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An occasional blog about populist politics and popular music, not necessarily at the same time. LinksLocal Links Social Media My Other Websites Music Politics Others Networking Music DatabaseArtist Search: Website SearchGoogle: Recent Reading
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Tuesday, December 9, 2025 Music Week
December archive (in progress). Music: Current count 45259 [45223] rated (+36), 4 [3] unrated (+1). We're less than two weeks away from the Dec. 21 deadline for the 20th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I have 54 ballots counted, which feels like good progress, although the pace will still have to pick up to match last year's 177 voters. I've only invited a little more than a dozen new critics, and I've only gotten one ballot back from that bunch, but we've gotten a few ballots from people who missed in 2024. It helps me to get your ballots in early, not least because I worry a lot about turnout. One person who hasn't submitted their ballot yet is me. I did the cutover on Monday, early enough to post, but I wanted to include my ballot picks, and didn't figure that out. Actually, I still haven't figured it out for sure, but what follows is where my list stands at the present moment:
I haven't logged this yet. I want to give it a day or two to settle before making it official. (I'll update this post when I do, but I don't want to hold it up or do something rash.) I'm surprised to note that two Rara Avis albums are new discoveries this week (although the Braxton has been long in hand; I've just been slow getting around to it), after a couple months with nothing (but SML) coming close. I'm not especially happy with these lists: everything I recheck from my A-list sounds really good, but I spend so little time with new records that even obvious favorites never really sink in, like albums used to do before I started spreading myself so thin. I will note a couple things:
What I really recommend is that you look at my EOY lists (only compiled this week, and subject to constant revision for the next year or so): Jazz [76+6 A-list new, 26+2 A-list old; 161+15 B+(***) new, 28+4 B+(***) old], and Non-Jazz [90+2 A-list new, 8+2 A-list old; 100+1 B+(***) new, 15+2 B+(***) old]. Biggest surprise so far is that I already have more non-jazz than jazz A-list albums. Usually this time of year jazz is about 30% ahead, with non-jazz only catching up after I've finished poll work and got a chance to catch up with the EOY lists. A big part of the reason I have so much this year is that I've been following HHGA's The Best Hip Hop Albums of 2025 as they've updated it throughout the year.
Discounting two titles I picked up from my jazz list plus one late discovery from 2024, that's still about 25% of my non-jazz list. I've also done a better-than-usual job of following Saving Country Music this year, so my country list (broadly speaking) is nearly as long:
Of course, one could make this list longer with country-adjacent singer-songwriters like Hamell on Trial, Jeffrey Lewis, Patterson Hood, Jason Isbell, Neil Young, Todd Snider, and Dylan Hicks, as well as bands like Mekons, Wednesday, and Delines. And not a lot more than accent and branding separates these artists from others. Plus there's a lot more good country further down the list — same for hip-hop and everything else, especially jazz, where nearly everyone is remarkably skilled and inventive, so list placement has become inescapably quirky and personal. The years when most people shared the same listening experiences are long gone. This is going to be another trying week for me. We have another guest this week, so that will take up much of my time. I'll try to keep up with the poll tasks. I need to start writing bits and pieces for the final package. It's also beginning to look like the big roof project could fall apart. The weather isn't helping, especially with the latter. It's going to be arduous until the poll appears in the first week of January. After that is unfathomable. I have an idea for my next Substack piece, but finding the time will be difficult. Actually, I have a bunch of ideas. Just too many other commitments in the meantime. New records reviewed this week: Tarun Balani: ڪڏهن ملنداسين Kadahin Milandaasin (2024 [2025], Berthold): Indian drummer, from New Delhi, has a few albums since 2012. Title is in Sindhi, translates as "when will we meet," refers to a grandfather he never knew and a father who died in 2024, uprooted when Sind (Karachi) found itself on the Pakistani side of the 1947 partition. Quartet, recorded in Brooklyn, with Adam O'Farrill (trumpet), Olli Hirvonen (guitar), and Sharik Hasan (piano/synthesizer). B+(***) [bc] Kenny Barron: Songbook (2025, Artwork): Pianist, b. 1943, recorded some fine albums for Muse starting in 1973, came to my attention backing Stan Getz on People Time (1991), Discogs credits him with 98 albums and 770 performance credits, starting in 1960 with Yusef Lateef, then his brother, saxophonist Bill Barron. But while he's justly famous for his albums, he may have had even more impact as an educator: the number of famous pianists who cite him on their resumes must run well past 100. One thing he's not especially noted for is accompanying singers (unlike, say, Tommy Flanagan, or Ran Blake), but there have been a few (catching my eye, up to 1991, are Maria Muldaur, Sheila Jordan, and Jay Clayton; next screen adds Helen Merrill, Abbey Lincoln, Dianne Reeves, and lesser names). This is billed as his "first album to fully feature vocals." At first, I figured this was would just be a showcase for singers — he lined up eight, some famous (Cécile McLorin Salvant, Kurt Elling, Catherine Russell), some "up and coming" (Tyreek McDole, Ekep Nkwelle, Kavita Shah) — with his piano trio — Kiyoshi Kitagawa (bass) and Johnathan Blake (drums) — tying them together. But it turns out they're all singing his music, with new lyrics by Janice Jarrett. So it takes longer to sink in than standards, and the scattered voices depersonalize it a bit. But the piano is superb. B+(***) [sp] George Cartwright & Bruce Golden: South From a Narrow Arc (2025, self-released): Avant-saxophonist, also plays guitar, b. 1950 in Mississippi but long based in Minnesota, albums since 1979, best known for his 1981-2003 group Curlew, has more on his own, some (both old and new) with the Arkansas-based Mahakala label. Second duo album with Golden ("percussion and lots lots more plus the cover"). Scratchy at first, remains testy. B+(*) [bc] Che: Rest in Bass (2025, 10K): Young Atlanta rapper Chase Shaun Mitchell (b. 2006), second album. Pitchfork called this "the platonic idea of rage rap — diced-up lines and constant distortion, with enough vulnerability to balance the outrageous hedonism." Maybe if you focus, but why sort the clutter? B+(**) [sp] Silvana Estrada: Vendrán Suaves Lluvias (2025, Glassnote): Mexican singer-songwriter, has a couple albums, sounds vaguely folkie. B+(*) [sp] Al Foster: Live at Smoke (2025, Smoke Sessions): Drummer, side credits start in 1964 with Blue Mitchell, Discogs counts 515 album credits, notably played with Miles Davis 1972-85, not many albums as leader (first in 1978, three with this label since 2019), but this comes from two live sets celebrating his 82nd birthday, four months before he died. Stellar quartet with Chris Potter (tenor/soprano sax), Brad Mehldau (piano), and Joe Martin (bass). B+(***) [sp] Billy Hart: Multidirectional (2023 [2025], Smoke Sessions): Drummer, b. 1940, has more than a dozen albums under his own name (starting in 1977), scores more slugline credits, and hundreds of side credits (Discogs says 817, with Jimmy Smith in 1964 not his first gig but a break out). Earlier this year, he released a studio album with this quartet: Mark Turner (tenor sax), Ethan Iverson (piano), and Ben Street (bass). Here's they're back for a live set (five songs, 47:05). B+(***) [sp] James K: Friend (2025, AD93): "Experimental musician and visual artist from NYC," Jamie Krasner, debut EP in 2013, fourth album, sings over beguiling electronic beats. B+(**) [sp] Led Bib: Hotel Pupik (2025, Cuneiform): British fusion group, ninth album since 2005, led by drummer Mark Holub, with Liran Donin (bass) and two saxophonists (Pete Grogan and Chris Williams). B+(*) [dl] Nick León: A Tropical Entropy (2025, Tra Tra Trax): South Florida electronica/hip-hop producer, fifth album since 2016. B+(*) [sp] Los Thuthanaka: Los Thuthanaka (2025, self-released): Electronic musician Elysia Crampton, born in California, grew up in Virginia, first album released as E+E in 2008, followed by several in 2015-18 before adopting the name Chuquimamani-Condori, drawing on her Bolivian heritage, here in a duo with brother Joshua Chuquimia Crampton. I'm finding this uncomfortably loud and abrasive, but it's easy to seel the appeal if you're tuned into the energy. B+(**) [bc] Paul Marinaro: Mood Ellington (2022 [2025], Origin): Standards singer, born in Buffalo, based in Chicago, has a couple of previous albums from 2015, tackles 25 pieces from the Ellington songbook, arranged in three sets, backed by a nine-piece band plus a phalanx of violins. Good singer, songs not always well suited, arrangements hit and miss. B+(**) [sp] Fred Moten & Brandon López: Revision (2025, TAO Forms): Wikipedia describes Moten as a "cultural theorist, poet, and scholar whose work explores critical theory, black studies, and performance studies." His bibliography is split between "academic" and "creative," with the latter extending now to three albums since 2022, the first two with López (bass) and Gerald Cleaver (drums), this just with bass. I doubt I gave this one enough time. B+(***) [sp] Charles Owens Trio: The Music Tells Us (2024, La Reserve): Tenor saxophonist, b. 1972, which distinguishes him from another saxophonist, b. 1939 (played with Buddy Rich and Mongo Santamaria in the late 1960s, has 149 credits at Discogs). This one debuted in 1999 with quartet including Omer Avital and Jason Lindner, who led his next two credits. Discogs has a few more albums, but his Bandcamp has a different batch, and I've seen reference to, but haven't verified, a box of 2003 live recordings that appear on neither (some digitals are on Amazon). Trio with Cameron Ralston (bass) and Koli Shepsu (drums), mostly standards, starts with "Body and Soul" and ends with "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing," with stops along the way for "Nature Boy" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" (the most interesting, and surprising, piece here). Owens also plays some piano (Nord Stage 3) here. B+(***) [sp] Aaron Parks: "By All Means!!" (2025, Blue Note): Pianist, albums since 2000, has a trio with Ben Street (bass) and Billy Hart (drums), adding Ben Solomon (tenor sax) here, to nice effect. B+(**) [sp] Revolutionary Snake Ensemble: Serpentine (2025, Cuneiform): Boston group led by saxophonist Ken Field, fifth album since 2003, modeled after New Orleans brass bands but somewhat removed. B+(***) [dl] Joanne Robertson: Blurrr (2025, AD 93): British singer-songwriter, from Blackpool, based in Glasgow, also a painter and poet, sixth solo album. B+(*) [sp] John Scofield/Dave Holland: Memories of Home (2024 [2025], ECM): Guitar and bass duo, both legends: Holland left Miles Davis to record one of the greatest avant-jazz albums of 1972 (Conference of the Birds), then developed into one of the definitive postbop composer-bandleaders; Scofield picked up the fusion banner in 1981 and brought it to a new level of intricacy and sophistication. Not their first meeting, but their first duo album together. A- [sp] Smerz: Big City Life (2025, Escho): Norwegian duo, Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt, second album, electronic beats, trip-hop vocals. B+(**) [sp] Omar Sosa: Sendas (2025, Otá): Cuban pianist, b. 1965, moved to Ecuador in 1990, lived in US for a while, eventually wound up in Spain. Solo, mostly downbeat, a couple of vocals. B+(*) [sp] Adrian Younge [Presents]: Something About April III (2025, Jazz Is Dead): Los Angeles-based composer-producer, started in "psychedelic soul," ventured into soundtracks, has lately mostly worked the Jazz Is Dead franchise with Ali Shaheed Muhammad, which usually features still-living-but-long-forgotten 1970s jazz figures, raising more questions than they answer. On his own, Younge's debut album was 2011's Something About April, to which he added a 2016 sequel. Here he hopes his increasing mastery of his trade — "a 30-piece orchestra, analog synthesizers, breakbeats and Brazilian vocalists" — will make the third time the charm. He may be right, but I'm not sure anyone else cares. B+(*) [sp] Adrian Younge: Jazz Is Dead 23: Hyldon (2025, Jazz Is Dead, EP): The guest star here is Brazilian singer-songwriter Hyldon De Souza Silva (b. 1951), whose albums started in 1975, for a twist on the producer's "psychedelic soul" roots. Eight songs, 24:40. B+(**) [sp] Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries: Anthony Braxton: Quartet (England) 1985 (1985 [2025], Burning Ambulance): The alto saxophonist, who started in AACM in Chicago, cut a Penguin Guide crown-winning solo (For Alto) that was so ugly even I can't stand it 55 years later, got a major visibility boost when Arista signed him in the late 1970s, got a long-term teaching gig at Wesleyan whence he has had several students lauded with genius grants (Mary Halvorson most famously). Now past 80, he continues to add to the hundreds of albums in his discography, which is only starting to be fleshed out with old tapes. One thing that helped solidify his reputation was his 1980s quartet, with Marilyn Crispell (piano), Mark Dresser (bass), and Gerry Hemingway (drums), which ranks among the great quartets in jazz history — peers include Coltrane's in the 1960s, and Ware's 1990s (with any of its drummers, but let's say Guillermo E. Brown). Their 1985 tour of England produced three 2-CD sets at the time, from Coventry (the Penguin Guide pick), Birmingham, and London (my pick). This digital-only release collects four more shows, each with two 36-47 minute sets, from successive nights in Sheffield, Leicester, Bristol, and Southampton. Playing them end to end is liable to feel like drowning, but any time you come up for air, you're likely to notice something simply brilliant. Ends with a bonus set drawn from soundchecks, including bits of standards. A- [dl] Don Cherry/Latif Khan: Music/Sangam (1978 [2025], Heavenly Sweetness): Trumpet player (1936-95), originally from Oklahoma City, gained fame in Ornette Coleman's Quartet, moved to Europe and expanded his horizons even wider, including this duo with tabla player (1942-89) from Delhi, during a first encounter in Paris. B+(**) [sp] Griot Galaxy: Live on WUOM 1979 (1979 [2025], Two Rooms): Jazz band from Michigan, spanned 1972-89, recorded albums in 1982 and 1985, had another live set released in 2003. Names I first recognize here are Jaribu Shahid (bass) and Tani Tabbal (drums), who were Sun Ra veterans but I know them mostly from James Carter's 1990s Quartet. Here they're backing two saxophonists, Faruq Z. Bey and Anthony Holland. Strong sax interplay, outstanding rhythm section, some spoken word. A- [bc] Old music: Tarun Balani: The Shape of Things to Come (2020, Berthold): Indian drummer, same group as his 2025 album: Adam O'Farrill (trumpet), Sharik Hasan (piano/synthesizer), Olli Hirvonen (guitar). Bold title, reminiscent of Ornette Coleman but "things" are vague where "jazz" was specific, and attached to a short album (5 songs, 31:08). The title piece, which leaps out of the modal matrix, for a moment anyhow, suggests that the future is bebop. B+(**) [bc] Daniel Carter/Gary Hassay/William Parker: Emanate (2013 [2015], self-released): No credits on the site, but Rick Lopez has the lowdown, crediting Carter with tenor/soprano sax, clarinet, flute, and trumpet, Hassay with alto/soprano sax and vocal, and Parker with bass and tuba, and setting the date and location as Easton, PA. B+(**) [bc] Gary Hassay + Paul Rogers: To Be Free (2004 [2006], Konnex): Free jazz alto saxophonist, just died (1947-2025), based in Allentown, PA, which was close enough to New York to get him some connections (e.g., with William Parker) but keep him obscure. Still, Discogs credits him with 18 albums since 1996, adding one side credit for his 1999 Ye Ren album (actually just a duo with Parker). Very little of his work is available on Spotify, but most of it is available on Bandcamp, including this remarkable duo with the British bassist — best known for numerous albums with Paul Dunmall, but in exceptional form here. I'm not so sure about the bit of Tuvan throat singing. A- [bc] Gary Hassay/Dan DeChellis/Tatsuya Nakatani: Beauty (2007, Konnex): Alto sax/piano/drums trio, one with several albums together, although the credits seem to have been missing on the original release, and are blurred ("saxophones/keyboards/percussion") on Bandcamp. Seems like they think quieter is prettier, but this is more striking when they break loose. Includes another "taste" of throat singing. B+(**) [bc] Gary Hassay/Dan DeChellis/Tatsuya Nakatini: Ritual Joy (2009 [2010], Konnex): Another trio album, with a 57:44 live set ("Haunting Said That") and a 7:36 "Thank You" (order flipped for the 2015 digital). B+(**) [bc] Gary Hassay/Michael Bisio: My Brother (2011, Konnex): Duo, Hassay playing tenor sax here, with the bassist who had worked with everyone on the New York avant scene when William Parker wasn't available. B+(**) [bc] Gary Hassay/Dan DeChellis/Tatsuya Nakatini: Seven Pieces (2015, self-released): Trio (alto sax/piano/drums), no information on when/where this was recorded, but probably within the 2007-10 window of their other albums. Pieces are untitled and numbered. B+(*) [bc] Gary Joseph Hassay/Janet Young: What Remains (2016, Dbops Music): Hassay starts using his middle name here, playing saxophones, throat-singing, and also credited with singing bowls and tuning forks, an interest shared by Young, also credited with gongs. The vocals finally lost it for me. B- [bc] Charles Owens Quartet: Eternal Balance (1999, Fresh Sound New Talent): Tenor saxophonist, first album, with Jason Lindner (piano), Omer Avital (bass), and Daniel Freedman (drums), three originals and four standards. B+(***) [sp] Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
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