Nicole Mitchell

Nicole Mitchell's Ice Crystal – Aquarius (Delmark, 2013)****
Nicole Mitchell – Engraved In The Wind (RogueArt, 2013)****

By Tom Burris

Some folks might get misty-eyed over the Cubs or the Bears, but for me Chicago is Jazz. 
Is there a more fertile ground for free improvisational music than Chicago?  Since the inception of the AACM - I know Sun Ra started there earlier, but it seems disrespectful to say his professional beginnings were in Chicago rather than Saturn - the city has been the birthplace of so much free music of towering importance it boggles the mind.  It's had its lows and highs over several decades, but the city's free sound has remained influential for roughly fifty years.  While Mitchell has moved to the west coast to accept a teaching position at the University of California, Chicago remains at the heart of her music.  All of the other members of her quartet, Ice Crystal, are still based on the shores of Lake Michigan.  In its typically unfussy, down-to-business Midwestern fashion, Ice Crystal has nothing other than the creation and execution of incredible music as its objective. 

The band's members are all influential within other conglomerations, including their individual work as band leaders, and the sound of them uniting with such precision under one umbrella is never less than thrilling.  And the results are never less than surprising.  The first crazy turn happens a mere thirty seconds into the first track, where the full-scale attack that began the disc slows to a funkier groove, repeating the theme from the beginning and providing a cool surface on which Mitchell's flute and Jason Adasiewicz's vibes solo and dance. 

I should point out that a sonic reference throughout the album is the Hutcherson/Dolphy “Out To Lunch” axis, but only texturally.  Melodically and harmonically, Mitchell and Adasiewicz are a very different duo, as exemplified by the wintery chord structure Adasiewicz sets underneath Mitchell's fluttering on “Today Today”.  When Frank Rosaly joins in with cymbal-happy movement during free section of the track, it adds a solar warmth to the icy feel of the vibes and flute. 

The centerpiece and title track begins with a four-note descending pattern, followed by a sublime bowed bass solo by Joshua Abrams.  The track appears to be loosely structured on the surface, but is, like everything else here, actually a fairly tight composition.  The interplay here is nothing short of amazing and when Rosaly gets a solo spot that becomes interspersed with unison blasts from the band, it will knock you off your feet.  Incredible stuff.

Abrams and Rosaly are especially adept at the whole swing-but-straight-on thing and “Adaptability” is a perfect example of it.  It's a mid-tempo groove with some delay and reverb (tastefully) added to Mitchell and Adasiewicz.  The knob tweaks are another strange & wonderful surprise – and so is the turn at the end of “Diga Diga,” where the band sounds like a free jazz approximation of Indonesian street music. 

The album closes with an elegy to Mitchell's mentor and friend, Mr. Fred Anderson, another Chicago legend.  Words of love are spoken by Mitchell's husband, Calvin Gaant, but the spirit of the music says it all anyway. 

On Engraved In The Wind, Mitchell sets sail for her first (to my knowledge) entire album as a soloist.  As expected, her technique is brought to the fore here.  Her control dazzles throughout the recording, and there are plenty of technical marvels to consider.  For example, how on earth does she make that flute play four notes simultaneously on “Making of Rose Quartz”?  There is, of course, a fine example of singing/blowing into the flute on the title track.  And although this is a solo recording, it's not always “live,” as there are a few instances of overdubbing two or more flutes onto a track. 

Even though this is something of a recital recording, I prefer to listen to it with my left brain turned down – which is probably the highest praise you can give to a solo recording.  There is so much beauty and warmth here that to focus too much on the execution actually takes something away from the listening process.  Adding more musicians to these compositions would likely have the same effect. 

Nicole Mitchell has performed quite a balancing act with these two releases.  On Aquarius, she leads a formidable quartet through music that focuses primarily on her compositions and yet remains open enough to allow the musicians to interpret the music in surprising ways.  On Engraved, she must deliver everything herself.  She does so by contributing material that is so perfectly suited to the task that she makes it seem that her way of executing the material is the only possible option.  As a player and a leader, she's got the goods.  But on both of these discs, as well as on last year's ambitious Arc of O, she shows that it's her compositional skills that are the true center of her art.


Can be purchased from Instantjazz.

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Sophie Agnel, John Edwards, Steve Noble – Meteo (Clean Feed, 2013) ***½

By Dan

There are few greater pleasures in the free music world than the subversive piano trio. I think of some of my favorite music from the past few years—albums like RED Trio, Eve Risser’s En Corps, Hexentrio, Cousin It (also with Edwards and Noble)—and what unites them is not simply their choice of instruments, but their complete evisceration of a classic format. Not only is the piano unseated from its throne, it’s liberated from its sheltered, well-tempered existence.

Meteo settles in nicely with this group, in that it doesn’t really settle very nicely at all. Bill Evans this is not. Hell, it’s not even Cecil Taylor or Matthew Shipp. Meteo is a 38 minute performance from the 2012 Meteo Festival, but it feels more like tuning in to some cosmic broadcast already in progress, a weird aural rendering of the crunch beyond an event horizon, the swirling compression of history, instrumentality, and virtuosity as music approaches a singularity.

This is a music of heat and friction, entropy and order reborn, a reminder of the sturdy, physical fact that is a hand on an instrument and a sound against the eardrum. It’s an exhilarating and fully engaged set. If only it were a bit longer! Edwards and Noble are a common pairing, although the way they lock together is far beyond rhythm section tropes like keeping time or swinging. They work in grating scrapes and beating, pulsing drones, blasts of emphasis and dense piles of sound. Agnel is comfortable in this world; she works the piano inside and out, at once the blazing point of focus and the immense backdrop all else is set against. The dissolution of a foreground and background is key in Meteo.

Clean Feed selects a slightly different image, describing the trio as a circle, rather than the more traditional triangle. It’s true: Meteo can’t be reduced to simple geometric angles. It’s something more akin to calculus, the curve approaching infinity, or the kaleidoscopic complexity that blooms from an endless fractal. Or better yet—maybe it’s the boulder tossed in the reflecting pool, warping and disrupting the delicate image of piano trios past.

Can be purchased from Instantjazz.

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Deep Listening Weekend - Taylor Ho Bynum, John Hébert & Gerald Cleaver - Book Of Three - Continuum (2012)

Taylor Ho Bynum, John Hébert & Gerald Cleaver - Book Of Three - Continuum (2012) (Relative Pitch, 2013) ****

By Colin Green

 Book of Three comprises Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet), John Hébert (double bass) and Gerald Cleaver (drums). Their eponymous release from 2010 was a study in quiet intensity, played with a faultless sense of tone and scale. Bynum’s fragile – sometimes, almost frozen – lines (accentuated by the use of cornet and flugelhorn) were suspended over Hébert’s lean bass and Cleaver’s delicately shaded drumming, to produce a set of solemn, but eloquent conversations. The performances on this release – recorded some two years later – retain that character, but with the addition of improvisations based on composed material on four tracks.

 On occasions Bynum’s playing is so soft it resembles nothing more than coloured breath, in music that is stripped to the bone: an exercise in how much can be eliminated without compromising musical substance. In Open City Cleaver restricts himself to mallets over which Bynum’s smeared and fractured phrases – hung in stasis – carry on an intimate dialogue with Hébert’s arco bass At the end a sort of resolution is achieved with a simple drum pattern and col legno rhythm accompanying a tiny melody on cornet.

 Jim Hobbs’ Aware of Vacuity (first heard on the Fully Celebrated Orchestra’s 2002 release: Marriage of Heaven and Earth) begins with slow motion allusions to the theme, stretched over bowed bass and brushes before the simple six-note tune is quoted in full on the bass. The trio return to literal statements of the tune between excursions into more extreme areas.

The title: Continuum, suggests a development from the previous recording, but perhaps also a lineage from earlier jazz. To my ears, the thematic improvisations – and even parts of the freely improvised pieces – share an approach pioneered by the Miles Davis Quintet of 64 – 68, what Wayne Shorter has brilliantly described as “working with the DNA of a tune”. Many of the features of that great quintet (particularly in live performance) are present in the opening number – Bobby Bradford’s jaunty Comin’ On – in which phrases are contracted and expanded over Hébert and Cleaver’s metrical shifts and slides. Hébert comes at the tune from an oblique angle during an extended bass passage (“solo” would misrepresent the trio’s dynamics) where what is omitted or implied, is as important as the actual notes played. Similarly, in Jamila, by Salim Washington, the trio shifts in and out of tempo, stable then floating. Journal Square Complications is a free improvisation, but there are clear melodic cells, gestures and contours, subjected to Bynum’s fiercely focused playing, particularly in the closing minutes, spurred on by the propulsive rhythm section.

In Cleaver’s "Henry", bass and drums weave a web of detail around the slow, mournful theme: as if two different, but related sound worlds have been drawn together. The tune is reprised at the close of the final piece, over a soft cymbal wash, etched in spare phrases from Bynum. With masterful playing throughout, this is strongly recommended, and as a bonus, there’s a live performance by the trio – from the night before the recording of their first release – at Bynum’s website.

Taylor Ho Bynum, John Hébert & Gerald Cleaver - Book Of Three - Continuum (2012) (Relative Pitch, 2013) ****½

By Stef   

In my review of their first album "Book of Three", released in 2010, I tried to capture the "unbearable lightness" of this trio's music, and their approach is still the same, one of unhurried and gentle sensitive freedom, very welcoming to the ears due to the traditional use of the instruments, ie without extended techniques, yet totally open-minded to themes and collective improvisation.

The trio is Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, John Hébert on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums, names who need no further introduction, and the fact that Ho Bynum restricts himself to only one horn on this album, even increases the coherence that was already strong on the previous album.

And it is jazz, very much so, in its sound, its sense of pulse, even if slow at times, in its harmonic dynamics, in its very sound. Three tracks are based on compositions by other artists, Bobby Bradford, Jim Hobbs and Salim Washington.

The first track, Bradford's "Comin' On", still has this boppish feel to it, but then in a very stretched out way, full of bluesy sensitivities, with the three musicians keeping the main theme as the anchor point, but then straying away from it - rhythmically, melodically - without losing sight of what they're playing, and as on the first album, the overall sound is truly a trio effort. The cornet may have the clearest voice, but the actual sound and evolution of the track is a real group thing.

The second track "Aware of Vacuity" comes from the "Marriage Of Heaven And Earth" album by the Fully Celebrated Orchestra, one of the many successful bands to which the cornettist contributed, bringing a somewhat faster and less tribal rendition of the original. It starts with moaning arco by Hébert, with the muted horn offering some distant echo, slightly introducing the theme, and then the tempo increases and the theme really kicks in. Of all the tracks on the album, it's possibly the one that is easiest to recognise because of the long repetitions of the theme.

"Henry" a composition by Cleaver is a more abstract ballad, originally on his "Detroit" release, and in my opinion closer to the trio's musical vision. Cleaver's playing is Motian-like, creating a percussive space, emphasising, leading, contrasting, without actually explicitly setting a rhythm. Over his and Hébert's foundation, the cornet weaves slow and sad phrases.

The fun in my opinion really starts with the trio improvisations. "Open City" is the first one. It starts with low rumbling on the toms, a few high pitched squeals from the cornet, echoed by the arco bass, then when Cleaver increases his volume, the bass goes to the lower regions, dragging the cornet to the same register for some intense soundscaping, leaving lots of open spaces for their music to resonate.

"Jamila" by Salim Washington has a boppish base and harmonics, but the trio again gives it so much space and breath, changing rhythm and tempo along the way.

The best tracks, however, are kept till the very end. "Journal Square Complications" is a wayward piece, as free as it gets, with intense interplay and some angry growling by the cornet, and lots of space for bass and drums, one that again shifts in tempo and approach, with all three musicians moving as one.

"Precoda" starts with all three instruments playing sustained tones in a minimalist way, barely audible at times, creating an ominous atmosphere of suppressed tension, the soundtrack to a horror scene, before Cleaver's "Henry" gets a reprise, calmer and even more abstract.

In sum, this is an album you don't want to miss, played by three artists in the best of forms, offering an interesting and jazzy take on modern music, or redefining jazz in today's world, sensitive, artful, thoughtful, extremely well-paced and in the end also very accessible. No musical evolution by creating shock waves, but by taking what exists a step further into a sound we really want to hear more of.


Can be purchased from Instantjazz.

Listen to "Comin' On"

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Pandelis Karayorgis Roundup

By Paul Acquaro

Boston based pianist and composer Pandelis Karayorgis' recent set of recordings on his label Driff Records feature a diverse set of players ranging from his home town of Boston, to the Chicago free jazz scene, and all the way to the Netherlands. The music is as varied as the configurations, ranging from compositions for a quintet, to interpretations of Steve Lacy, to improvised trio pieces. Throughout, the focus is not Karayorgis' piano, rather it's the talent and collaboration of all the instruments into his musical vision.

Pandelis Karayorgis Quintet - Circuitous (Driff, 2013) ****½

Starting with what has proven to be my favorite recording (perhaps), Circuitous, it's easy to feel Karayorgis' influences within his fresh and exciting music. Drawing on the still contemporary style of Thelonious Monk and rich legacy of Steve Lacy, Karayorgis' composition serve as complex and knotty frameworks for some sophisticated and accessible improvisation.

In addition to Karayorgis' piano, the quintet is Dave Rempis on sax, Keefe Jackson on sax, bass and contrabass clarinet, Nate McBride on bass and Frank Rosaly on drums. The players all have their own space to build upon the composer's vision. Sticking pretty much with traditional instrumental roles, the music is free, inventive, highly melodic and unpredictable.

The opening 'Undertow' features an unison melody that breaks into an angular piano solo, and just digs in deeper and deeper as the song progresses.  Other tracks, like 'Swarm' seems to draw upon snippets of Monk themes, and at moments, I even picked up what I can best describe as a 'Mingus circa Changes One' compositional vibe.

The Whammies: Plays the Music of Steve Lacy Vol. 2 (Driff, 2013) ****

My introduction to Karayorgis was through the first volume of The Whammies . Like the first volume, the music here is a playful but serious exploration of saxophonist and composer Steve Lacy's catalog. The angular melodies, jarring interplay and top notch musicianship result in a highly listenable album.

The Whammies is an international cast, drawing from Chicago, Boston and Amsterdam. In addition to Karayorgis' piano, there is Driff label co-founder Jorrit Dijkstra on alto sax and retro-synth the lyricon, Jeb Bishop on trombone, Mary Oliver on violin and viola, Nate McBride on bass, and the venerable Han Bennink on drums.

The melodies of 'Skirts' and 'Lumps' are sort of irresitable and catchy (in an avant garde sort of way) and the introspective playing of the ensemble on 'Art' is sublime. Now, I'm starting to think that this one just might be my favorite of the bunch.

Pandelis Karayorgis Trio - Cocoon (Driff, 2013) ****

So, here the piano is front and center. A traditional piano, bass and drums trio, Karayorgis' angular Monkish melodies are front and center, deftly supported by Jef Charland on bass and Luther Gray on the drums.

For brevity's sake, let me jump halfway into this excellent album to 'Sideways Cacoon'. Karayorgis' striking chords and Charland's pulsating, yet restrained, bass make for a delicate yet grabbing underlayment to the accessible and convoluted melodic lead. This is followed up by 'Settling,' a more dramatic and rhythmic piece featuring the bass and driving percussion.

More traditional in its instrumentation and approach, the Trio is a wonderful showcase for Karayorgis' knotty and enjoyable compositions.

Gregorio/Swell/Karayorgis - Window and Doorway (Driff, 2013) ****

I saved the toughest one for last. Almost opposite the trio recording in terms of accessibility and composition, this trio of Karayorgis, trombonist Steve Swell and clarinetist Guillermo Gregorio makes music that is sparse and spacious. The program contains a mix of pure improvisation juxtaposed with compositions from each group member.

Staring with the first track, Swell's 'Texture 5', the trio's approach to meshing composition and improvisation is on display. The track begins with a legato clarinet and supportive phrases from the trombone that are lightly underscored by the piano which grows more assertive as the tune progresses. Their abstract call and response has a certain hopeful melancholy binding the three musicians together. Eventually, Karayorgis is front and center, the roles reversed. The track ends with the trio engaged in some very energetic free playing, an intensive payoff for the patient listener.

Gregorio's clarinet is the first sound heard on the evocative 'Curves and Angles' which at first I thought must be one of the composed pieces, but is in fact a group improvisation that sees each member complimenting the other seamlessly. Actually, you may be inclined to think the whole album is composed, as pieces like Karayorgis' 'Liftagowy' or Swell's 'Nu Blu', which beings with a harsh dissonance, all contain an infectious free spirit.

These four recent releases from Karayorgis' label are really excellent examples of the intersection of composition and free playing. The different combinations of instruments and approaches showcases the pianist's influences and exciting musical ideas. Great music, check it out at http://driffrecords.bandcamp.com/.

You can also purchase from Instantjazz. 

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Joey Baron - Just Listen (Relative Pitch, 2013) ****

By Stef   

In 2006 Jack DeJohnette and Bill Frisell issued "The Elephant Sleeps But Still Remembers", a nice album of guitar and drums interplay, led by a drummer, although suffering a little bit from a lack of musical coherence, ranging from clean - though adventurous - banjo playing to heavily distorted guitars and electronics, making the listener shift from intimacy to wall-of-sound approaches. 

This duo performance between Joey Baron and Frisell is of a different nature. Baron is the leader, as was the task of the performers at the Forum festival in Bonn, Germany, in 2008 : "the point of view is that of the drummer. The drummer's special musical form is the theme of the festival : structuring, refracting, driving, pulsing, grooving (most important, grooving)". 

Baron was invited and asked Frisell to join him. And the result is one of those little gems of jazz. The music does not break boundaries, nor does it create subliminal listening experiences, yet the sheer quality of the playing, the incredible skills of both musicians, and the incredible joy resulting from the interaction, make this a wonderful album. 

The fun of the musicians is infectious and the audience reacts enthusiastically, as we all should. The first track starts with a duo improvisation that gradually shifts into Benny Goodman's "Benny's Bugle", indeed a real grooving tune that allows Baron to shine. Then, interestingly, the second track brings an almost avant-garde exploration for guitar and percussion, with light touches of sound percolating from space evolving into an abstract theme. 

Despite their excellent musicianship, both artists have this kind of natural sentimental mellowness in their compositions, which is usually not my kind of thing, but luckily they don't overdo it on this album. Yes, there is the slow "Mood" by Ron Carter, or a bluesy "A Change Is Gonna Come", on which Frisells turns this sweet tune into overdrive at the end of the track, yet it's intimate and straightforward (without the sugar and cheap sentiments).

The real treat is to be found in the more groovy tracks, like "Cherokee", or in Charlie Parker's "My Little Suede Shoes", on which Baron again demonstrates how subtle drumming can be. On the last track, Frisell lets go of the intimacy of the previous tracks and goes berserk on John McLaughlin's "Follow Your Heart", switching on all his pedals and turning op the volume for some boyish delight. 

Pure fun! Great fun!



The album can be bought from instantjazz.com.

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Digital Primitives - Soul Searchin' and Lipsomuch (Hopscotch, 2013) ****

By Stef   

For those who do not know : The Digital Primitives are Assif Tsahar on sax, Cooper-Moore on his self-created diddly bo, twinger, mouth bow, fretless banjo and Chad Taylor on drums.Their two previous albums are also easy to recommend, the first self-titled CD and , "Hum Crackle & Pop", which was released four years ago.

This is a trio to experience in a live setting, but this double album captures their art extremely well. It is one long rhythm fest with soaring sax, indeed building on everything that's primitive in us, but then in the best sense of the word, no nonsense, no polish, no self-glorification ... but the raw and fun enjoyment of rhythm and soloing.

It funks, it blues, it jazzes, it weeps,  it crazies and it mads, it hollers it stomps it shouts it screams. It souls it rants it explodes it suprises it sings it trances it dances.

It captures the essence and even the raw reason of music to begin with, the communal joy of totally free communion with sound and rhythm, to go beyond the self and interact with the senses and emotions and some thinking and then go beyond what is known, in a free act of joint creation, hear and see something come out of nothing, and then feel that unnamed thing inside you physically laugh. That primitive!

And man, can they play!

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Down Beat .... the Poll

By Stef   

Every year, Downbeat, the leading jazz magazine, has a readers poll and a critics poll to nominate the best bands, the best albums, the best musicians by instrument, the best labels, etc.

You can vote too : here is the link.

I was shocked out of my senses when I read the suggested names for each category. True, Downbeat is an American magazine, and their nature is more mainstream than progressive, but even then, when you look at the list of musicians suggested, it gives the impression that outside of the United States nothing of value is produced, neither by musicians nor by labels. Roughly the calculation is that 90% comes from the US, the rest are some scraps taken left and right for reasons of diversity (I hate the word, it's the opposite of quality).

Just to give you some idea of the categories :

Musician Of The Year : 64 suggested musicians, with 3 non-Americans (Anat Cohen, Hiromi, Rez Abbasi) who all happen to be based in the United States. Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa are both US citizens, despite their Indian ancestry.

Jazz Group Of The Year : 79 bands suggested, with 4 bands of non-Americans (Atomic, Enrico Rava, Bobo Stenson Trio, Die Enttäuschung).

Big Band Of The Year : 52 bands, with 7 bands from outside the United States.

Jazz Album Of the Year : 127 albums, of which 13 are by non-US nationals (but again, with Mahanthappa, Ivo Perelman as clear US residents).

Historical Albums : 34 of which 3 are non-Americans (Terje Rypdal, Jan Garbarek, Albert Mangelsdorf).

... notice too that most non-Americans are typically on ECM.

... and I can go on

Trombone players of the year : 49 suggested musicians, of which 4 are non-Americans.

Clarinet player of the year : 44 suggestions of which 10 non-Americans (great : 20%!)

Tenor saxophonist of the year : 56 names of which 8 non-Americans.

Guitar players : 41 names suggested of which 3 non-Americans

Drummers : 53 names of which 3 non-Americans

Composers : 66 names of which 2 non-Americans

Record labels : 94 suggested names of which 12 non-US

Piano players : 54 names suggested of which 9 are non-US citizens

Trumpet players : 53 names of which 12 are non Americans.

I could go on for all categories, but I guess the message is clear. Is Downbeat blind, ignorant, or deceiving its readers?

Conclusions

- either Downbeat should rename its poll into : "78th Downbeat Readers Poll Of US Jazz Musicians"
- or evolve into a less US-centric attitude
- it could also be that Downbeat is totally unaware of what's happening outside the United States, in which case we'd love to invite them to Europe, Japan, Australia and other places with a vibrant jazz scene. Being ignorant of what's happening of real value in its core competence, is really bad, I would think.

We are not against the names of the musicians suggested by Downbeat, but a more knowledgeable list would have served their readers' interest and would have been more balanced in terms of actual musical value. Readers should know what's of real value, rather than getting a list of the name of friends.

The very nature of jazz is that it's universal. Most musicians and bands referenced on this blog are playing with like-minded musicians from around the world, regardless of nationality. Quite to the contrary, they actually look for new collaborations, to push boundaries, to have refreshing new ideas and challenges.

It's shocking that a leading jazz magazine has such a parochial attitude, in total conflict with the genre's essence.


Has Downbeat never heard of ..

- RED Trio
- Okkyung Lee
- Scott Tinkler
- Thomas Heberer
- Susana Santos Silva
- Axel Dörner
- Sei Miguel
- Vyacheslav Guyvoronsky
- Jean-Luc Cappozzo
- Tom Arthurs
- Alexey Lapin
- Alexander Hawkins
- Lisa Ullen
- Eve Risser
- Magda Mayas
- Agusti Fernandez
- Rodrigo Pinheiro
- Marc Hannaford
- Steve Beresford
- Anto Pett
- Achim Kaufmann
- christian Wallumrod
- John Tilbury
- Nobu Stowe
- Sten Sandell
- Syvlie Courvoisier
- Michel Wintsch
- John Tilbury
- Dominic Lash
- Hernani Faustino
- Pascal Niggenkemper
- John Edwards
- Benjamin Duboc
- Johan Bertling
- Paul Rogers
- Nick Stephens
- Simon Fell
- Joachim Badenhorst
- Frank Gratkowski
- Waclaw Zimpel
- Gianni Mimmo
- Mikolaj Trzaska
- Xavier Charles
- Jim Denley
- Paul Lytton
- Raymond Strid
- Ingar Zach
- Edouard Perraud
- Joe Hertenstein
- Günter Baby Sommer
- Didier Lasserre
- Pawel Szpura
- Eddie Prévost
- Samuel Rohrer
- Klaus Kugel
- Steve Noble
- Mark Sanders
- Angharad Davies
- Martin Küchen
- Lotte Anker
- Mikolaj Trzaska
- Achille Succi
- Ilia Belorukov
- Gianni Gebbia
- Alexandra Grimal
- Alex Ward
- Paul Dunmall
- Rodrigo Amado
- Liudas Mockunas
- Urs Leimgruber
- Frode Gjerstad
- Alexey Kruglov
- Martin Küchen
- Daunik Lazro
- Marc Ducret
- Stian Westerhus
- Pedro Gomes
- Ivar Grydeland
- Kim Myhr
- Mark Solborg
- Burkhard Stangl
- Raphael Roginski
- Otomo Yoshide
- Luis Lopes
- Conrad Bauer
- Circulasione Totale
- Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra
- London Jazz Composers Orchestra
- Not Two
- No Business
- FMR
- FMP
- Ayler
- Sans Bruit
- RogueArt
- Jazzwerkstatt
- Trost
- Loose Torque
- Red Toucan
- Rune Grammofon


... to name but a few ... yet all musicians who delivered stellar music last year ... and I'm missing a lot of musicians, including US musicians who were probably too good or progressive for Downbeat to include .... where are Nate Wooley and Peter Evans? Kirk Knuffke? Where is Ellery Eskelin? Hamid Drake?


... and my personal apologies if I have not mentioned all great musicians. This was a fast reaction to François Carrier's post on Facebook, who is luckily mentioned among the non-US sax players (congratulations François, a real feat!).

My proposal : if you vote, vote for the great musicians for whom any group identifier is meaningless, go for musicians with open minds, open hearts, open visions on how individuals can collaborate to create new and captivating and international collaborations.


You can vote till August 15 .... do what is right.

Thanks

stef

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Alexandra Grimal - Dragons - Heliopolis (Cordes et Âmes, 2013) ***½

By Stef   

French saxoponist Alexandra Grimal goes back to her native country of Egypt, to "Heliopolis", the City of Sun, which is also a neighbourhood in Cairo.

All song titles refer to Khamsin, the Egyptian wind which blows over the desert, and it gives an idea of the nature of her music, intangible, and shifting between refreshing and hard blowing. It is in the line of the duo album she made some years ago with Giovanni Di Domenico, called Ghibli, named after the Lybian desert wind.

She is joined by Nelson Veras from Brazil on guitar, and by two leading Belgian musicians, Jozef Dumoulin on piano and Dré Pallemaerts on drums.

The first track, "Khamsin 1" is a quiet and meditative piece starting with only piano and bass, then halfway the guitar and the sax take over, barely making any movement in the air around them, softly, like a morning breeze.

"Khamsin 2" is a little quirkier, with fast shifts and turns, with phrases that spiral around each other, then all goes quiet, only to pick up pace again, with all musicians gradually falling into step, as does the intensity and the power.

"Overseas" starts slowly, with a carefully composed sequence of phrases, like a story unfolding, beautifully, while the next track becomes raucous and wild, with Grimal her harder side on the tenor, not afraid to beyond what can be expected in mainstream jazz.

Like the wind, the mood shifts between the romantic and sensitive to the warm land wind of the titles, and within each track, Grimal's compositions are linear, without real repetitions or patterns, they evolve constantly, moving forward rather than returning to themes or harmonies, suite-like, full of elegance and refinement.

The coherence of Grimal's musical vision is astonishingly strong, daring in a way (including several minutes of complete silence in the last track) without being overly adventurous, which makes the music less captivating than I would have hoped for.

 

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Anthony Braxton - Sax Quintet (New York) 1998 (New Braxton House, 2013)

By Paolo Casertano

Anthony Braxton is like an anchorage. Maybe not an easy one to reach, but he’s always there for everyone longing to deal with intellectually challenging musical routes. Since several years now his label/cultural organization “The Tri-Centric Foundation” has represented a stronghold for improvisation, free jazz and avant-garde in general, running a constant work of promotion of Braxton’s immense musical archive and new productions alongside tutoring many young rising musicians (Katherine Young, Taylor Ho Bynum, Jessica Pavone and Mary Halvorson among them).  

It is obvious that that reviewing a Braxton release in a traditional way, or even worse trying to rate it, raises some intellectual questions. So I will not do it.

Clearly the Maestro has long ago surpassed the musical stage related to the simple agreeableness of his musical conception (if you consider that we’re talking here about a 1998 dated recording).

The listener (I do this) can decide - honest to both his willingness and with his possibility to decode this sea of sounds and information - either to follow the paths of a greater much-sought orchestral structure or just to float in the pleasure of admirable technical skills. This doesn’t mean at all that any kind of solipsist showing-off prevails in the music since the aspect of meaningful and attractive interplays between two or more instruments is fully integrated in the choral development. What do you think about the definition of orchestrated free-jazz?

At least Braxton’s methodic numeric naming of his compositions softens the sense of inadequacy I may feel listening to his usual long many-voiced suites.

Composition No. 173 is a sax quintet recorded live back in 1998 at the Knitting Factory in New York and it features on alto saxophone Seth Misterka, on alto, tenor and baritone saxophone Jackson Moore, then Chris Jonas and James Fei both on soprano and alto saxophones and finally on sopranino, F saxophone and alto his majesty the composer Anthony Braxton.

The album is available as a digital download from Tri-Centric Foundation at a nice price (especially if you have a subscription). Recently the organization has announced its comeback to physical outputs after some years of just digital releases. It may sound interesting for collectors.

This is what I’d like to see at least once in my life:

Audio is painful but "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn".

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Lonely Woman

By Stef   

It's been a while that I gave an update on my "Lonely Woman" collection, scanning the internet for new covers of Ornette Coleman's genial composition. Check the "Lonely Woman" tag on the right to get all more recent albums too.

Benoît Delbecq & Fred Hersh Double Trio - Fun House (Songlines, 2013) 

On this great album between two master pianists, joined by Jean-Jacques Avenel and Mark Helias on bass, and Steve Argüelles and Gerry Hemingway on drums, you can expect the best. And it is. Lonely Woman ends the album, a three minute piece, and hence too short, but both pianists manage to capture the composition's dark melancholy extremely well.

Bushman´s Revenge: Electric Komle - Live! (Rune Grammofon, 2013) 

The band is a power guitar trio that mixes jazz with rock and more skronky modern approaches. Even Helte Hermansen is on guitar, Rune Nergaard on bass and Gard Nilssen on drums. Their Lonely Woman is a mid-tempo rocker full of tension and emotional outbursts, while at the same time infusing it with an unexpected fragile sensitivity. A great cover that respects the original while adding something new to it.


Alan Broadbent - Heart To Heart (Chilly Bin Records, 2013). On this solo piano album, Broadbent brings a ten-minute long version of Lonely Woman. His performance is dark and ominous at the beginning,then moves into a more uptempo middle piece, with quite some stellar piano-playing, yet at the same time leaving the piece's original mood, rather unfortunately, and when the darkness comes through again at the end, it has become a mix of blues and classical touches. You get it : it's more about the musician than about the music.


Charnet Moffett - Spirit Of Sound (Motema, 2013) - A very bass-centric approach to Coleman's tune, full of very fast technical acumen, more than a little betraying the composition's original feel of desolation and tension. His son Max's drumming offers great support.


Todd Bishop Group - Little Played Little Bird (Origin, 2012). Drummer Tod Bishop is joined by Richard Cole on bass clarinet, baritone, tenor and soprano saxophones, Tim Willcox on tenor and soprano saxophones, Weber Iago on piano, and Bill Athens on bass, for this Ornette Coleman Tribute album. Their take on Lonely Woman is dragging and somewhat bleak.

Other noteworthy covers that I captured from the last years are

• Brad Mehldau, Kevin Hays & Patrick Zimmerli - Modern Music (Nonesuch, 2011)
• Vic Juris - Omega Is The Alpha (Steeplechase, 2010)
• Lisa Manosperti - Where The West Begins : Voicing Ornette Coleman (Dodicilune, 2012)

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