. There are times that he hits that odd sweet spot of soothing but lively music that marked the music of latter-day Oregon, when much of the edge has been polished from their sound and became something decent to accompany a peaceful evening hanging around the house as the sun fell over the horizon. For me personally, Mody is a great reminder that the qualities of music that connect with us are as mysterious and unpredictable as the forces of creativity that give them birth. I like this new one from Mody. I also still find time to spend with his 2014 release Stories From the Years of Living Passionately. Music from NYC.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Amazon
Jul 9 2018
The Round-up: And there was no fooling myself about where exactly I stood
Here is some very good new music.
Jeremy Pelt – Noir en Rouge: Live in Paris (HighNote Records)
You can’t go wrong with this live set from Jeremy Pelt and his quintet. Recorded at Paris’s Sunside/Sunset Jazz Club, the trumpeter brings plenty of that live performance electricity to the recorded medium. It’s pure straight-ahead goodness, both from an old-school and new-school point of view. Pelt’s quintet is solid, with bassist Vicente Archer, drummer Jonathan Barber, percussionist Jacquelene Acevedo and (personal favorite) pianist Victor Gould. The thrills are immediate when Pelt ramps up the voltage, but the serious heat gets delivered when the quintet slows things down and patiently emotes on “I Will Wait For You.” That feel is evident in every note, and that’s why each one gives the strong impression of serious and sincere meaning. Music from Paris via NYC.
Artist site | Buy: Amazon
Ksawery Wójciński & Wojciech Jachna - Conversation With Space (Fundacja Słuchaj!)
The duo of Ksawery Wójciński & Wojciech Jachna are hypnotic like the storming sea. Waves of dissonance comes crashing down and the spray of rain sometimes cuts across the face like glass and sometimes it cools the brow. Turbulence shakes every note and every step forward is unsteady and perilous. But there is a peacefulness inherent in that furious environment, when the senses grasp the entirety of the ocean rather than focusing on the individual waves and lightning and raindrops… and how everything is connected and moves with the patience of a planet rotating through time. The bassist and trumpeter embody this sensation on their compelling Conversation With Space. And sometimes, when they enter the eye of the storm, there’s a melodic tranquility that is damn near addictive and will make you never want to leave. Excellent stuff here. Music from Warsaw, Poland.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp
Paul Bedal – Mirrors (Bace Records)
It’s the little things that make the difference on the new recording from Paul Bedal. It’s the way in which trumpeter Jean Caze and alto saxophonist Caroline Davis suddenly come together from their separate flight patterns. It’s how the twittering undercurrent of bassist Dion Kerr suddenly makes its presence felt in that way the cadence of grass resonates on a sun-kissed afternoon. It’s where the conversational manner of drummer Matt Carroll falls into the stream of dialog struck up by Bedal’s melodic voicing on piano. This is your standard straight-ahead modern jazz session, and all of these little things endow it with an individuality that is quite striking. And enjoyable… plenty enjoyable, too. Music from Chicago.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp – Amazon
Fabrice Sotton – The Time Has Come (Self-Produced)
Fabrice Sotton has got a feel on piano that makes the simplest melodies resonate like mad, and only requires the gentlest coaxing to set them into motion. This solo set is just more evidence at how little difference there is between a pretty melody and flickering candlelight when the pianist is in a mood to conjure up some imagery. Need some music for a peaceful Sunday morning that possesses the liveliness of leaves fluttering in the breeze just outside your window? If yes (and who doesn’t?), then download this album. Music from Paris.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Amazon
Marc Sarrazy & Laurent Rochelle – Chansons Pour L’oreille Gauche (Linoleum Records)
There’s a potent chemistry activated when clarinetist Laurent Rochelle and pianist Marc Sarrazy collaborate. It transforms succinct melodic visions into wildly blossoming imagery, and makes elastic the sense of time in which they evolve into their final shape and form. Their enchanting 2017 release Intranquillité is a prelude to more of the same on their latest creation. When Rochelle switches over to bass clarinet, the inherent moodiness becomes like magic unleashed. It’s a similar effect when Sarrazy utilizes a prepared piano, though this personality trait reveals itself in the subtle effects on melody and how fragile it can appear even at its strongest articulation. Some additional textures are arrive via guest strings and percussion, and most especially the vocals of Anja Kowalski and echoes of the OKIDOKI Quartet project. Music from Toulouse, France.
Artist site | Listen | Buy: Bandcamp
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By davesumner • Jazz Recommendations - 2018 • 0 • Tags: Bace Records, Chicago, Fabrice Sotton, Fundacja Słuchaj!, HighNote Records, Jeremy Pelt, Ksawery Wójciński, Laurent Rochelle, Linoleum Records, Marc Sarrazy, New York City, Paris, Paul Bedal, Self-Produced, The Round-Up, Toulouse (France), Wojciech Jachna