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An occasional blog about populist politics and popular music, not necessarily at the same time. LinksLocal Links My Other Websites Music Politics Others Networking Music DatabaseArtist Search: Website SearchGoogle: Recent Reading
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Friday, November 22, 2024 Music Week
November archive (in progress). Music: Current count 43200 [43153] rated (+47), 28 [26] unrated (+2). Back on the 18th, I posted this much:
Those links are still useful. I've added some things to the Jazz Poll website, and will update it again before long. I must have added something to that Speaking of Which, as it's now up to 35354 words, but I've definitely slowed down. (My latest add was a long comment on Robert Christgau's latest XgauSez.) Since then, I revised the Poll invitation -- mostly to clarify changes to the category voting, but also to point out information online -- and ran the template through MailMerge to generate 230 email, which I then mailed out one at a time. While it should be possible to automate the mailing, my ISP threw up many roadblocks, so it wound up taking about five hours to get them all out. Then I was embarrassed to find that I had made an error in the Subject line, not deleting "Mid-Year" from the previous template, or adding "Francis Davis." Only one recipient has noted the problem so far. More worrisome, I got seven bounce messages (Greg Bryant, Marcela Breton, Matt Marshall, Mike Greenblatt, Richard Brody, Simon Rentner, Stephen Graham), so I need to track them down. I have many more names in various files. I need to go through them, see who I can qualify, and send out another batch of invites. I welcome any suggestions you may have (including self-interests). Please include email address and whatever credentials seem appropriate. I've set up an advisory discussion list (jpadmin), and have about ten people signed up for it. I've done very little with it so far, but expect to be sending out updates every 2-3 days, discussing a wide range of issues, like future promotion. Right now, the most important things are making sure the website has enough correct information to help voters, and to qualify any additional voter invitations. I've been totall jammed the last week with these isues. I've also had to do some more programming, due to changes in the handling of category votes. This is tricky work, and has slowed down processing of ballots. I currently have 8 ballots counted, and at least 2 more in my inbox. Agenda for today is:
The odds that I'll get all this done before bedtime aren't good. Just a couple notes on this week's albums. For the Attias album, I received a 2-CD set, and mostly played both discs back-to-back, so that made it hard to distinguish between them. However, once I gave the combined set an A-, I couldn't find a cover scan that matched my promo, but I did find that the album had been released in two separate chunks on Bandcamp, so I took artwork from there. (The 2-CD package puts the Vol. II artwork on the back cover, and adds the volume designations to the individual disc titles.) I wound up grading the separate pieces down a notch for various rather peculiar reasons, but for purposes here, I'm including both cover scans. The old blues comp was one of Clifford Ocheltree's "on the balcony" specials (or maybe his was Vol. 1, and I just lightly favored Vol. 2). The other pictured album is Elucid's Revelator. More about it next week. Assuming there is a next week. I'm too frazzled right now to even think about schedule. Could be I'll kick out something very short on Monday or Tuesday, or perhaps I'll wait until the end of the month, then try to resync in December. It may depend on how useful this forum is for disseminating info on the Poll. New records reviewed this week: Eric Alexander: Timing Is Everything (2023 [2024], Cellar Music): Mainstream tenor saxophonist, many albums since 1995, this a quartet with Rick Germanson (piano), Alexander Claffy (bass), and Jasson Tiemann (drums), plus occasional guests. B+(**) [sp] Eric Alexander/Mike LeDonne: Together (2023 [2024], Cellar Music): Tenor sax and piano duets -- they've worked together before, and to my surprise more often with LeDonne on piano than on organ. Still, nothing this far out of their comfort zones, which is what makes this interesting. B+(**) [sp] Michaël Attias: Quartet Music: Vol. I + II: LuMiSong + Kardamom Fall (2021-22 [2024], Out of Your Head, 2CD): Alto saxophonist, born in Israel, grew up in Paris and Minneapolis, returned to Paris, then to New York in 1994. I'm surprised he has no Wikipedia page, as he's recorded extensively since 1989 (Discogs lists 95 albums). This 2-CD combines two quartet sessions that are separately released as digital, so I've broken them out below. I'm not normally someone who rates a compilation above its component parts, but while I may be too short and/or II may meander a bit long, both are chock full of delights that build on the rest. A- [cd] Michaël Attias: Quartet Music: Vol. I: LuMiSong (2021 [2024], Out of Your Head): With Santiago Leibson (piano), Matt Pavolka (bass), and Mark Ferber (drums): 4 tracks, 29:36. B+(***) [cd] Michaël Attias: Quartet Music: Vol. II: Kardamom Fall (2022 [2024], Out of Your Head): With Santiago Leibson (piano), Sean Conly (bass), and Tom Railey (drums): 8 tracks, 62:05. B+(***) [cd] George Cables: I Hear Echoes (2024, HighNote): Pianist, now 80, first album 1975, his early albums with Art Pepper are personal favorites, this one a trio with Essiet Essiet (bass) and Jerome Jennings (drums). B+(***) [sp] Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Wild God (2024, Bad Seed/Play It Again Sam): Australian singer-songwriter, started in the Birthday Party (1973-83), formed this band in 1984, his main vehicle ever since. This is their 18th studio album, co-produced by Warren Ellis. His popularity and/or critical following has long baffled me, but this seems exceptionally dull. Barbara Ehrenreich used "wild god" in her memoir, but whatever this is about, it isn't that. C+ [sp] Confidence Man: 3AM (La La La) (2024, Chaos/Polydor): Australian electropop group, their 2018 debut Confident Music for Confident People was fun, back for their third album here, another snappy one. B+(***) [sp] Day Dream: Duke & Strays Live: Works by Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn (2023 [2024], Corner Store Jazz, 2CD): Ellington tribute trio, with Steve Rudolph (piano), Drew Gress (bass), and Phil Haynes (drums). Same trio did an album under their names (Rudolph) called Day Dream, released in 2023 but recorded back in 2009. Ten songs, 77:09, so could have been squeezed onto a single CD. Slips by if you're not paying close attention. B+(**) [cd] Hania Derej Quintet: Evacuation (2023 [2024], ZenneZ): Polish pianist, several albums since 2016, this group with tenor sax, trombone, bass, and drums. B+(***) [sp] Elin Forkelid: Songs to Keep You Company on a Dark Night (2024, Sail Cabin): Swedish saxophonist, tenor mostly, née Larsson, has a previous Plays Trane, several group efforts, quartet here with Tobias Wiklund (cornet/trumpet), David Stackenäs (guitar), and Mats Dimming (bass). B+(**) [sp] The Fugs: Dancing in the Universe (2023, Fuga): Tuli Kupferberg died in 2016, but he left four demo vocals from 2006 that survivor Ed Sanders and some friends -- they go back to a 1984 revival, and were on The Fugs Final CD (both of them, one from 2003, the other 2010 -- fashioned into a new album, 58 years after their The Fugs' First Album. They're older, well old, resigned never making the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, remembering Johnny Cash, Frank O'Hara, and Emma Goldman. I take some comfort in "Where Have All the Commies Gone?" (after noting such destinations as academia, drugs, and Hillary, "when will they ever learn, when will we ever learn"). But not so much from "We Are Living in End Times." B+(**) [bc] Halsey: The Great Impersonator (2024, Columbia): Pop star, fifth album since 2016, all charted US 1-2, still not much glitz here, mostly mid-tempo introspection, some muscled up, with more than a few lyrics breaking through, like "I think I'm special because I cut myself wide open," "I'm not old but I am tired," "I still believe in heaven, if they'll never let me in," and "is it love or a panic attack?" A- [sp] The Hard Quartet: The Hard Quartet (2024, Matador): Billed as a supergroup, but any group that lets Stephen Malkmus sing should be counted as his. Besides, who the hell are these guys? Matt Sweeney (guitarist for Skunk, Chavez, and Zwan), Jim White (drummer from Dirty Three), and Emmett Kelly (guitarist from Cairo Gang; he's the only one other than Malkmus with an album under his own name)? Not my idea of hard, perhaps even a bit thin for Malkmusian, but that much is identifiable. B+(*) [sp] Alex Heitlinger Jazz Orchestra: Slush Pump Truck Stop (2019 [2024], SteepleChase): Trombonist, several albums since his 2004 debut, composed (7 of 8 pieces) and arranged this for conventional big band. B [sp] Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer (2024, Dead Oceans): Singer-songwriter from New York, third album since 2017, has a nice flow that slips by pleasantly enough without much traction. B+(*) [sp] The Jesus and Mary Chain: Glasgow Eyes (2024, Fuzz Club): Scottish group, principally brothers Jim and William Reid, debut album 1986, developed a distinctive sound between new wave and shoegaze, disbanded 1998, regrouped c. 2007 but didn't release a new album until 2017, followed up here. Sound remains distinct, but perhaps more as a medium for songwriting than as an end in itself. B+(**) [sp] Samara Joy: Portrait (2024, Verve): Jazz singer, from New York, dropped last name McLendon, writes her own songs, got a lot of notice for her 2021 debut, back for third album here. Regina King described her as "a young woman who seems like Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald are both living in her body." I don't get much Ella from her, but her voice evokes Sarah without quite sealing the deal. (I've listened to enough Vaughan to understand why critics are so in awe of her, but I've never much liked her albums.) No doubt this album will be received as a big deal -- easy to see this topping the vocal category in our critics poll -- but I have little desire to hear it again. I will say that the "touring band" (no names I recognize) is terrific -- far better than the orchestras Vaughan was often saddled with. And she's conducting a master class in phrasing, poise, and precision, even when soaring and/or scatting. B+(*) [sp] The Linda Lindas: No Obligation (2024, Epitaph): Punk girl band, from Los Angeles, had a viral breakout single in 2021, "Racist, Sexist Boy," followed that up with a debut album, and now this second album. B+(**) [sp] Moby: Always Centered at Night (2024, Mute): Some album I've heard recently and already forgotten about reminded me that I hadn't heard this one, his 22nd since 1992, so I figured why not? Released in June, already available in two remixes, but I went to the original. Some nice stuff here, in line with his previous gospel sampling. B+(*) [sp] Monolake: Studio (2024, Imbalance Computer Music): German electronic music group, first album 1997 as a duo of Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles (later Torsten Pröfrock), now just Henke. Sharp beats with Krautrock airs and extra klang. B+(***) [sp] Thurston Moore: Flow Critical Lucidity (2024, Daydream Library Series): Sonic Youth guitarist-vocalist, did a solo album in 1995, plus a number of collaborations with jazz and avant/experimental figures, more after the band broke up. Curve fits the milder-with-age trajectory, maintaining his distinct sound post-group, even while attenuated. B+(**) [sp] Meshell Ndegeocello: No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin (2024, Blue Note): Singer-songwriter, plays bass guitar, originally Michelle Johnson, had some success on the r&b charts 1993-2014, since then has landed on a jazz label, but the arc from Plantation Lullabies to Baldwin themes isn't really all that far. Possibly more here than what I can immediately grasp, but I'm not sure how hard I want to work for it. B+(**) [sp] The Necks: Bleed (2024, Northern Spy): Australian jazz trio, with Chris Abrahama (piano), Lloyd Swanton (bass), and Tony Buck (drums), close to 30 albums since 1989. This is a single piece, 41:10, more ambient than anything else. B+(*) [sp] The New Mastersounds: Old School (2024, One Note): British funk-fusion band, from Leeds, 20+ albums since 2001, quartet with organ/keyboards (Joe Tatton), guitar (Eddie Roberts), bass (Peter Shand), and drums (Simon Allen). B+(*) [sp] Peter Perrett: The Cleansing (2024, Domino): English singer-songwriter, a memorable voice from the punk-era band the Only Ones (1978-80), released one more album (1996) as the One, then in 2017 released a solo album, with this his third. B+(**) [sp] Arun Ramamurthy Trio: New Moon (2023 [2024], Greenleaf Music): Violinist, based in Brooklyn, improvises on a legacy of Carnatic classical music, was a founder of Brooklyn Raga Massive, first album under his own name, a trio with Damon Banks (bass) and Sameer Gupta (drums). B+(***) [sp] Remedy [Thomas Heberer/Joe Fonda/Joe Hertenstein]: Live at Jazzkammer (2024, 420 CPW): German trumpet player, based in New York, with bass and drums, group named for their 2022 album title, followed by a Remedy II. B+(**) [bc] Soccer Mommy: Evergreen (2024, Loma Vista): Singer-songwriter Sophie Allison, fourth studio album since 2016, settling in for the long haul. B+(*) [sp] Tyshawn Sorey/Adam Rudolph: Archaisms II (2023 [2024], Meta): Two percussionists, Rudolph listed first on the previous volume, Sorey's credit for piano/drumset, with three more names in a second tier on the cover: Sae Hashimoto, Russell Greenberg, Levy Lorenzo, each credit "multiple percussion," with Lorenzo's adding "electronic percussion." B+(**) [sp] Squarepusher: Dostrotime (2024, Warp): English electronics producer Tom Jenkinson, debut (Feed Me Weird Things 1996), I've only heard one previous album, but this popped up as Bleep's best record pick this year. It does have its moments. B+(***) [sp] Peter Van Huffel/Meinrad Kneer/Yorgos Dimitriadis: Synomilies (2022 [2024], Evil Rabbit): Free jazz trio of alto/baritone sax, bass, and drums. B+(**) [bc] Friso van Wijck: Friso van Wijck's Candy Container (2024, TryTone): Dutch drummer, has side credits going back to 1992, but unclear whether this is his first as leader. Two saxophonists, two guitarists, one bassist, geared for conflict, and sometimes resolution, B+(***) [cd] Andy Wheelock/Whee 3 Trio: In the Wheelhouse (2024, OA2): Drummer, seems to be his first album (Discogs shows one side credit), trio includes Walter Gorra (piano) and Gonzalo Teppa (bass), but the record is really dominated by the guitar of "special guest" Gilad Hekselman. B+(**) [cd] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Roy Hargrove's Crisol: Grande-Terre (1998 [2024], Verve): Trumpet player (1969-2018), one of the leading lights of the big 1990's hard bop revival, took a shot at Latin jazz in 1997 with his Grammy-winning Habana, takes his concept on the road here, to Guadeloupe, where he found saxophonist André Schwarz-Bart (only Hargrove, trombonist Frank Lacy, and the two percussionists continue from the album). B+(***) [sp] Andrew Hill Sextet Plus Ten: A Beautiful Day Revisited (2002 [2024], Palmetto, 2CD): Pianist (1931-2007), recorded a series of now-classic Blue Note albums starting with 1963's Black Fire up through 1970, after which, like so many, his discography wanders around Europe -- Shades, on Soul Note in 1986, is a fine example -- but he got more attention on the rare occasions when he resurfaced on American labels: Blue Note in 1989 and 2006, and Palmetto in 2000 (Dusk) and 2002 (A Beautiful Day). I liked the Blue Notes (especially Awakening), but at the time was less happy with the Palmettos, especially the live big band album reissued here, resequenced and expanded (82 minutes), and somewhat better for it. Note credit for Ron Horton: "arranged by, conductor, music director, liner notes," with Matt Balitsaris as producer and engineer. B+(**) [cd] Charlie Parker: Bird in Kansas City (1941-51 [2024], Verve): They scraped the bottom of Parker's barrel so long ago that at this point that one no longer knows whether to laugh or cry at the news of previously unheard Bird. These 13 tracks are united by being recorded on Parker's home turf, and by sounding just like you expect Parker to sound. First half was recorded at the home of Phil Baxter in 1951, with bass and drums (no names). The second half has a 1944 studio session with guitar (Efferge Ware) and drums (Edward Phillips), and two songs from 1941 with Jay McShann's Orchestra (with vocal). The informality of the first half is most appealing, but far from momentous. Sound is so-so, but I've heard far worse on records that have been praised ridiculously (like Bird at St. Nick's). B+(**) [sp] Bernie Senensky: Moment to Moment (2001-20 [2024], Cellar Music): Canadian pianist, has a couple albums from 1976 and 1981, picking up the pace in the 1990s, skipping a decade, adding a few more since 2011. Cover gives "featuring" credit to Eric Alexander (tenor sax), Kieran Overs (bass), and Joe Farnsworth (drums) for the 2001 set (six tracks), slipping in two more tracks from 2020 with different bass-drums. B+(***) [sp] Old music: Eric Alexander: Man With a Horn (1997, Milestone): Mainstream tenor saxophonist, recorded his first albums in 1992, so this one, which Penguin Guide rates his best, counts as his eighth. Mostly quartet with Cedar Walton (piano), Dwayne Burno (bass), and Joe Farnsworth (drums), with added brass on three tracks (Jim Rotondi trumpet, Steve Davis trombone). B+(***) [yt] Blue Muse ([2019], Blues Maker Foundation): Various artists sampler, no recording dates but presumably recent, as the Foundation/label has been cultivating local talent, but it's salted with a few names most recognize. B+(***) [bc] Andrew Hill: But Not Farewell (1990 [1991], Blue Note): The pianist's much-heralded return to Blue Note in 1989 (Eternal Spirit) was short-lived, with this set of scraps released only in Japan, so it was "farewell," at least until 2006's Time Lines. Four quintet tracks, with Greg Osby (alto/soprano sax), Robin Eubanks (trombone), bass, and drums. The fifth track is a duo with Osby, and the last two are solo. The quintet pieces are typical of his avant-postbop, and the solos are nice and thoughtful. B+(**) [sp] Ruckus Juice & Chittlins: The Great Jug Bands Vol. 1 (1927-35 [1998], Yazoo): Nice sampler of vintage jug bands, easily identified by "Jug" in the group name (most famously, Memphis Jug Band, Cannon's Jug Stompers). B+(***) [sp] Ruckus Juice & Chittlins: The Great Jug Bands Vol. 2 (1927-35 [1998], Yazoo): A second helping. I haven't checked many of the dates, but the cover says "1920's and 30's," and I found this same range quickly enough. No drop-off here: I recognize more songs, and most of the ones I don't have an extra step to them. A- [sp] Trout Fishing in America: Safe House (2022, Trout): Duo from Houston, Keith Gromwood and Ezra Idlet, two dozen albums since 1979. B+(*) [sp] Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
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