Monday, March 5, 2018

Music Week

Music: current count 29452 [29423] rated (+29), 368 [367] unrated (+1).

Most of what follows, including all of this week's A- ratings, already appeared in February's Streamnotes, posted last Wednesday. After that I guess I slowed down a bit. Damn little more to report.

I suppose I could offer a link to The new (UK) jazz family tree, although I should note that it actually offers only a rather thin slice of jazz in the UK, with nothing avant (aside from Evan Parker), nothing trad, huge omissions elsewhere (some names that leap to mind: Dave Holland, John McLaughlin, Howard Riley, Tommy Smith, and John Surman, as well as younger musicians like Neil Cowley and Alexander Hawkins). I haven't tried counting, but offhand I think I recognize about a third of the names, mostly falling down where band members are expanded (e.g., the other three-fourths of Camilla George Quartet). The author notes that she started with Emma-Jean Thackray and Sons of Kemet and worked her way out from there. Thackray didn't ring a bell, although I've heard of her group Walrus. Sons of Kemet have a couple albums I like, especially Lest We Forget What We Came Here to Do (2015).

New records rated this week:

  • Laurie Anderson/Kronos Quartet: Landfall (2018, Nonesuch): [r]: A-
  • Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You (2018, Low Country Sound/Elektra): [r]: B-
  • Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob Band: My Heart Belongs to Satchmo (2018, Blujazz): [cd]: B+(**)
  • Electric Squeezebox Orchestra: The Falling Dream (2015 [2018], OA2): [cd]: B
  • GoGo Penguin: A Humdrum Star (2017 [2018], Blue Note): [r]: B+(*)
  • Mike Jones/Penn Jillette: The Show Before the Show: Live at the Penn & Teller Theater (2017 [2018], Capri): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Femi Kuti: One People One World (2018, Knitting Factory): [r]: B+(*)
  • Les Filles De Illighadad: Eghass Malan (2017, Sahelsounds): [r]: B+(**)
  • Dave Liebman/Tatsuya Nakatani/Adam Rudolph: The Unknowable (2016 [2018], RareNoise): [cdr]: B+(*)
  • Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas: Sound Prints: Scandal (2017 [2018], Greenleaf Music): [cd]: B+(***)
  • Youssou N'Dour: Raxas Bercy 2017 (2017, self-released): [dl]: A-
  • Amy Rigby: The Old Guys (2018, Southern Domestic): [r]: A-
  • Shakers n' Bakers: Heart Love: Plays the Music of Albert Ayler and Mary Maria Parks (2017 [2018], Little i Music): [cd]: B+(*)
  • Shopping: The Official Body (2018, FatCat): [r]: A-
  • Steve Tyrell: A Song for You (2018, New Design): [cd]: B+(**)
  • U.S. Girls: In a Poem Unlimited (2018, 4AD): [r]: B+(**)

Old music rated this week:

  • Marion Brown: Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (1970, ECM): [r]: B
  • Marion Brown: Duets Vol. 1 (1970 [2012], 1201/Black Lion Vault): [r]: B+(**)
  • Dorothy Donegan: Live at the 1990 Floating Jazz Festival (1990 [1991], Chiaroscuro): [r]: B+(**)
  • Chico Freeman: Tradition in Transition (1982, Elektra Musician): [r]: B+(*)
  • Chico Freeman/Mal Waldron: Up and Down (1992, Black Saint): [r]: B+(**)
  • Jelly Roll Morton: The Piano Rolls (1924 [1997], Nonesuch): [r]: B+(**)
  • Original Dixieland Jazz Band: The 75th Anniversary (1917-21 [1992], RCA Bluebird): [r]: B+(***)
  • Original Dixieland Jazz Band: In London 1919-1920 Plus the Okeh Sessions 1922-1923 (1919-23 [2001], Retrieval): [r]: B+(**)
  • Amy Rigby: Live at Cat's Cradle 02/26/2003 (2003 [2011], self-released): [r]: B+(**)
  • Trio-X [Joe McPhee/Dominic Duval/Jay Rosen]: The Sugar Hill Suite (2004, CIMP): [r]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Martin Blume/Tobias Delius/Achim Kaufmann/Dieter Manderscheid: Frames & Terrains (NoBusiness): cdr
  • Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin: Ninety-Nine Years (Libra)
  • Gerry Hemingway/Samuel Blaser: Oostum (NoBusiness): cdr
  • Kang Tae Hwan: Live at Café Amores (1995, NoBusiness)
  • The Doug MacDonald Quintet/The Roger Neumann Quintet: Two Quintets: Live Upstairs at Vitello's (2018, Blujazz, 2CD)
  • Todd Marcus: On These Streets (Stricker Street): April 27
  • Wynton Marsalis Septet: United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas (2003-07, Blue Engine): March 23
  • Erin McDougald: Outside the Soirée (Miles High): March 16
  • Michael Morreale: MilesSong: The Music of Miles Davis (Summit, 2CD)
  • Peripheral Vision: More Songs About Error and Shame (self-released): March 30
  • Barre Phillips/Motoharu Yoshizawa: Oh My, Those Boys! (1994, NoBusiness)
  • Roberta Piket: West Coast Trio (13th Note): April 6
  • Jim Snidero & Jeremy Pelt: Jubilation (Savant): advance, May 4
  • Spin Cycle [Scott Neumann/Tom Christensen]: Assorted Colors (Sound Footing): April 6
  • Dan Weiss: Starebaby (Pi): April 6

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