Chris Cheek, Chris Speed & Stephane Furic Leibovici - Jugendstil (ESP, 2008) ****½

Bassist Stephane Furic Leibovici composed 11 pieces of modern music, which he calls organic music, growing from its own essence, and that have almost not repetitive motifs, yet each track is always recognizable as the same piece. To make it even more organic, the pieces all flow almost without exception over into one another. Chris Cheek on tenor and soprano, and Chris Speed on clarinet manage to make this music even more sublime, both playing with unbelievable tonal clarity, and wonderful improvisational focus. And although Stephane Furic Leibovici's compositions are already conceptually strong on their own, in the hands of lesser musicians, they would not have come to the same high level of sophistication and "free precision". The title "Jugendstil" refers to the architectural style of the early 20th Century and the music is indeed a perfect mirror image of it : non-linear, highly stylized, crafty and refined (although the composer says he's "not interested in styles. What I am after is substance"). I searched the internet for more background information on Stephane Furic Leibovici, but I found nothing apart from some few references to this CD. Apparently he withdrew all information on himself from his website, as a way to begin again. The liner notes add : "His starting point, here and elsewhere: 'to be gentle with the sounds, they have a life of their own, to listen and to let them come to me. I don't push them around. I listen to the inside of them'". A great description of this fragile and sensitive music.

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Robin Verheyen - Painting Space (De Werf, 2008) ***½

The young Belgian (but New York-based) saxophonist Robin Verheyen brings his sophomore CD with "Painting Space", accompanied by Bill Carrothers on piano, Remi Vignolo on bass and Dré Pallemaerts on drums. The central idea of the album seems to be how empty space can be filled with sound, and - as importantly - not be filled. Verheyen is a master of tone and shades of sound on his sax, subtle and nuanced, and the other musicians follow suit, with Carrothers playing lyrically and often plucking his piano-strings to great effect, Pallemaerts great as usual and Vignolo a discovery as a warm and lyrical bassist. And that's the major success of the record : the tight and cohesive sound that the band creates, and not surprisingly, more than half the tracks are penned by the four band members together. Some pieces are ethereal, meditative at times, as "Painting Space" and even more so "Wherever The Path Leads You" or "Colors In Space", others are more abstract and intense, yet always controlled and within the range of what you could call "accessible". Carrother's "Voice Of The People" is the most beautiful composition, built around a single tonal center played by the bass, over which Verheyen's soprano soars freely and calmly. The best and most impactful tracks are the ones in which a more daring attitude is shown, as on "Facing East", "Open To Love" and "Metal Bar". There is one element, though, which unfortunately disrupts the album's overall sense of unity, and that is their take on Wayne Shorter's "Capricorn", which is stylistically too different to fit here. Verheyen has tremendous skills and a wonderful approach to music. I hope he would move even more into more daring regions so that he can unleash more of his highly promising potential.


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Rudresh Mahanthappa - Kinsmen (Pi Recording, 2008) ****½

Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa had already integrated Indian melodies and rhythmic patterns in his jazz records, but on this album he takes the concept into full-fledged fusion, creating a band with both American and Indian musicians, to create a wonderful mix of really integrated genres and stellar musicianship. The ensemble consists of Rez Abbasi on guitar and sitar, A. Kanya Kumari on violin, Kadri Gopalnath als on alto saxophone, Carlo DeRosa on acoustic bass, Poovalur Sriji on mridangam and Royal Hartigan on drums. The compositions are structurally extremely strong, full of rhythm changes, long melodic lines, counterpoint by the other sax or the violin, ... There are moments when the early Mahavishnu Orchestra comes to mind, especially because of the speed of some unison phrases, as the combination of guitar and violin (as on "Ganesha" which has some chord changes which are typical Mahavishnu), at other times the approach is less fusion and more traditional tribal, as on "Snake", which evolves into an almost hypnotic dance with the soloists twirling around each other in a maddening tempo, sometimes it's meditative, closer to classical Indian music, especially on the "alap" tracks, on which each time one instrument plays solo, with "Kadri-Alap" and "Kanya-Alap" as the highlights. At times the melodies verge on the border of sentimentalism, but that is luckily more exception than the rule. And the album ends with "Convergence", a wonderful mix of genres, themes, tempi and instrumentation, with each of the musicians getting ample time for soloing, ending with a wonderful improvised sax dialogue between Gopalnath and Mahanthappa, and well, yes, actually "converging" into unison at the end (sorry to have revealed that surprise!).

I am not usually a fusion fan (sorry, Rudresh, to use the "F-word" again), but this album is absolutely excellent. All musicians are excellent, the compositions are excellent, with variation and depth. Mahanthappa's sax-playing is a pleasure to hear, and his idea to join forces with Kadri Gopalnath was brilliant. The former is without a doubt one of the most creative and lyrical sax-players in modern jazz, and the latter plays sax bending the notes, creating that gliding effect between notes that is so typical of the Indian violin and sitar. I'm not sure how he does that, but it sounds great. If you like world jazz, this one is not to be missed.

Listen and download from Pi Recordings.

Listen and watch this clip with some music from the album with an interview of Mahanthappa.



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Joe McPhee & Paal Nilssen-Love - Tomorrow Came Today (SmallTownSuperJazz, 2008) ****

I do not usually boast about my CD collection, but I have over 50 CDs with Joe McPhee as a leader, and with reason. When I tell other jazz fans that I think he's one of the true jazz greats of all times, I often get a frown in reaction. The reason why I think that, is because his music is universal and authentic, in a deep emotional and spiritual sense, open to any influence while still remaining uncompromising in its exploratory nature. He brings a purity of approach while combining sensitivity and warmth, with powerful violent outbursts and musical adventure. And he can play with many different kind of musicians and still build rapport.

This record is his fourth sax/drums duet, after "Emancipation Proclamation" with Hamid Drake, "A Parallax View" with Paul Hession and "Voices : Ten Improvisations" with John Heward. Now, with Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, the result of the dialogue is at the same high level. The 34 year old drummer is not in the least inhibited by playing with the 68 year old saxophonist, and to McPhee's credit, he lets the young drummer have the same level of space as he did on the duet with Hamid Drake. There is great respect and mutual encouragement, as already testified by the first track, on which McPhee blows a very mournful slow tune, which incites Nilssen-Love to accentuate with little cymbal sounds, or the opposite, double the tempo for some high energy playing without creating a conflict. The second track starts with high energy drumming, inviting McPhee for improvising with the same intensity, and he does that by playing highly rhythmic bursts of sounds circling around the same tonal center, meeting the drums halfway, almost letting go of the sax as a lyrical instrument. On "Ibsen's Ghost", McPhee switches to pocket trumpet, first riding the intense percussive waves that the drummer creates, then slowing down to bird-like (or is it ghost-like?) fluttering, while Nilssen-Love switches to brushes in reaction. "Acts Of Time" brings the most controlled demonstration of the saxophonist's incredible skill, blowing high sustained overtone sounds, barely touching upon the silence at first, then increasing the intensity for some heart-piercing wailing, supported by thundering drumming. And the treat goes on and on. It must also be noted that the quality of the recording is excellent too, creating a very intimate feeling, as if both artists were playing next to you. Free, creative, open and disciplined : I love it.

Listen and download from eMusic.

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Warren Smith - Natural Cultural Forces (Engine, 2007) ****

Here is another nice album which almost went unnoticed to me, and one that went probably below many potentially interested people's radar screen. Percussionist Warren Smith assembled a band of like-minded spirits for some fully improvised music built around concepts and visions that Smith shared with his fellow musicians, visions ranging from Duke Ellington to animals free in their natural element, geographic locations and the like. The musicians try to evoke these natural and cultural forces musically, in a full band, duo or solo settings. Apart from Smith on a variety of percussion, Tom Abbs plays bass, Andrew Lamb sax and Mark Taylor French horn. Throughout the disc the music evolves too, from the full band in the long first track, over a sax/drums duet on the second, a french horn/percussion duet on the third, a bass/percussion duet on the fourth, with the last two tracks being just solo percussion. The first track is an impressive band improvisation, which is excellent apart from the silly sounds at the beginning, with the sax and the french horn circling slowly around each other, while Smith supports brilliantly, highly energetic and full of little ideas, and Abbs' subtle bass acting as the fourth side of the pyramid. On the sax duet, Lamb works long in the highest tones of the instrument, coming down to earth again halfway the track, as the flight of the flamingo would suggest. My favorite piece is "Taurus At Pasture", on which the solemn tones of the french horn are in shrill contrast to the joyfulness of Smith's vibes. On "Epicenter", both percussion and bass remain in the absolute low ends of their instruments, with sparse sounds and lots of openness and silences, creating a rare sense of musical gravity and heaviness, again in contrast to the limited instrumentation. Apart from the already minimalist approach of Smith's music itself, listening to the whole album in one go, increases this feeling of reduction of music to its basic core essence : the last-but-one track brings a percussion and timpani ode to Duke Ellington, in a very sober and creative way and the last track is even more reductive, bringing just percussion sounds, devoid of rhythm almost, like raindrops falling down on leaves, an image which came to mind before I knew what the title "El Yunque" meant, which says a lot about the power of Smith's evocations. Music as creative as it is clever and deep.

Listen to Pyramid.

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William Parker Quartet - Petit Oiseau (AUM Fidelity, 2008) ****

This is the third release of the William Parker Quartet, consisting of Rob Brown on alto, Lewis Barnes on trumpet, Hamid Drake on drums and the leader on bass. The two previous albums "O'Neal's Porch" (of which I have a spare copy in case something goes wrong with the first one) and the live record "Sound Unity", both get a 5-star rating (in my pre-blog personal list of all records I ever listened to). William Parker has many bands and many styles of modern jazz, ranging from intimate world music to avant-garde big band, with in between vocal jazz, free jazz, and many others. This quartet is without a doubt one of the best in my opinion, because of its strong musicianship, its powerful freedom that is anchored in blues and traditional jazz, and which is, above all, so deeply emotional. The title, "Petit Oiseau" refers to a tone poem by William Parker about a little bird that is born without wings, and his mother tells him that he has to learn to fly from within, which he does successfully and he flies higher than any other bird. The band brings their usual wonderful combination of powerful and rhythmic vamps, rhythm and tempo changes with strong melodies and long expressive soloing. Yet in contrast to their previous releases, there is a much stronger mainstream base here, with clear themes, played in unison by the horns. To me, personally, I prefer the previous albums of this band, because they are more direct and less polished than this one. The higher refinement creates a little more distance between performer and listener, at least this listener likes it a little rawer. The album is bookended by two long tracks, the first a suite, with various themes and rhythms, the last one a long and sad tribute to trumpeter Alan Shorter. The second track "Talap's Theme" is inspired by the Sami people of northern Scandinavia, but the song's basic structure, rhythm and call-and-response theme sounds almost African. Other influences emerge too : "Dust From A Mountain" is world music, with just Parker on cedar flute and Drake on frame drums in the first half of the piece, and "Malachi's Mode" has Afro-Carribean influences and is probably the album's most joyous track. This is by all means an excellent album, one which is highly accessible and should, let's hope it, offer the William Parker Quartet the wider audience it deserves.

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Maria Kannegaard - Maryland (Moserobie, 2008) ****

There is something about modern Scandinavian jazz which makes it exceptional. Regardless of the genre, it is often creative, with musical vision and style. With 'style' I mean an adult music-for-music's sake kind of approach, and this album is another great example of that. Maria Kannegaard's band consists of herself on piano, Håkon Kornstad on tenor sax, Ole Morten Vågan on bass and Håkon Mjåset Johansen on drums. The music is structured and has clear themes, but they move each track just over the edge of newness, making it sound odd, fresh and very captivating. The rhythms become strange, the interplay bizarre, as on "Av Veien" with a piano that keeps on thundering the same chords over a wild bass and percussion for a long time, until the whole thing is sucked up by the main unison theme again, which is in itself a weird combination of light-footedness (think of the music accompanying a mouse on tiptoe in a cartoon), with a menacing undertone. "Ruslende" brings a magnificent example of how to build musical tension, with sparse romantic piano notes introducing a barely audible whispering monotone sax, supported by deep bass tones and accentuating small percussion, and a short mournful arco bass moment suddenly leads to an almost joyful tune, a big part past halfway the track. Other tracks seem more straightforward on the surface, but still have sufficient complexities to keep the attention going with repeated listens. Even the two "ballads" draw from the rich romanticism of piano jazz, but again, the great interplay lifts it a little higher, and especially Kornstad's sax-playing is excellent on both tracks, keeping the performance far away from cheap sentimentalism. Kannegaard herself is a great pianist, showcasing her skills in the long "Hit Og Dit", which starts with a long solo piano intro, moody and dark, but again spirits lift when a tune emerges from the right hand, inviting the sax to join, and the rest of the band, for an odd-metred exploration of the intro, with the sax setting the rhythm, evolving back into slow melancholy. "Förste Vake" has the same bizarre approach as "Ruslende" with the arco bass and piano playing an Chinese-sounding scale, while Kornstad explores the deeper sound regions of the horn: an eery combination.

In short, a strong compositional record, rooted in tradition with a more than modernistic approach, unafraid to create paradoxical clashes of mood, themes and sound explorations. Fresh and daring. A creative album by a great band.

Listen and download from Moserobie.

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Medeski, Martin & Wood - Zaebos (Tzadik, 2008) ***½

Is it excellent? Hmm, not really. Is it bad? Hmm, not really. I would say that it's just good. True, I'm a great fan of the Book Of Angels series, and I must admit that MMW is not really my style. I've seen them perform, and their musicianship is beyond question. I have several of their records, but I lost interest with "The Dropper", and although they were creative enough to create their own substyle of iconoclastic rock-jazz funky organ trio, they were kind of stuck in it, trying to wriggle out of their self-created format, but not really successfully, I think. Some tunes are brilliant, such as "Malach Ha-Sopher", which is dark, with a bass clarinet (?) carrying the melody, or "Sefrial", on which Medeski demonstrates some unusual restraint, creating a bluesy klezmer melody out of single notes instead of creating his usual high energy avalanches of multiple keyboard swoops, and this to great effect. "Asaliah" is great too, maybe because it's slow too, and creating the kind of kabbalistic darkness and dread, sauced with a tinge of melancholy that is the hallmark of the Book Of Angels series. Medeski switches to piano on some tracks, and that doesn't quite work as well as Jamie Saft's approach to the "Book". Other tracks are just plain uninteresting, such as "Chafriel", on wich the keyboard plays around the usual klezmer scale with the drums sounding awfully cheap, despite Martin's obvious skills. I think MMW has done better things than this, and if you're new to the "Book Of Angels" series, there are other albums which are clearly of a much higher level, but it's OK, it has its great moments, but that's about it. Considering that Zaebos is the demon, the grand count of the infernal regions, half human, half crocodile, who governs the 30 legions of spirits, what menace and doom could have been conveyed here, if only there was a little more unity and coherence ...

Listen to
Zagzagel
Sefrial
Asaliah

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Happy House - Inoxydable (Circum Disc, 2008) ****

Happy House is a French band led by guitarist Olivier Benoit, with Julien Favreuille on sax, Nicolas Mahieux on bass and Jean-Luc Landsweerdt on drums. Their rock-influenced jazz is very modern, very creative and unlike many fusion : the music has incredible strong focus and emotional expressiveness. The quality of the band is that they join fragility with explosiveness, control with boundless possibilities, subtlety with a raw punk-attitude. The band was created more than 15 years ago, and started out much more in a free jazz environment, but just to take everyone by surprise, the band now shifted its approach to very composed and often complex pieces, with lots of rhythm and mood changes, but without losing the directness of jazz improvisation or of rock music. Dark, angry and sentimental, and still maintaining coherence, not bad ... And the fact that these four guys have played together for a while can also be heard. Nice!

Listen and buy from CDBaby.

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NUTS - Now available for download

Hi, just in case you had missed my review of Nuts - L'Atelier Tampon Ramier which I gave a 5 star rating is NOW available for download at Sans Bruit : one bass, two trumpets, two drums. Great music!


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