Ornette Coleman Quartet - Live In Paris 1971 (Jazz Row, 2008) ****

Sorry guys, but here's another Ornette Coleman re-issue. The recent success of Soundgrammar, and the Pulitzer Prize he got after that, made record companies do some digging in their archives, looking for ways to surf on the waves of public attention. And that's fine with me, any reason is good to give us more Coleman material from the 60s and 70s. This record is a fine one, with the double sax front of Ornette on alto and Dewey Redman on tenor, with Charlie Haden on bass and Ed Blackwell on drums. It's recorded live in Paris in 1971, with a sound quality that is much better than the recent "Belgium 1969", although a little less adventurous musically. Two tracks, "Street Woman" and "Rock The Clock" come from the Science Fiction album, released in the same year. The second track "Summer-Thang" is an unmistakable Coleman composition, joyful and typically harmolodic, with great improvisations from all four musicians. In the last track, things get a little out of hand, with Redman playing his shrill musette, with the sound quality dropping a little and Coleman disappears into the background and Haden starts using a wah-wah for his bass, but despite the lack of coherence, it is still worthwhile - but I really would have loved to hear Don Cherry as part of the band, but he was having his own musical adventures at that time. Not an essential recording, but still nice to hear.

© stef

Read More

William Parker - Double Sunrise Over Neptune (AUM Fidelity, 2008) *****

Cosmic and Magnificent!

Magnificent and Earthly!

William Parker announced that 2008 would be a year of cosmic music, and of course he knew what he was keeping up his sleeve, and it surely not only referred to this album, but to the three albums that AUM Fidelity released in the Arts For Art funded project, which also includes Roy Campbell's"Akhnaten Suite" and Bill Dixon's "17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound : Darfur". Parker moves it even a notch higher : more cosmic, and more worldly at the same time. Cosmic because this music is as expansive, broad and overwhelming as can be, while at the same time offering the solidity of earth, and all the musical forms and genres it produced into a unique synthesis. The AUM Fidelity project resulted in three absolutely majestic albums, with a common element : they are absolutely musically innovative while sounding extremely familiar at the same time, as if they've tapped into some shared human musical subconsciousness that is suddenly awakened and brought to live.

William Parker is a great artist because he keeps innovating and he keeps renewing himself and his music. It doesn't always work, but that's the risk you take by being courageous and adventurous, but when it works, you get something you've never heard before. This is surely one of his most successful endeavors.

The musical concept in itself is simple : the foundation of the music is the bass, with assorted percussions to support it, bringing a repetitive vamp, an hypnotic line, very African, going on for ever. Over these rhythms, themes come and go, played by the horn section, or played by the strings, or by all, and the musicians alternate by improvising on the theme. Parker calls it the tree trunk, the branches and the leaves in his liner notes. But of course making this work is far from simple, it is a task of extreme complexity.

The most special thing is the presence of Indian singer Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay, whose singing soars over this band like a bird over the jungle, with long microtonal shades and nuances, full of joy and emotion, full of rhythm and sadness. It is not only stunning, it is also absolutely unique. Parker's love for the female voice and his open-mindedness for music and cultures from around the world led to this brilliant idea. Second great idea is to have oud-player Brahim Frigbane in the band, adding warmth and intimacy to the sound, while of course adding the Middle-Eastern touch and sensitivities. Frigbane is not only great in his solos, but also a very important factor in supporting the bass line. The reeds of Parker and Cole bring the North-African touches to it.

Then there's jazz of course, with Parker's usual band members and friends Lewis Barnes on trumpet, Rob Brown on alto saxophone, Sabir Mateen on tenor saxophone and clarinet, Dave Sewelson on baritone saxophone, Gerald Cleaver and Hamid Drake on drums, Bill Cole on reeds, Joe Morris on guitar and banjo, and Shayna Dulberger on bass.

And if that was not enough, some of today's modern jazz string-players play their part as well, with Jason Kao Hwang and Mazz Swift on violin, Jessica Pavone on viola, and Shiau-Shu Yu on cello, adding some classical and Asian touches at the same time.

... and of course William Parker himself on double reeds, doson 'ngoni and bass.

But having a great band is one thing, making it perform well and making great music are still other things. Despite the hypnotic and trance-inducing rhythmic backbone, the music changes the whole time, like waves, like tides, with themes and players coming and going, moving forward, moving backward, in layers upon layers, often controlled and disciplined, but once in a while going wild and chaotic. All band members get their moment in the spotlight, all playing in their own style, bringing a wonderful mix of emotions in the same song : the nervous and energetic guitar, the sad and plaintive violin, the soft and warm oud, the raw and wailing sax, the clarity of the joyful trumpet, the never-ending percussive drive.

If you want any musical references, at times Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim's "Hajj (The Journey)" (the track) comes to mind, or Bengt Berger's "Bitter Funeral Beer", two masterpieces of rhythmic world free jazz.

And when you think the end of invention has stopped, there is a wonderful call and response piece in the last track with Rob Brown echoing Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay's heart-rending singing, with the horns fading away and the strings taking over with another theme, while the guitar and bass keep repeating and repeating the same few notes, and then listen how the violins echo her improvised singing to perfection, listen to the subtleties, the wonderful sensitivities, ... staggering ...

The biggest achievement of the album is that it all works to perfection : tight interplay, wild improvisations, wonderful rhythms and themes, the power of a big band with the sensitivity of a small ensemble, it is dark and refreshing, familiar and new, tribal and universal, expansive and intimate, control and chaos, emotional and soulful, bringing the most unbelievable cocktail of genres and styles, and it works ... it works ...

... this is music which should never stop ...

... this is music that the whole world should hear ...

Listen to Morning Mantra.


© stef

Read More

Markus Stockhausen - Electric Treasures (Aktivraum, 2008) **

German trumpeter Markus Stockhausen has always walked the thin line between artistry and commercial interests. As much as I appreciated his small acoustic ensembles with Angelo Comiso and Christian Thomé on "Es War Einmal ..." or with Ferenc Snetberger on "Dreams" , in the past years, as much I am disappointed in this album. To be frank : I find it dull and without inspiration, despite the quality of the four musicians, with Vladyslav Sendecki on keyboards, Arild Andersen on bass and Patrice Héral on drums. Electronics are often used by lower quality musicians to create effects which disguise their lack of instrumental skills. Here you kind of get the opposite, four stellar musicians who lower their standards to play around with electronics and who sound like musicians who want to create effects to disguise their lack of instrumental skills, although we know it is not the case. And to make it even worse, the electronics sound awful, often reminiscent of cheap playing around with a 70s synthesizer. The approach also clearly exposes the lack of ideas in the compositions and the improvisations. There is no depth, no melodic or emotional elaboration, there is no story to tell, no specific musical voice to be heard, just empty sound, and repetitive at that ... it may be electric, but it's certainly not electrifying.

Listen and download from iTunes.

© stef

Read More

Ornette Coleman Quartet - Belgium 1969 (Gambit, 2008) ****

This performance by the Ornette Coleman Quartet was recorded live at the Belgian Jazz Bilzen Festival in 1969. Apart from Coleman himself on alto, trumpet and violin, the line-up further consists of Dewey Redman on sax and arabic oboe, Charlie Haden on bass and Ed Blackwell on drums. The performance brings three tracks from one of Coleman's best CDs "Crisis", which was released earlier that year : "Comme Il Faut", and the sublime "Song For Ché" and the equally sublime "Broken Shadows". The track "Space Jungle II" is a kind of sequel to "Space Jungle" that also figures on "Crisis", although there is no clear musical relation between the two songs. I am a great fan of Ornette Coleman and it's great to hear this performance, and it's a pity that Don Cherry is absent here, because to me he's always been an essential part of the band, adding a playful element and a great counterpart to Ornette's blaring sax (as said before, the man's a genius, but I don't like the sound of his alto!). Haden, Redman and Blackwell are excellent, with the latter's polyrhythmics offering a great change to performance of the 13-year old Denardo Coleman's on "Crisis". Redman's solo on "Comme Il Faut" is superb and gives an idea of what "Old & New Dreams" would bring in the 70s and 80s. The most stunning performance on this album is the the 16-minute long "Space Jungle II", which starts with Redman's arabic oboe and Haden's arco bass, both as free as it gets and wailing, generating spontaneous applause from the audience. Coleman joins on trumpet, and even if the sound balance of the recording is not excellent, the overall experience still stands, especially when half-way the track Haden's arco bass goes totally futuristic while Blackwell conjures up African rhythms, supported by Redman's gnawa-like playing, as a lead-in to a five minutes screeching violin solo by Coleman. Coleman's technique is not exceptional, whether on sax, trumpet or violin, but that is more than sufficiently compensated by the man's sense of music, he can go "out there" where few had gone before, retaining an inner logic and remaining emotional. The other tracks are great too, but have known better recordings. "Broken Shadows" brings the beautiful unison melody in a little over three minutes with no room for expansion, but thankfully "Tomorrow" brings a lot of improvisation. The overall sound quality is not excellent, but I assume it would be OK for fans. I'm an Ornette fan, so I rejoice each time something by him is released. If you're not an Ornette Coleman fan, or if you don't know his music, there are other albums that require prior listening. Great cover art too.


© stef

Read More

David Schnitter - The Spirit Of Things (CIMP, 2008) ***½

Many free jazz musicians are of course very much indebted and usually very respectful of the traditional jazz heritage, but it is rare for them to release an album with more standards than improvised tunes, let alone on the CIMP label. And that's exactly what saxophonist David Schnitter does, assisted by Dominic Duval on bass and Newman Taylor Baker on drums. Imagine listening to "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", played in a free mode, but very respectful for the original, including the sentimentality of it, as well as Ellington's "In A Sentimental Mood" and Monk's "Criss Cross". It's indeed rare to do that, and the great thing about the approach here is that the music is stripped of all embellishments and tinsel, with the musicians playing around with the tune's potential, showing in its naked beauty, uncovering it's soul. On top of that, the material seems to get the best out of them, leading to some great listening moments, and all that with the usual direct sound quality the label is known for. And I must say that I find that the tracks penned by Schnitter himself are the best of the album, probably because they offer the free-est environment for this great trio to perform.

© stef

Read More

Russ Lossing & John Hebert - Line Up (Hatology, 2008) ***½

After many recordings together in various line-ups, pianist Russ Lossing and bassist John Hebert finally play the long-awaited duo. With the exception of a piece by Irving Berlin and one by Duke Ellington, this is all new and improvised material by the two musicians. The limited line-up offers great possibilities for both freedom and intimacy, although the music has structure and form, and many of the piece are quite nervous and intense. Some pieces such as "Blind Pig" have a romantic impressionistic quality, but is immediately followed by the abstract expressionistic "Type A", just to illustrate the breadth of scope of the album and the wealth of musical territory both artists want to cover, but mostly within a post-bop environment, and they play well wherever they move, exploring lyrical and rhythmic possibilities, anticipating each other's moves and supporting it. They keep away from fixed themes or melodies, yet the lyricism in the music makes it relatively accessible, certainly when compared to "Metal Rat", his previous album. This is not ground-breaking music, and of course it doesn't have to. What counts here are the interplay between two masters of their instruments, and two artists with a common musical vision, effortlessly bringing a synthesis of piano jazz that spans more than half a century.

Listen to
Monotype
Fais Do-Do

© stef

Read More

100,000 unique visitors ....

That's what my web-counter says. Unfortunately it cannot tell me who the lucky one is. I might have given him/her a token of apprecation.

For your information, this blog has approx. 130 daily returning visitors at the moment, and approx. 4,000 unique returning visitors per month, with about 20,000 visits in total per month. I think that's good. I started with this blog some 18 months ago, for the simple reason that I liked a kind of music that few people that I know really appreciate. Actually none to be honest. Thanks to this blog I got to know some more, not only digitally, but also in real life! I hope that I helped many of you to appreciate the music too, and that I gave you some useful suggestions.

And thanks for the attention and appreciation. That's what keeps me going (and the music of course).

I'm not sure whether the figures above capture the total potential audience for the kind of music we all enjoy, but I'm sure there is still room for progression.

... so share the link to like-minded and potentially interested friends ....

... and otherwise ...

Be free!
Love music!
Interact!
Be true to yourself!

Watch some great musicians : Roy Campbell, Whit Dickey, Joe Morris and Rob Brown



© stef

Read More

Gianni Mimmo - A Watched Pot (Never Boils Over) (Amirani Records) ****

Gianni Mimmo is an Italian soprano saxophonist who, although using traditional styles, really has a great approach to avant-garde jazz, and this album is a wonderful example of what modern music can sound like without alienating listeners. He is joined by Andrea Serrapiglio on cello and Francesco Cusa on percussion. The three manage to create little gems of free music, playing their instruments with an almost classical tonality and sound, while the musical approach is exquisitely modern. It has the paradoxical quality of being cerebral and warm at the same time, with abstract improvised compositions with high intervallic jumps, but played sensitively and full of empathy. The other great asset of this record is the variation brought by the use of the instruments, and then especially by the percussion, which hardly ever provides the basic rhythm for the piece, but usually prefers implicit support, accents and shadings to the improvisation taking place.

The third great thing is the variation in the styles, demonstrating that even avant-garde can be fun and is not necessarily high-brow, such as in the joyful "Pot Head Pixies" (yes, I'm a Gong fan too!), or the somewhat bizarre "Cartoon Shouter".

I'm not quite sure what the title of the album refers to, but the best I can find is the Japanese definition of great art as "controlled passion", another contradiction which works well in this case, and which is also illustrated by the compactness of the tracks, which apart from offering lots of variation, also demonstrate that the musicians concentrate in a very disciplined manner to extract the essence of the musical idea, without loosing themselves in long and meaningless excursions. A strong achievement.


© stef

Read More

Trionacria - The Mystic Revelation (Curva Minore, 2000) ****½

Man, this is great! To the extent that I laughed out loud from the sheer pleasure of listening to these guy's having fun with music. Free, intense, rhythmic, funky, wild at times, subdued at others (though rarely). The band consists of Gianni Gebbia on sax, Rosario Paci on trumpet and Francesco Cusa on drums, all three from Sicily and all three excellent musicians. The tracks are short and compact, there are no long blowing sessions, but focused, concise little work-outs, often with a kind of melodic theme and some pre-conceived structural component, and the rest is wild and joyful interaction. This is music as intense, fresh, muscular and direct as it gets. Don't miss it.

This release is not new, but it's been made available again on CDBaby, also in download version.

So, listen and download/buy from CDBaby.

I couldn't find any other records by this band, so if anyone knows more about their releases, suggestions are more than welcome.

© stef

Read More

Bill Dixon - 17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound : Darfur (AUM Fidelity, 2008) *****

This is probably one of the first recorded pieces for large ensemble by Bill Dixon, who is best known for his very avant-garde duo or trio albums. This release was commissioned by Arts for Art, the producers of the Vision Festival for the 2007 event, together with Roy Campbell’s Akhenaten Suite and William Parker’s orchestral work Double Sunrise Over Neptune (due in August).

The band consists of Bill Dixon on trumpet, Graham Haynes, Stephen Haynes and Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet and flugelhorn; Dick Griffin and Steve Swell on tenor trombone; Joseph Daly on tuba; Karen Borca on bassoon; Will Connell on bass clarinet; Michel Cote on Bb contrabass clarinet; Andrew Raffo Dewar on soprano sax, John Hagen on tenor sax, baritone sax; J.D.Parran on bass saxophone and bamboo flute; Glynis Loman on cello; Andrew Lafkas on bass; Jackson Krall on drums and percussion, and finally Warren Smith on vibes, tympani, drums.

"17 Musicians In Search Of A Sound : Darfur" is a long musical suite, centered around the long "Sinopia". Sinopia is the color of dry earth, the color underpinning oil paintings. The color is red. The color of blood. Short tracks full of foreboding, dark and menacing horns, playing slow, magnificent, cinematic music, verging on classical, in which low unison tones build a horrifying dramatic atmosphere, with percussion added to for full effect, rather than for supporting the rhythm. In some of the initial moments, the cello and arco bass strain away from the unison theme to create some dissonant sounds, on some of the other tracks, the dark wave of sound stops to let the individual voices of the various instruments wail and weep, in duet, or with the full band, creating full and intense chaos, stopping abruptly and rejoining the ranks of the main sound. On "Scattering Of The Following", the individual instruments get their first chance for real improvisation, with trumpet, tuba, bass saxophone and vibes setting the scene, one full of disarray and emotional distress. The tune "Darfur" offers the darkest pieces of orchestrated gloom and doom you may have heard so far, stopping halfway for squealing sax sounds and screeching arco bass, supported by irregular drumming, moving the music to a crescendo of despair, which is followed by solo trumpet, intervening arco bass, and slowly the whole ensemble joins, slowly, irrevocably.

"Sinopia" starts with baritone solo, and slowly evolves into the most avant-garde moment of the record, with one instrumental solo taking over from the other, and though the various musicians freely improvise, there is clear structure about when what happens and about who does what, even if the content itself is free, but gradually they start weaving a coherent sound, all contributing to the overall darkness, despite the diversity of sounds created by the individual instruments. It is both primal and funereal, ending in sheer agony.

This center pieces is followed by four short tracks, mirroring the opening tracks of the record, again with slow dark, gloomy and menacing ensemble sounds, called "Pentimenti", meaning traces of changes made by the painter, showing that he has changed his mind and started differently. The references to painting, both in the titles and on the cover, also demonstrate the composer's interest in creating colors of sound, creating new mixtures, new approaches, and he succeeds in this.

The end result is surely one of the musical highlights of the year. It is uncompromising, but clever, with a band of great musicians who play in an incredibly controlled and focused manner. And it succeeds in every aspect where Evan Parker's "Boustrophedon" falls short. It uses the orchestra to its full potential, creating true music, powerful, deeply emotional, coherent in the impactful listening experience it creates. Bill Dixon manages to create a wide array of musical emotions through playing with music's endless possibilities, while at the same time touching upon the tragedy of Darfur. This is a strong and powerful musical statement. And it is infinitely sad.

Listen and download from eMusic.com.

© stef

Read More