Oddjob - Clint (Act, 2010) ***½

By Joe Higham

I should say that even though I only rated this album with three and a half stars I have no hesitation in recommending it. Unfortunately on a blog like this we receive so much cutting edge and boundary pushing music that a band like Oddjob is a little out of place, but maybe only stylistically.

Oddjob is a band that has already made several CDs well received by critics and fans alike. Like such groups as 'Kneebody', 'The Inhabitants', or even 'Troyka', they blur the edges of rock and jazz, feeding off the ground broken by Miles Davis' Bitches Brew .... and beyond. In this case (as the title suggests) the tunes are taken from various Clint Eastwood movies, giving an extra element of film soundtracks and the atmospheres that go with it. I should add that one shouldn't expect a Ennio Morricone pastiche album, the music is taken from all sorts of movies such as 'Where Eagles Dare', 'Scorpio', 'Magnum Force' as well as 'The Pale Rider','Hang 'Em High' and of course 'The Good Bad and the Ugly'!

The music is extremely well thought out and arranged with a front line of bass clarinet and trumpet giving a slight retro sound to the themes. The group is normally made up of drums, piano, keyboards, bass (electric and acoustic). Here they seem to have added to the line-up baritone sax and peddle steel guitar (I don't have any other information), the latter taking a slight cue from either Brian Blade's Fellowship or Dan Burglund's Tonbruket, is used to great effect either as a chord instrument or when doubling themes with the two horns. As already stated the music is naturally filmic and very atmospheric, trumpet sounds being manipulated and doubling of bass and bass clarinet creating ostinato like figures which serve well for improvisations.

Keyboards distort and ring modulators hum away giving the music a feel one relates to films and TV series from the 70's such as 'Shaft', 'Bullet', or even the 'Streets of San Francisco'. There are solos, but in general the themes and the arrangements are what the group really pushes to the fore and to great effect. The music is superbly played as the group really grooves away on all tunes, bringing out the dark atmospheres that were often part of these films plots. I can imagine this would be one hell of a band to see play this music live.

Even though this is not a 'free jazz' record one shouldn't hesitate, especially if you're interested by music (albums) such as - Zorn's 'Spillane' or 'The Big Gundown', Herbie Hancock's - 'Death Wish', Dave Douglas 'Witness'. It will certainly be back in my CD player on a regular basis.

The band is : Goran Kajfes on trumet, Per Johansson on sax, Daniel Karlsson on keyboards, Peter Forss on bass and Janne Robertson on drums.

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Paul Rogers - An Invitation (Rare Music, 2010) ****½

 By Stef

Just to make the comparison, I listened to Paul Rogers' "Being", released four years ago on Amor Fati, in order to analyse this - again stunning - solo album by the British bassist.

An invitation is, as the title suggests, a little more inviting, more accessible. It is not the one long improvisation on which the artist bares his soul, but a more intimate album, containing ten compositions, allowing for a little more l'art pour l'art, in which the musician not only demonstrates the breadth of his fabulous technique, but also offers a more playful approach with influences, coming as easily from jazz as from British folk music, as from classical, or even bluesy slide guitar.

His technique, coupled with the possibilities of his custom-made 7-string bass create at times the impression of a dialogue, as if two instruments are playing, yet it's only one, without overdubs.

Rogers' most incredible skill is to create tension from the very first notes and keeping the attention going, capturing the listener fully, developing the tension, adding new elements, move to piercing arco sounds that resonate with every nerve cell in your body and keeps them vibrating for a time after the music has stopped. 

Not all tracks are of the same austere coherence, but some pieces are absolutely fabulous, with the final piece as the highlight of again an incredibly strong solo performance.


On a side note :  solo bass collection

I thought I had collected quite some solo bass albums, but I received an e-mail from a German music fan who collected four hundred solo bass albums, albeit with a definition that is somewhat loser than mine. For reasons unspecified, he would like to make this collection available to an interested institute, or sell it. If anyone's interested, send me an e-mail and I'll put you in contact with him.

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Free Fall - Gray Scale (SMJZ, 2010) ****½

By Paul Acquaro

Free Fall is a trio of Ken Vandermark, Havard Wiik, and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on clarinets, piano and bass respectively. The trio, apparently modeled after the early 1960s Jimmy Giuffre's Trio with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, has delivered a challenging and sophisticated effort that reveals itself more with each listen.

The albums cover, a stark grey scale image of a pier stretching into the water is iconic for the music within. The depth and interconnectedness of the music increases as you wade out further into the abstract melodies and harmonies. This is music with sharp angels and twisting contours, and its contrasts can both attract and repel, tantalizingly so.

'Lividus' begins quietly, with squiggles of clarinet, splashes of piano and punches of bass. Soon, the sound becomes denser, if not less diffuse, and the clarinet expresses a great range in its melodies. 'Griseus' is more percussive, the clarinet bleating, bass slapping and piano runs providing abstract but purposeful harmony. 'Ravius' showcases the subtle, low hushed tones of the bass clarinet with sprinkles of piano and atmospheric upright bass as the tune builds, slowly revealing more textures. The 8 plus minute 'Cinerius', to me, is the centerpiece of the album. Freely melodic clarinet runs are contrasted with abstract ramblings by the piano, and dark underpinnings by the bass, only later to explode into a controlled but devastating burn. Here, as in the other songs, the seeming independence of each player is actually very much interdependence and together they cohere into something very free and exciting.

Gray Scale is a provocative name, and at times the music reflects stark atmosphere of cover but transcends it as well with colorful musicianship and daring explorations. Though not an easy album to digest on the first pass, it leaves a lingering taste and compells repeated listening.

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Sonic Brotherhood - Deep Tones For Peace Israel 2009 (Kadima, 2011) ****

By Stef

Some years ago Israeli bassist JC Jones started with the Deep Tones For Peace transatlantic initiative, which resulted in a first album and DVD last year, bringing together bassists from the US, Europe and the Middle-East, playing together from two locations in New York and Jerusalem.

This album gives additional material from the performers in Jerusalem : Mark Dresser, JC Jones, Irina-Kalina Goudeva, Bertram Turetzky and Barre Phillips, playing as a bass quintet on three tracks, some duets between Dresser/Jones, Turetzky/Philips, Goudeva/Turetzky, Phillips/Jones, and three solo pieces by Goudeva, Dresser and Phillips. All tracks are free improvisation with the exception of Goudeva's solo, which is based on  a composition by Julia Tsenova.


Musically the solo pieces get my preference, because of the clarity of the sound, yet the quintet also avoid the wall of sound effect by playing a lot with bow and alternating amongst the five bassists, resulting in a nice listening experience. Dresser's solo piece is without a doubt the highlight of the album.

Even if the album does not add much new to the previous one, it is quite good, and should certainly interest lovers of music and peace, and not only bassists.


Samples can be listened to on the website of the International Society of Bassists.

Buy from Instantjazz.


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Darren Johnston, Aram Shelton, Lisa Mezzacappa, Kjell Nordeson - Cylinder (Clean Feed, 2011) ****½

By Stef

Ornette Coleman's musical revolution of the late 50s and early 60s is still alive, and this band is without a doubt its grandchild, with Darren Johnston on trumpet, Aram Shelton on sax and clarinet, Lisa Mezzacappa on bass and Kjell Nordeson on drums. And the reference to Coleman is not only because of the line-up, but primarily because of the music.

The core theme and the improvisations get priority over specific harmonies or fixed rhythms as the foundation of each composition. But they add the modernism, the technical skills and freedom of spirit that you can expect of today's jazz.

This a true band effort too, with all band members writing two compositions each and Shelton three, but you wouldn't know when listening, because the overall musical coherence is very strong.

I have listened to this album more than a few dozen times over the past few weeks, and I  keep reaching back to it, not only because I love the sound and the playing, but also because it has this kind of ungraspable quality : it remains totally unpredictable, leading to increasing moments of enjoyment with each listen. Sometimes angular, sometimes sweet, but deconstruction seems to be its main characteristic.

A theme is set, then it is gradually taken apart, stripped of its form while laying bare its true essence, in a trumpet solo without accompaniment, a bass, some violent drumming, a soaring sax, demonstrating the depth of the piece, adding emotions, different shades, sonic explorations and some rhythmics puzzles ... with a great sense of adventure but without losing track of the main theme, always coming back to it flawlessly.

The overall result is exceptionally good, not only because of the individual playing but because of the overal feeling of a band that creates something unique. Like the Ornette Coleman quartet, this is freedom in a fixed format, not the long expansive improvisations of the later Coltrane or Ayler, but expressive power without restraints within the confines of concept and structure and time. It reads like a paradox, and well, maybe it is, the characteristic of all great music.

And like Ornette Coleman, the themes themselves are often of a compelling and sweeping beauty.

Not to be missed!

Buy from Instantjazz.

I'm not quite sure what kind of stuff the cameraman smoked, but the clip reflects the music quite well, with the band playing "Sung By Dogs" in San Francisco on 6/7/10



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Vincent Courtois - L'Imprévu (La Buissone, 2011) ****½

By Stef

Two years ago, French cellist François Courtois released the stellar "As Soon As Possible" with Ellery Eskelin on sax and Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, and also the somewhat disappointing "L'Homme Avion", a mixture of musical styles with African poetry, and a little bit too much of too much.

Now he's back with an album that is really focused on his key strengths : incredible skills on his instruments, full of lyricism and emotional power, and more importantly, a very subtle sense of musicality, minimalist, austere and deep.

Courtois' technique and compositions/improvisations vary a lot without losing coherence, ranging from the more classical pieces, with lots of inherent drama, like the phenomenal title track, to the more fun pizzi pieces such as "No Smoking", with other compositions more repetitive in nature (à la Glass, Reich, ...) or impressionistic with overdubs of several layers of recorded cello.

The end result is at times astonishing, especially in the more "classical" pieces, full of sensitive aesthetics, but regardless of the approach, Courtois is a superb story-teller, setting the scene, developing it, adding material, working toward peaks of intensity, nicely contrasted with moments of restrained beauty.

Buy from Instantjazz.

Below a somewhat older performance by Courtois that is rawer than this album

    

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Mostly Other People Do The Kiling - The Coimbra Concert (Clean Feed, 2011) ****

By Stef

In my latest review of "Mostly Other People Do The Killing", I wrote "And when you hear some of their soloing in the wildest parts of their performance, you think : "why do these guys put themselves in this self-constructed cage?", you think "what if they let things loose?", you think "what if they just played what they truly felt instead of just performing an act to amuse the audience?", you think "they could be the Chicago Bulls, but they act like the Harlem Globetrotters", you think "it is show rather than art, but then performed by artists rather than showmen".

Now, when hearing their new double live album, I have the same sentiment. The playing is even more superb, jaw-dropping and spectacular and fun, with changes of style, tempo, rhythm, arrangements, with tunes flawlessly merging into one another, with a band of equals that is fully at the same high level, throughout the album, diving and reworking jazz history, swing, blues, full of fun and drive and enthusiasm and raw and rebellious wildness of modern music, fully enjoying themselves in the process ... with little jokes and quotes and throwing balls around for the other player to catch and pass on flawlessly at breakneck speed to the amusement of the audience.

The band is Peter Evans on trumpet, Jon Irabagon on sax, Moppa Elliott on bass and Kevin Shea on drums.

The downside of all the fun is the same as with all humor, it creates an emotional distance that needs to be bridged in true artistry. It is somehow non-committal, not the expression of real feelings of anger or madness or sorrow ... but that is clearly not the intention either.

Great stuff, great fun.

 (and did you expect a comment on the Keith Jarrett Köln Concert art work ressemblance?)

Buy from Instantjazz.

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Other Dimensions In Music - Kaiso Stories (Silkheart, 2011) *****

By Stanley Zappa

So this is what a Five star recording sounds like...now I know: Kaiso Stories by Other Dimensions in Music featuring Fay Victor, how do I love thee? To get a sense of the sum, let's first look at the parts.

Charles Downs (like Laurence Cook)is also a national treasure. Downs' deep relationship with the ride cymbal and acute harmonic (as opposed to strictly percussive) consciousness deserves wider celebration. Downs can play the drum kit tonally, harmonically, and in so doing participates in the larger improvised “discussion” with more depth than merely chang-changa-chang. That said, in all honesty, Downs' gift with subtly really does pale in comparison with his ability to propel. Downs' relationship with time is refreshingly elastic. He moves effortlessly from floating puffs of rubato to prestissimo rides on the drum kit bullet train. Through it all, Downs retains his humanity and keeps his composure. Downs is cool. Downs radiates a connection to the larger drum tradition for which Downs is one of the great living representatives.

Of all the trumpet players I have heard, Roy Campbell does the best job of filling the vacuous void left with Dixon's passing. In the clutter of Bb instruments in “Free Jazz:” Campbell's playing is striking in the way that all great art is striking--full of invention and flexibility with out being full of shit. There is a realization to his playing, a lushness of tone and, again, as with Downs, a humanity, a realness.

Like Campbell, Daniel Carter is instantly recognisable as Daniel Carter, regardless of which instrument he's playing. On Kaiso Stories he plays alto, tenor and soprano saxophones, flute, trumpet and clarinet. (Combine that with Campbell's trumpet, pocket trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, recorder, shepherd pipes, arghul, bird whistles, panpipes and bells, you get a sense of the sound kaleidoscope.)

There is so much good to be said about Daniel Carter, both the person and the musician. On Kaiso Stories we get a fairly panoramic view of Carter's epic, consummate musicality. His originality is a given—it's the enduring originality that's so impressive; If you've heard him once he's forever immediately recognizable. That's not by dint of gimmick, but by thoughtful consideration of the musical context and a long fermented musical concept executed with well practised dexterity. More amazing still is that this holds true for all the instruments he plays.

Carter's (as well as Campbell's) rotation through their various instruments in the course of a single song while maintaining their signature harmonic sensibility creates a pan tonality that sets the bar pretty high for groups of the future.

Then there is William Parker. Rather than thumb nail Parker's eminence as bassist or centrality within the network of Improvising musicians, let us instead consider the span of Parker's relations with Downs, Campbell and Carter.

To start, there's The Eighth by Cecil Taylor with Downs, Parker and the incomparable Jimmy Lyons. That was recorded in November 1981, 30 years ago (and is 5 star recording, in case you were wondering.)

Next there is Acceptance of the Mystery Peace by William Parker—a large group with Daniel Carter in the multi instrumental capacity. This was recorded in 1974, 37 years ago.

Last, there is Konstanze's Delight by the Jemeel Moondoc Sextet, featuring Parker and Campbell, also recorded 30 years ago in 1981.

The 97 years embodied in those relationships puts Kaiso Stories in a different league than most music today. How many of us will still be making music with our current collaborators 30 years from now?

And then there is Fay Victor. Full disclosure reveals an initial wariness. Besides the fact that the voice has not enjoyed the glorious run as the alto saxophone has in the improvised music supplanting “jazz,” there was the nostalgic me that wanted to relive the early 90's when I heard Other Dimensions In Music at the Old Knitting Factory the week before the historic Houston location was closed forever.

Further full disclosure reveals an initial uneasiness with Victor's contribution for the first few minutes of Maryanne Revisited. That unease gave way to utter elation when it was revealed that Fay Victor was (duh) revisiting the song Maryanne, as in “all day all night Maryanne.” It was at that point point I caught up to
with Victor's tremendous musicality, which only continued to unfold for the rest of the recording.

Victor embodies the best qualities of my favorite female singers: Sister Nancy,

Chrissy Hinde, Abbey Lincoln and Yolandi. While Victor sings lyrical content masterfully, her sprechgesang and non-lingual, instrumental use of her voice is at least as striking. Victor's voice sonically melds with Carter and Campbell, becoming a third horn, adding compelling counterpoint throughout.

There are substantial instrumental sections without Victor as well. Here is where nostalgia is fulfilled, where we get the latest instalment of the stories begun on Other Dimensions in Music's self titled first album. There is also the accessibility of song and the familiar (structural) comforts of Jazz. Calling it our Astral Weeks might not be the best analogy and, at the same time, it might not be the worst one either. In a civilized world with a forward thinking music industry and curious listenership, in a culture a where Art was as valued as everyone likes to say it is, Kaiso Stories would be a cross-over sensation, charting for months and finding a grateful audience that no Improvised music had found before. Until such time, it is one for the initiated to treasure.


Buy from Instantjazz.

     

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Jim Black, Trevor Dunn, Oscar Noriega, Chris Speed - Endangered Blood (Skirl, 2010) ****½

By Stef

For more than a decade, reedist Chris Speed and drummer Jim Black have designed an unusual blend of sweet melodies, rock percussion, jazz sensitivities and free improvisation, evolving from the band "Human Feel", developing into "Yeah No", the more "balkan"-oriented "Pachora", and Black's more rock-oriented "Alasnoaxis".

Despite their obvious differences, all those bands share the same "sound" of warm and welcoming themes and melodies, somewhat naive and innocent in their approach like there is no problem in the world, only joy and beauty. This uplifting sound and musical universe is then contrasted with the rock solid percussion work and the deeply emotional, often distressing digressions into more free space.

"Endangered Blood" builds on the same concept, this time in the company of Trevor Dunn on bass and Oscar Noriega on sax. Finding the latter musician back so many years after his debut (and only?) album "Luciano's Dream" is a real pleasure. I had been on the look-out for new output by him, but found nothing.

The double sax front of Noriega on alto and Speed on tenor adds even more warmth to the unison lines than with either the trumpet or electric guitar of the other bands. The second track "Rare" is a nice example of this. You hear it for the first time, but you will be able to identify its musical origin, not because the music is repetitive, but because of the clear musical vision created over the years.

It also illustrates the how the sweetness needs only a little touch to change into drama, sadness and wailing pain and back to sweet naivité. 

The great thing is that the musicians feel so at ease in their own idiom, that the joy of playing and the endless touches of ear candy.

A great album by four tremendous musicians.

Listen and download from eMusic.

The album is better than the performance below, but it will give you a taste of the sound.



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Swimmer (Bandcamp, 2011) ****

By Paul Acquaro

'Swimmer' is a new release from a group of the same name hailing from Chicago. I'm not entirely sure how I came across this group, but I downloaded a copy of their debut from bandcamp.com and have been enjoying the fruits of their labor over the past few days. Swimmer, the band, is comprised of the guitar and drum duo of Dave Miller and Cory Healey, who, along with their respective instruments, employ some technologies to enhance their compositions. 'Swimmer', the album, is a collection of free improvisations that really showcases a mastery of a very personal and interactive musical language.

The guitar in the opening tune of 'Answer Tomorrow' invokes melodic snippets, mostly comprised of single note lines with chordal accents, all wonderfully scattered amongst the animated percussion. 'Conduit' features percussion, beginning with scratches, rattles and a subtle sonic backdrop. Slowly building, a great amount space is afforded to the extended and ethereal melodic line, layered over a wash of sound. A quick fade drops us into 'Phoebe', which is more frenetically paced, with percussion and guitar talking back and forth in time. Soon the guitar develops a simple repetitive figure and is joined by a second line in harmony, then a third -- Miller is using a real time looper to great effect. Healey plays with timing, accents and beat placement behind the stack of guitar layers.

I find this approach to music very interesting, very much a product of the technology that allows musicians to loop themselves and create compositional stacks that move both upward and outward at the same time. Of course there is a danger here in drowning listener in too many layers of a similar tonality or too much repetition, but Miller pulls it off very well.

After the crescendo of layers, there is rather seamlessly segue to a dense cluster of chords to finish off the song. 'Montrozier' begins with slightly demented arpeggios to connect some angular and innovative melodic ideas. The 8 minute 'Lifter' is like a minimalist Nels Cline sound collage. As the conversations continue on the recording, each one employs a different approaches, keeping it fresh and interesting.

Defying simple categorization, the unique approach to music construction and the effective use of time makes this duo recording a really compelling album.

Download from Bandcamp.

  

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