Dec 29 2019
Now up: October’s Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations
And here we go. Let’s do some catch-up on notifications about my latest Best Jazz on Bandcamp recommendations posting on The Bandcamp Daily. This monthly installment covers albums for October 2019. There’s ten primary recommendations in total, plus some bonus recommendations, to boot. There’s been no let-up on the deluge of new music in 2019, so if you were thinking about maybe settling into a prior month’s purchases, forget about it… you’ve got more excellent new music to discover. I have been saying this same thing nearly every month, and every month it is true. On that note, let’s begin.
Follow this LINK to read those recommendations and listen to music from each album.
Check out past recommendations by running through my contributor archives.
Have fun going through the list!
Cheers.
Tim Haldeman‘s homage to Flint, Michigan was originally a project for the Ann Arbor Jazz Festival, and thankfully he shepherded it into the studio for a proper recording. It’s one of the more emotionally powerful albums of 2018. Haldeman’s sextet works from a foundation of introspection, which has its own appeal to be sure, but it’s when the ensemble builds up to a raging intensity that the stunning beauty of this album is truly unleashed. I like to drive around and listen to music, just as something I enjoy. Open Water As a Child forced me to pull to a stop on the side of the road repeatedly, just so I could fully interface with music that elicits an awed silence, remaining motionless and in reverence.
The music of 
There’s always been a big sound to the compositions of
Jan 25 2020
Best of 2019 #42: Matt Ulery – “Delicate Charms”
Matt Ulery’s sin didn’t even rise to that level. In hindsight, I really should’ve cut the guy some slack. The bassist and composer is young by jazz standards, but he’s also way ahead of the curve by way of creative accomplishments. The Chicagoan has already delivered a unique sound that is as inventive as it is classic. One day I expect to be speaking of his works with the same reverence as I do Henry Threadgill or Wayne Horvitz. In truth, it was awfully tepid criticism. I basically said his album was too pretty. And it was. It lacked some of the edge and mystery of past works. But in the grand scheme of things, there was nothing really wrong with the album, and perhaps focusing on that single flaw was a bit much… especially in the context that it’s still early, for him (and for us, as listeners), and also possessing an understanding that his music, like all others, exists in a continuum, where some things are merely elements of transformations to come, changes to manifest, and, perhaps a too-pretty recording leading to a grand beauty of the future.
I bring all this up, because that future grand beauty became the present in 2019 with Delicate Charms. The album has the majestic stature of his jazz orchestra recordings and the curious melodicism of his small ensemble Loom sessions, and yet the elements of each come together in a way that are much different than simple addition, a different kind of math altogether, an abstract calculation where one plus one equals universe. It’s a gorgeous recording. It’s also a huge reminder that we are watching evolution in action, tracking artists as their music changes as they change and as the music transforms yet again. It is easy to forget how truly miraculous it all is.
Your album personnel: Matt Ulery (double bass), Greg Ward (alto sax), Zach Brock (violin), Rob Clearfield (piano) and Quin Kirchner (drums).
Released on Woolgathering Records.
Music from Chicago, IL.
I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.
Listen | Read more | Available at: Bandcamp – Amazon
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By davesumner • Recap: Best of 2019 • 0 • Tags: Best Jazz of 2019, Chicago, Greg Ward, Matt Ulery, Quin Kirchner, Rob Clearfield, Woolgathering Records, Zach Brock