Fat Kid Wednesdays - The Art Of Cherry (Hope Street, 2007) ***

Don Cherry is one of those musicians who never reached the status of the jazz giants, because his trumpet technique was too limited for that, but his musical vision was so broad, adventurous and unique, that he inspired many musicians, leading to a little more than a handfull of tribute albums. He was furthermore a very nice and joyful person, and especially this joy of life shines through many of his compositions. This album is by Michael Lewis on sax, Adam Linz on bass and TJ Bates on drums, with Greg Lewis joining on trumpet on some tracks and with vocals by Debbie Duncan, Carei Thomas and James Piers on some other tracks. Next to Cherry classics such as "Guinea", "Art Deco", "The Thing" and "Bamako Love", the band adds some of their own compositions. The music is fun, as could be expected, respectful and nice, though not very adventurous, and at moments a little bit bland, especially on the vocal tracks. They play the music of Don Cherry, they don't expand on it, or add to it. Interesting for collectors of Don Cherry tributes. The most important thing is that Cherry's musical vision has been instrumental in many of today's world jazz, and he has also opened new avenues for accessible yet very open free jazz.

Here are some more tributes to Don Cherry (ranked according to my appreciation) :

- Ya-Sou - Tribute To Don Cherry (with Tomasz Stanko)
- Berger/Knutsson/Spering - See You In A Minute (with Eagle Eye & Neneh Cherry)
- The Thing - Crazy Wisdom
- Tiziano Tononi - Awake Nu - A Tribute To Don Cherry (with Herb Robertson)
- New York Jazz Collective - I Don't Know This World Without Don Cherry (with Baikida Carroll, Marty Ehrlich, Michael Formanek, ... too mainstream to my taste)
- Lennart Aberg & Peter Erskine - Free Spirit - A Tribute To Don Cherry (with Palle Mikkelborg + big band)

Suggestions are welcome for other tribute albums to Don Cherry.

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Carla Bley - The Lost Chords Find Paolo Fresu (Watt, 2007) ***

In a mellow mood. Why not? Carla Bley has always been one of my favorite composers, and next to the unparalleled Escalator Over The Hill, I've always liked her "Songs With Legs" trio best, with Steve Swallow on bass and Andy Sheppard on sax, an album of pure musical joy. You add Bill Drummond on drums and you have the Lost Chord quartet. And this quartet has now "found" Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu, for this beautifully crafted record. Gone are the madness and the unorthodox tunes, what remains is introspective, melancholy downtempo, bluesy evening jazz, all perfectly executed, heartwarming, smooth to the ear and soothing to the soul. But then what? Is this what it all comes down to in the end? Gone are the creativity, the suprise, the compositional inventiveness, the freshness, ... But it is great jazz by great musicians, for the late hours in smoky lonely bars, when the last customers have left, and you sit there smoking your cigar with a good glass of scotch in your hands, contemplating life and the remote possibility of a slow last dance ...

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Dennis Gonzalez - Dance of the Soothsayer’s Tongue (Clean Feed, 2007) *****

The reason why I like Dennis Gonzalez's music, is the combination of emotional expressiveness, open musical form, warmth of tone, his sense of free melody, and the absolute priority he gives to the music as the outcome of the whole band's performance, rather than using the band to demonstrate his own skills. Every Gonzalez album is a "band" album. And all the above together is not a minor feat. Add to that, that this band is not just a band, it consists of Ellery Eskelin on sax, Mark Helias on bass and Mike Thompson on drums, three stellar musicians who no longer need introduction. Because of all these excellent ingredients and characteristics, the music is immediately identifiable as his. Starting with "Reaching Through The Skin", Gonzalez kicks it off with solo trumpet, melodic, rhythmic emotional, to be joined by high energy complex drumming by Thompson, a duo format with which the album will also end. Thompson's drumming is one of the most typical features of this album, and at moments it gives the impression that he's leading and driving the music forward, of course in the central track "Soundrhythmium", wich is solo percussion, but also on the title track, and on the long "Afrikanu Suite" his role is decisive in creating the tension, accents and depth to the music, offering a perfect counterpart for Helias' sad or menacing bowing and Gonzalez melancholy lines. "The Afrikanu Suite" brings some counterweight to the trumpet/drums of the other tracks, by starting with a great sax and bass duet, with Helias and Eskelin opening their bag of technical skills to create one soundsculpture after the other, varying incessantly, while remaining coherent in their approach, leading towards a fragile sensitivity, preparing the ground for Gonzalez' sad trumpet, which evolves into a more free bop mode, dropping the rhythm somewhere in the middle for some tentative collective free improv, and when the rhythm comes back with a Latin twist, the audience applauds enthusiastically. I wish I had been at Tonic that night to watch this live performance. Needless to say that Gonzalez is one of my favorite artists of the moment. I like his musical vision, and the rare joint strengths of accessibility and creativity. This is without a doubt his best album since his "Nile River Suite".

You can order from Dennis Gonzalez directly or download via eMusic.com.

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Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble - Fujin Raijin (Victo, 2007) ****

Min-Yoh is Japanese traditional folk music. The form, structure and scales are simple. That is ... until they get in the hands of Satoko Fujii. The Japanese pianist is a musical adventurer in the truest sense of the word : she explores new musical territory with each album, changing line-ups, musical vision, approaches, yet everything she does has this incredible intensity and authenticity. She really wants to hear what's behind the bend, and which new aural landscapes emerge when you push things a step further. And sometimes it's successful, and I find this to be the case mostly in her small ensemble settings, and sometimes it's not, to my taste less so in her big bands, but her music will always be a conduit of raw emotional power and expression. And that's no different on this record. As she states it in the liner notes "When I play, sing and listen to this music, it goes directly to my heart. ... There are many music styles that have used the form, scales and rhythms of Min-Yoh, but they often lose the power, which is the most important part of this music". And power you get here. The first and last tracks are traditional Japanese folk songs, the other four are Fujii compositions based on Min-Yoh heritage. She is accompanied by Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Curtis Hasselbring on trombone and avant-gardist Andrea Parkins on accordion.
And these musicians go really deep into the possibilities offered by the material. At moments quiet and subdued, melodic, romantic and impressionistic, they build the simple form to paroxysms of avant-garde intensity, sometimes controlled chaos, but without leaving the core structure and melody, and in that way unleashing indeed the inherent power of the song as unexpected as it was undiscovered. "Shimanto", the longest track of the record illustrates this well, moving from introspective moments, to joyful dancing interplay, avant-garde sound exploration, to darkly brooding piano thundering, ending in unisono sad melody for the horns. The four musicians are excellent and the unconventional combination of instruments and especially their approach to music, and Min-Yoh in particular, makes this another worthwhile album in the lengthy Fujii catalogue.

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Paul Motian Trio 2000 + Two - Live At The Village Vanguard, Vol. 1 (Winter & Winter, 2007) ***½

If you like stellar musicianship, post bop leaning on free jazz, then is one is for you. The band consists of Paul Motian on drums, Chris Potter on tenor saxophone and Larry Grenadier on bass, with Greg Osby on alto and Masabumi Kikuchi on piano, acting as the "plus two". The musicians need no introduction : Motian has been the inventor of a drumming style which has become common now, but for which he is still unequalled : accentuating rhythm and music, rather than acting as the metronome of the band, and which he still demonstrates to the full on this CD. The music itself is not really ground-breaking, but the interplay, the technical capabilities and emotional expressiveness are of a constant high level. The audience is very attentive and enthusiastic. (One minor aspect : if you don't like Jarrett's humming along when he plays, you will also not like Kikuchi doing the same on the more quiet parts, despite the excellent quality of his playing).

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The George Burt/Raymond MacDonald Quintet - Hotel Dilettante (Textile Records, 2005) ****½

Here is another album that is a few years old, but which I came across last week, and it is absolutely wonderful. Hotel Dilletante is a Scottish band consisting of George Burt, guitar; Raymond MacDonald, alto and soprano saxophone; George Lyle, double bass; Nicola MacDonald, voice, melodica, bass; Allan Pendreigh, drums; Lol Coxhill, soprano saxophone; Sushil K. Dade, bass, theremin and drums. This music combines elements of ambient, prog rock and free jazz, and it is as light as it is accessible and emotional. The music is relatively simple in its form, more rock-like, at times reminiscent of the Penguin Café Orchestra or even Laurie Anderson (especially on the second track "The Worthy Constituent"). There is an intimacy here, something naive and direct which is really compelling, like broad abstract strokes on a canvas, led by Burt's guitar, over which Raymond MacDonald draws his extremely beautiful and restrained tones and melodies. Nicola MacDonald's wordless singing on some tracks is like joyful girlish humming on a sunny spring day. In contrast to much of the violence on endless overblowing on many free jazz records, this one is gentle and a welcome variation. Yet it's creative, full of avant-garde try-outs and musical collages, so great work was done in the studio too. Highly recommended.

Listen to
Speed Boat Taxi
The Worthy Constituent

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Dhafer Youssef & Wolfgang Muthspiel - Glow (Material, 2007) ***

Tunesian singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef has always been a musician to my heart, in the sense that he managed to create his own voice in contemporary music, in a creative and intelligent way. So far, Malak was in my eyes his best album, with Nguyen Le on guitar and Markus Stockhausen on trumpet. Here he is joined again by Wolfgang Muthspiel, as on "Electric Sufi". The whole CD is a little more introvert, and yes, Youssef's singing is still amazingly great and absolutely rare in its absolute power and range, but it's becoming a gimmick. His former albums, Digital Prophecy, was already less spectacular, but this one is even a little bland at moments. It's not bad at all, but it's not terrific either. There isn't enough musical expansion, his oud-playing is completely pushed to the background, and although Muthspiel is an excellent guitar player, the whole CD remains within a riskless zone, probably trying to appeal to more tastes. And that's never a good strategy.

Listen to
Mon Parfum
Babylon

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Anthony Ortega - Afternoon in Paris (HatHut, 2007) ****

Saxophonist Anthony Ortega is accompanied by bass-player Kash Killion on some tracks recorded in the studio, the rest is Ortega just by himself, recorded live in Paris. He is a great sax-player, technically skilled, but especially strong in getting all emotions across in all their various shapes and forms, sensitive and elegant, with a tone quite his own. Some of the pieces are well-known standards : "I'll Remember April" (on flute), "Blue Monk", "Ornithology". I like his take on "Blue Monk" especially, because he tears it apart in his solo version without moving too far from the theme either, but with joy and respect. And that's basically his approach for most of the tracks : lots of pleasure in playing the music, giving his own reading, and all that with great lyricism and emotional power.

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Clarinet duos - two CDs to put on your search-list!

I borrowed two CD's this week with similar musical approaches, but a few years old or more, but both with a remarkable similarity in approach : a clarinet + bass or clarinet + drums duo. On both records, the music comes straight from the heart, is channeled through superb musicianship and is delivered with a clear and common musical vision between the two performers. If you come across them, get hold of them!

Jean-Marc Foltz & Bruno Chevillon - Cette Opacité (Clean Feed, 2005) ****½

Jean-Marc Foltz plays clarinet, Bruno Chevillon bass. Together they play this absolute wonderful CD of free improvisation, called "Cette Opacité", played at the Jazzdor Festival of Strasbourg in France in 2003. The two musicians play some fabulously fresh, raw, inventive and fun music. The melodies are great, the rhythms are stunning, the interplay is remarkable. Foltz's playing at times reminds me of Ned Rothenberg, and true, both are experts in the circular breathing technique, but here Chevillon's bass gives it a more haunting and hypnotic quality. Yet there is joy too, and plenty of it, and suprise, and melancholy moments too. Apart from their stunning musicianship, their sense of space and silence is excellent as well. As said, a wonderful album.

Available for download from eMusic.com

Andrea Centazzo & Gianluigi Trovesi - Shock!! (Ictus, 1984 - re-issued 1995) *****

Andrea Centazzo is this Italian drummer and composer who never shied away from taking musical risks and financial risks in getting his music known. He was the founder of the by now defunct Italian Ictus label. On this disk he is accompanied by Gianluigi Trovesi, the Italian master of the bass clarinet, who also plays piccolo clarinet, alto and soprano saxophone on this record. Trovesi is a master of many styles, and he feels as comfortable in the free jazz idiom as in modern jazz, as in his romantic excursions into Italian traditional music. This album is an absolute joy from beginning to end, because both musicians go as broad as they can, spilling the whole bag of styles and melodies and rhythms they have accumulated over the years, but doing that in a most inventive, entertaining and creative manner. This is free music, and many of the sounds, and sound-bursts and emotional discharges will be new to the ear, but yet also accessible. Great!

This disk was originally recorded in January 1984 in Bologna, Italy in Centazzo's studio. Part of the income from the re-issue will go the victims of the Bosnian war.

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Hafez Modirzadeh - Bemsha Allegria (self-published, 2007) ***½

Hafez Modirzadeh is a San Francisco-based saxophonist of Iranian origin and with a very specific approach to music. He created his own "chromodal" scale, built around traditional Persian music and jazz scales. For those interested, you can have a look at his website, where he explains the whole concept. For those wanting a quick glance, you can click here to get an idea. To make matters even a little more complicated, he adds some flamenco ingredients into the music on this CD, accompanied by Spanish musicians Pancho Branas on drums, cajon, percussion, Juan Masana on electric bass and Jesus Hernandez on piano. Despite all the theoretical complexities and Modirzadeh's desire to knock the listener out with his technical approach, the music sounds simple, sensitive, sensual even. His takes on Monk, Coltrane and Mingus are really well-done, yet his approach really gets its full effect on his own compositions. I like his tone, his sense of melody and the emotional aspects of his playing. His best album so far remains "People's Blues", on which his Persian melodiousness is fully integrated in jazz with great effect.


Listen to and download from CDBaby

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