Music Week (11:1)

A few select reviews from week 1 of month 11 (November 2026).

The flexible schedule is a big relief from trying to hit Monday every week. My initial thinking was that Wednesday might be a good target, while leaving some slack. But Friday is release date these days, so I've been tempted to wait until they to fill out my card. It seemed like bad form to review albums that haven't been released yet. In particular, the Bandcamp links usually go from teasers to full releases then.

But other things have been intruding recently. This week, the midterms election was held on Tuesday, and it took me until Saturday to post my initial commentary: After the Flood. I have collected some bits for Loose Tabs (temporary link to draft file) so far, but not a lot (4146 words). I imagine someone is looking into the key question of who showed up and who didn't, but I haven't seen anything. Nor have I tried to get down to detailed results. Maybe later. But the job last night was to win what we could, and the results were encouraging.

It's going to take me some time to figure out where this leaves my two big political/philosophical writing projects (the "weird book," and the Israel essay). My immediate take is: not much, other than that the Republican dystopia chapter in the "weird book" may need to be reframed. Israel is trickier to read, but my proposal has no real chance as long as Trump is president, regardless of who's PM in Israel.

On the other hand, I'm going to have time. I need to shift gears rather abruptly to kick off the 21st Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I want to get announcements out next week. To do that, I need to solve some email problems that have long been bothering me, and set up the website (which will be a good place to check for announcements). One important thing I haven't had time to do is to prospect for new voters, so I'd appreciate help on that front.

I should also note that I answered a couple of questions on Nov. 5. I have a form, but don't get many requests. It's also useful for corrections: last week I confused Sunny Murray with Rashied Ali, so thanks for pointing that out. Subscribers should also be able to comment on Substack, but alas, I get very few of those.

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Roni Eytan: Melody People (2026, PKmusik): Harmonica player, first album, recorded in France, produced by pianist Shai Maestro, with guitar (Nitzan Bar), bass, drums, and cello ("special guest" Mayu Shviro). "Delves into his cultural roots" without identifying much less politicizing them. The results are lovely. B+(***)
[Bandcamp]

Kucwiny Theatre Industry: Luo Sound of the Alur (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): The Alur are a Nilotic ethnic group, about 2.5 million, who straddle the border between Uganda and Congo, part of the larger Luo group — what we might consider, with neither prejudice nor condescension, "deepest, darkest Africa." Drums, tuned horns pointed skyward, chant vocals, intense and repetitive. Notes cite Steve Reich and Julius Eastman as analogs ("music that demands bodily participation rather than contemplative distance"). Can wear a bit thin, but is unique. B+(***)
[Bandcamp]

Allen Lowe: I Should Have Stayed Dead: The Death and Life of Allen Lowe (1991-2026 [2026], ESP-Disk, 3CD): Saxophonist, mostly plays tenor here but started on alto, assembled this as some sort of soundtrack to a documentary about his life, marked gravely in recent years by more than 60 surgeries to arrest cancer. I think of him more as a writer, especially for his extraordinary excavations into early American recorded music, but he's been releasing albums since 1990, including such massive projects as Blues and the Empirical Truth (3CD, 2011), Mulatto Radio (4CD, 2014), In the Shadow of the Diaspora (6CD, 2015), and Louis Armstrong's America (4CD, 2024). This was mostly recorded with a revolving cast in 2025, so I figure it counts as new, but there are a few old tracks scattered amongst the 55 pieces — odd one in is a guitar-and-voice sendup of Lou Reed. More typical are his piano duo with Matthew Shipp inspired by "Ives in Harlem," and Wadada Leo Smith's trumpet hallucination of Bud Powell. Other names listed on the cover as featuring: Julius Hemphill, Doc Cheatham, Roswell Rudd, David Murray, Hamiett Bluiett, Lewis Porter. But many more played, especially recently. One streamed play. First third is really great. After that, despite breaks, I lost track. Liner notes, worth a read, here. There's also a DVD, which I haven't seen. A−
[Bandcamp]

Tom Morello: Everyone Gets Everything They Want (2026, Mom + Pop): Hard rock singer-songwriter, founded rap-metal bands Rage Against the Machine (1991-2000) and Audioslave (2001-07), solo albums since 2008, some as Nightwatchman, or Atlas Underground. Has a lefty political rep, which I haven't followed close enough to comment on (other than that I don't take much comfort from "They Can't Kill Us All"). The metal is melodic enough I can handle at low volume, and he slips in a couple of folkish ballads. B+(***)
[Bandcamp]

Matthew Shipp/William Parker: A Whole System Of (2025 [2026], TAO Forms): Piano and bass duo, intimately connected since the 1990s, when they were half of the David S. Ware Quartet. Around 2003, when I started to write a deep-dive consumer guide to Shipp's work (following up on my Rolling Stone guide), I ran into so much more by Parker that he largely took over the piece. Since then, Shipp probably has another hundred albums, and Parker has several times that. Hype sheet says this is their fourth duo, starting with Zo in 1994 (an A− when I reviewed the 1997 Thirsty Ear edition; ESP-Disk is reissuing it). Shipp goes heavy here on percussion, while Parker is a wizard at tying it all together. A−
[Bandcamp: incomplete, 2/6]

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: Reason (2026, Corbett vs. Dempsey): Second group album, I don't recall why but I filed their eponymous debut under Gabriele Mitelli (piccolo trumpet, electronics & lyrics/voice on 3 tracks), rather than the better known Mette Rasmussen (alto sax) or the first-listed Mariam Rezaei (credit says turntables but notes refer to "fractured turntable sax loopings") or Lukas König (drums, synthesizer). An interesting mix of sounds, including some hip-hop. B+(***)
[Bandcamp]

Takkak Takkak: Abu (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Duo of Vilnius-based Indonesian instrument builder Johanes Santoso Pribadi and Berlin-based Japanese producer Shigeru Ishihara (aka Scotch Rolex), second album. The effect resembles those Kinshasa bands that make instruments out of junkyards, but with more angles than just percussion. A−
[Bandcamp]

Gao Rap: Hip Hop From Northern Mali (2007-12 [2017], Sahel Sounds): Gao is a small city in eastern Mali, approx. 140,000 people, on the bank of the Niger River and the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, the former seat of the Gao and Songhay Empires. Dates are approximate, from the first local recording studio to the wars of 2012-13, when the town was overrun by Islamist forces. It's possible that some tracks appeared after the Malian forces regained control, but there were attacks at least through 2017. None of this is very clear from the tracks, which offer calm and poise. B+(***)
[Bandcamp]