Westlin/Tontin – Westlin/Tontin (Grodor Och Fåglar, 2018) ***½

By Gustav Lindqvist

On the tiny Swedish label Grodor Och Fåglar (Frogs And Birds) comes the first 12” vinyl release by Westlin/Tontin. This is an album filled with fun! They stay true to tradition, but clearly Westlin has thought this through and spices each song with humoresque melodic snippets. Jonsson is often on a different planet throughout the entire album, and I love it! On Dagen då 50-öringen försvann he seems to have decided where to go, and then he’s off, leaving the rest of the band in a cloud of smoke. This album reminds me of Jari Haapalainen Trio with its theme à la madness and its bend-and-break style. I find myself standing on a dancefloor after having just a little bit too much to drink, but still with a distinct idea of certain dance moves. Westlin/Tontin accompanies that perfectly. It’s a small box of jewels that are all unique in color and feel. I’d like to hear more from Mogensen and Davidsson on future releases, even though on Trimmer they’re stretching their legs a bit. Jonsson is the highlight of this somewhat short release. This is promising, and I hope to hear more from the group in 2019.

Personnel:

Double Bass – Boel Mogensen

Drums – Anton Jonsson

Tenor Saxophone – Pelle Westlin

Trombone – Gustav Davidsson

Read More

Chris Burn & Simon Fell - Continuous Fragment (Bruce's Fingers, 2018) ***

By Stef

Star ratings also reflect the length of the album, and if this album was longer, the rating may have been higher. The duo fo Chris Burn on piano, and Simon H. Fell on double bass already dates from improvisation they gave in January 2010, but these twenty-three minutes of exploration have become published only this year. Burn is more active on the inside of his piano than on the keyboard, using a variety (of unspecified) objects to work its strings, by plucking, rubbing, scraping, caressing, marbling (?) and hammering, all movements that create sounds that work amazingly well with Fell's bass. Even if initially the sonic bits are investigating and colliding and sometimes hesitant, gradually a wonderful collective sounds emerges from this, sensuous and ominous, subtle and refined, which is masterfully changed in the last two minutes. And then it suddenly stops. Twenty-three minutes is short. But well, then you listen to it again.

Listen and download from Bandcamp.

Read More

Weekend Roundup: November

By Dan Sorrells

An attempt at a new format: bite-sized morsels of jazzified goodness. This weekend we’ve got dueling duos with Dominic Lash, a new look at the old with Aki Takase, and two unusual outings with Swedish legend Sven-Åke Johansson.


Dominic Lash & Chris Cundy – For Plump Daughters (Creative Sources, 2012) ***½

Clocking in at eighteen tracks, For Plump Daughters might have been a grueling marathon slog. Instead, it’s a continually engaging entwining of bass: double and clarinet. Lash and Cundy are able to find all the right ways to lock their instruments together. Both have great knowledge of various “extended” playing methods, but the result is never harshly abstract or unhinged. Just the opposite, really. It’s an elegant, emotive album that at times simply soars. The track title “Gravity Leaves” about sums it up. Pleasing, pleasing tones.


Denman Maroney & Dominic Lash – All Strung Out (Kadima, 2012) ***

Bassist Dominic Lash spends about an hour trying to keep up with Maroney and his “hyperpiano.” The two establish an interesting dialogue throughout, though the album does drag a bit by the end. Maroney plies all manner of sounds out of the inside of his piano, muting and strumming strings, occasionally mustering orchestral sonorities that remind me of Romanian composer Horaţiu Rădulescu’s “Sound Icon,” a grand piano laid on its side and played with bows. Good stuff, if not quite as inspired as the duo with Chris Cundy.


Aki Takase – New Blues (Enja, 2012) **½

New Blues finds Takase and a cast of modern greats hammering through some old-time stride and swing tunes and a few Takase originals. It’s an eccentric album, but not always in a good way. It’s hard to jive the tumultuous, angular “New Blues” with the over-the-top vocal performance that follows on “The Joint is Jumpin’.” Don’t get me wrong—it’s a fun tune, as are the others Eugene Chadbourne lends vocals to, but they’re hammed-up in a way that borders on unwelcome comedy and can make for a disjointed, uneven listen. Still, totally worth a shot for originals like “So Long Knut” and “Late Spring,” which sets an e.e. cummings poem to delicate music.


Sven-Åke Johansson- Für Paul Klee (Jazzwerkstatt, 2012) ****

Mr. Johansson does dramatic readings of Paul Klee’s poetry, all while backed by a killer line-up that includes Aki Takase, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Axel Dörner, Paul Lovens, and Werner Dafeldecker. The music ranges from fairly abstract to quite lyrical, but comes across as nearly cinematic in scope. I can’t sit and listen without picturing choreography, theatre, a silent film—hell, even Klee’s own colorful geometries swirling and re-shuffling. As I’m not a German speaker, I have no idea if there’s any literary merit to Klee’s poetry. However, comprehension aside, there’s a great aesthetic pleasure in Johansson’s delivery. An album that’s both relaxing and stimulating.


Sven-Åke Johansson– Große Gartenbauausstellung (Olof Bright, 2012) ***

Große Gartenbauausstellung, recorded with Axel Dörner and Andrea Neumann, is an album that often seems devoid of humanity. This isn’t a slight to the musicians, but rather a result of their concerted effort. A lot of it is just…hard to place. It shuffles along faintly, murkily, morphing through various patterns of quiet noise. Source instruments are often obscured, and the music is so focused on small, hushed details that the resonance of a crashing tom in “Hauptweg II” is genuinely startling, exciting even. These musicians have long been interested in poking around the underside of improvised music, and they come up with some powerful music in the process—if you’re willing to stop and listen closely.

Read More

From the old school

By Stef

The CD-player in my computer is broken, I am travelling too much, too working too hard, including evenings, ... even required to pay attention to my family .... hence some time issues for the daily delivery of new reviews.

Hence the compiled and somewhat shorter reviews. Today some stuff from the old school ...

Moholo-Moholo, Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani, Rev. Frank Wright - Spiritual Knowledge And Grace (Ogun, 2011) ***½ 

Recorded in 1979 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, some musicians of the South-African "apartheid diaspora", Louis Moholo-Moholo on drums, voice, Dudu Pukwana on alto saxophone, Johnny Dyani on bass, piano, voice, meet Reverend Frank Wright on tenor saxophone, double bass, voice. On two fully improvised sets, the collaboration works well, because the South-Africans knew "how powerful a Zulu Frank was", and it works really well, free form, floating and rhythmic and hypnotic like the free jazz of those days.

The Lou Grass PO Band with Marshall Allen - Live At The Knitting Factory Vol. 1 (Porter, 2011) ***½  

Less old, but with Sun Ra veteran Marshall Allen (then 77 years old) on alto, drummer Lou Grassi's PO Band, brings the real free jazz, with Paul Smoker on trumpet, Steve Swell on trombone, Perry Robinson on clarinet, and the late Wilber Morris on bass. The performance was recorded at the Knitting Factory in 2000 and varies greatly between slow contemplative and sensitive moments on the one hand, and free for all blowfests on the other.


Buy from Instantjazz.

© stef

Read More

Premier Roeles - Ka Da Ver (Vindu Music, 2011) ***

By Stef

Dutch quartet with Fred van Duijnhoven on drums, Nico Huijbregts on piano, Gerard van der Kamp on sax, and  Harm-Jan Roeles on bass. Free jazz in the best tradition, if that's not a contradiction. Some short melodic pieces, some longer improvisations. EP. Nice work. Freedom with soul.

© stef

Read More

Vocals, vocals, vocals ...

I am not usually a fan of vocal jazz, let alone spoken word and jazz, for reasons explained earlier and elsewhere. From classical opera over musicals to avant-garde vocals, the artificial changes enforced on the vocal chords create an emotional distance to me, rather than the opposite, in a way that I can't really explain, because that effect is not generated in rock music (think Robert Plant or Tom Waits). Anyway, once in a while some worthwhile albums are released and Leo Records even a whole series of them. Since this is not my kind of music, I will refrain from giving these albums a star quotation.

Yet the list also again demonstrates Leo Feigin's unrelenting sense of new musical adventures. If all music sounded nice to all people, it would certainly lack character. These albums have character with truckloads.

Joachim Gies & Sound/body/cells - Shimmering (Leo Records, 2009)

German saxophonist Joachim Gies teams up with fellow countryman Denis Stilke on drums and Israeli vocalist Ronni Gilla. This avant-garde music is entrancing, with Gilla's singing holding the middle between weird sounds and ritualistic shamanic incantations. Highly unusual, with moments of intense beauty. Really worth hearing.

Sainkhò Namtchylak & Dickson Dee - Tea Opera (Leo Records, 2009)

Mongolian singer Sainkhò Namtchylak has performed before on Leo, and even has seven solo vocal albums on her discography. Here she teams up with Dickson Dee on electronics. The music is dedicated to the tea cultures of China. Dee's utterly strange yet compelling electronic backdrop forms a wonderful context for Namtchylak's unique and often hypnotic improvisations.

Katja Krusche & Martin Krusche - I Am One (Leo Records, 2009)

Improvisations for vocals and accordion by this Austrian couple. No doubt about their skills. No question about the quality of what they bring. You're probably a better judge than I am.

Stefano Luigi - Painting On Wood (Leo Records, 2009)

Stefano Luigi Mangia's vocals hold the middle between traditional jazz singing, musical and avant-garde, full of theatrical drama. Really not my cup of tea. With Gianni Lenoci on piano, Pasquale Gadaleta on bass and Marcello Magliocchi on drums.

Viviane Houle - Treize (Drip Audio, 2009) 

Canadian vocalist Viviane Houle plays thirteen duets (hence the title) with some of Canada's best modern musicians, such as Peggy Lee, Jesse Zubot, Chris Gestrin. Her vocal acrobatics may be surprising and astonish some, they leave me cold. This music is frankly beyond me.


© stef

Read More

Quick reviews - simplicity and complexity

How to find the right middle ground between simplicity and complexity? Too much elaborated pieces tend to be stifling for direct emotional delivery and spontaneous interventions, but you have the expectional results of some bands that prove the contrary (Little Huey Orchestra, Exploding Star Orchestra), and if it's too simple, you need to be a fantastic instrumentalist too keep the attention going. Think of some of Wadada Leo Smith's albums or Peter Evans. What the extremes show, is that when you do, you have to go all the way, diving into those regions of unexplored music that touch the soul and the heart directly and differently, leading to a gripping listening experience. If you get stuck in the middle-ground, hesitating between the two approaches, you risk to get caught in the vast majority of records that are published, and that are interesting at best. Sometimes, a few get above the mowing line, mixing both, and the ideas and inventive musicianship make them noteworthy.

Tintinabulum - Not The Wind, Not The Flag (Barnyard, 2009) ***

You will rarely have heard an album that starts so slowly yet full of determination as this one. Colin Fisher's guitar chords ring every few seconds without moving too much, and when after six minutes Brandon Validivia makes his cymbals sing, you know you're in for something special. Just one track of close to thirty-nine minutes, ending quite dark and intense. The gradual increase of power is of course an often used effect, but well, ... it still works.

David Crowell Ensemble - Spectrum (Innova, 2009) ***

Alto saxophonist David Crowell is joined by Grey Mcmurray on guitar, Mike Chiavaro on electric bass, and Jason Nazary on drums. Crowell played with Philip Glass and that can be heard on some of the tracks where repetitive themes shift over rhythm, but he also varies well with powerful uptempo pieces built along long unison lines. Lots of ideas by this young band, still a little struggling to find its own voice.


Ryan Blotnick - Everything Forgets (Songlines, 2008) ***

On his second album, guitarist Ryan Blotnick moves into a kind of post-jazz era, playing more rock-ish rhythms, and a ligt sweet sensitivity that almost sounds poppish. With Joachim Badenhorst on sax and clarinet, Simon Jermyn on electric bass, Jeff Williams and Joe Smith on drums, Perry Wortman on bass. Stylistic and refined.

Tony Wilson Sextet - The People Look Like Flowers At Last (Drip Audio, 2009) ***

Guitarist Tony Wilson brings together a great band of some of today's best Canadian musicians, with Kevin Elaschuk on flugelhorn and trumpet, Dave Say on saxes and flute, Peggy Lee on cello, Paul Blaney on double bass, and Dylan van der Schyff on drums. The music on the album brings a mixture of hauntingly beautiful pieces, with sometimes too fusion-oriented modern jazz. Wilson does not shy away from complexity, and the first part of the album is actually a reworking of Benjamin Britten's "Lachrymae" (unfortunately misspelled on the album sleeve), but I have the impression that the musical formalism is too much of an objective in itself, rather than an inspiration to develop new listening experience. Still, the album has its great moments.

Mysterium - An Electric Soundpainting Septet (Eavesdrop Music, 2009) ***

Based on the "Soundpainting" improvisation technique of Walter Thompson, the pieces by this septet sound very composed, and even well arranged. Mixing many jazz styles into one very coherent whole, making this a quite entertaining ane enyoyable album. With Eric John Eigner on drumset, James Ilgenfritz on electric bass, Adam Caine on electric guitar, Sam Kulik on trombone, Jeremy Danneman on alto sax, Lorenzo Sanguedolce on tenor sax, and Evan Mazunik as the soundpainter.

© stef

Read More

New releases

There is too much music being released to review in a decent manner. Reviewing a CD requires repeated listening, and time is often the major restriction to do that properly. So I only listen once to all the albums I receive, and then I listen again to those albums I plan to review. The first contact is often a crucial one : is there anything new to hear? is there anything of interest? does it strike an emotional chord? is there any depth and inventiveness? will I enjoy listening to it again and again for several times in the coming day? If these questions are answered positively, I may review the albums. If not, they are filed alphabetically in my collection, and they may be dug up later for further reference, or because I have to reconsider my initial opinion, which does happen.

I will now at least list those albums that I did not review, but which I think are still worth sharing with you. Obviously I will not give these albums a star-code, since I would have nothing but a first impression to make that judgment.


Josh Berman - Old Idea (Delmark, 2009)

Modern jazz album, rooted in the tradition yet adding some fresh ideas. With Josh Berman: cornet; Keefe Jackson: tenor saxophone; Jason Adasiewicz: vibraphone; Anton Hatwich: bass; Nori Tanaka: drums.

Azar Lawrence - Prayer For My Ancestors (Furthermore, 2008)

Primarily post-bop, nice to hear and well-played. Azar Lawrence: tenor and soprano saxophones; Nate Morgan: piano; Henry "the Skipper" Franklin: bass; Alphonse Mouzon: drums; Ibrahim Ba: vocals,guitar; Amadu Fall: Kora; Nolan Shaheed: trumpet; Tony Dumas: bass; Roy McCurdy: drums


Tom Hamilton & Bruce Eisenbeil - Shadow Machine (Pogus, 2009)


Improvised exploratory sound conversations between synth and guitar, redefining auditory expectations of both instruments. For those with very open ears. Tom Hamilton plays nord modular synthesizer, and Bruce Eisenbeil guitar.

Yoni Kretzmer's New Dilemma (Earsay, 2009)

World jazz chamber music by this young band from Israel. Yoni Kretzmer: tenor saxopone; Daniel Tanchelson: viola; Neta Cohen Shani: cello; Ehud Etun: double-bass; Daniel Feingold: drums

Jerry Granelli V16 - Vancouver '08 (Songlines, 2009)

Father and son Granelli continue their travels through their own open-textured instrumental free blues and free rock universe. David Tronzo: electric slide guitar; Christian Kogel: electric guitar; J. Anthony Granelli, electric bass; Jerry Granelli, drums.

© stef

Read More

Quick Review - several albums

John Abercrombie - The Third Quartet (ECM, 2007)


John Abercrombie has been very productive lately. On this album he reunites his quartet with Mark Feldman on violin, Marc Johnson on bass and Joey Baron on drums. He kicks off hard with a raw yet sensitive guitar sound, and ends the album with acoustic yet equally sensitive playing. And that's his strength : to create musical tension and to bring variation without having to resort to needless technological distortion of aimless noodling. The first piece "Banshee" starts great, with nervous guitar and drums, supported by quiet violin and bass. Abercrombie gives us some great compositions here and he remains the true master of economic guitar. Less is more and indeed he offers us impact. Other highlights are "Round Trip" and "Elvin" in which Feldman gives a great solo.

Scott Colley - Architect Of The Silent Moment (Camjazz, 2007)


Bass-player Scott Colley is accompanied by some of the greats of modern jazz : Craig Taborn on piano, Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Antonio Sanchez on drums, with on top some great guest musicians : Adam Rogers on guitar and Jason Moran on piano. Despite the somewhat abstract melodies, this album is relatively accessible. Technically very strong although I would have liked some more risk-taking at times.


Anat Fort - A Long Story (ECM, 2007)


A new voice at ECM : the piano of Anat Fort. With Perry Robinson on clarinet, Ed Schuller on bass and Paul Motian on drums. Quiet, typical ECM music : great production, great sound quality, great musicians, yet haven't we heard all this before? Paul Motian is to me the real star of this album. For those who like it quiet and subdued.


John Lindberg & Karl Berger - Duets 1 (Between The Lines, 2007)


Master bass-player John Lindberg plays duets with master vibes-player and pianist Karl Berger. Quiet and respectful they circle around each other's improvisations. No fireworks. Well-made, but nothing more than that.

Branford Marsalis Quartet - Braggtown (Marsalis Music, 2007)


This quartet has delivered some great material in the past few years, yet this time they excell even more. Braggtown is an album that deserves more attention than this short review I write about it, yet this is not a mainstream blog, that's why. From the first tones of the first piece "Jack Baker" the fire is in the music and it keeps roaring till the very end, indeed, also the quieter pieces are no less intense and keep the listener's attention high. Marsalis' tone is so pure and his overall playing is, especially in the improvisations, stellar. Peak moments are the uptempo "Blakzilla" with rebellious rhythms and wonderfull interplay, kudos for Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums here, and the next piece, "O Solitude", is a slow bluesy ballad on which Marsalis plays a melody on his soprano which might have made Bach jealous, such classical beauty it offers.


Keith Jarret - The Carnegie Hall Concert (ECM, 2007)


A new solo album by Keith Jarrett, well that has been long in the waiting, and it offers him space and freedom to move about without taking anyone else into consideration, and what he brings us here reminds us the best of his best solo pieces from the past, and that's no small compliment.

He brings the whole works : abstract pieces (part IV), modern classical, but also almost "poppy" melodies (part VII), quiet romantic pieces (part III en VIII), even without his usual humming, and he even brings "My Song" again. I like him best in longer pieces, with a repetitive hypnotic left hand, over and above which his right hand works magic in the form of beautiful improvisation (part X). He even talks to the audience (although ununderstandable), and that's already a small miracle, and you have to be able to stand that the applause and the shouting of the enthusiastic crowd at the end are entirely reproduced on the album, but this should not deter anyone from buying it.

Read More

Quick Review - several albums

John Zorn, Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron - Moonchild


The John Zorn I don't like. Or put differently : I don't understand this music. Lack of inspiration, loud, ... immature. I usually make the effort to listen to the whole CD, even if this requires hard and nerve-wracking concentration. I tried twice with this one and I failed.

William Parker Bass Quartet - Requiem


By comparison, William Parker's Requiem is a real adventure : four basses and the howling sax of Charles Gayle. The four basses keep within the same tonal register for the whole duration of the album, slowly mumbling in the background, mourning if you want, interspersed with screeching arco sounds. There is no melody on this CD, hardly any rhythm, you can't discern one bass from the other, you can't discern one song from the other, there are no bass solos, they keep rumbling and bowing, yet the total effect is devastating - keep listening. And then once in a while the sax soars above the basses : screeching, howling, crying. Keep listening : intently. This is sad music. Dedicated to the great bass player Peter Kowald and to the great bass player Wilber Morris. Keep listening.

Eric Vloeimans - Gatecrashin'

Eric Vloeimans is a more than capable Dutch trumpet player, yet this CD lacks unity of vision. What is it?Mainstream? Pop? Erik Truffaz? Electronics? Great musicians, no doubt, yet poor compositions.


Uri Caine & Paolo Fresu - Things


Again, by comparison, "Things" by Uri Caine (piano) and Paolo Fresu (trumpet, flugelhorn) is really a great piece of music. Classics and own compositions. Extremely well played. Very mainstream. Very emotional. Very respectful. For the quiet evening.


Nik Bärtsch's Ronin - Stoa


This album also starts with an interesting piano band line-up, yet it's the opposite of Caine & Fresu : strange music, often hardly jazz, yet always rhythmic, very melodic, repetitive by moments, yet surprising, creative. Recommended.

Read More