Jimmy Weinstein - This Ocean (Ad Hoc 002, 2006) ****

Jimmy Weinstein is a drummer with a very turbulent life, moving between the US and Europe, moving from one city to the other, being taught by top musicians, changing instruments, performing for years as a street musician, ending up at the Spanish Fresh Sound New Talent label where he released some CDs, then releasing this album on his own label with this Japanese trio, consisting of Satoko Fujii on piano, Natsuki Tamura on trumpet and Masa Kamaguchi on bass. You can download the album on payplay.com, and I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in modern jazz. The music on this CD is wild, broad-minded, moving all over the place, from introvert intimistic sound explorations to very extravert super dynamic exuberant tonal explosions, very free and very open, yet still wonderfully contained and disciplined. The musicians play with great joy and utter concentration, and create music that thunders and clatters, swings and sings, surprises and enthralls, wheeps and wails and laughs, using boppish elements as much as the free-er more creative zones. I cannot sufficiently emphasize the quality of these Japanese musicians - as I've done before on this blog - Fujii and Tamura being among the best you can hear at the moment, and the fact that they are making this album with Weinstein says enough about their respect for his musical vision. And rightly so! Man, man, man, why are some CDs not more promoted? If one CD has been underexposed in the press, it's surely this one. Judge for yourself.

Listen to :
Squalls
East Of Cadiz
Rat
Beaufort's Scale
Go-Getter

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The Free Zen Society (Thirsty Ear, 2007) **½

You must give Matthew Shipp credit for his musical endeavours and restless search for new idioms of expression. Here, with The Free Zen Society, he uses the gentle and melodic piano-playing of albums like "Pastoral Composure", assisted by Zeena Parkins on harp and William Parker on bass. The music was then apparently forgotten, then found again, and re-edited by Thirsty Ear producer Peter Gordon, adding other sounds and synthesizer into the mix. The overall effect is very pleasing to the ear, yet not entertaining in the sense that it keeps your attention going. To add the name of "zen" to the title is an easy trick to camouflage emptiness of vision with a spiritual cover, rather than the opposite as it should be. The album has its nice moments, and fans of old-time Klaus Schultze may find it interesting.

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Unit - Time Setting (BMC, 2007) ****

Unit is an international band, with the Belgian Laurent Blondiau on trumpet and flugelhorn, the Frenchmen Matthieu Donarier on sax/clarinet and Sebastian Boisseau on bass, Hungarian Gabor Gado on guitar and the Danish Stefan Pasborg on drums. "Time Setting", which was released on the Hungarian BMC label, brings 13 short tracks, all close to two minutes, with in addition three longer pieces, of which the longest lasts 18 minutes. So far for the time indications. The music is light and open, a little more anchored in tradition, but still part of the more experimental modern jazz category. The tracks are too short to make long improvizations possible and hence are really very compact melodic sculptures created with great precision of tone, sound and structure. The large number of tracks makes it also possible to put various moods next to each other : sometimes menacing, sometimes sad, sometimes anxious, or even funny at times. The five musicians are not only technically very good, but they are also musically on the same line, which makes the unity and coherence of the whole album really strong. Recommended!

Luister naar sound samples.

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Red Rockett - Mitten (Rat Records, 2007) ****

"Mitten" is the debut album by Red Rocket', a trio with Joachim Badenhorst from Belgium on tenor and clarinet, Simon Jermyn on guitar and Sean Carpio on drums, the latter both from Ireland. Badenhorst is a clarinet-player first and foremost, the sax being his second instrument. After his studies in Antwerp, he went to the Music Academy in The Hague, The Netherlands, were he had lessons from amongst others John Ruocco. This technically and compositionally strong trio brings music that is really fun to hear : very fresh and open, in part thanks to the interesting melodic explorations and the rock-influences. They vary more abstract harmonic themes with intense moments and despite the openness, the music is carefully crafted and sounds very finished. Badenhorst's solos are structured, focused and above all emotional. With Jermyn and Carpio he has found true soulmates, both in terms of technical skills and musical approach. Fans of Chris Speed, Jim Black and Hilmar Jensson will really enjoy this one.

Samples can be listened to on Myspace

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John Tchicai - Witch's Scream (TUM Records, 2007) **½

If three of the top players of the early years of free jazz join forces on a new album, then expectations run high. Saxophonist John Tchicai, 71 years old, has been part in shaping the European free jazz scene, bassist Reggie Workman, 70, has made a name for himself with musicians such as Coltrane and Shepp, Andrew Cyrille, 67, has played the drums for many years with luminaries such as Cecil Taylor and John Carter. You expect fireworks, yet it turns out the other way. The three play like they have nothing left to prove, and the record sounds like a nice enough excursion, but without any real surprises, without any power, without salt, without pepper. The CD has its good moments, especially in the improvizations, like on the first track, but then comes "Monk's Dream", with vocals by Tchicai who unfortunately cannot sing. It sounds sympathetic enough at first, yet it becomes irritating very quickly, and as well on other tracks such as "Proximity" and "Alice In Wonderland". Yet the trio ends the album like they started : well. The last piece "The Current" is luckily also the longest track, but it makes it even more frustrating because it demonstrates what the rest could have been. But again, maybe my expectations were too high to start with.

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Bill Frisell - Floratone (Blue Note, 2007) ***½

I have always had a love/hate relationship with the music of Bill Frisell, just like I have with John Zorn, but for the opposite reason : while Frisell makes some great music, he often falls into a mellowness in which you can drown, Zorn falls into thorny bushes which tear you to pieces and neither of those situations can be described as enjoyable. However, both have a more middle of the spectrum operating area, which is still sufficiently creative and original to be attractive. This record belongs to the category to which I can listen with pleasure (along with his The Elephant Sleeps But Still Remembers, East West, The Intercontinentals and Blues Dream), and it is in fact a joint album with Matt Chamberlain on drums, which was after a first recording, reprocessed by Tucker Martine and Lee Townsend, after which Frisell and Chamberlain had another go at it. Additional musicians are bassist Viktor Krauss, cornetist Ron Miles, and viola-player Eyvind Kang. And the result? Not bad, great playing as usual, great sound quality and interesting and extremely meticulous production. And yet, ... it all sounds a little too processed for my ears, a little bit too distant, like soundscapes indeed, but then in a setting you're no part of, like watching scenery on television. It lacks the immediacy and the emotional rapport you expect from jazz, and it lacks the smells, the bugs, the wind, the rough terrain and the personal effort you expect from being in a real landscape, and hence also much of the joy and reward you can get from it. Still, it has its great moments.

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Boots Brown - Boots Brown (Slottet, 2007) ****

Swedish band "Boots Brown" consists of some of the country's key jazz figures : Mats Gustafsson on sax, Magnus Broo on trumpet, David Stackenäs on guitar, Johan Bertling on bass, accompanied by Tomas Hallonsten on organ on one track. When I heard their debut record for the first time, I was a little taken aback by the apparent emptiness, the lack of melodic evolution and structure. To its immediate strength, it had an immediacy, intimacy and fragility which were compelling. The music is pointillistic, with specks of sound reacting to one another, like random dots of paint splashed on a canvas, meaningless by themselves, but once you see them in the overall frame, with some distance, and familiarization, an overall picture emerges. More experimental jazz than free jazz, with repeated listens, the album's musical vision and creative use of sound texture and coordinated free interplay become more and more appealing. In sum, a very open exercise, very gentle, at moments sad, at moments joyful. A rare treat.

Listen to
Knee-High
Teak Industrial Trailblazer
Gaucho Volcano

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Taylor Ho Bynum & Tomas Fujiwara - True Events (482 Music, 2007) ****

Regular visitors of this blog will know that I like Don Cherry and that I favor small ensembles that improvize freely. And that almost sums up why I did not like Taylor Ho Bynum's "The Middle Picture" that much, while I really enjoy "True Events". Both were released this year, but are incomparable : the former was a very orchestral affair with too much ambition, too much variation, which did not manage to create a real unity of style, a problem which is of course easier to avoid in a smaller trumpet-drums setting. And that is beyond a doubt the real power of this album : both musicians not only share a broad and excellent technique, they've also known each other for over 15 years and that entails an interactive power that is a real treat to hear. Most tracks are short, very short even, with a minimal sketchy melodic and rhythmic structure. That aspect is the nice part of this music : it's poetic rather than epic, compact and eloquent in its expressive power, rather than needing a long story to come across. Only one of the tracks is completely improvized "The Emperor Of Ice Creams", which lasts almost 15 minutes, but which offers a great extension from the poetic parts to a more conversational dialogue between the two instruments. Great music.

Listen to : The Upset

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The Art of the Duo : trumpet-drums duo and sax-drums duo

Since John Coltrane and Rashied Ali created "Interstellar Space" with only sax and percussion, opening through this limited line-up new realms of expression, often raw, hard, yet incredibly direct and open, many have seen the opportunities it offered and followed their example. Playing in a trio format is for many already a tough task, but relinquishing the typical role of the bass as melodic and rhythmic anchor point, offers a total freedom of interaction, but it's like poetry without rhyme, there is no comfort zone to fall back into, no safe haven, no safety net, it's swim or drown. Without technical mastery, creativity and close listening skills, it's hard to create anything meaningful at all.

Some memorable records :

Sax-percussion duo

John Coltrane &Rashied Ali : Interstellar Space
Daniel Carter & Ravi Padmanabha : Nivesana
Günter Baby Sommer & Raymond MacDonald : Delphinius & Lyra
John Surman & Jack DeJohnette : Invisible Nature
Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake : Back Together Again
Fred Anderson & Steve McCall : Vintage Duets
Robert Barry & Fred Anderson : Live Duets 2001
John Butcher & Paal Nilssen-Love - Concentric
Kahil El'Zabar & David Murray - Jazznacht Live
Kahil El'Zabar & David Murray - Live In Italy
Charles Lloyd & Billy Higgins : Which Way Is East
Frank Lowe & Rashied Ali : Duo Exchange
Joe McPhee & Hamid Drake : Emancipation/Proclamation
David Murray & Jack DeJohnette : In Our Time
Ellery Eskelin & Han Bennink : Dissonant Characters
Federico Ughi & Daniel Carter : Astonishment
Federico Ughi & Daniel Carter : Mountain Path
Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love : Dual Pleasure
Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love : Dual Pleasure 2
Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love : Seven
Frode Gjerstad & Paal Nilssen-Love : Day Before One
Paal Nilssen-Love & Mats Gustafsson : Splatter
Paal Nilssen-Love & Mats Gustafsson : I Love It When You Snore
Peter Brötzmann & Yoshisaburo Toyozumi : Sabu Brötzmann Duo
Peter Brötzmann & Hamid Drake : The Dried Rat-Dog
Lou Grassi & Marshall Allen : Live At The Guelph Festival
Noah Howard & Bobby Kapp : Between Two Eternities
Steve Baczkowski & Ravi Padmanabha : Tongue Rust & Lead Moth
Steve Baczkowski & Ravi Padmanabha : Aqua Machine
Steve Lacy & John Heward: Recessional (for Oliver Johnson)
Steve Lacy & Steve Argüelles: Image
Steve Lacy & Andrea Centazzo: Clangs
Steve Lacy & Andrea Centazzo: TAO
Eddie Prevost & Alan Wilkinson : So Are We, So Are We
Hamid Drake & Assif Tsahar : Soul Bodies Vol. 1
Hamid Drake & Assif Tsahar : Soul Bodies Vol. 2
Assif Tsahar & Tatsuya Nakatani : Come Sunday
Assif Tsahar & Susie Ibarra : Home Cookin'
Anthony Braxton & Andrew Cyrille - Duo Palindrome, Vols. 1 & 2
Max Roach and Anthony Braxton - Two in One - One in Two
Glenn Spearman & Donald Robinson - Night After Night
Evan Parker & Paul Lytton - RA ; Collective Calls; At the Unity Theatre, Two Other Stories
Lou Gare & Eddie Prevost - At the Roundhouse, To Hear and Back Again
Dewey Redman & Ed Blackwell - Red Black
Jimmy Lyons & Andrew Cyrille - Burnt Offering
John Zorn & Milford Graves - 50th Birthday Celebration
Rashied Ali & Louie Belogenis - Rings of Saturn
Sabir Mateen & Ben Karetnick - Xing
Paul Flaherty & Chris Corsano - The Beloved Music
Willem Breuker & Han Bennink - The New Acoustic Swing Duo
Sabir Mateen & Sunny Murray - We Are Not At The Opera
Sonny Simmons & Billy Higgins - Backwoods Suite
Daniel Carter & Andrew Barker - Common Soldier
Andrew Barker & Charles Waters - S/T
Andrew Barker / Charles Waters Duo - Dialogues In Now

I'm sure I forgot some memorable albums : please let me know!
Suggestions should be for entire albums of sax/drums.

(already many thanks to Tom, Stéphane, Clifford, Rosebud and anonymous)

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Nels Cline/Andrea Parkins/Tom Rainey - Downpour (Victo Records, 2007) ****

Some years after their first album "Ash And Tabula", this avant-garde trio consisting of Nels Cline (guitar), Andrea Parkins (electronics, accordion, piano) and Tom Rainey (drums) brings a new exploration of hard sonic universes. The record requires some effort at first, but the more you've listened to it, the more astonishing it sounds. Andrea Parkins is responsible for the major part of the sonic explorations, with Nels Cline reacting to it and Tom Rainey accentuating and chasing the whole thing forward. This music is impossible to classify. This is no jazz, no rock, no free improv, but a new style which integrates the three genres. You may be able to find sound samples of this album on the internet, but 30 second pieces cannot possibly give an inkling of how this music evolves over these two long and one short track. The music pulls you into a place you've never been before, where sometimes, but very rarely, you can hear sounds that are familiar (some guitar strumming, drums, even a few undistorted piano notes, ...) but more often you will be surprised by sonic openings into a new spacial environment, with new tonal combinations, intense, electrifying, scary, gloomy, dark, menacing. The three musicians are incredibly strong, creating this musical universe as free improv with an incredible coherence and variation. Tom Rainey is without a doubt one of the best modern jazz drummers of the moment, and every album he contributed to in the last few years is excellent (Torn, Malaby, Berne, Helias, Shepik, O'Leary, Feldman), and that is no coincidence, because his drumming is so determining for the whole sound. And although Andrea Parkins is not so prominent on the foreground here, her sonic explorations are extremely functional and set the mood for the whole record. Nels Cline is again a master in harsh creativity, developing new sounds, sometimes guitar-like, yet more often totally unfamiliar sounds, and his playing is creative and subtle throughout both the calmer and the harder moments. He is someone like Robert Fripp who can create new music just due to his unbelievable mastery of his instrument. This record is a real adventure, full of power, energy and subtlety. Don't miss it.

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