Viktor Toth - Climbing With Mountains (BMC records, 2007) ***½

Viktor Toth is a young Hungarian alto saxophonist, playing here with Hamid Drake on drums, Matyas Szandai on bass and Ferenc Kovacs on trumpet, for a free bop record which has its merits. Some of the tracks are absolutely excellent, like "Autumn In Sicily", or "Snake" with its long-spun melody full of balkan influences, or the more uptempo "Train To Sarajevo", but then at times the band falls back into some more gentle, less adventurous mainstream pieces, such as "Mese" or "R's Day". Even if the compositions leave somewhat lacking, the playing is good : Toth, Kovacs and Szandai are excellent musicians, as is of course Hamid Drake, who is as recognizable as ever, precise as clockwork, creative, supple and supportive, and especially shining in the faster pieces. Nice music, but a little too nice for my taste.

But then again, who am I, if William Parker writes these wonderful words in the liner notes : "Please drop all pretensions and let these sounds dance in your souls, stirring things up to take you to the top of the mountain".


Listen to
Marcius
Message For Fishes
Mese
Ornette's Smile
Wings
Snake

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David Haney Trio - Blues Royale (CIMP, 2007) ****

For an avant-garde pianist to set up a program to cover the blues is quite exceptional. Traditional blues are in essence in contradiction to free music, because the harmonic development and chord progression are basically the same for every song. Free jazz or free improv are its exact opposite. And yet ... both genres share unique characteristics : improvisation, emotions and expressiveness. And pianist David Haney does exactly that : to turn the blues into a free format, using the non-formal characteristics as the essence of the music, assisted by two of today's best bass players : Michael Bisio and Adam Lane. And the overall result is impressive. The trio always has the 12-bar blues in mind, but the music evolves and moves to areas never explored in blues music before, into wild areas, of screeching arco basses and eery dissonant piano music, as in "Old Landmark" , yet always falling back onto the core material, or staying even relatively close to it, as in "Cardboard Watchdog" or "Blue Savannah", on which they stick to and improvise on the pentatonic blues scale. And some hold the absolute middle, like "Soul Of A Man", which starts with the saddest low and slow blues by the basses, then Haney takes over the traditional blues chords on piano, while the two basses start pooring their hearts out, in a slow outburst of agony and misery. Who would have guessed the blues contained all this fresh power? Adventurous, authentic and artistic - I like it!

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Amendola/Goldberg/Hoff - Plays Monk (Long Song Records, 2007) ****½

One of the essential elements in great music is the enthusiasm of the musicians. If they're not 100% behind what they're playing, then why would you care as a listener? There are moments when musicians excell at bringing this enthusiasm with the material across very well, and this CD is an example in case. "Plays Monk" consists of Scott Amendola on drums, Ben Goldberg on clarinet and Devin Hoff on bass, and they bring ten pieces by Monk. And what these guys do, is absolutely fabulous : the rhythm section is re-creating the tunes all by themselves, hard-hitting and very creative and modern with Monk's material, while Goldberg is trying to keep the original melodies intact, and lifting them even to unknown territory, his clarinet as fast as the right hand of the absent piano-player. Especially Amendola is fierce at times and Hoff's bass is more often "running" rather than "walking ", because they turn the tempo a notch higher than on the originals. The band's objective is to find the depth and breadth of Monk's music and they do it well, "… always aiming for the distilled truth of the music”, as they say themselves. This is indeed music stripped to its barest essence : melody, harmony, rhythm and interplay. And the material is great, and the musicians are great. Pure joy, pure fun! What more do you want?

You can listen, buy or download the album from Long Song Records

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Archie Shepp - Gemini (Archieball, 2007) **½

It's hard for a legend to keep producing stuff that adds nothing to what has already been done by him before, or by many others for that matter. This double-disc is called "Gemini" for the only good reason that it contains two approaches which are not even kin. The first is a studio set, with some blues, some rap, some gospel, the whole spiel. Music you already forget while listening to it. The second CD is something entirely different, with a live performance in Souillac, France, at a jazz festival in 2002. This band features Amina Claudine Myers on piano, Cameron Brown on bass and Ronnie Burrage on drums. It is a nice free bop outing, and only for Shepp's great sax still worthwhile. But don't expect to hear any free jazz anymore. These times are long gone. Gospel yes, on the second track, with Amina Claudine Myers and Shepp singing. I recently listened to Shepp's live performances in Montreux in the early 70s. There is no comparison possible. While Ornette Coleman is still going strong and innovating, Shepp seems satisfied to rely on his bop comfort zone, adding some rappers to sound modern. But I'm afraid this is all pure entertainment and commercial tactics, and even if the label sells, we hardly get anything in return. The two stars are still for some nice moments on the live CD.

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Dave Ballou, Terrence McManus, Dennis Gray - Thirty9thirty8 (Flattened Planet, 2007) ***½

An interesting album : three tracks, called "eight30four", "nine40two", "twenty1nineteen", the sum of which is "Thirty9thirty8", or the exact length of the record. It kicks off with heavy industrial guitar noise by Terrence McManus, out of which emerges a plaintive melodic unaccompanied trumpet solo by Dave Ballou, and then Devin Gray's drums come in, the musicians alternate throughout the piece, only acting as a trio at the very end. The second track is more dissonant, bringing high intervallic improvizations, with short bursts and speedy interaction, acting as a kind of opposite to the first track. The third track is more open, starting with guitar and trumpet reacting, echoing and expanding on each other's inventiveness, creative and beautiful, with Gray joining after exactly one third of the track. McManus does not really solo in the typical sense, he plays chords throughout, on three strings or more, arpeggios or strumming, and rarely on one string. Ballou's trumpet-playing is excellent, as we already knew, inventive, open, complex, without needing to resort to extended techniques to bring something new, and melodic all the way through. Gray's drumming is great and functional. A real trio album, with a fresh and interesting approach.

I downloaded it via payplay.com, but that's apparently no longer possible. But it's still available from CDBaby.com.

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Guitar & sax duo albums

Guitar and sax duo albums are relatively rare (I mean only those two instruments, without bass or drums). The absolute best one I know is Tim Berne and Bill Frisell's "Theoretically", for which the download link can be found below. The music is not only unusual, but very compelling as well. It's a pity they didn't go any further down this avenue.

Most albums I could come up with are free improv, with the occasional Norwegian soundscapists. The only traditional jazz album with a sax-guitar duo setting is Zoot Sims & Joe Pass's "Blues For Two".

So here's the list, in random order :

Zoot Sims & Joe Pass - Blues For Two
Tim Berne & Bill Frisell - Theoretically
Evan Parker & Derek Bailey - Arch Duo
Anthony Braxton & Derek Bailey - First Duo Concert; Royal Vol. 1; Moment Précieux;
Anthony Braxton & Fred Frith - Duo (Victoriaville) 2005
John Zorn & Fred Frith - The Art Of Memory
Eugene Chadbourne & John Zorn - 1977-1981
Anthony Burr and Skuli Sverisson - The Workers Institute
Mats Gustafsson & David Stackenäs - Blues
Mats Gustafsson & Paolo Angeli : Split 10" Series # 2
Nels Cline & Vinny Golia - The Entire Time
Jan Garbarek & Ralph Towner - Dis
Miroslav Tadic & Peter Epstein - Without Words
Jonas Knutsson & Johan Norberg - Norrland
Henry Kaiser & John Oswald - Improvised (Vancouver)
Jim O'Rourke & Mats Gustafsson - Xylophonen Virtuosen
Mike Murley & David Occhipinti - Duologue Vol. 2
Stefan Jaworzyn & Alan Wilkinson - In A Sentimental Mood
Carlo Actis Dato & Enzo Rocco - Pasodoble
Martin Küchen & David Stackenäs - Agape
Noël Akchoté & Bruno Meillier - S/T
Frank Lowe & Eugene Chadbourne - Don't Punk Out
Ab Baars & Terrie X - Hef

Any other suggestions?

Tim Berne & Bill Frisell's Theoretically can be downloaded from Screwgun.

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I Heart Lung - Between Them A Forest Grew, Trackless and Quiet (Sounds Are Active, 2007) ***

The title of the album and the wonderful cover art already indicate that this band is a little out of the ordinary, and indeed it is. The music brings mainly open atmospheric duets between electric guitar and percussion, but with substance and interaction. The main duo consists of Chris Schlarb on electric guitar and electronics, and Tom Steck on drums, with Peter Chan joining on clarinet or alto saxophone on three tracks. The music is minimalistic, light, calm, yet also somber and dark. The guitar limits itself to sounds or arpeggiated chord progressions, limiting itself also mostly to the middle range of the instrument, there are no high notes, no screeching, no violence, but the music has sufficient tension, with even hypnotic moments at times to keep it all interesting. One of the greatest qualities of the two musicians is that they keep this fenomenal control and almost abnormal restraint throughout the album. And so does the sax, adding color and shadings, and tension as well, but minimal, sensitive and gentle. Any other musician would have created a climax or explosive moment, but not here : eery. At times the music is closer to prog rock than to jazz, and the bonus track spoils the overall atmosphere a little, so just don't listen to it.

Listen to
Maleem Ya Maleem
If I Were A Young Man Now

You can download or order from Sounds Are Active.

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Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Fundamental Destiny (AECO, 2007) ****

This album was recorded during a live performance in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1991 and includes pianist Don Pullen along the usual line-up with Lester Bowie on trumpet, Malachi Favors Moghostut on bass, Famoudou Don Moye on percussion and Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell on reeds and percussion. And it's a great performance, starting with the long "People In Sorrow", a slow meandering percussion-driven piece over which the musicians weave their melodies and expressive lines, with the typical freedom and openness to join and leave the floor to someone else, yet with an approach coherent enough for Don Pullen to fit in well. The following tracks have more structure and melody, starting with the joyful "Song For Atala", also written by Mitchell, which brings an African ring to the music, but which provides the ideal rhythmic and harmonic backbone for Lester Bowie to shine. The title song, written by Jarman, has a more complex structure and a real free bop rhythmic approach with excellent soloing from the horns, but by Pullen too, whose piano playing adds this little extra to the music. The last track is "Odwalla/The Theme", an uptempo bopper offering the credits to the band, and an excellent applause-infused end for the album. All fun, all participation, all creativity, ending with Mitchell's salute :"Great Black Music, Ancient To The Future. We hope to see you again out there somewhere, meanwhile : love what you are!"

If only that were possible.... A must for all AEC fans. And we hope AECO may find more gems like this one in their archives.

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Anthony Braxton Trio - (Glasgow) 2005 (Leo Records, 2007) ***½

The trio consists of Anthony Braxton on alto saxophone and electronics, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, flugelhorn and trombone, and Tom Crean on guitar. This double-CD set consists of two tracks, one on each disc, called "Composition 323a" and "Composition 323b". The first clocks at over 110 minutes, the second over 90. To me, Braxton has always kept the very subtle balance between a cerebral approach and human feelings. The latter seep through at times, but the main focus is on the form of the music, the exploration of the interaction of sounds and the search for new approaches to music-making, rather than on the expression of emotions. In that sense, he is often closer to free improv than to free jazz, more European than American. But whatever he does, he is always genuine in his approach and each record he releases offers a worthwhile listening experience. The music here consists of sound musings between three instruments, alto, trumpet and guitar, the latter always muted, more percussive than melodic, more rhythmic than harmonic. The trumpet too is muted, and the sax doesn't shout either. They converse, they dialogue, they challenge each other, in short bursts of notes, at times not leaving each other any space to manoeuvre in, at times leaving all options open. No melodies emerge, no patterns are given for reference ... And it is an interesting listening experience, with lots of subtleties and shifts of intensity, but you need to take your time. And who can concentrate on such long pieces, who can listen without interruption to two pieces lasting longer than one hour? There is only one solution : put it on in your car, leave your cell phone where it was, and drive for a couple of hours (but don't close your eyes).

Listen to Composition 323a

Album can be downloaded via Lulu.com

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Mainstream trumpets ....

Mainstream jazz is not really my thing, so it's a little bit unfair to review mainstream albums, but if it's great music, why not mention it? (and I don't like reviewing music I don't like, yet now I do it for a change).

Marcus Printup - Bird Of Paradise (SteepleChase, 2007)

The best one in the series is Marcus Printup's Bird Of Paradise, subtitled "The Music Of Charlie Parker". This is JAZZ! Parker's music is of course excellent, but Printup's 21st Century rendition of it even more. He gets across the bluesy elements, the nervous tension and energy, the joy of pure improvization and interplay with like-minded musicians. And the band is great too : Riza Hequibal on harp, Kengo Nakamura on bass, Ted Nash on sax and Shinnosuke Takahashi on drums. Straightforward, emotional, joyfull. I LOVE IT!


Paul Brody - For The Moment (Tzadik, 2007)

Paul Brody is an American classically trained trumpeter, now living in Germany. He is probably best known for his klezmer-influenced fusion on Tzadik, as is this album "For The Moment". The music is a little too much of everything, and adds not much to his previous albums on the same label. Actually, I think his best albums are Minsker Kapelye and South Klezmer Suite, the latter available on emusic.com.


Peter Kenagy - Space Western (CD Baby, 2007)

As much as I enjoyed Peter Kenagy's "Little Machines", released in 2005, as much disappointed I am with his new album. His trumpet playing is excellent though, and he tries to create his own musical language here, with sparse melodies, and lots of openness, yet somehow it just doesn't get off the ground, remaining very down-tempo, with insufficient variation to make it captivating. It is too nice, too sweet, too slow.

Terence Blanchard - A Tale Of God's Will (Blue Note, 2007)

It's also a little unfair to judge this album without having seen the movie, Spike Lee's "When The Levees Broke", for which Terence Blanchard wrote and performed the music, with a band consisting of Brice Winston on sax, Aaron Parks on piano, Derrick Hodge on bass, Kendrick Scott on drums, and Zach Harmon on tabla, and with an 40-piece string orchestra. The album starts nicely enough, with "The Ghost Of Congo Square", raising lots of expectations for the rest to come, but then the whole thing collapses into some syrupy, mellow, sentimental and superficial piece of music, which has troubles standing on its own. Blanchard is a great trumpeter, and some of his former collaboration with Spike Lee worked well, as in "Mo' Better Blues", but this is not my kind of music, at all.

Alex Sipiagin - Prints (Criss Cross, 2007)

Technically, Alex Sipiagin is a great trumpeter, having played in the Mingus Big Band, in Dave Holland's big band, with Michael Brecker and others. He's unfortunately a better musician than an artist. Despite the great band, with Chris Potter on tenor saxophone, Scott Colley on bass , Antonio Sanchez on drums, David Kikoski on piano and Monday Michiru on flute, the music brings nothing new, nothing creative, nothing exciting. Too bad.

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