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Monday, August 29. 2011Jazz Prospecting (CG #28, Part 4)Not a peep back from the Village Voice. Maybe I'm done there? Maybe they're done? Will carry on until I know something, but the prospecting rate of the last two weeks slowed down this week: 15 below, overall rated count was a productive but relatively normal 33. The difference mostly goes into Recycled Goods and Rhapsody Streamnotes, both due to drop sometime in the next week, both (especially the former) looking pretty anemic going into the week. Roger Davidson Quintet: Brazilian Love Song (2009 [2010], Soundbrush): Pianist, b. 1952 in France but grew up in New York; has 11 albums since 2000's Mango Tango, all keyed to Latin rhythms, the majority Brazilian. Silly of me to have ignored this for a year now -- the title on the spine, the cartoonish cover in the Brazilian national colors, the "30 years of Brazilian music" blurb seemed unappealing, but the fine print suggests otherwise: Davidson (whose name isn't visible on the spine) himself has been more and more impressive each time out, well on his way to becoming a Latin pianist-of-all-trades like Dick Hyman. Also turns out that instead of recycling moldy bossa novas, he composed all the music -- dating some pieces as far back as 1978, so he's recycling his files. Also Pablo Aslan produced -- the Argentine bassist, I've never seen him associated with a dud project yet. The Quintet is Brazilian where it counts -- Paulo Braga on drums and Marivaldo Dos Santos on percussion -- and Aaron Heick's sax doesn't let anyone get too laid back. A- Harris Eisenstadt: September Trio (2010 [2011], Clean Feed): Drummer, has tended lately to rig his records to emphasize his compositions rather than his position. Trio includes Ellery Eskelin (tenor sax) and Angelica Sanchez (piano), so this lacks the drive and connectivity that a bassist should add: it runs a bit slow, muted, but spacious. Been hearing a lot from Eskelin lately, and I'm afraid that I've fallen uncritically in love with all of it. The pianist holds up her end too. B+(***) Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble: Watershed (2009 [2011], Libra): Min-Yoh means folk music in Japanese, and three (of eight) songs here are identified as "Japanese traditional folk" -- the others are Fujii originals. Not knowing anything about Japanese folk music that can't be reduced to traditional instruments (none such here, but there are some vocals), I'm at a loss. Fujii plays piano, along with Andrea Parkins (accordion), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone), and Natsuki Tamura (trumpet). Accordion mostly adds density, and trombone darker tones. B+(**) Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Eto (2010 [2011], Libra): Prolific Japanese pianist -- a quick count shows 17 Jazz CG records for her and/or her husband-trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. Among many other groups, she runs four big bands, three based in Japan plus this all-star outfit in New York, on their 8th album together here. The big thing here is the 14-part "Eto Suite," plus three shorter pieces. Strong solos but less hectic than previous albums, with some nicely arranged stretches. B+(**) Thomas Heberer's Clarino: Klippe (2010 [2011], Clean Feed): Trumpet player, b. 1965 in Germany, based in New York since 2008. Probably has ten or so records more/less under his own name since 1988 -- I can't find a definitive list, as well as side credits with Alexander von Schlippenbach (including Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra) and Misha Mengelberg (including ICP Orchestra). Trio with Joachim Badenhorst (clarinet, bass clarinet) and Pascal Niggenkemper (bass). Slow and moody, a tone painting that never quite resolves. B Gerry Hemingway Quintet: Riptide (2009 [2011], Clean Feed): Drummer-led quintet, with Oscar Noriega (alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet), Ellery Eskelin (tenor sax), Terrence McManus (guitar), Kermit Driscoll (acoustic bass, electric bass guitar). I assumed this would flesh out Hemingway's superb duos with Eskelin and McManus so I latched onto their flights, but if anything this is more tightly bound to the beat -- deliriously so in the reggae-inspired "Backabacka" but also in the slower, more muted pieces that preceded it, seeming to draw the record down when really they were setting it up. A- Kaze: Rafale (2010 [2011], Libra): New Satoko Fujii-Natsuki Tamura group, a quartet with Christian Pruvost adding a second trumpet and Peter Orins on drums. The latter two are from France. Pruvost has one album; Orins, as far as I can tell, none under his own name, but he wrote 3 of 6 pieces (Fujii 2, Tamura 1). No dueling among the trumpets. In most cases one takes a high road while the other goes low, with much of the album winding up in the dirt. The exception is the final cut called "Blast" where everyone is cranking. B+(**) Vincent Lyn: Heaven Bound (2011, Budo): Pianist, first album, describes it as "cool jazz with a mix of classical and bossa nova." Has a longer career as an actor and stunt man, especially in Hong Kong martial arts films -- website has a lot of pics of him handling swords. Group includes guitar, sax/flute, bass, drums, percussion, and Fernanda Capela singing the bossa nova-oriented pieces, while the classical bits (Rachmaninoff, Satie, Piero Domenico Paradisi) center on the piano. It's all rather genteel, not especially interesting as jazz but pleasant in a nicely rounded way. B+(*) Nilson Matta & Roni Ben-Hur: Mojave (2011, Motéma): Brazilian bassist and Israeli guitarist, both New York based, both with such substantial discographies I won't bother looking them up. In smaller front cover print: Victor Lewis (drums) and Café (percussion) -- don't know the latter but he's invaluable here. Mostly a Brazilian program (Jobim, Pixinginha, Baden Powell) with two pieces by Ben-Hur, two by Matta, one by Lewis, one by Burt Bacharach. Nice to focus on Matta's bass for once, the guitar adding tasteful highlights and a little icing. B+(***) Mike Prigodich: A Stitch in Time (2011, Mexican Mocha Music): Pianist, electric keybs as well as acoustic; studied at Wheaton, worked in Chicago, moved to Portland in 1998. Credits "becoming a cancer patient in 2008" as a wake-up call, pushing him to compose more, leading to this first album. Calls his core group MPEG (Melz/Prigodich/Erskine Group), with Reinhardt Melz on drums, Damian Erskine on bass. Saxophonist John Nastos, guitarist Brandon Woody, and percussionist Rafael Trujillo also get credits on the front cover, and a couple others on one or two -- Tim Jensen gets a flute feature. Seems like this gets tripped up in a couple of spots, rare breaks in the upbeat funk attack. I've always been a sax fan, and Nastos is consistently tasty here, but the strongest bit is a guitar solo from the otherwise underutilized Woody. B+(*) Mark Segger Sextet: The Beginning (2010 [2011], 18th Note): Drummer, from Edmonton, now based in Toronto, first album; composes all eight pieces here, for a sextet including trumpet (Jim Lewis), tenor sax/clarinet (Chris Willes), trombone (Heather Segger), piano/melodica (Tania Gill), and bass (Andrew Downing). He calls the pieces "idiosyncratic" with such sources as "soca rhythms, chamber music, and the abstract pointillism of contemporary free improvisation." No doubt about idiosyncratic: slippery postbop, disjointed and improbably reconnected. B+(**) Rick Stone Trio: Fractals (2011, Jazzand): Guitarist, from Cleveland, studied at Berklee, wound up in New York. Fourth album since 1990, widely spaced (1994, 2004, 2011). Four covers -- three standards and a Billy Strayhorn piece you don't run into often ("Ballad for Very Sad and Very Tired Lotus Eaters") -- seven originals. Trio with Marco Panascia on bass and Tom Pollard on drums. Has a thin metallic sound, focused on long likes like Wes Montgomery but doesn't pick up the pace. B+(*) Kevin Tkacz Trio: It's Not What You Think (2007 [2008], Piece of Work of Art): Bassist, based in Brooklyn. First (and evidently only) record, a piano trio with Bill Carrothers and Michael Sarin. Two songs credited to Tkacz, one to Rogers and Hart, the rest group improvs. Best thing I've heard by Carrothers in several years, probably because he gets a little dirty, as does the bass. B+(***) Denny Zeitlin: Labyrinth: Live Solo Piano (2008 [2011], Sunnyside): Pianist, b. 1938, has a couple dozen records since 1964. Three of last four have been solo, which strikes me as too many but he's deep within his own distinctive style. B+(*) These are some even quicker notes based on downloading or streaming records. I don't have the packaging here, don't have the official hype, often don't have much information to go on. I have a couple of extra rules here: everything gets reviewed/graded in one shot (sometimes with a second play), even when I'm still guessing on a grade; the records go into my flush file (i.e., no Jazz CG entry, unless I make an exception for an obvious dud). If/when I get an actual copy I'll reconsider the record. Andreas Schmidt/Samuel Rohrer/Thomas Heberer: Pieces for a Husky Puzzle (2009, Jazzwerkstatt): Piano, drums, trumpet respectively. Schmidt was b. 1967, more than a dozen credits start around 1990, hard to tell how many; AMG lists Andreas Schmidt as a classical music vocalist, but that is someone else (b. 1960). Seven cuts, each called "Puzzle Piece" followed by a number. Slow and abstract improvs, thoughtful and brooding (or maybe just droning); doesn't leave the drummer much to do. B+(*) [Rhapsody] No final grades/notes this week on records put back for further listening the first time around. Unpacking: Found in the mail over the last week:
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