Soft Machine - Drop (Moonjune Records, 2009) ****

Well, then here's something unique to end the year with, and to start the year with. This is a performance with the rare 1971 line-up of Soft Machine, with Mike Ratledge on Lowrey organ and electric piano, Elton Dean on saxello, alto sax and Fender Rhodes, Hugh Hopper on electric bass and Phil Howard on drums, and especially Howard's presence makes this performance one to savor. After so many years, it all sounds very early 70s, with obvious influences from the electric Miles Davis, John Coltrane's mid-60s period, but also vaguely reminiscent of Weather Report, adding the psychedelic elements of the Canterbury rock scene. The method is simple : a complex theme, with changing rhythms and tempi, with always hypnotic rock bass and drums, with the organ creating the unity and structure, over which the sax soars and howls, alternating with wild organ soloing : more often than not a wall of sound which sounds tribal and sophisticated at the same time, with the various themes flowing one into the other to create suite-like music. You often have the impression that they knew how to start the piece, and then anything could happen, but their discipline and interplay keep this music within safe boundaries. Two of the tracks come from their famous "Third" album: "Out-Bloody-Rageous" and "Slightly All The Time". The other tracks come from the later to be released "Fifth", on which Phil Howard plays the drums on the first side of the LP: "All White", "Drop", "Pigling Bland", "As If", "M.C.", yet all tracks fuze into one long piece on this live date. It is clear from this recording that Howard's violence on the drums, together with Dean's free jazz excursions create quite some tension with the more structured approach by Ratledge and Hopper, but on this album, rather than creating conflict, it leads to absolute fireworks.

It is hard to believe, but this jazz band definitely had the same status at that time as a rock band, with performances on television pop programs included. Steve Lake writes in the liner notes : "Der Spiegel (a German weekly magazine) ran an article on the band's genre-transgressing popularity, pointing out that 50,000 copies of 'Third" and "Fourth" had been sold in the previous twelve months in Germany alone". Indeed totally incredible to believe, if you listen to this music. What would it take today to get this kind of audience for genre-transgressing music?
This is the way fusion could have gone into, if it had maintained this raw, hard-driving, wild rock attitude performance approach to sophisticated compositions.

Watch the Soft Machine with "Out-Bloody-Rageous" with a 1970 line-up.



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Anthony Braxton - Standards (Brussels) 2006 (Amirani Records, 2008) ****

Since the beginning of his solo career, Anthony Braxton apparently needs to move back to a more traditional environment, starting with "In The Tradition" in 1974, yet I have the impression that his standards releases are increasing over the years, especially in this century, but possibly in equal proportion to the rest of his impossible-to-keep-up-with output, with releases such as"8 Standards Wesleyan", "20 Standards (quartet) 2003" album, the "23 Standards" album, there's now "Standards (Brussels) 2006", a nice 6-CD box with a 20-page booklet with texts by Italian author Erika Dagnino. The concept of a "standard" is also flexible in Braxton's mind apparently, with pieces such as Charles Lloyd "Forest Flower" and George Russell's "Exx-Tethics" also falling into the category. The original performance captured in this box was played on four consecutive nights in a Brussels bar, with an Italian trio consisting of Alessandro Giachero on piano, Antonio Borghini on bass and Cristiano Calcagnile on drums.

The repertoire has pieces by Gershwin, Fats Waller, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter, ... with a totally different play-list for each evening. Sure, it is mainstream, the music flows along quite smoothly, post-boppish, with the three Italian musicians doing an excellent job, and Braxton plays along, he is possibly the one going the most outside the compositions, yet not too often, and - to his credit - he lets his band-members lots of space for soloing. The audience is fully involved, quietly listening, and applauding and reacting nicely. The best tracks are the ones on which the band turns the standard inside out, literally then, as on "Exx-Tethics", which, after the bass solo, moves into eery avant-garde territory, first getting rid of rhythm and harmonics, then re-building it with a hypnotic piano phrase and great sax-playing by Braxton.

I am not too sure whether the sequence of the tracks on the CDs correspond to the performance itself, but it is clear that on discs 5 and 6, the band seems to be more tuned to one another, which creates more possibilities for a broader freedom of approach. The "standard" still gets usual mainstream attention till halfway down the piece, and usually after the piano solo, for a second, free-er version to start, yet again ending in the main theme. The Gerschwin brothers would possibly have a hard time recognizing the second part of their "Strike Up The Band", a track on which also Giachero turns wild. Throughout the sets Braxton's alto gives a light, shimmering atmosphere to the music, which is further reinforced by the subtlety of touch of the accompanying trio. This is music which sounds relax at moments, intense at others, structured and free, played by a band that clearly enjoys the music they're playing as much as how they can make it their own.

One downside of the box is that, even if the performance was recorded live, some tracks end in fade-outs, leaving the somewhat frustrating feeling that there is no reaction from the audience, but that's just a minor comment on an otherwise impeccable set with excellent sound quality.

PS - the box indeed gives the George Russell composition the title "Exx-Thetics" instead of "Ezz-Thetics". Thanks Walter for pointing this out!

Buy from Amirani Records.

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Darren Johnston - The Edge Of The Forest (Clean Feed, 2008) ****

Ever since I heard "Third Impulse" and "Reasons For Moving", I was hooked on Darren Johnston's trumpet playing, and when I noticed that Clean Feed would be issuing an album by him, expectations ran high for what I thought would be an avant-garde jazz album. Yet again, I apparently assume too much. This is modern jazz at its best : rhythmic, with strong compositions, clear themes and structure, great arrangements, and above all, a list of top-notch musicians, with Ben Goldberg on clarinet, Sheldon Brown on tenor sax and bass clarinet, Devin Hoff on double bass, and Smith Dobson V on drums. Rob Reich joins on accordion on the second track, and he fits perfectly to set the tone of the piece. The music has a high degree of complexity, in that various orchestrated things can happen at the same time, at different speeds, with several melodies being interwoven, often with a solo or two on top, and this then changes the whole time, within the same piece. Another great thing about the album is that despite the complexity and the musicians' skills, this music swings, it is joyful and exuberant. It swings ("Cabin 5"), it funks ("Broken"), it bops ("Apples"), and they improvise through history from old to new and back, there are references from Ellingtonian music as much as to Dave Douglas, but in a way, I don't think Johnston needs those comparisons. He is a stellar trumpet-player, with a warm tone and a broad range, and these are equalled by his skills as a composer. Truth be told, I had expected more avant-garde, but he brought a surprise of warm, very creative and captivating modern jazz. And that's a great achievement.

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Mike Reed's Loose Assembly - The Speed Of Change (482 Music, 2008) ***

Just like last year's "Last Year's Ghost", this album by drummer Mike Reed gives me double feelings. Some of the tracks are excellent, such as the title track, but some of the other tracks leave me completely indifferent. The band consists of Mike Reed on drums, Greg Ward on alto saxophone, Tomeka Reid on cello, Jason Adasiewicz on vibes, and Josh Abrams on bass. Nicole Mitchell, on flute and vocals, joins on two tracks. Apart from the haunting title track, other noteworthy pieces are "Ground Swell", "X" and "Picking Up Greta". "Soulstirrer" starts out well, but then falls back in mainstream rhythm and melody. The same can be said about some of the other tracks, such as "Garvey's Ghost", a Max Roach composition, which is relatively bland here, and "Tezetaye Antchi Lidj", a Mulatu Astatqe composition, that sounds too joyful (and not raw enough) for the dark, bluesy and sensitive atmosphere on the rest of the album. And that's the sad part of this album, the original compositions work better than the covered pieces. Do the test, and play the album without them, you will see that the overall effect and sense of unity is much better. Yet this CD was praised to the sky by some more mainstream critics.

Listen and download from eMusic.

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Louis Moholo-Moholo & Marilyn Crispell - Sibanye (We Are One) (Intakt, 2008) ****½

South-African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo has played in many duo settings with pianists, including album releases with Cecil Taylor, Irène Schweizer and Stan Tracey, and now Marilyn Crispell has the honor to collaborate. And I must say, Moholo-Moholo is quite spectacular. After all these decades of drumming, a period in which he helped shape the European free jazz scene, his inventiveness remains remarkable, avoiding all the easy pitfalls of fixed patterns, automatisms and other mannerisms, his drumming creates the music, it sets the scene, develops the improvisation, ... Even without the piano, just listening to the drumming alone, this would be a worthwhile album, but then you have Crispell, whose style adapts well to the context, becoming more muscular and percussive than usual, yet keeping her sense of lyricism. Furthermore, they interact brilliantly. Sudden tempo changes -up or down - happen almost telepathically, with the most beautiful example being in the long "Journey", where after some breakneck speed playing, both musicians suddenly and simultaneously slow down, and Crispell's hypnotic right hand phrase shifts into an almost romantic melody. On other pieces, such as the opening track, her playing is limited to single notes of the right hand, gently interacting with the high energy percussion, slowly building up the piece as it moves along. And that's the magic that you get here: even as they play together, and quite intensely even, Moholo's playing can be hard-hitting, powerful and full of African elements, Crispell can still play her almost classical sounding style of jazz, and this in a perfect match with the drumming, "Phendula" offering the best example of this apparent paradox. On the title track, "Sibanye", the same happens: Moholo keeps the drive going, while Crispell weaves a sparse melody over the percussive storm. A great album on which both musicians excell.

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Carolyn Hume - Gravity And Grace (Leo Records, 2008) ****

Not hindered by any knowledge, but seeing the Leo label on the cover, I borrowed this CD by British pianist Carolyn Hume from the library. An album on which she is joined by cellist Oliver Coates and vocalist Sonja Galsworthy, and I was expecting avant-garde jazz in line with the label's musical positioning. My astonishment was great when I heard the music, which is slow, almost classical romantic, dark and melancholy. In truth, it would be better placed on the ECM label, fitting in the same category as Vassilis Tsabropoulos and Anja Lechner: clever and highly sensitive, with superb command of the instruments. Coates' cello adds the additional sentimental sadness to the music, and Galsworthy classically trained voice is stellar in this context: precise, clear as a bell, adding dramatic effect at moments, and beautifully. All Hume's compositions are in the same style, with the cello and the voice adding color once in a while and offering slight changes in perspective, leading to sufficient variation to keep things interesting. This is without a doubt one of the most consistently dark and sad albums that I've ever heard. It will console you when you are in that mood, and if you're not, it will certainly get you there.

Download from Lulu.com.

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Ensemble 56 - 1st Meeting Towards Sky Flight Of Dragon (Not Two, 2008) ****

I did not know this Polish-Hungarian band, consisting of Attila Dóra on alto, tenor sax and G clarinet, Rafal Mazur on acoustic bass guitar, and Mieczyslaw Górka on drums, and I'm glad I heard them now. These guys are as free as it gets, but full of soul and free improv leanings, and the trio's musicianship is just outstanding. They start in full force with fierce blowing and hard hitting over a non-explicit rhythm, then the trio moves into more organic sounds, playing with ambient bird songs on the second track. All three of them are a real pleasure to hear, with an unbelievable scope of technique, yet using this always in function of the musical project at hand, coherent and focused. These guys are good at the slow pieces, raw, natural, unbound by any constraints, blowing, plucking and hitting straight from the heart, giving this music a strange directness in its approach, and they are absolutely excellent in the more uptempo hypnotic rhythmic tracks, when Mazur's acoustic bass plays endless, almost tribal vamps with tiny variations and Górka's hard yet subtle drumming driving on Dóra's blowing into wild regions of our human subconscious, be it nighmarish or dreamlike, and anything in between.

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John Edwards - Volume (Emanem, 2008) ***½

Just because I like solo bass albums, here is another one, this time by British bassist John Edwards, and despite his extensive discography in the free improv scene, this is his first solo release. The album aptly starts with "Matter", a piece in which Edwards demonstrates all the solid ingredients of his trade. Solid means that his notes sound like rocks and stones, not like anything fluid that you would usually associate with music, as if the individual sounds get a common context without linear relationship. "Pin Drop" continues in the same vein, but as the title suggests, in a much quieter envinronment, moving to intense scraping of the arco, followed by tiny rhythmic patterns, almost sounding like African percussion. Some tracks do have a linear structure though, as on the fully bowed "From The Depths", but all tracks always stick to a certain coherence of approach, even if the logic is not always clear, if there is any at all. The real strength is in revealing the mystery of single sounds, the intimacy of man and instrument, the qualitative purity of a single note put in a context, the suprise of the in-the-moment improv, in creating the mystery of a single sound. This is surely music for people with very open ears, and for bass-players.

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Looking back on jazz in 2008

I think 2008 was a great year for modern jazz, and it may take some years, like good wine, before it's really appreciated.

An interesting move, at least in my listening experience, is the ongoing evolution of jazz into the realm of pure sound, away from fixed form, but also away from the violent blowing sessions, into very restrained, controlled, lyrical and deeply emotional music. I'm thinking about Larry Ochs, Ingrid Laubrock, Vincent Courtois, Nuts, Dans Les Arbres, Frode Gjerstad, Abelhai Bennani. It is sometimes hard to call this music "jazz", maybe some of the instruments belong to the jazz tradition, the improvisation is, but all the rest is pure musical freedom.

Secondly, some record labels did really great things. Four labels immediately come to mind :

AUM Fidelity managed to order great compositions from some of its regular musicians : Bill Dixon, Roy Campbell, William Parker, leading to three stellar albums, with music that might otherwise not have seen the light of day without the label's support.

Clean Feed continues to amaze me with their openness of ears for new and upcoming musical visions, together with their courage to sign on new talent. I'm thinking about Fight The Big Bull, Memorize The Sky, RIDD Quartet, Mauger, Angles, Kirk Knuffke, Sean Conly, Luis Lopes, Empty Cage Quartet, but also with great albums by Braxton, Adam Lane, Mark Dresser, Conference Call, Harris Eisenstadt, ... What a list of names, but most of all, what a list of great quality albums.

CIMP is of course one of the long-standing true values in the modern jazz, but they keep delivering great stuff, with the Trio X box being my absolute favorite, but there's also Bill Gagliardi, Stephen Gauci, Joe McPhee & Dominic Duval. The quantity is less, but the quality remains high.

Ayler Records kept offering great live performances, branching out into wilder territory, often involving electronics, and why not? They also released great boxes, with François Carrier, Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut, and great albums with Frode Gjerstad and Abdelhai Bennani to name just a few.

But of course there are also the new labels: Amor Fati, Sans Bruit, NoBusiness, NotTwo, Skirl, ... who released great and adventurous albums.

Another great and remarkable element is the great prominence of female musicians. Many of my favorite albums of the year are led by women : Satoko Fujii, Joëlle Léandre, Kris Davis, Angelica Sanchez, Ingrid Laubrock, Peggy Lee, Lotte Anker/Sylvie Courvoisier/Ikue Mori, Joan Jeanrenaud, Marilyn Crispell, Matana Roberts, Aki Takase & Silke Eberhard, Hélène Labarrière, Marilyn Mazur, ...

OK, then here are the must-haves for 2008 in random order:

• Steve Harris ZAUM - A' Is For Ox + I Hope You Never Love ...
• Trio X - Live In Vilnius + 2006 US Tour
• Natsuki Tamura & Satoko Fujii - Chun
• Satoko Fujii Ma-Do - Heat Wave
• Junk Box - Sunny Then Cloudy
• Larry Ochs, Miya Masaoka, Peggy Lee - Spiller Alley
• Vincent Courtois - As Soon As Possible
• Joëlle Léandre & Akosh S. - Kor
• Harris Eisenstadt - Guewel
• Anthony Braxton & Joe Morris - Four Improvisations
• Anthony Braxton, William Parker, Milford Graves - Beyond Quantum
• Kris Davis - Rye Eclipse
• Nuts - L'Atelier Tampon Ramier
• Matthew Shipp - Cosmic Suite
• William Parker - Double Sunrise Over Neptune
• Wadada Leo Smith - Tabligh
• The Stone Quartet - DMG@TheStone
• Roy Campbell - Akhnaten Suite
• Dans Les Arbres - Dans Les Arbres
• Frode Gjerstad, Kevin Norton, Paul Rogers - Antioch
• Paul Rogers - Being
• Bar Kokhba - Lucifer
• Bill Dixon & Exploding Star Orchestra
• Bill Dixon - 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound/Darfur
• Chris Gestrin - After The City Has Gone: Quiet

Now it is extremely hard to name the best albums in this list. With some records I laughed out loud because of the sheer musical joy they offered (despite the sadness), and those include Harris Eisenstadt's Guewel and William Parker's Double Sunrise, and I listened to those two albums the most of the above list, possibly together with the double trumpet front line of Nuts. I was emotionally overwhelmed by Paul Rogers Being and Bill Dixon's Darfur. I was impressed by the new musical avenues demonstrated by Dans Les Arbres, Larry Ochs/Miya Masaoka/Peggy Lee and Vincent Courtois. I was perplexed by Satoko Fujii's musical breadth, depth, energy and vision (and she's only 50!), I was stunned by Kris Davis' Rye Eclipse, and to be sure, Tony Malaby figures on many of my favorite albums of the year, as does Roy Campbell, I was charmed by Bar Kokba, as always before, I was happy that Matthew Shipp came out with an album that I could relate to (I love the guy's stubborn search for new things!), I enjoyed every second of Trio X's endless recordings of the same material, because it's so fantastically moving, I am sad because a musical visionary like Steve Harris is no longer among us, and really at the height of his possibilities ...

In the end, musical lists are futile. Paul Rogers' Being is to me like Lou Reed's Berlin: it has such emotional depth and range, that the moments you will listen to it are far and wide apart, but you know one thing: in ten years from now you will still listen to it. And just to show how futile these lists are: in many years from now, I will still listen to records that do not figure on this list, including "Fight The Big Bull", "Angles", to the albums that were released this year by François Carrier, Erik Friedlander, Chris Kelsey, Mark O'Leary, Franz Hautzinger, Taylor Ho Bynum, Daniel Humair, ... and many other albums.

A great year!

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Merry X-mas

I hope that all the little children will receive tiny trumpets, flutes, guitars, drum kits, vibraphones, saxes, and much more.

I hope they can blow and bang to their heart's content

I hope their parents have sufficient mental strength to let them continue doing this.

Until all these children will meet and play the world's grandest cacophony of sound ...

... yet full of joy and harmony.


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