Monday, July 25, 2016

Music Week

Music: Current count 26851 [26822] rated (+29), 431 [435] unrated (-4).

Much better than average week of mail: two packages from Clean Feed in Portugal, one from Fou in France, the new Steve Lehman from Pi, and a new Stephan Crump with Ellery Eskelin and Tyshawn Sorey. Didn't quite make the 30 rated mark, although there's some chance that I missed counting something (found two of those earlier today). Not sure why given that I hardly ventured outside the house (temperature was into triple digits all week, and that's not the "feels like" figure although it certainly does). Probably because I mostly worked from the new jazz queue, and made an effort to play some downloads I've collected but find annoying to bother with. I think Thumbscrew got five plays before I gave up on it, but others got cut short -- Anat Fort, perhaps. Two HMs I probably should have given another spin: Domo Genesis and André Gonçalves. The former is a rapper and I've been having a lot of trouble parsing them on Rhapsody. The latter is very minimal-concept electronica (although on a jazz label).

The Fred Hersch Solo is from last year. It finished 11th in the Jazz Critics Poll, second highest among records I hadn't heard (after 3rd place Jack DeJohnette, ahead of Roscoe Mitchell at 31 and Brad Mehldau at 34). Its publicist didn't service me at the time, probably recognizing that I'm usually a wet blanket as far as solo piano is concerned, but I found it on her annual wrap up (along with Ran Blake's solo Ghost Tones, 27th in the Poll). I'm duly impressed after two plays, although I'm still undecided about Hersch's new trio (which I did receive), tauntingly titled Sunday Night at the Vanguard -- either A- or very high B+ (find out next week, or probably sooner, as I should have a Rhapsody Streamnotes column sometime this week).

Rich Halley and The Paranoid Style also got quite a bit of play, both winding up slightly above the A- line. The saxophonist's album is a bit scattered with more unison playing than I'd like and the trombonist very hit-and-mess plus I'm never sure what Vince Golia is up to, but it has more thrilling moments than anything I can recall in the last couple months. I'm still having trouble with Elizabeth Nelson's sociopolitical theorizing, but ultimately went with the review she provided in a lyric: "it can't all be that bad because it's also entertaining."

New records rated this week:

  • Jon Balke: Warp (2014 [2016], ECM): [dl]: B+(*)
  • Aaron Bennett/Darren Johnston/Lisa Mezzacappa/Tim Rosaly: Shipwreck 4 (2015 [2016], NoBusiness): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Carla Bley/Andy Sheppard/Steve Swallow: Andando el Tiempo (2015 [2016], ECM): [dl]: B+(***)
  • Bobby Bradford/Hafez Modirzadeh: Live at the Open Gate (2013 [2016], NoBusiness): [cdr]: B+(**)
  • Brothers Osborne: Pawn Shop (2016, EMI Nashville): [r]: B+(*)
  • Toronzo Cannon: The Chicago Way (2016, Alligator): [r]: B+(*)
  • Cavanaugh: Time and Materials (2015 [2016], Mello Music): [r]: B+(**)
  • Suzanne Dean: Come to Paradise (2016, Ship's Bell Music): [cd]: B
  • Fail Better!: Owt (2014 [2016], NoBusiness): [cdr]: B+(**)
  • Anat Fort Trio/Gianluigi Trovesi: Birdwatching (2013 [2016], ECM): [dl]: B+(***)
  • Gaudi: EP (2016, RareNoise, EP): [cdr]: B+(**)
  • Domo Genesis: Genesis (2016, Odd Future): [r]: B+(***)
  • André Gonçalves: Currents & Riptides (2016, Shhpuma): [r]: B+(***)
  • Tord Gustavsen: What Was Said (2015 [2016], ECM): [dl]: B+(**)
  • Rich Halley 5: The Outlier (2015 [2016], Pine Eagle): [cd]: A-
  • Fred Hersch: Solo (2014 [2015], Palmetto): [dl]: A-
  • Hinds: Leave Me Alone (2016, Mom + Pop): [r]: B
  • Lefteris Kordis: Mediterrana (Goddess of Light) (2013-15 [2016], Inner Circle Music): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Elektra Kurtis & Ensemble Elektra: Bridges From the East (2016, Elektra Sound Works/Milo): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Tina Marx: Shades of Love (2007 [2016], self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Anthony E. Nelson Jr.: Swift to Hear, Slow to Speak (2016, Music Stand): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Os Clavelitos: Arriving (2016, self-released): [cd]: B-
  • The Paranoid Style: Rolling Disclosure (2016, Bar/None): [r]: A-
  • Tommy Smith: Modern Jacobite (2015 [2016], Spartacus): [cd]: B-
  • Jim Snidero: MD66 (2016, Savant): [cdr]: B+(**)
  • Peggy Stern: Z Octet (2015 [2016], Estrella Productions): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Thumbscrew: Convallaria (2015 [2016], Cuneiform): [dl]: B+(***)
  • Brahja Waldman: Wisdomatic (2016, Fast Speaking Music): [cdr]: A-
  • Nate Wooley/Hugo Antunes/Jorge Queijo/Mario Costa/Chris Corsano: Purple Patio (2012 [2016], NoBusiness): [cdr]: B

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries rated this week:

  • Putumayo Presents: Blues Party (1968-2013 [2016], Putumayo World Music): [cdr]: B+(**)
  • Arthur Williams: Forgiveness Suite (1979 [2016], NoBusiness): [cdr]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Karlis Auzins/Lucas Leidinger/Tomo Jacobson/Thomas Sauerborn: Mount Meander (Clean Feed)
  • Carate Urio Orchestra: Ljubljana (Clean Feed)
  • Cortex: Live in New York (Clean Feed)
  • Stephan Crump: Stephan Crump's Rhombal (Papillon): September 13
  • Whit Dickey/Kirk Knuffke: Fierce Silence (Clean Feed)
  • Daunik Lazro/Joëlle Léandre/George Lewis: Enfances 8 Janv. 1984 (Fou)
  • Steve Lehman: Sélébéyone (Pi): August 19
  • Joey Locascio: Meets the Legend (Blujazz)
  • Modular String Trio: Ants, Bees and Butterflies (Clean Feed)
  • Roji: The Hundred Headed Woman (Clean Feed)
  • Susana Santos Silva/Lotte Anker/Sten Sandell/Torbjörn Zetterberg/Jon Fält: Life and Other Transient Storms (Clean Feed)
  • Stirrup: Cut (Clean Feed)

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