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Saturday, January 11, 2025

January archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 43500 [43426) rated (+74), 19 [18] unrated (+1).

I figured I should post something when the 19th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll got its big reveal. Music Week has been floating mid-week for a while now, and has piled up this week as I've been very tied up trying to get all of the various pieces into alignment. So it would have to wait until the poll came out, plus whatever post-poll emergencies I had to attend to. (And indeed, there were some broken links and garbled tables to straighten out.) Plus I had to notify voters -- at least, make a good faith effort to the extent that the email barons permit -- and work my own social media outlets. But in the end, I realized it would be easier to do both things in one post. So below you'll find my announcements, 10-days worth of reviews, and a few asides.

I manage the poll through a website on my server. The best place to start exploring the poll from is the home page. From there, you can easily get to the essays that Arts Fuse published:

• Tom Hull: The Shape of Jazz That Keeps Us Going: This is the main essay: a brief introduction, then sections on each of the voting categories, each starting with a list of the top-ranked albums, followed by scattered notes on things I found interesting. I imagined writing more such notes under each section, and given the time and energy I could have, but finally figured I had written enough to get us started, and I shouldn't drag this out any more.

• Tom Hull: The Nuts and Bolts: I spun off this second essay when I realized my introduction was getting too long and personal, while also suspecting that I was about to get too technical. My original title was "Fiddling While the World Burns," which was meant to allude to me burying my head in poll work instead so I didn't have to pay any attention to the Trump transition. But "burns" seems to have hit a raw nerve, even though it's a fair description of dozens of events and phenomena over the last few years, while "fiddling" invokes the carelessness of most of us when witnessing such misfortune. I don't know enough history to know whether Nero was maniacally gleeful or just sad and resigned when Rome burned, as I am now. But while I couldn't do anything about the election, I could at least do something tangible about our understanding and appreciation of jazz in 2024, so I tried to do that bit.

• Francis Davis: Now and Then and Then and Now: The poll's founder and guiding light reflects on his declining health and critical habits.

• Jazz Notables We Lost in 2024: Our customary list of jazz (and a few other) musicians and critics who passed away in the last year.

We also have a voter-provided essay that is not part of the poll, but related to it:

• Larry Blumenfeld: Top 10 Reasons to Hate Top 10 Lists: I was resistant at first, but he makes valid points, and I think it helps to understand the reticence many critics have about the annual EOY chore. I also appreciate that in the end he overcame his reservations and submitted a well-considered, properly ranked ballot.

I'm willing to consider further submissions here, and not just from voters. If you want to contribute -- and be aware that there's no money for these things -- get in touch and give me an outline, and I'll consider it. I also hope that voters and others will write and publish pieces about the poll on their own, wherever they usually do so.

Below the essays, the poll index page offers Complete Results (New Albums, Rara Avis (Reissues/Historical), Vocal Jazz, Latin Jazz, and Debut Albums). All of these categories are significantly deeper than ever before, mostly because we surveyed an all-time record 177 critics (+18 from 2023). You may browse through the ballots in batches of 20, or go to the index and pick out any voter. Or you can go to a totals page, click on an arrow link, and see who voted for that album, then click on a critic name and see their whole ballot. (Well, you can do that for New Albums and Rara Avis; I didn't program the others to work that way, but I should fix that.) The pages also include extensive notes, because not everything is always clear when you look at an album.

The website also houses archives for the previous 18 polls (plus the 2024 mid-year poll). Previous years were tacked on one-by-one, so not everything is always treated consistently -- and indeed, some bits of older history are currently missing. We'd like to go back and clean all that up, and turn the poll website into an integrated resource for the age. That's one of many projects I'm considering for what's left of my future.

Coincidentally, El Intruso released the results of their International Critics Poll the same day ours appeared. I don't have time to compare notes right now, but Patricia Brennan winning both polls is a rather stunning convergence. It was just 2023 when El Intruso's record of the year only finished 24 in our poll (Rodrigo Amado, Beyond the Margins, although I had it number 1 on my 2023 ballot). Their electorate is about half American, while ours was close to 90% American in 2023, somewhat less in 2024 -- not least because I invited a bunch of their voters, who in addition to being international tend to be more favorable to free jazz.

I should also mention that I answered a couple questions on January 9. The one on the poll has been superseded by events, but there's also a fairly long one on cryptic grades and notes.

While I was working on the poll, I was furiously listening to new music. (I actually spent very little time re-listening to the poll leaders, and mostly consulted my notes and memory for what little I had to say about what were generally very good records.) The long list of records that follow were mostly suggested by the poll, although occasionally I saw other items of interest, and strayed off the beaten path. You might notice that a couple of these are noted "[Review lost?]." These were albums that I did listen to and write about, but for some reason I wasn't able to find the reviews. The best I can figure is some accidental edit snafu, as I don't know where else to look. I figure I still might as well keep the grades.

Nearly all of these records are jazz. I calculated somewhere near the end that I still had 190 new albums from the poll that I had not heard, so it was probably 50 more when I started this Music Week. I certainly won't reach the bottom of this barrel, as I'm increasingly running into items that aren't available on Bandcamp or streaming. I pretty much gave up on chasing records down after the Voice shut down Jazz Consumer Guide. Nor do I buy much, especially on spec. I expect this attitude will eventually freeze me out as a viable critic, but the extra visibility I've gotten in the last 2-3 years with the poll has had the opposite effect. Age and ennui seem more likely to do me in.

I did take a brief break from jazz when Robert Christgau's January CG came out, and I found myself liking the first three albums I checked out (Phelimuncasi, Previous Industries, Fake Fruit -- well enough, anyway, to add them to my Best Non-Jazz of 2024 list, though the first two nowhere near as high as they're likely to show up on the Dean's List). That mostly leaves Wussy unheard: I like them fine, but I'm in no rush. (Also unheard: Bright Eyes, Kim Deal, and Lucinda Williams singing the Beatles -- title suggests my least favorite of their albums, but song list is more catholic; Rosali was a B back in May; Willie Nelson a ** and Kendrick Lamar a ***, but neither is in my streamnotes index, a reminder of how I've let things slip).

While there is still lots of 2024 jazz I could listen to, I may take a break and see if I can even up the Jazz/Non-Jazz split (even with the CG, my Non-Jazz A-list is down at 52 (+8 old music), while the Jazz A-list has zoomed to a most-ever 109 albums (+ 29 old music). The obvious explanation is that my 2024 listening, so far at least, has been very lopsided, as summing up the above files shows that I've heard 896 jazz albums vs. 389 non-jazz (total 1285, unless any records appeared on both lists, so the split is 69.7% jazz). That total is substantial, but if memory serves, down from 2023 and several other peak years. That it is as high as it is can be ascribed to my work on the jazz critic polls (especially the mid-year), which dredged up so many prospects. Conversely, I've fallen way behind on my Metacritic/EOY Aggregate, which is my most useful prospecting tool. (I'm likely to make up some ground there in the next few weeks, but this year's source list (currently 177 sources) has zero chance of ever matching last year's (617; the big difference is massive amounts of individual JCP and PJRP lists, which I've barely touched so far this year).

Speaking of individual lists, I waited until the last minute to submit one to PJRP (which I also sent to Brad Luen for his EW poll, ignoring all the extra categories of the latter):

1. Allen Lowe & the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong's America (ESP-Disk) 18
2. Heems & Lapgan: Lafandar (Veena Sounds) 12
3. Fay Victor: Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (Tao Forms) 12
4. Kate Nash: 9 Sad Symphonies (Kill Rock Stars) 12Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive (Nonesuch) 9
5. Luke Stewart Silt Trio: Unknown Rivers (Pi) 8
6. Floating Points: Cascade (Ninja Tune) 8
7. Darius Jones: Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity) 7
8. Steve Coleman and Five Elements: PolyTropos/Of Many Turns (Pi) 7
9. Amyl and the Sniffers: Cartoon Darkness (B2B/Virgin) 7

Main difference from the source lists is that I combined both two Allen Lowe volumes into one album (as we allowed for the FDJCP). By the way, the 100-point distribution I used here isn't far removed from the scale I used in the FDJCP: if you scale the points in the latter to add up to 100, 1st place = 17.856 (I used 18), 2nd place = 14.284 (I used 12), 3rd = 11.904 (I used 12 again), down to 10th = 5.952 (I used 7). I wasn't thinking of the scale when I allocated these points, but I was thinking of how I had always generally Pazz & Jop points in the past when I came up with the FDJCP scale. In other words, the scale approximates what conscientious voters tend to conclude as the relative merits of 10 albums, but it has two advantages: voters only have to think about order, without having to do the extra work of allocating points (as well as our extra work checking their arithmetic and registering the points); and it doesn't tempt voters to game the system, which is the idea behind virtually every 30-point vote.

I don't have any firm plans for the next days, weeks, months, year -- it's hard to imagine even longer time frames. I've let a lot of things slip, like the aforementioned indexes, or updating the CG database on Robert Christgau's website. I have bunches of domestic projects that need attention: a lot of filing, sorting, cleaning, unloading. I can't begin to list them all, or don't want to, as several at the top of my mind are pretty unpleasant.

The last week has been especially miserable. I've reached the age where cold has turned painful, so I've spent much of the last week huddled in front of space heaters. It got cold enough to freeze up the dishwasher, so I spent considerable time figuring out how to get it working again. (I need to take it out, and put more insulation around it, and possibly some ventilation, and while I'm at it, I think the floor needs some repair. Years ago I wouldn't have flinched at small jobs like that, but now I do.) We could probably get out if we really wanted to, but for a week now we're acting like we're snowed in.

I haven't emerged from my post-election news blackout yet. I'm starting to wonder how long I can extend it. Biggest impact so far was not knowing when it was going to get so cold. Main regret is that I have no idea how the NBA season is shaping up. I do occasionally scan through my X feed, which isn't much good for news, but reminds me that the problems I used to worry about are still very much evident, and that the quality of thinking and speaking about them is even worse than I remember. But my wife has returned to following the news -- perhaps more guardedly than before, but she can fill me in on whatever assassination, explosion, or unnatural disaster has blindsided reporters on any given day.

Most likely I will eventually write more on political issues, but I'm unlikely to return to a weekly chronicle (as I did for many years, and I'm much less try to mediate in Democratic Party squabbles, especially to defend the anti-left faction whose sole appeal has proven to be the empty promise of stopping Trump. They had their chance. They failed. Sure, that doesn't prove the left would have won in their stead, but at least the left would have been arguing for things that would make a difference. Not that I wouldn't vote for the Popular Front again, but I'm losing my patience trying to make sense with and out of them.

I started to write a second Odds & Sods last week, then scratched it. I still have scattered topics to comment on. For instance, I want to write something about the late Jack Williams (1935-2024), perhaps expanding it into a slice of memoir. I'm less certain of writing anything, but I also want to notice the passing of Tom Johnson (1939-2024), a writer I knew briefly in my New York days and much admired. I could just focus on memoir from here out. At least I'd be writing on a subject I'm a credible authority on. One item I won't bother saving for another post is yesterday's meatloaf. Seemed like the perfect thing to cope with the cold.

I do expect to continue following up on whatever needs to be done regarding the poll. Thus far I've noticed very little public reaction to it, but I haven't had time to look much either. I did get a couple of exceptionally nice notes. One thing I meant to do before (now after) writing this post was add a bunch of late voters to the email list. Email remains a very serious headache. Although I'm inclined to blame the world, it's possible that the root of the problem is on my server. I need to get a much better handle on that. I just got a notice that my SSL certificate is expiring and won't be replaced, so something there is seriously screwed up. That should probably be my priority next week, but it's hardly the only imminent catastrophe, as you can well imagine.

New records reviewed this week:

Luther Allison: I Owe It All to You (2023 [2024], Posi-Tone): I did a double take when I saw this name show up on a debut ballot, flashing immediately to the bluesman (1937-97) with the same name. This one's a young pianist, first album as leader after several side credits on/around his label. Trio with Boris Kozlov (bass) and Zach Adleman (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Arild Andersen/Daniel Sommer/Rob Luft: As Time Passes (2023 [2024], April): Norwegian bass legend gets top billing for the first chapter in the Danish drummer's "Nordic Trilogy, this trio also featuring Luft's guitar. B+(***) [sp]

Steve Baczkowski: Cheap Fabric (2022 [2024], Relative Pitch): Saxophonist, from Buffalo, has a couple dozen albums since 2005, plays solo here, baritone and tenor, plus "homemade winds" on two tracks. This is engaging, but naturally within the limits of the format. B+(**) [sp]

John Butcher + 13: Fluid Fixations (2021 [2024], Weight of Wax): British avant-saxophonist, started recording around 1985, very prolific -- Discogs credits him with 149 albums, among 253 performance credits. I've only lightly sampled him -- this is my 19th album under his name, and the only one I've listened to more than twice -- but my impression is that most are small improv groups where he gets a chance to wail. This is something else, a composed piece "with a lot of subtext," written for "14 highly individual players into a framework built from instructions that direct ever-shifting groupings, materials and relationships," which is to say that, like Godot, we spend a lot of time waiting for things to happen that turn out not to be the point. His sax contribution is minor, but ultimately decisive. A- [dl]

Caxtrinho: Queda Livre (2024, QTV): Brazilian singer Paulo Vitor Castro, "offers deconstructed Bossa Nova tunes," seems to be his first album. First pass suggests it's too convoluted for me, but so was Tom Zé. B+(***) [bc]

Brian Charette: You Don't Know Jack! (2024, Cellar Music): Organ player, started recording c. 2008, seemed like he had some unconventional ideas at the time, but the more he produces, the more he slips back into the tradition. Or maybe it's just producer Corey Weeds who indulges his fancy for Jack McDuff -- their previous album together was called Jackpot. Weeds plays tenor sax here, with Dave Sikula (guitar) and John Lee (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Mahmoud Chouki: Caravan: From Marrakech to New Orleans (2024, Gallatin Street): From Morocco, plays oud, moved to New Orleans, where his French made some connections, and he's had no problem lining up horns and rhythm, and a couple nice vocal turns (one probably Chouki, others I'm not so sure of). B+(**) [sp]

Anat Cohen: Quartetinho: Bloom (2024, Anzic): The New York-based clarinetist's Brazil-oriented "little quartet" -- Vitor Gonçalves (piano/accordion), Tal Mashiach (bass, guitar), and James Shipp (vibes/marimba/percussion) -- return for a second album, a light and but not quite frothy delight. B+(***) [sp]

Avishai Cohen: Bright Light (2024, Naïve): Israeli bassist, not Anat Cohen's brother, couple dozen albums since 1998, when he was living in New York and playing with Chick Corea. He moved back to Israel in 2008, and is presumably still there -- something I don't want to think about. I can comment on the music, which opens with eight nicely paced and toned originals, and closes with three covers: a Liszt piece I didn't really notice, and takes of "Summertime" and "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" that I really loved (the former with his own vocal, the latter with a lovely sax solo). [Note: Discogs and other sources read the title as one word, but cover shows it split over two lines witout hyphen, so I'm reading it as two words.] B+(**) [sp]

Emmet Cohen: Vibe Provider (2024, Mack Avenue): Pianist, born in Miami, grew up in New Jersey, albums since 2011 include five Legacy Masters Series volumes -- I especially like the one with Houston Person, but then I would. Five originals, four covers, mostly trio but three tracks pick up some horns, no vibraphone in case you're wondering. B+(**) [sp]

Tomasz Dąbrowski & the Individual Beings: Better (2023 [2024], April): Polish trumpet player, based in Denmark, albums since 2012, second group album, a septet with two saxophones, piano/synthesizer, bass, and two drummers. B+(**) [sp]

Caroline Davis and Wendy Eisenberg: Accept When (2023 [2024], Astral Spirits): Alto sax and guitar duo, both with voice credits (although more likely Eisenberg), Davis also for synths, plus Greg Saunier also played some drums. B+(*) [sp]

Dubbeltrion: Bringing Scandi-Baltic Powerhousejazz to the People (2024, Sonic Transmissions): First album from a sextet -- one could say "double trio," as there are two each at saxophone, bass, and drums -- that hails from Denmark, Sweden, and Estonia. I'm not sure they count as "powerhouse" in a region that's produced Atomic and The Thing, but their populist instincts are sound. B+(**) [sp]

Kurt Elling/Sullivan Fortner: Wildflowers Vol. 1 (2024, Edition): Jazz singer, from Chicago, recorded for Blue Note 1995-2003, showing off remarkable technical skills which for most established him as the top male jazz vocalist of his generation. Even when he dazzled me, I never liked his stuff, and he's showing signs of slowing down and cracking up. He has a good pianist here, and Cécile McLorin Salvant joins in on "A Wish (Valentine)," which is scant improvement. 6 tracks, 32:02. B- [sp]

Kurt Elling: Wildflowers Vol. 2 (2024, Edition): Recorded less than a month after Vol. 1, with new pianist Joey Calderazzo, and Ingrid Jensen (trumpet) the guest for one song. Adds up to 5 tracks, 28:14. C [bc]

Fake Fruit: Mucho Mistrust (2024, Carpark): Oakland group, second album, Hannah D'Amato the singer (but not the only one), the songs jointly credited. Post-punk, but so were the B-52s, which they remind me of. A- [sp]

The Flowers of Indulgence: Dylan's Lost Songs, Vol. 1 (2024, Bothy Studio): Twelve songs that sound like they could have been Dylan throwaways, recorded in Scotland by a group reported to consist of: Don Khan (lead vocals/guitar), Tiny Montgomery (lead vocals/bass/guitars), Silly Nellie (guitars), Skinny Moo (piano/organ), T-Bone Frank (drums/persussion) and the Rose Maries (backing vocals). Not obviously a spoof, or important enough to take seriously, but entertaining as trivia. B+(**) [sp]

Michael Foster/Ben Bennett/Jacob Wick: Carne Vale (2024, Relative Pitch): Sax/percussion/trumpet trio, offering abstracts of intermittent interest. B+(*) [sp]

Joel Frahm Trio: Lumination (2023 [2024], Anzic): Mainstream tenor saxophonist from Wisconsin, twenty or so albums since 1999, plus a lot of notable side work. Down to basics here in a trio with Dan Loomis (bass) and Ernesto Cervini (drums), which he handles with characteristic aplomb. B+(***) [sp]

Joel Futterman: Forever (2022 [2024], Mahakala Music): Avant-pianist, from Chicago, many albums since 1979. This one is solo, a bit too deep in its own shell for me to unpack. B+(*) [bc]

Sally Gates/Steve Hirsh/Daniel Carter: Phosphene (2024, Mahakala Music): Trio of guitar, drums, and whatever Carter feels like playing ("saxophones, flute, trumpet"). Gates was one of the guitarists on Elliott Sharp's Ere Guitar, and has several projects with Trevor Dunn. B+(***) [bc]

Dennis Gonzalez Legacy Band: Live at the Texas Theatre (2024, Astral Spirits): Tribute to the late avant-trumpeter, with two of his sons (Aaron on bass and Stefan on drums), playing four of his pieces, with Rob Mazurek and Jawwaad Taylor playing trumpet, Danny Kaims and Joshua Miller sax, Gaika James trombone, and Drew Phillips bass, with Lily Taylor stepping up for "Song for a Singer." A- [sp]

Charles Goold: Triptych Lespri (2023 [2024], La Reserve): Drummer, from New York, son of saxophonist Ned Goold, mother from Haiti (which figures significantly here), second album, built around a trio with Davis Whitfield (piano) and Mark Lewandowski (bass), supplemented by vibes (Juan Diego Villalobos) and "my fellow colleagues of the Haitian diaspora," including trumpet and "traditional Haitian percussion." B+(**) [sp]

Devin Gray: Melt All of the Guns II (2024, Rataplan): Drummer, has a fair amount of work since 2005 (notably with Ellery Eskelin), did an EP in 2021 called Melt All the Guns, a trio with trumpet and piano, with Ralph Alessi returning here, along with new pianist Myslaure Augustin. I don't doubt the "politically leaning songs," but they're no more obvious than any other free jazz venture. B+(**) [bc]

David Hazeltine: Ballads and Blues Volume 1 (2023 [2024], Cellar Music, EP): Mainstream pianist, has a long and distinguished career, led his trio of Neal Miner (bass) and Peter Van Nostrand (drums) into a NYC studio and recorded an album's worth of material, but the label opted to split it into two digital EPs, this one 4 track, 23:32. B+(*) [bc]

David Hazeltine: Ballads and Blues Volume 2 (2023 [2024], Cellar Music, EP): Four more tracks, 23:23. B+(*) [bc]

Hubbub: abb abb abb (2019 [2024], Relative Pitch): French group, sixth album since 2001, name I recognize is Bertrand Denzler (tenor sax), but I may have run across some others: Jean-Luc Guionnet (alto sax), Frédéric Blondy (piano), Jean-Sébastian Mariage (electric guitar), and Edward Perraud (percussion). Mostly slow, rather dark atmospherics. B+(**) [sp]

Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra: Harbour (2022 [2024], Justin Time): Canadian soprano saxophonist, 11th album since 2000, 3rd with this big band, younger sister of trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, who gets a "featuring" credit here, front and center in a back cover picture of 19 musicians. B+(*) [sp]

Ryan Keberle: Bright Moments (2023 [2024], Posi-Tone): [Review lost?] B+(**) [sp]

Kira Kira: Kira Kira Live (2024, Alister Spence Music): Quartet of Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), Satoko Fujii (piano), Alister Spence (keyboards), and drums, recorded the excellent Bright Force in 2017, has a new drummer (Tatsuya Yoshida) for this live return. B+(**) [bc]

Mike LeDonne Groover Quartet + Gospel Choir: Wonderful! (2023 [2024], Cellar Music Group): Pianist elsewhere, but he plays organ in this group, with Peter Bernstein (guitar) and Joe Farnsworth (drums) securing the group name, and Eric Alexander (tenor sax) up front. I almost balked at the gospel choir, but think of them as harmony for the sax leads. Still, it works best when the choir steps back, and even then it only goes so far. I concede that they can groove and grind "Bridge Over Troubled Water," but that doesn't mean I want to hear it again. B- [sp]

Jihye Lee Orchestra: Infinite Connections (2023 [2024], Motéma Music): Korean composer/conductor, based in New York, third album, co-produced by Darcy James Argue, conventional 17-piece big band, plus guest Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet) on two tracks. B+(*) [sp]

Peggy Lee/Julien Wilson/Theo Carbo/Dylan van der Schyff: Open Threat (2024, Earshift Music): Advertised as a Melbourne-based group, although I recognize the cellist (Lee) and drummer (van der Schyff) as major figures from the Vancouver scene. The others are presumably Australians, playing tenor sax and guitar. B+(***) [bc]

Lionel Loueke & Dave Holland: United (2023 [2024], Edition): Guitarist-singer from Benin, debut 1997, perhaps best known for his 2008-15 series on Blue Note, moved to this label in 2020, as had the English bassist in 2019. Just the two of them, playing Loueke's songs, the minimal support rendering them lighter than ever. B+(**) [sp]

Michael Mayo: Fly (2024, Mack Avenue): Singer. I filed his first album under rock -- I guess I was thinking neo-soul, but this is being taken as jazz, which he seems to have a degree in. Looks like he wrote 5 (of 11) songs here, and arranged the others, including jazz standards like "Four" and "Speak No Evil." Backed by Shai Maestro (keyboards), Linda May Han Oh (bass), and Nate Smith (drums), with Scott Mayo on sax for a couple cuts. B+(*) [sp]

Microplastique: Blare Blow Bloom! (2024, Irritable Mystic): [Review lost?] B+(**) [bc]

Grey McMurray: Crying at Breakfast (2024, Out of Your Head, EP): [Review lost?] B- [sp]

Ben Monder: Planetarium (2020-23 [2024], Sunnyside): Guitarist, debut album 1995, lots of side-credits, this is "a prodigious piece of art," sprawling over 3-CD (172 minutes), backed by bass and drums, vocalist Theo Bleckman and/or three other vocalists. The vocals aren't much more than color, but I can't say as I care for them. The guitar is fine, but hardly justifies the length. B [sp]

Wolfgang Muthspiel: Etudes/Quietudes (2024, Clap Your Hands): [Review lost?] B+(**) [sp]

Camila Nebbia & Angelica Sanchez: In Another Land, Another Dream (2023 [2024], Relative Pitch): Tenor sax and piano duo, the former from Argentina, the latter from Phoenix, recorded live in New York. This strikes a very nice balance, one in constant motion and fascination. A- [sp]

Camila Nebbia/Leo Genovese/Alfred Vogel: Eyes to the Sun (2023 [2024], Boomslang): Tenor saxophonist from Argentina, American pianist, Austrian drummer, recorded in Buenos Aires. [bc]

New Orleans Klezmer All Stars: Tipish (2024, self-released): Discogs lists six albums for them 1995-2008, plus this revival. Credits are skimpy, but Ben Ellman (tenor sax), Jonathan Freilich (guitar), and Glenn Hartman (accordion) go back at least to 1998. B+(***) [sp]

Bill Orcutt: How to Rescue Things (2024, Palilalia): Guitarist, filed him under rock in the 1990s but lately he's been showing up on jazz lists, like his Music for Four Guitars and, especially, Four Guitars Live. Tries something else here, the hype talking about saccharine strings (and Charlie Parker), but more conspicuous, at least at first, is voice(s). While the guitar is the antidote, it isn't always up to the task. Short (29:58). B [sp]

Ivo Perelman/Iva Bittová/Michael Bisio: Vox Popoli Vox Dei (2017 [2024], Mahakala Music): Tenor sax, violin, and bass trio play free jazz with folk roots, with a major vocal contribution by Bittová, which I found annoying at first but the closer I listened, the more intriguing it got. B+(**) [bc]

Danilo Pérez & Bohlusän Big Band: Lumen (2021 [2024], Prophone): Pianist from Panama, was a Dizzy Gillespie protégé, emerging as a significant performer in the 1990s. Teems up here with a Swedish big band -- not the ideal combination, but they're game. B+(*) [sp]

Phelimuncasi & Metal Preyers: Izigqinamba (2024, Nyege Nyege Tapes): South African (Durbin-based) gqom trio we've noticed before, teamed up with "a loose group consisting of core members Jesse Hackett and Chicago's Mariano Chavez" (Hacket, I gather, is based in London) for 31:07 of metal-flecked beats and chants, with samples of older South African forms, and no idea of what's going and coming. I'm catching what feels like very little of it, yet find myself returning for more. A- [sp]

Previous Industries: Service Merchandise (2024, Merge): Los Angeles-based hip-hop trio, Open Mike Eagle is the one you've heard of, joined by Still Rift and Video Dave -- the latter has two previous albums, but both are better known in Eagle's company. "The album's central concept is related to defunct American retail chain stores." A- [sp]

Tomeka Reid/Isadora Edwards/Elisabeth Coudoux: Reid/Edwards/Coudoux (2021 [2024], Relative Pitch): Three cellists, Reid by far the most famous, then Coudoux, who has a 2016 album and some co-credits. This is the sort of small-scale craft the label specializes in. B+(**) [sp]

Diego Rivera: Ofendra (2024, Posi-Tone): [Review lost?] B+(***) [sp]

Renee Rosnes: Crossing Paths (2024, Smoke Sessions): Pianist, albums start around 1989, including a long run on Blue Note, moved to Smoke Sessions from 2016, although her "supergroup" Artemis has two albums on Blue Note. This one focuses on Brazilian music, with featuring spots for Edu Lobo, Joyce Moreno, and Maucha Adnet, plus support from Chico Pinheiro, John Pattitucci, Adam Cruz, Rogerio Boccato, Chris Potter, Steve Davis, and Shelley Brown. B+(*) [sp]

Toms Rudzinskis: Abyss (2019-21 [2023], self-released): Saxophonist from Latvia, based in Berlin, several albums since 2014, nice postbop here with a guest vocal. B+(**) [sp]

Akira Sakata/Jim O'Rourke/Mette Rasmussen/Chris Corsano: Live at SuperDeluxe Volume 1 (2017 [2024], Trost): Japanese alto saxophonist, born in Hiroshima a few months before the bomb, in an extended bash with the Sonic Youth guitarist, another saxophonist (tenor), and a drummer who likes it rough. B+(*) [bc]

Michael Sarian: Live at Cliff Bell's (2023 [2024], Shifting Paradigm): Trumpet player, half-dozen previous albums since 2020, quartet here with piano (Santiago Liebson), bass (Marty Kenney), and drums (Nathan Ellman-Bell), live set playing eight Sarian originals and a piece by Armenian poet Sayat-Nova (1712-95). Impressive work here. B+(***) [sp]

Brad Shepik: Human Activity: Dream of the Possible (2022 [2024], Shifting Paradigm): Guitarist, early (1996-97) work in Tiny Bell Trio with Dave Douglas, has long been interested in the music of the Balkans, which ties into his use of Bulgarian tambura and saz here, as well as banjo. Title refers back to his excellent 2009 Human Activity Suite. Quintet here with Layale Chaker's violin the perfect complement to his strings, and a terrific rhythm section of Amino Belyamani (piano), Sam Minaie (bass), and John Hadfield (drums). A- [sp]

Daniel Sommer/Arve Henriksen/Johannes Lundberg: Sounds & Sequences (2022-23 [2024], April): Danish drummer, had a Duets album in 2017, several more, although the related predecessor to this one (the 2nd installment in his "Nordic Trilogy") listed Arild Andersen first, so is filed there. The others play trumpet and bass, both electronics. B+(**) [sp]

Peter Somuah: Highlife (2024, ACT Music): Trumpet player, from Ghana, third album, second on the German jazz label, but recapitulating his roots starting out playing in dance bands in Accra. Some riffing over the beats, and some guest spots for highlife stars. B+(**) [sp]

Sound the Alarm: Sound the Alarm: A Large Ensemble Instigation for Palestine [Recorded Live in Concert] (2024, Relative Pitch): I filed this under Clayton Thomas, the Australian bassist who instigated this "composed improvisation, a sonic allegory and a simple way to collect human energy in the right place for the right reasons." The occasion is the 264th day of Israel's genocide against Gaza, which is to say a little more than half way to now. Proceeds go to "humanitarian organizations working on the ground in Gaza," which is to say targets of the genocide -- a hopeless proposition until someone stops the killing. As a big band, this group is short on brass, but the three pieces each build up into something substantial, perhaps a tribute to human resilience in face of disaster, or maybe just a wish that such were possible. I wouldn't advise trying to read much into it. A- [sp]

Vinnie Sperrazza Apocryphal: Sunday (2022 [2024], Loyal Label): Brooklyn-based drummer, albums since 2006, this title suggests a follow up to 2023's Saturday, but the group name reminds us of his 2015 quartet with Loren Stillman (tenor/soprano sax), Brandon Seabrook (guitar/banjo/mandolin), and Eivind Opsvik (bass). B+(***) [bc]

Dayna Stephens: Closer Than We Think (2023 [2024], Cellar Music): Tenor saxophonist, dozen albums since 2007, lots of side credits (70+), wrote 3 songs here, got more from band members Emmanuel Michael (guitar, also 3) and Kanoa Mendenhall (bass, 1). With Jongkuk Kim on drums, and producer Jeremy Pelt for a guest spot. B+(***) [sp]

Aki Takase/Daniel Erdmann: Ellington (2023 [2024], Enja/Yellowbird): Japanese pianist, long based in Berlin (with many records since 1979), in a duo with the German saxophonist (tenor/soprano), whose own discography dates from 2004, and includes credits with Takase's Japanic. The artists write a couple pieces to supplement nine Ellington songs, Juan Tizol's two classics, and a short coda of the Mingus tribute, "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love." B+(**) [sp]

Pat Thomas: This Is Trick Step (2023 [2024], 577): British avant-pianist, early albums back to 1993 but has been very prolific over last decade. Sole credit here is electronics. B+(**) [dl]

Tulpas: Atisbo (2021 [2024], Astral Spirits): Avant-jazz quartet from Mexico City, with two saxophonists -- Germán Bringas (tenor/soprano) and Jarret Gilgore (alto) -- backed with bass (Arturo Báez) and drums (Gibrán Andrade). First group album, but Bringas did his debut in 1992, and the others have co- or at least side-credits. B+(**) [sp]

Weird of Mouth [Mette Rasmussen/Craig Taborn/Ches Smith]: Weird of Mouth (2022 [2024], Otherly Love): First group album (I found out about it because I rejected a "debut" vote for it): most artists this famous include their own names on the cover, then switch to the group name later when they need a different title, but these three make you dig deeper, a practice they carry over into the music. Tenor sax, piano, drums. The saxophonist seemed a bit rugged at first, but I was won over when Taborn matched and maybe even passed. A- [sp]

Kathrine Windfeld Sextet: Aldebaran (2024, Stunt): Danish pianist, has three Big Band albums since 2015, a fourth where she joins the Bohlusän Big Band, and now this nominally smaller group, which still adroitly deploys its three horns -- trumpet (Tomasz Dabrowski) and two saxes (Marek Konarski, Hannes Bennich) -- in precise arrangements. This is very nice. B+(***) [sp]

Warren Wolf: History of the Vibraphone (2023 [2024], Cellar Music): Vibraphonist, started with Christian McBride, debut album 2011, presents ten songs from Gibbs, Hampton, Lewis (Jackson), Hutcherson, Tjader, Corea (Burton), Ayers, Samuels, Locke, and himself, plus an alternate take of "Midnight Sun" to loop back to Hampton. (You weren't seriously expecting Khan Jamal or Gunter Hampel, were you?) With Tim Green (alto/soprano sax), Alex Brown (keybs), bass, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Eri Yamamoto Quadraphonic: Fly With the Wings (2024, Mahakala Music): Japanese pianist, based in New York, mostly recorded trios until she hooked up with Chad Fowler, the avant-saxophonist who runs this Arkansas-based label, at which point things get interesting. She sings two songs here. He switches off to flute for a bit of surface bliss. And she switches over to melodica for the final piece. Quartet with bass and drums, varied, perhaps a bit much. B+(***) [bc]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Peter Brötzmann/Paal Nilssen-Love: Butterfly Mushroom (2015 [2024], Trost): This barely qualifies as a "New Album" under our 10-year rule, but the saxophonist died in 2023, leaving his heirs to search through his old tapes for reminders of vitality. I previously decided to count his 2016 recording of Complete Link, released in 2024, under Historical, so I should do the same for this later-released-but-earlier recorded album -- as I should for another 2024 release which this is a second volume to (which bore a different title: Chicken Shit Bingo). Duo with the Norwegian drummer, not their first and not their last. Brötzmann plays tarogato, contra-alto clarinet, and bass sax, each of which blunts the hard edges of his usual tenor sax -- with him, that's usually a plus, as the hard stuff can rub you raw. B+(**) [sp]

George Cartwright: Send Help (2008 [2024], Mahakala Music): Saxophonist, originally in the band Curlew, released this Minnesota quartet -- Adam Linz (guitar/vocals), Andrew Broder (bass), Aiden Ikeda (drums) -- album on Innova. B+(*) [bc]

Duke Ellington: Copenhagen 1958 [Bonus: After Hours 1950] (1950-58 [2024], Storyville): The Orchestra on the road, playing their standard set, which was fine but didn't really grab me until the Cat Anderson finale. The bonus is four tracks, with Ellington at the piano, with some superb tenor sax (Don Byas) and clarinet (Jimmy Hamilton). B+(**) [sp]

Michael Griener & Jan Roder: Be Our Guest (1994-2022 [2024], Trouble in the East): German drummer and bassist, both born in 1968, played together frequently since Squakk in 2009, but this compilation pairs them earlier and more often over nearly three decades, picking 25 tracks from nearly as many sessions and/or groups (including Squakk+ mid-way, and ending with Griener joining Roder in later versions of Monk's Casino and Die Entäuschung. Along the way, they support many luminaries of the German avant-garde -- Rudi Mahall and Axel Dörner return periodically, and while there isn't a lot of piano, you cannot miss Aki Takase and Alexander von Schlippenbach -- and many more lesser-known figures, plus a few passing visitors, like Ken Vandermark and Brandon Seabrook. A- [bc]

Happy Apple: New York CD ([2024], Sunnyside): Trio from Minnesota -- Erik Fratzke (electric bass), Dave King (drums), Michael Lewis (saxophones/keyboards) -- recorded a bunch of albums (Discogs lists 8; the two late ones I've heard are really good) 1997-2007, released this set of digital files in 2020 on Bandcamp, so this is certainly a reissue, although it's not clear of what. The only thing the label tells us is that "The music from New York CD comes from two recording sessions a few years apart," but doesn't tell us which years (or decade or century), although we are informed that one session was in Minnesota, the other in Wisconsin, and that "most of the pieces were done in first takes and without overdubs." Also no clue as to where the title came from. Some suggestion of a reunion in 2018, which might put the second session in 2020. Some nice bits, but nothing that justified my initial hopes, or took my mind away from the missing documentation. B+(*) [sp]

Van Morrison: Live at Orangefield (2014 [2024], Townsend Music/Orangefield): Orangefield Secondary School, in Belfast, was closed in 2014, occasion for a memorial concert by its most famous alumnus, who had made his first stage appearance there in 1959. (Wikipedia has a page on the school, including a list of "notable alumni," with Morrison the only name I recognize.) His most familiar songs have seen better days, but the lesser known material remind one of how mesmerizing a performer he can be. B+(***) [sp]

Kurt Rosenwinkel: The Next Step Band: Live at Smalls 1996 (1996 [2024], Heartcore): Guitarist, from Philadelphia, studied at Berklee, moved to New York, eventually to Berlin. Was in the group Human Feel (1991-96), solo debut 1996, this group is from back then but named (retrospectively?) for his fourth album, The Next Step, which appeared in 2001. Same group -- Mark Turner (tenor sax), Ben Street (bass), and Jeff Ballard (drums) -- but you also notice piano on two tracks here: Brad Mehldau sits in on one superb track, and Rosenwinkel plays a pretty fair solo on the title piece. I'm not a big fan of the 2001 album, or anything else he's done, but I am impressed here. A- [sp]

Brenton Wood: Brenton Wood's 18 Best (1967-71 [2024], Craft): R&B singer-songwriter Alfred Jesse Smith (1941-2025), originally from Shreveport but moved to Los Angeles as a child, broke out with three minor hit singles in 1967 ("Gimme Little Sign," "Oogum Boogum," "Baby You Got It"), stretched his career all the way out to a 2024 announcement of Catch You on the Rebound: The Last Tour, but this best-of, which originally appeared in 1990, just samples his brief heyday. B [sp]

Old music:

Fake Fruit: Fake Fruit (2021, Rocks in Your Head): First album, although Hannah D'Amato had a couple singles in 2020 as Flex TMG, followed by a later EP. Bandcamp page drops hints of Wire, Pylon, and Mazzy Star. That's a pretty good start. B+(**) [sp]

Metal Preyers: Metal Preyers (2020, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Jesse Hackett (from London) and Mariano Chavez (Chicago) hooked up in Kampala (Uganda) with Lord Tusk and various local musicians to produce this "industrial/ambient film soundtrack" to go with visual art they call Teeth Agency. B+(*) [sp]

Allen Ravenstine: Nautilus/Rue de Poisson Noire (2021, Waveshifter): Multi-instrumentalist, mostly synthesizers, best known for his work in Pere Ubu, but has reeleased several mostly instrumental albums since 1987. Discogs has this as a single release, but Spotify has it as two separate albums. I'll go with one, because the distinctions are minor, and I haven't been paying enough attention. B+(**) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Carlos Zingara/João Madeira/Sofia Borges: Trizmaris (4DaRecord) [11-21]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

December archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 43426 [43380) rated (+46), 18 [13] unrated (+5).

No introduction this week. I'm working on an introductory piece (or two) for the 19th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I only took a break for the cutoff because the calendar demanded it, and it's unclear when I'm going to get a better chance.

Needless to say, I haven't done any accounting for the switch from December to January, or 2024 to 2025.

New records reviewed this week:

Sakina Abdou/Toma Gouband/Maria Warelis: Hammer, Roll and Leaf (2024, Relative Pitch): Alto/tenor saxophonist, has a couple previous albums, here in a trio with drums and piano. B+(***) [sp]

ADHD: ADHD 9 (2024, Enja/Yellowbird): Jazz group from Iceland, ninth album since 2009, all neatly numbered, four members: Magnús Trygvason Eliassen (drums), Ómar Guðjónsson (guitar/pedal steel/bass guitar), Óskar Guðjónsson (tenor/soprano sax), and Tómas Jónsson (keyboards, who replaced Davíð Þór Jónsson on ADHD 7. First impression is that they're an ultra-chill Weather Report. B+(*) [sp]

Ricky Alexander: Just Found Joy (2024, Turtle Bay): Soprano sax/clarinet player, trad jazz-oriented, first album as leader, Discogs gives him three credits but two are on 2012 heavy metal albums. He also sings a bit, but turns most of that over to Vanisha Gould. B+(**) [sp]

Lina Allemano's Ohrenschmaus: Flip Side (2023 [2024], Lumo): Canadian trumpet player, Discogs lists one 1998 album but nothing else until 2018, after which there is quite a bit. Based in Toronto, but has a connection to Berlin, reflected in this trio with Dan Peter Sundland (electric bass) and Michael Griener (drums), joined on 3 (of 7) tracks here by Andrea Parkins (accordion, objects, electronics). B+(**) [bc]

Pedro Melo Alves: Conundrum Vol. 1: Itself Through Disappearance (2019-23 [2024], Clean Feed): Portuguese drummer, several albums since 2017, thirteen duos here (73:52) with names on cover: João Barradas (MIDI accordion), Audrey Chen (voice/electronics), Ignaz Schick (turntable/electronics), Nuno Rebelo (guitar), Marta Warelis (piano), Violeta Garcia (cello/electronics), Jacqueline Kerrod (harp), Carlos Barretto (bass), Sara Serpa (voice), Rafael Toral (electronics), Grillo (prepared piano), Gil Dionisio (voice/electronics), Ece Canli (voice/electronics). They offer a range of sonic textures, with the drums as a common point of interest. B+(**) [bc]

Angles + Elle-Kari With Strings: The Death of Kalypso (2022 [2024], Thanatosis Produktion): Swedish saxophonist Martin Küchen's flagship group, first appeared in 2007, many albums since, scaled up or down, deployed her as an octet plus a string quartet and a singer, Elle-Kari Sander, who renders Küchen's libretto as some kind of opera. B+(**) [sp]

Mulatu Astatke and Hoodna Orchestra: Tension (2023 [2024], Batov): Ethio-jazz pioneer, active since the 1969, but his rediscovery c. 2008 kicked off a remarkable second career spurt. He plays vibraphone, piano, and percussion. The 12-piece Hoodna Ensemble is described as "Tel Aviv's number one Afro funk collective." This was recorded in March, before the Gaza genocide kicked off, when tension may have still seemed like an interesting concept. B+(**) [sp]

Adriano Clemente: The Coltrane Suite and Other Impressions (2021-22 [2023], Dodicilune, 2CD): Italian composer, plays many instruments -- harp and pocket trumpet seem most common here, at least for his solos -- leads Akashmani Ensemble, their first album was The Mingus Suite in 2016. "The Coltrane Suite" fills the first disc here, with 12 parts, 49:39. Second disc offers "Other Impressions" and "New Orleans Portrait." Many Italians in the Ensemble I don't recognize, but two ringers really stand out: David Murray and Hamid Drake. B+(***) [sp]

Ezra Collective: Dance, No One's Watching (2024, Partisan): British jazz-funk group, third album, led by brothers Femi Koleoso (drums) and TJ Koleoso (electric bass), with Joe Armon-Jones (keyboards), with trumpet (Ife Ogunjobi), tenor sax (James Mollison), with a guest vocal by Yazmin Lacey (the catchy "God Gave Me Feet for Dancing"). B+(*) [sp]

Mabe Fratti: Sentir Que No Sabes (2024, Tin Angel/Unheard of Hope): Singer-songwriter from Guatemala, based in Mexico City, plays cello and synthesizer, fourth album since 2019, got a jazz vote but also reviewed in Pitchfork. B+(**) [sp]

The Fury: Live in Brooklyn (2023 [2024], Giant Step Arts): First outing for all-star group of Mark Turner (tenor sax), Lage Lund (guitar), Matt Brewer (bass), and Tyshawn Sorey (drums), with the first three contributing songs (Lund 3, Turner 2, Brewer 1, plus a cover from Myron Walden). Group name comes from a Faulkner novel, a reference I don't get, as Turner and especially Lund seem about as far from furious as one can get. B+(**) [cd]

Ganavya: Like the Sky I've Been Too Quiet (2024, Native Rebel): Singer-songwriter, born in New York but raised in India (Tamil Nadu) and based in California, second album, has a jazz following but this is something else, possibly rooted in Indian classical music but transcendental in ways that terms like "ambient," "spiritual," "new age," and "exotic" only hint at. B+(**) [sp]

Ganavya: Daughter of a Temple (2024, Leiter): Third album, more obviously pitched to her jazz audience, built around the works of Swamini Turiyasangitananda (aka Alice Coltrane) and her spouse, including an abbreviated but still four-part version of his masterwork, "A Love Supreme," with guest spots for Esperanza Spalding, Vijay Iyer, Immanuel Wilkins, and Shabaka Hutchings. Interesting ideas, but I can't say it particularly works. B+(*) [sp]

GloRilla: Glorious (2024, CMG/Interscope): Crunk rapper Gloria Hallejuah Woods, from Memphis, first proper album after a well-received mixtape (Ehhthang hhthang) and two compilations of Gangsta Art. Hard trap beats. B+(**) [sp]

Tord Gustavsen Trio: Seeing (2023 [2024], ECM): Norwegian pianist, steady stream of albums since joining ECM in 2003, mostly trios, here with Steinar Raknes (bass) and Jarle Vespestad (drums). I've usuallyl been impressed by his albums, but this one barely registers. B [sp]

Caity Gyorgy: Hello! How Are You? (2024, La Reserve): Canadian "swing and bebop singer and songwriter," several albums since 2022. Presumably writes her own songs. Title one is snappy, only to be followed by something torchy, then a load of scat. I can't read the white-on-pink text on her Bandcamp page, so remain ignorant of explications. B+(**) [sp]

Josh Johnson: Unusual Object (2024, Northern Spy): Mostly a saxophonist, from Chicago, but plays keyboards and possibly much more -- credit on this solo album is simply "sounds," with the sax reprocessed and subtle beats dubbed in. B+(**) [sp]

The Joymakers: Down Where the Bluebonnets Grow (2024, Turtle Bay): Trad jazz outfit based in Austin, TX, fronted by cornetist Colin Hancock, with two saxophonists, piano/accordion, tenor banjo, piano, string bass, and drums, with three members stepping up for vocals, playing oldies from the 1920s, give or take a smidgen. Seems to be their first album, but not the first band to use the name. B+(***) [sp]

Rolf Kühn: Fearless (2022 [2024], MPS): German clarinetist (1929-2022), brother of pianist Joachim Kühn, first album 1957, this is his last, when he was 92, leading a tight quartet of piano (Frank Chastenier), bass (Lisa Wulff), and drums (Túpac Mantilla). B+(**) [sp]

Jason Palmer: The Cross Over: Live in Brooklyn (2023 [2024], Giant Step Arts): Trumpet player, from North Carolina, steady stream of albums since 2007, his recent live ones generally a step up from his studio efforts (mostly on SteepleChase). Strong quartet here, with Mark Turner (tenor sax), Larry Grenadier (bass), and Marcus Gilmore (drums). A- [cd]

Aaron Parks: Little Big III (2024, Blue Note): Pianist, albums since 2000, recorded one for Blue Note in 2008, returns here after two previous Little Big albums on Ropeadope. Quartet with guitar (Greg Tuchey), bass (David Ginyard), and drums (Jongkuk Kim). More little than big. B+(*) [sp]

Marek Pospieszalski Octet & Zoh Amba: Now! (Instant Classics): Polish saxophonist, side credits go back to 1993, own albums start around 2014, plays soprano & tenor sax, clarinet, flute & tape here, and takes all of the composition credits. Amba adds an extra tenor sax into the mix. B+(*) [sp]

Troy Roberts: Green Lights (2021 [2024], Toy Robot Music): Tenor saxophonist, from Australia, Bandcamp page says this is his "16th release as a leader," but Discogs only counts five (plus 36 side credits since 2000, including several with Van Morrison). Quartet with Paul Bollenback (guitar), John Pattitucci (bass), and Jimmy MacBride (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Kavain Wayne Space & XT: Yesyespeakersyes (2024, Feedback Moves): The former is a Chicago footwork DJ, active since 1997, much better known as RP Boo, teamed up here with the English duo of Paul Abbott and Seymour Wright, with albums as XT since 2016. B [bc]

Colin Stetson: The Love It Took to Leave You (2024, Invada): Not really in the jazz tradition, but plays a wide range of saxophones (especially bass saxophone), as well as other horns. Debut 2003, moved into soundtracks c. 2013, now the majority of his output. This isn't, but could be. B+(**) [sp]

Sweet Megg: Bluer Than Blue (2024, Turtle Bay): Singer Megg Farrell, had a 2000 album as Sweet Megg, a 2009 album under her own name (Dig a Pony: The Beatles Complete on Ukulele), then nothing until 2021, when she landed on Turtle Bay with Ricky Alexander. Two or three (if you count Santa Baby) albums later, she's basically running a western swing combo, mixing Ellington with Bob Wills and Moon Mullican. Alexander has shifted more from sax to clarinet, and you get a lot of lap steel (Chris Scruggs) and fiddle (Billy Contreras) to go with the horns and rhythm. B+(**) [sp]

Sweet Megg: Live at Honky Tonk Tuesday July 2024 (2024, self-released): Fan bait, a quickie digital album where she heads to Nashville, loses the horns, picks up an acoustic guitar, and a batch of hard drinking country standards. The steel and fiddle don't swing like they do our west, not that you can tell much with the weak sound. B [bc]

Natsuki Tamura/Satoko Fujii/Ramón López: Yama Kawa Umi (2023 [2024], Not Two): Trumpet, piano, drums trio, fifth album as a trio, the first two having shared billing dozens of times. B+(***) [cd]

Andromeda Turre: From the Earth (2024, Starbilt): Singer/composer, debut 2008, daughter of trombonist Steve Turre, presents this as "a jazz suite." B+(*) [sp]

Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O: Tree Jazz: The Shape of Christmas to Come (2024, Palmetto): I think this is the first year since I started getting promos that I haven't had to deal with a single album of Christmas music. Still, I had reason to suspect there might be more to this reunion of the drummer's 2010 holiday trio ("Tree-O"), with Jeff Lederer (reeds) and Paul Skivie (bass), especially with the cover playing on two classic Ornette Coleman albums, and working "Up on the Rooftop" into the canon. B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Bobby Hutcherson: Total Eclipse (1068 [2024], Blue Note Tone Poet): Vibraphonist, recorded for Blue Note 1963-77. This a quintet with Harold Land (tenor sax/flute), Chick Corea (piano), Reggie Johnson (bass), and Joe Chambers (drums). B [sp]

Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra: L'Intercommunal (1976-78 [2024], Souffle Continu): French group, released four numbered volumes 1974-82, plus a fifth album in 1983 listing its composer-leaders François Tusques (piano) and Carlos Andreu (voice) on the credit line. B+(**) [bc]

Byard Lancaster/Steve McCall/Sylvain Marc: Us (1973 [2024], Souffle Continu): Avant-alto saxophonist (1942-2012), from Philadelphia, first album (1968) was called It's Not Up to Us, his early 1970s recordings were released by Palm in France -- except for the group Sounds of Liberation (1972), which came out on the even more obscure Dogtown label, and is one of the best examples of the early 1970s underground. Trio with drums and electric bass, a bit too much flute. B+(***) [bc]

Byard Lancaster: Mother Africa (1974 [2024], Souffle Continu): A second album for the French label palm, sparring with Clint Jackson III (trumpet), backed by Jean-François Caloire (bass), Keno Speller (percussion) and Jonathan Dickinson (drums), for two side-long free jazz bashes, with an extra 15:18 bonus for the CD reissue. Second cut shows some cognizance of South African jazz. B+(***) [bc]

Byard Lancaster/Keno Speller: Exactement (1974 [2024], Souffle Continu, 2CD): Opens with Lancaster on piano solo, before he moves on to flute, alto sax, bass clarinet, and more flute, joined for most of that with Speller on percussion. Originally released as 2-LP, could have fit on one 79:40 CD. B+(**) [bc]

Byard Lancaster: Funny Funky Rib Crib (1974 [2024], Souffle Continu): Pulled from several sessions, and only released in 1979, some afro-funk groove (notably guitar from François Nyombo), with a couple of weak but bluesy vocals from the leader. Not quite as good as it should have been. B+(**) [bc]

Byard Lancaster: The Complete Palm Recordings 1973-1974 (1973-74 [2024], Souffle Continu): Four albums, from a period when this little-recognized avant-saxophonist was just finding himself, working in France where the African connection was vibrant. Musically, this recapitulates the albums above. I can't speak to the packaging, which includes 5 LPs (Exactement was a double), a one-sided 12-inch EP, a 7-inch single, and a 20-page booklet. B+(***) [bc]

Lee Morgan: Taru (1968 [2024], Blue Note): Major trumpet player (1938-72), played in what was perhaps Art Blakey's most famous lineup 1959-61, while leading a mixed bag of sessions for Blue Note that included several hard bop classics -- the label recorded many masterpieces in the early 1960s, but seemed to lose the thread later in the decade, one result being that this session with younger players -- sure, you know them now: Bennie Maupin (tenor sax), John Hicks (piano), George Benson (guitar), Reggie Workman (bass), and Billy Higgins (drums) -- got locked away until some housecleaning in 1980. B+(**) [sp]

Elvis Presley: Memphis (1956-76 [2024], RCA/Legacy, 5CD): Theme is recordings made in his home town, which means the first disc collects the Sun masters, then one disc each for concerts in 1969, 1973, 1974, and 1976, before he died in 1977 -- a total of 111 tracks, "88 of which are newly mixed versions of the select recordings, pure and without overdubs." The early stuff is great, as you know, but no better here than elsewhere. I'm not about to do comparisons, but most of the live stuff sounds a bit thin. But the fifth disc, with the 1976 Graceland set, is magnificent. By this point, his rocking days are past, and he's just a standards singer, but he leaves his own mark on everything he touches. [PS: After some bootlegs, the 1976 Graceland sessions got an official release in 2016 as Way Down in the Jungle Room, with a second disc of outtakes. I don't remember the details, but gave that set a B+(*), so perhaps today's reaction should be taken with a grain of salt, or maybe the sound and/or the selection is better.] B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

The Byard Lancaster Unit: Live at MacAlester College (1970-73 [2008], Porter): The original Dogtown release (1972) was credited to "the J.R. Mitchell/Bayard Lancaster experience," with the title Live at Mac Alester College '72. Mitchell was the drummer ("percussionist"), but it's the saxophonist ("horns") you notice first and remember longest. The reissue also moves the three live quartet tracks back a year, to 1971, with the first track on both from 1970, and two later bonus tracks credited to "The J. R. Mitchel Experimental Unit," which is Lancaster, Mitchell, Calvin Hill, and "unfortunately unknown." A- [sp]

Byard Lancaster: Soul Unity (2005 [2022], Komos): "Recorded one sunny afternoon in March 2005," "a devotional journey through jazz history from Africa to Coltrane, from Spirituals to Now, Searching for the Source behind the forms," released on CD in 2006 and 2-LP in 2022 -- reordered with a new cover, but that's what I'm streaming. Reverend Joe Craddock helps the the vocals. B+(**) [sp]

Sweet Megg and Ricky Alexander: I'm in Love Again (2020 [2021], Turtle Bay): Singer Megg Farrell had two previous albums, a Beatles-on-ukulele under her own name, and a debut as Sweet Megg way back in 2002. Alexander, who plays sax and clarinet, had self released Strike Up the Band in 2018. Mostly swing standards, with a "Ragged but Right" dragged in from the country. B+(**) [sp]

Sweet Megg: My Window Faces the South (2022, Turtle Bay): Here's where she dons her cowboy hat, rejiggers her band around steel guitar and fiddle, and swings west, drawing several times on Bob Wills, with other songs like "Tennessee Waltz" and even "Stardust" not so far removed. B+(***) [sp]

Grade (or other) changes:

John Abercrombie: Timeless (1974 [1975], ECM): First album, one I definitely had the LP of and possibly could have graded from memory, but I figured it was worth another spin. Another trio, with Jan Hammer (keyboards) and Jack De Johnette (drums) just below the title line. [PS: Later found I had graded it, but the refresher bumped it up a notch.] [was: B] B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Alan Chaubert: Just the Three of Us: Me, the Trumpet and the Piano (Pacific Coast Jazz) [02-22]
• Peter Erskine & the Jam Music Lab All-Stars: Vienna to Hollywood: Impressions of E.W. Korngold & Max Steiner (Origin) [01-17]
• Brad Goode Polytonal Big Band: The Snake Charmer (Origin) [01-17]
• John Mailander's Forecast: Let the World In (self-released) [01-24]
• Jason Palmer: The Cross Over: Live in Brooklyn (Giant Step Arts) [12-06]
• Jae Sinnett: The Blur the Lines Project (J-Nett Music) [01-06]
• Natsuki Tamura/Satoko Fujii/Ramón López: Yama Kawa Umi (Not Two) [12-06]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Internal links: Xmas Eve dinner; desk mess; election q&a.

I know I should be working on my big essay for the 19th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I've struggled with the task in the past, as may be painfully evident if you look back at my 2022 and 2023 essays:

• A Profusion of Geniuses (2022)
• Memoirs of a Pollwatcher (2022)
• Rare Birds (2023): Where, I only now notice, I ducked the main essay responsibility, with Francis Davis picking up the slack in The State of Our Union Could Be Better.

I've been fairly calm about the impending task, at least up until yesterday, which I spent hacking out a fairly wordy Music Week, instead of moving on to the next obvious step, which is to examine the results and write up footnotes on all the various discrepancies (2023 albums that got votes in both years, albums that got votes in wrong categories, albums that could be split or combined, albums in categories that got top-ten votes from critics who left them off their category lists; I also need to count up how many voters skipped the categories altogether, or only included top-ten picks there -- the latter was often at my urging, so barely counts as endorsement of the category). Given that this next step is mere paper shuffling, something that in years past I've been really adept at, I'm baffled at my procrastination. I'm accustomed to avoiding writing, but dread of mere gruntwork is something new and unsettling.

Yet here I am, not just procrastinating but inventing a new blog post: something to do while I'm not doing what I ought to be doing, but also a workaround, a way of sneaking up on the real task. For instance, in adding the links above, I now have the relevant pieces opened in tabs, as ready references, and repositories of ideas I could eventually employ.

But before we circle back to the Poll, I have a couple other things I want to address -- and, as the title suggests, don't expect any thematic organization here, other than that I'm anticipating a wish to occasionally post personal thoughts, as random and haphazard as everyday life (which suggests differentiation as a numbered series; as for "sods" instead of "ends," that comes from the title of a Who album, a compilation of their miscellany and detritus, an Anglicism which has since entered my vocabulary).

I keep copies of most of my blog writings, plus occasional notes I'm less concerned with in sharing, in my online notebook. One thing it's especially handy for is keeping track of past calendar events, including the occasional fancy (or at least hearty) dinners I've been known to prepare. As the dinners are somewhat popular items, I often note them on Facebook, and occasionally mention them in my Music Week posts. I meant to say something about Xmas Eve yesterday, but didn't get to it before I felt the compunction to post. Later last night, I had second thoughts, and added the following section, but didn't post it. This morning, it seemed like it might fit better here.

I did finally take some time off to rustle up a small Xmas Eve dinner: two guests, my nephew Ram and long-time family friend Kathy Jenkins, who had been a regular for that particular event until she moved out of Wichita a few years ago. I wanted to do something easy but still outstanding. In a dream, I imagined roasting chicken thighs on a rack above root vegetables, which would be enriched by drippings. We made a quick shopping run the day before, and couldn't find some things I had wanted, so I wound up doing a lot of improvising.

I had two Ottolenghi recipes in mind for the chicken, but didn't have and couldn't find the complements (fennel and clementines for one, Jerusalem artichokes for the other), so I consulted the web and settled on a sumac-and-zataar variant. For the vegetables, I had onions, yukon gold potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, a turnip, golden beets, delicata squash, and leeks. The beets had to start early, and that turned disastrous: I put them in a glass dish I assumed to be oven-safe but which shattered. I had to cool the oven, clean the mess up, throw them away, and start all over. Beyond that, the main problem was that I had too much of everything for my pretty large roasting pan. And my idea of reducing the marinade to make a sauce never really panned out, although I did brush more, including a few bits of onion and lemon, on top of the chicken, which helped it brown up. So I didn't have the sauce and garnish to finish the chicken.

I also bought a package of baby spinach, figuring I could turn it into a side salad. I was thinking of the Bella Luna salad (a local restaurant), but didn't find a close enough recipe. Instead, I just threw all sorts of things in: cucumber, onion, pepper, and tomatoes from my Greek salad; bacon and sauteed mushrooms (I had bought them thinking I might add them to the roots, but had no space); toasted pecans; creamy goat cheese and gorgonzola; capers; some olive-feta antipasto; golden raisins; and I made a balsamic vinaigrette with mustard and a bit of honey; and a generous sprinkle of sumac and black pepper. Turned out to be a really nice combination of textures and flavors.

I had just enough leftover applesauce to make a cake, so I served it with ice cream for dessert. Here's the Facebook write-up (same pic as above).

I took another picture today, of my main computer workspace, which has turned into a ridiculous mess. One of the main things I need to do before I can make any real headway on my essay is to clear this desk. The really critical problem is the stack of CDs, in front of the three-tier CD shelf unit, with the stack on top of it. I need to be able to find my 2024 Jazz A-List albums (at least the ones I actually possess), few of which I've actually replayed since I initially reviewed them. The shelf unit I assembled and positioned when I was doing the 2023 essay, at which point it was jammed to the gills with 2023 and 2022 CDs -- all really good records, by the way. I need to remove enough of the older ones so I can file the newer ones and find them when I want one. The daunting problem here isn't so much sweeping the desk clear as finding other places to put everything, given that all the other places have similar problems.

The first thing that needs to go is the black basket, which has my promo CD queue with hype sheets. Everything there is 2025, and none of it has to be touched until I'm done with 2024. (For similar reasons, I'm automatically deleting all of my 2025 email, so nothing extraneous gets stuck in my inbox.) Then I need to clear out the baskets to the lower right, refiling them elsewhere, which will open up space for thinning out the shelf unit. Probably not a huge amount of work, but every item needs to be gone over and dealt with accordingly.

While writing about this, I got distracted with the thought that it would be nice to be able to take a wider-angle picture (maybe a fisheye lens? or is there one with less distortion?). I did some shopping, and ordered a 3-lens clip-on for my phone (or so the pitch says). As an engineer who's pretty skilled at figuring out the ramifications of how small changes, I see this as the start of a much more overwhelming project. Still, it's more tangible than imagining an open-ended essay based on an enormous lode of significant data.

I haven't been following politics since signing off with my last Speaking of Which, but I do have some thoughts about what happened in the 2024 election, and why it happened. I'm nowhere near wanting to write them up, but I do have enough grounding to react to this item in today's Xgau Sez:

Harris is the establishment. Trump is viewed by his voters as a counter-establishment force, albeit uncontrollable, self-centered, and potentially dangerous. I also have to disagree with you on your assessment of KH as a public speaker . . . she rambles on, often changing her policies to please the crowd in front of her. Voters sensed, correctly, her duplicity and lack of a moral compass when discussing Israel or the Ukrainian issue. -- Ricardo Pini, New Zealand

May I suggest that unless American politics is your academic specialty or something you refrain from gross generalizations about a nation half a world away from yours. It's certainly true that today's active Democrats have a collegiate/academic tinge/orientation that diluted or strained their moral compass and damaged their appeal to large swaths of the working-class electorate. But the "establishment" is the people with too much money, not the people who inflect a major field of discourse. As far as Harris's lack of moral compass is concerned, do you really believe that being compelled to do some sort of impossible balancing act as regards Palestine, an issue regarding which only a sliver of the American electorate and indeed political class knows how to "solve" unless making Netanyahu and his apparatchiks vanish in thin air suddenly becomes practicable, is what cost her the election? What cost her the election was her gender, her color, her classiness, and the Dems' failure to address the economy in a clear and plausible way.

Pini makes four points here, and they're basically correct, not that I wouldn't shade them a bit differently:

1. While there is no single, monolithic establishment in America, Harris campaigned as if there was one, and she was its candidate in the election. She raised more money than Trump, and made it clear that the changes she championed weren't incompatible with maintaining the prerogatives of great wealth. She, like Biden (and Obama and Clinton) would be good for business. She surrounded herself with billionaires and ultraconservative Republicans, while discounting past moderate heresies. She was the candidate who committed to law and order. She was the one who supported the military and clung to the fantasy of Pax Americana (even as it degenerated into mere cover for Israel's genocide). That, at least, was certainly her message. We can argue over whether it was the right message, and whether she was a credible advocate for it, but the point is fundamentally solid.

   Moreover, this point wasn't very controversial even before the election. Many on the left were deeply bothered by her association with the Cheneys, by the strategy to woo rich Republicans, and by her unwillingness to offer any real hope of ending Biden's wars. Like many people, I tried my best to minimize and to rationalize these faults, always keeping them in perspective of the far more ominous Trump faults. And I trusted the competency of the campaign, even when they zigged when I thought they should have zagged. And it came close to working, and arguably could have with just a few minor tweaks. (One I find especially appealing was the idea of shifting more Harris money to down ballot Democrats, hoping for reverse coattails, by focusing more on issues where Republicans were unpopular. The assumption behind the Cheney ploy was that Trump was weaker than generic Republicans, but the opposite may have been true.)

2. The view of Trump as "a counter-establishment force" was the big surprise of the election. It made no sense to Democrats, who quite correctly recognized Trump as a total fraud, and were quite clear as to their malevolence. But in their scramble for the high ground of the status quo, Democrats blinded themselves to the myriad failures and iniquities of a system that has been so corrupted by greed and violence at least since Nixon/Reagan that they can't imagine anything different. Nobody noticed when Trump switched his campaign slogan from the fatuous "Make America Great Again" to an even bigger lie: "Trump Will Fix It."

3. I don't have a strong opinion on Harris as a speaker, as opposed to her message, but I did notice her stumble a few times, especially in her inability to show any meaningful concern over Gaza. I doubt many other politicians would have done better, but firmer principles might have helped. Bernie Sanders is an example here. Barack Obama was more effective early on, when it looked like he had some, and less later on, when he messed them up.

4. I understand the point about "her duplicity and lack of a moral compass" but I don't feel like condemning her in those terms. Although morals are important in everyday life, they are something of a luxury in politics, where one is weighing relative evils with much uncertainty. Biden made a major mistake in not pressing Israel to halt its war. Harris made a lesser mistake in not breaking with Biden over the issue, and another in not talking about the conflict in terms that made it clear that she would end it. That may or may not prove the "lack of a moral compass," but what's more unforgivable is that it shows poor political judgment. Christgau's notion that there's "some sort of impossible balancing act" involved here is naive to the point of being disingenuous. I'm not going into details here -- I've written millions of words on Israel, Ukraine, and their related wars against "terror" and often for "ethnic cleansing" if anyone cares to consult them.

As for Christgau's last sentence, it's not implausible, but also far from certain (and one that I find both unlikely and unhelpful). The election was close enough that dozens of things could have shifted it enough to change the result. Everyone is free to pick their own fave theories and pet peeves. Mine is that Biden's wars doomed Harris, and not because there's some sliver of voters who think he picked the wrong side, but simply because he allowed them to drag on, with no hope of resolution and recovery. Most people don't have much understanding of the conflicts that led to those wars, but they do realize that whatever they may be, they're not worth the costs of war. Some responsible party needs to shut them down, much like the US and USSR agreed to do -- within just a few weeks, at most -- with Israel's wars in 1956, 1967, and 1973. And Biden failed to miserably at that simple task that some voters chose instead to believe Trump's promise to "fix it."

While I don't doubt that there are people who voted against Harris because of "her gender, her color, her classiness," I doubt that any of those traits were decisive. As for "the Dems' failure to address the economy in a clear and plausible way," I don't even think they failed. Their problem wasn't the insufficiency of their argument, or their failure to advance practical reforms that would help most people. Their problem was that half of America refused to listen to anything they had to say, in large part because they had come to discredit anything any Democrat might say, and indeed to doubt the validity of rational discourse.

The main thing that's become clear to me from the 2024 election is that Democrats don't know how to talk to other people, even when they really want to. Nor do Republicans, 'but for some reason that hurts them less, and may even help them fire up their base. It's going to be really hard for Democrats to turn this around: the foundation of credibility is incorruptibility, which isn't easy to politicians who spend most of their waking hours desperately begging for money. I don't doubt that the pendulum will swing again, but it's much more likely that Republicans will discredit themselves than that Democrats will discover integrity.

PS: I've been toying with the idea of writing something on the 2024 election, tentatively titled, "Did Something Weird Just Happen?" I doubt I have the stomach for wading through the minutiae of Trump campaign agitprop, let alone for interviewing the people who voted for him, but sooner or later someone is going to figure this out -- or at least some of it. (I suspect I have some angles that won't come easily to others.)

I promised to come back to the poll, but at this stage it would be better just to post this and start with the work of footnoting and/or desk clearing. At this point I've finished the leftovers (aside from one last piece of cake for tomorrow) -- something I'm usually not too keen on, but they've been really delicious. I also need to post Christgau's Q&A, which should make it up tonight. (I keep putting off updating the database, which still needs some rather tricky utility work, but is way overdue, and would no doubt help him with his upcoming Dean's List.) And I gave up on trying to figure out which new jazz album I should play next, and settled into five hours of an Elvis Presley box I stumbled and don't begin to understand. It's getting late, and I've avoided useful work for another day.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

December archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 43380 [43333) rated (+47), 13 [10] unrated (+3).

Voting for the 19th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll is over now, with ballots counted from 177 distinguished experts (+18 over 2023). They voted for 614 different New Albums, 149 Rara Avis (new releases of older music, recorded in or before 2014; a couple albums got confused votes in both age categories). We also collect votes in three special categories, in hopes of noting more albums that tend to be overlooked overall: Vocals (123 albums), Latin (85), and Debut (89). Album counts in these categories are up significantly this year, as I change the rules to allow voters to vote for 3 (or in some cases more) albums in each, instead of only 1 in past years. About a third of all voters still skipped those categories. Several also skipped Rara Avis. I don't have the numbers handy, but will figure that out in coming days.

After the election -- which I still believe was not just horrific but profoundly weird -- I decided to stop bothering with the extreme time sink that my weekly Speaking of Which columns had become, and put my efforts into making something of the Jazz Critics Poll, which Francis Davis had founded in 2006 and sustained as long as health permitted. I've helped out over the years, and taken over the last couple. I've felt a great responsibility to maintain the poll's reputation as "biggest and best." It's been an uphill struggle, with what seems like a lot of attrition as voters age, their lives change, and they tire of the intense interest expected of critics (not to mention that it isn't a very remunerative career choice).

I've also run into a lot of problems, and perhaps worse still, uncertainty, with email. I lease a dedicated server, which I run a half-dozen websites from. I can run GNU Mailman lists from there, and I have a few, including two I use for the poll: one to message voters, and one for discussing admin issues. These are easy for me to send to, but for reasons unclear to me, several of the major email vendors have decided that to block or reroute mail I send (this applies to personal accounts on the server, as well as the lists). It's very hard to fight back against such judgments, and doing so is very draining. (Needless to say, the election is only going to make shady business practices, especially fraud, both more prevalent and harder to resist.)

My main metric for whether I've been doing a good job has been how many voters I could turn out. In 2022, which is when I assumed responsibility for handling voter correspondence, the number of voters dropped off from 156 to 151. Last year, with a lot of desperate last-minute cajoling, I finally wound up with a record 159. After that, I did some research to build up a more comprehensive index of publications and writers (not that it turned out to be very comprehensive). I tried it out, with some rule tweaks aimed at simplifying the process, in a mid-year poll, but interest there was pretty limited, with only 90 ballots.

Still, that set me up for expanding this year's poll. One thing that has long been obvious is that interest in jazz -- fans, of course, but also musicians -- is worldwide, and we were missing a lot with a 90% American voting base. I haven't tried figuring out the spread this year, but I sent significantly more invites out this year (approx. 280, vs. 220 in 2023, vs. 200 in 2022), and half or so of the increase came from abroad (mostly Europe, and most of that Western, but also Latin America and Japan). I have no idea whether that skewed the top results. It certainly did add to the number of albums that got 1 or 2 votes. Most of the new invitees didn't vote -- how many didn't even get the message? -- but that's the main reason this poll is bigger than ever.

It's premature to declare it the best ever. My big job for the next week will be to sort through the data, and try to figure out what's significant, or at least interesting, and turn whatever insights I may glean into an introductory essay, for Arts Fuse, when they present the poll results -- sometime shortly after Jan. 1. I've struggled with these essays in the past, and don't doubt that I will do so again. But I take some comfort in knowing that in the unknowable and possibly unimaginable vastness of the jazz niche in the world, I have a pretty substantial personal store of knowledge -- perhaps here I should point you to my personal Best Jazz of 2024, where my New Albums A-List has broke 100 for the first time ever (among 795 total albums listed, and listened to) -- as well as the collective intelligence of so many of my peers.

Hopefully the poll, and jazz in general, will get some more attention after it's published. If you have ideas about better ways to publicize the poll, I'd be interested in hearing them. I'm also curious about data analysis tools, and how to present the data for further analysis. And after the dust settles, and we get a breather, I'd like to do some work on rebuilding the website, to integrate all of the accumulated data. I might also add that the more I do this, the more impressed I become with the expertise and care of the critical community, so maybe there's some way to build on that.

Once again, I've been exclusively focused on jazz these last few weeks, so there is very little else below. Maybe I'll pivot back in January, but there is still a vast number of records revealed in the poll that I haven't gotten to. Total rated count for this year is 1155, which seems like a lot but is way down from 1834 in 2023, 1670 in 2022, 1480 in 2021, 1637 in 2020, etc. Part of the reason is that we're still a month or two from freeze point for 2024. Another may be that I've been pretty consistently logging late 2023 finds under 2023 instead of entering them into the 2024 file (marked as '23). Still, evidence suggests I'm slowing down. That's also my subjective impression.

I've done a tiny bit of work on the EOY aggregate, but very little. I'm way behind, and don't even have all of my own grades copied into the file. Moreover, when I went to work on it a bit today, I found my eyes weren't up to the task. It's probably a lost cause.

In recent years, I've allowed Music Week to go all the way to Dec. 31, regardless of whatever day it falls on. I'll try to follow that practice again this year.

New records reviewed this week:

AALY Trio [Mats Gustafsson/Peter Janson/Kjell Nordeson]: Sustain (2024, Silkheart): Free jazz sax-bass-drums trio, founded earlier, but their discography was limited to 5 1997-2002 albums with Ken Vandermark (the last as DKV Trio, his group with Hamid Drake and Kent Kessler). By then, Gustafsson had moved to a new trio, the Thing. Still harsher than most, but they've settled down enough to let you make sense of what they're doing, which is quite a lot. A- [bc]

Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix Reimagined (Live) (2024, Ropeadope): Alto saxophonist, from New York, debut 2012, fourth album was Phoenix (2023) had a number of guest spots, including Dianne Reeves (vocals), Sonia Sanchez (poetry), and Angela Davis (spoken word). Fewer vocal options here, so she heats the sax up. B+(***) [sp]

John Blum Quartet Featuring Marshall Allen: Deep Space (2024, Astral Spirits): Pianist, first album 2002, not a lot of records but he's made some interesting rounds lately, with a very good 2023 album with David Murray, and now this one with Marshall Allen -- who is counted in this superb quartet, along with Elliott Levin (tenor sax/flute) and Chad Taylor (drums). A- [bc]

Silvia Bolognesi/Dudú Kouate/Griffin Rodriguez: Timing Birds (2021 [2024], Astral Spirits): Italian bassist, first album 2005, mostly shares credit line with others like these: Kouate on percussion (ngoni, kalimba), Rodriguez with electronics, all three credited for voice -- some African chant, some spoken word, various bits that play off nicely against the fascinating groove and ambiance. A- [bc]

C6Fe2RN6: C6Fe2RN6 (2023 [2024], Astral Spirits): Duo of Nick Terry (electric guitar, kalimba, music box) and Rob Mazurek (trumpet, piano, mbira, flutes, bells, synth, electronics), group/album name "is almost all of the elements that make up the color Milori Blue," both musicians also being visual artists (and, evidently, chemists). I'd slot this as ambient, but holds one's interest. B+(***) [bc]

Summer Camargo: To Whom I Love (2022 [2024], Blue Engine): Trumpet player, first album, at least two cuts recorded in 2022 because they feature the late organ player Joey DeFrancesco. Mostly a sextet, with Veronica Leahy (reeds), Jeffery Miller (trombone), Esteban Castro (piano), bass, and drums, plus extra percussion (James Haddad) on 5 tracks. B+(**) [sp]

Devon Daniels Quintet: LesGo! (2024, Sam First): Alto saxophonist, debut album 2020, quintet with Julien Knowles (trumpet), Chris Fishman (piano), bass, and drums, playing five originals plus covers of Charlie Parker, Monk, and Coltrane. A pretty good example of postbop not far removed from its roots. B+(***) [sp]

Vanisha Gould: She's Not Shiny, She's Not Smooth (2024, Cellar Live): Jazz singer, seems to write her own material on this second album, following Life's a Gig in January -- recorded in 2022, and co-credited to pianist Chris McCarthy, who returns in a piano-bass-drums here. B+(**) [sp]

Mats Gustafsson & Liudas Mockūnas: Watching a Dog. Smiling (2022 [2024], NoBusiness): Avant-sax duo, one from Norway, the other from Lithuania, together they cover all the variants, from flute (and slide flute) to bass sax and contrabass clarinet, dropping in some live electronics. B+(*) [bc]

Steve Hirsh/Steve Swell/Jim Clouse/William Parker: Out on a Limb (2024, Soul City Sounds): Drums, trombone, saxophones, bass. Three long pieces, 73:50, high quality free jazz, especially the trombone. A- [bc]

Jasper Høiby's 3 Elements: Like Water (2024, Edition): Danish bassist, side credits start 2000, Phronesis in 2007, Kairos 4Tet in 2011, solo work from 2016. This one complements his 2023 Earthness: both are trios with Noah Stoneman (piano) and Luca Caruso (bass). B+(***) [sp]

Susie Ibarra/Jeffrey Zeigler/Graham Reynolds: Insectum (2024, Golden Hornet): Percussionist, born in Anaheim, raised in Houston, in New York since 1989, this piece a commission as "a sonic exploration of the world of arthropods," with all three listed as "composer/performer": Zeigler is a cellist from Kronos Quartet; Reynolds mostly seems to have done soundtracks since 2001. B+(**) [sp]

Joaju Cuarteto: Avy' a Jave (2023 [2024], Polka Blue): Group from Paraguay, "with predominant Paraguayan rhythms, such as polkas and guaranias in a language that converges with improvisation and jazz aesthetics with their own identities," or so goes the machine translation of one of the few pieces I've found on them/this, even in Spanish. B+(**) [sp]

Mike LeDonne/Eric Alexander [Heavy Hitters []: That's What's Up! (2023 [2024], Cellar Music): No clean way to parse this cover: Top line (large white type on black, all caps throughout: "That's What's Up!" Second line, medium brown type: "Mike LeDonne Eric Alexander." Third line, big type again, but light blue: "Heavy Hitters." Fourth line, small white type: "Jeremy Pelt Vincent Herring Alexander Clafty Kenny Washington." Background is the group's previous (2023) album, titled The Heavy Hitters, under six small print names (LeDonne, Alexander, Pelt, Herring, Washington, Peter Washington). Mainstream, aptly named. B+(***) [sp]

Alex LoRe: Motivity (2022 [2024], Weirdear): Alto saxophonist, also plays C-melody sax here, from Florida, based in Brooklyn, several albums since his 2014 debut trio, label name started off as group name (2019). Trio here with Thomas Morgan (bass) and Johnathan Blake (drums). This has a nice, airy feel to it. B+(***) [sp]

Matt Mitchell: Illimitable (2023 [2024], Obliquity): Pianist, has made a name for himself since 2006, and is clearly an exceptional pianist. Still, takes a lot to focus through 110 minutes (4 tracks) of solo improv. B+(***) [bc]

MTB [Brad Mehldau/Mark Turner/Peter Bernstein]: Solid Jackson (2023 [2024], Criss Cross Jazz): Group name from initials, playing piano/tenor sax/guitar, with a second line of names that are nearly as prominent: Larry Grenadier (bass) and Bill Stewart (drums). For the first four, this is a reunion of a 1994 quintet on the Dutch mainstream label, also credited to MTB, the only change the drummer (Leon Parker in 1994). While everyone is quite capable, the one who really carries the album is Bernstein. B+(***) [sp]

Demetrio Muñiz: Tromboneando con Demetrio Muñiz (2024, Egrem): Cuban trombonist, former musical director of Buena Vista Social Club, Discogs doesn't show many albums under his own name, but he has a fair number of side credits going back to 1982. Fairly wide range of sounds and styles here. B+(**) [sp]

Camila Nebbia/Sofia Salvo/Lara Alarcón/Alfred Vogel: Pnkstrasse53 (2023 [2024], Boomslang): Three musicians from Buenos Aires -- tenor sax, baritone sax, vocals + fx -- plus a drummer from Austria, recording in Berlin, promise "free improvisation with a punk jazz attitude." One thing punk is that the 9 pieces are short: 25:38. B+(**) [bc]

New Regency Orchestra: New Regency Orchestra (2024, Mr Bongo): "An 18-piece Afro-Cuban jazz big band, inspired by the musical melting pot of NYC in the 1950s, but with the punch and power of a whole host of London's best Latin and jazz musicians." I'm not seeing a roster of musicians, but the musical director is Lex Blondin. They offer a pretty fair echo of Mario Bauza and Tito Puente, which may be all you need. B+(**) [sp]

Margaux Oswald Collateral Damage: In Time, Hollow Oaks Become Chapels (2021 [2024], Clean Feed): Pianist, "of French-Filipina origin, both in Geneva, and currently based in Copenhagen." Half-dozen albums since 2021, this group lists two guitarists, three bassists, and a drummer. B+(**) [bc]

Berke Can Özcan & Jonah Parzen-Johnson: It Was Always Time (2024, We Jazz): Turkish drummer/sound designer, in a duo with a New York-based baritone saxophonist, both also credited with "instruments." B+(**) [bc]

Jamie Saft Trio: Plays Monk (2022 [2024], Oystertones): Pianist, albums start 1996, many side credits (especially with Bobby Previte and John Zorn), plays a lot of electric and organ but sticks to piano here, backed by Brad Jones (bass) and Hamid Drake (drums). B+(*) [sp]

Tom Skinner: Voices of Bishara Live at "mu" (2023 [2024], International Anthem): British drummer, mostly jazz credits since 1998, including Sons of Kemet, but also plays in post-Radiohead Britpop The Smile, led his first album in 2022, Voices of Bishara, and here takes them on the road, with two tenor saxophonists (Robert Stillman and Chelea Carmichael, the latter also on flute), cello, and bass I thought the album was pretty great, so I'm not surprised that this is pretty good, but it lacks that extra wallop you hope for in live albums. B+(**) [sp]

Steve Swell's Imbued With Light: Hommage à Galina Ustvolskaya (2024, Silkheart): Fourth in the avant-trombonist's series of hommages to modern-classical composers, first one I've never heard of, a Russian (1919-2006), per Wikipedia: "Known as 'the lady with the hammer,' her music has been described as demanding 'everything from the performer,' uncompromising in her trademark textured homophonic blocks of sound." Septet here, with trumpet, tuba, bassoon, cello, piano, and drums. B+(***) [bc]

Thumbscrew: Wingbeats (2024, Cuneiform): Trio of Tomas Fujiwara (drums/vibraphone), Michael Formanek (bass), and Mary Halvorson (guitar), with three song credits each (plus a Mingus cover), eighth group album since 2014. Each brings real talent, and they mesh well enough, but the album slips past without leaving enough of an impression. B+(***) [dl]

Tomin: Flores Para Verene/Cantos Para Caramina (2020-24 [2024], International Anthem): First name, last is Perea-Chamblee, based in New York, plays reeds (clarinets) and brass (cornet). This "debut album" is a compilation from singles and EPs (as far as I can tell), 24 short pieces adding up to 36:43. Feels a little sketchy. B+(*) [sp]

Tomin: A Willed and Conscious Balance (2024, International Anthem): This is billed as his "debut full-length work," 10 songs, 35:49, where Tomin Perea-Chamblee plays "flute, alto and bass clarinets, trombone, euphonium, bells, sine waves (Casio MT-70) and additional trumpet" -- Linton Smith II is the main trumpet player, with keyboards (Telana Davis), bass (Luke Stewart), two cellos, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Village of the Sun: Live in Tokyo (2023 [2024], Gearbox): This is Simon Ratledge, who is half of the British electronic duo Basement Jaxx, working with jazz musicians Binker Golding (sax) and Moses Boyd (drums), themselves the notable duo Binker & Moses. Live set, follows their eponymous 2020 album, for three tracks, 32:14. B+(**) [bc]

Liba Villavecchia Trio + Luis Vicente: Muracik (2022 [2024], Clean Feed): Spanish alto saxophonist, has credits going back to 1999 but his own groups really pick up around 2020, trio here with bass (Alex Reviriego) and drums (Vasco Trilla), with trumpet on the side. B+(**) [sp]

Terry Waldo & the Gotham City Band: Treasury Volume 1 (2024, Turtle Bay): Pianist, b. 1944, an interest in ragtime drew him to Eubie Blake, called his first group Waldo's Gutbucket Syncopators, formed his Gotham City Band after moving to New York in 1980. Unclear when or where this was recorded: his releases seem to thin out after 2010, but this is largely the same band as on the 2021 album, and the singer there has nothing before 2019, so the guess here is that this is a fairly recent recording, even if they're direct-cutting 78s and sending them off to Archeophone for restoration. A- [sp]

Cory Weeds Meets Champian Fulton: Every Now and Then: Live at OCL Studios (2024, Cellar Music): Alto saxophonist, albums since 2010, runs the mainstream-oriented label, duets with the pianist-singer. She's a fine singer, but my favorite track is the opener, just sax and piano. Oh, and this isn't their first meeting. B+(***) [sp]

Lucy Wijnands/John Di Martino: Call Me Irresponsible: The Songs of Jimmy Van Heusen (2022 [2023], Night Is Alive): Jazz singer, from Kansas City, father is stride pianist Bram Wijnands, album is sometimes just credited to the pianist (I've seen covers with both names, just his, or none with no subtitle), as well as references to the Night Is Right Band -- with Harry Allen (tenor sax), Dave Stryker (guitar), Peter Washington (bass), and Willie Jones III (drums) -- and no clear release date. The songs earned their standards status, the headliners are well suited, and Allen is better still. B+(***) [sp]

Lucy Wijnands: Something Awaits (2023, 4605843 DK2, EP): Jazz singer, father a stride pianist, neither this nor the album with John Di Martino above appear on Discogs or other discographies, but Will Friedwald, Michael Steinman, and Francis Davis are fans, and not without reason. Six songs, 24:55. B+(*) [sp]

Andrea Wolper: Wanderlust (2024, Moonflower Music): Jazz singer, only her fourth album since 1998, writes most of her own material, but opens with a Ray Charles tune here, and returns for Carole King and Sting. Band is first-rate, with John Di Martino (piano), Ken Filiano (bass), Michael TA Thompson (drums), Charles Burnham (violin), and co-producer Jeff Lederer (clarinet/flute), and she is masterful. A- [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Children of the Sun: Ofamfa (1971 [2024], Moved-by-Sound): Basically the same St. Louis group that also recorded as Black Artist Group and Human Arts Ensemble, the most famous alumnus of which is saxophonist Oliver Lake. This particular recording is build around the poems of Bruce Rutlin (aka Ajule). The poetry itself is fairly marginal, but the music, and especially the saxophone, can really take off. B+(***) [sp]

Iancu Dumitrescu: Ansamblul Hyperion (1980 [2024], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Romanian composer, reissue of his first album, originally relesed in 1981, his Ensemble including clarinet, flute, bassoon, viola, cello, double bass, trombone, and percussion, with his piano on one track, and there's certainly some uncredited electronics in the mix. The first piece doesn't go far beyond surveying the sound pallette, but the later pieces are often quite remarkable. A- [bc]

The Jazzmen: Nineteen Sixty-Six (1966 [2024], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Previously unreleased tape by a Poughkeepsie group led by bassist Tyrone Crabb, with the first recording of Joe McPhee on trumpet -- his sax debut, Underground Railroad came in 1969 -- with two saxophonists (Harry Hall and Reggie Marks), with Mike Kull on piano and Charlie Benjamin on drums. Opens with 9:56 wrapped around "One Mint Julep," then a 34:05 piece called "Killed in Vietnam/Milestones." The former is possibly over-constrained by an irresistible melody, while the latter can go off the rails, but that's not such a bad thing. B+(**) [bc]

Louis Jordan: World Broadcast Recordings 1944/45 (1944-45 [2024], Circle, 2CD): Radio shots, recorded for World Broadcasting System (WBS), 48 tracks "including previously unissued alternate takes." Terrific ditties, half familiar, all enjoyable, sound a bit less than ideal. B+(***) [sp]

Nature's Consort: Nature's Consort (1969 [2024], Aguirre): One-shot quintet album, four of five songs written by pianist Robert Naughton (aka Bobby Naughton, 1944-2022, mostly played vibraphone later on, was involved in Creative Improvisers Orchestra and related groups led by Leo Smith and Roscoe Mitchell), the other a Carla Bley cover, with James Duboise (brass), Mark Whitecage (reeds), Mario Pavone (bass), and Laurence Cook (percussion). B+(***) [yt]

Nisse Sandström Group: Öppet Ett (1965-67 [2023], Caprice): Swedish saxophonist (1942-2021), also plays bass clarinet, three early tracks, adds up to 40 minutes, some psychedelic rock influence with scattered chatter but eventually hits its mark. Mats Gustafsson curated the reissue series and wrote the liner notes -- I haven't read them, but recognize the influence. B+(***) [sp]

Omar Sosa: Omar Sosa's 88 Well Tuned Drums (1996-2018 [2024], Otá): Cuban pianist, moved to Ecuador in the 1990s, passed through California before settling in Barcelona. This is a soundtrack to a feature documentary, so it appears to pick up a range of pieces across his career, ranging from solo piano to big band. All are quite striking. A- [sp]

Charles Tolliver Music Inc: Live at the Captain's Cabin (1973 [2024], Cellar Music): Trumpet player, from Florida, started working with Jackie McLean in 1964 (e.g., It's Time!), produced a number of striking albums from 1968 well into the 1970s, many on the Strata-East label which he co-founded with Stanley Cowell. Sizzling live set here with John Hicks (piano), Clint Houston (bass), and Clifford Barbaro (drums). A- [sp]

Old music:

Steve Swell's Systems for Total Immersion: Hommage à Luciano Berio (2021 [2022], Silkheart): Free jazz trombonist, many albums since 1996, most relevant here are a series of "hommage" albums to modern composers, starting with Bartók and Messaien. I'm not very knowledgeable about any of these subjects, and this one is especially tricky. Ellen Christi sings, which is often a problem for me. Swell plays some pocket trumpet, with Marty Ehrlich on flute and reeds, Sam Newsome on soprano sax, Jim Pugliese on marimba, and Gerald Cleaver on drums, plus odd sounds I can't quite account for. Very tricky, but it never quite turned me off, and started to grow on me. B+(***) [bc]

Terry Waldo's Gutbucket Syncopators: Hot House Rag (1971 [2001], Delmark): Ragtime pianist, started out in Ohio and sought out Eubie Blake. His first album was released as Jazz in the Afternoon by Waldo's Gutbucket Syncopators, as part of Blackbird's "Jazz From Ohio Series." Those eight standards form the core of this 13-track reissue, with ragtime piano at the heart of a classic Hot Seven, the horns brilliant, the rhythm sustained by Bob Sundstrom's banjo and Mike Walbridge's tuba. B+(***) [r]

Terry Waldo: The Soul of Ragtime ([2014], Tompkins Square): Ragtime pianist from Ohio, b. 1944, learned his craft in the 1970s, when Eubie Blake was still around to mentor him. Sixteen tunes, not clear when they were recorded -- there's an earlier, undated album cover, showing a much younger man -- but it was certainly long after the tunes were first punched into rolls. B+(**) [r]

Terry Waldo/Tatiana Eva-Marie: I Double Dare You (2021, Turtle Bay): The singer started with the trad-oriented Avalon Jazz Band c. 2019. Trad/swing band led by the pianist, where Nick Russo's banjo is prominent. Nice duet to close. B+(*) [r]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet: Situation (PlayOn) [01-29]
• Groovology: Almost Home (Sugartown) [01-01]
• Benjie Porecki: All That Matters (Funklove Productions) [01-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

December archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 43333 [43304] rated (+29), 10 [6] unrated (+4).

I wasn't sure when (or if) I'd find time to run a Music Week post this week, but caught up with my daily mail late Tuesday evening, so I took a few minutes to run the break, leaving me just an introduction to write before posting.

I'm preoccupied with the 19th annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll, where we are facing a Friday, Dec. 20 deadline. I've counted 93 100 ballots so far. Last year I wound up with 159, up from 151 in 2022. I think we'll probably top these figures, but there's still a fair amount of uncertainty at this late date. The main reason for hope is that I've put quite a few more invites out this year, especially to critics in Europe. On the other hand, attrition (that I know about) strikes me as unusually high, and the unknown looms larger than ever.

Still, even the worst case imaginable (which is probably down around 140) means that this is a very large, very wide-ranging poll, which will generate a lot of tips for readers to explore. I'm generating lists of albums, which show that thus far 388 different new albums have received votes, plus 96 for the Rara Avis category (new releases of older music, recorded no later than 2014).

While I caught up with my mail around 8 pm, the next couple days should be a lot of work (and if not it will be pretty depressing). Meanwhile, I'm listening to whatever I can squeeze in. The only non-jazz album below is one that I stumbled across an open tab on, and figured it's short, so why not now? Glad I did.

New records reviewed this week:

John Butcher/Florian Stoffner/Chris Corsano: The Glass Changes Shape (2023 [2024], Relative Pitch): Sax/guitar/drums trio, Corsano also credited with "half clarinet." B+(**) [sp]

Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few: The World Is on Fire (2023 [2024], Division 81): Saxophonist (tenor, I think), from Chicago, started out as one of Ernest Dawkins' Young Masters, fifth group album, album credits break into three tiers, with a core quartet (piano-bass-drums), extras -- Corey Wilkes (trumpet), Ed Wilkerson Jr. (alto clarinet), plus harp, cello, flutes -- and vocals (also a Collier credit). The latter aren't the point, but sometimes the world impinges on your art, and you have to fight back. A- [sp]

Elephant9 With Terje Rypdal: Catching Fire (2017 [2024], Rune Grammofon): Norwegian fusion trio -- keyboards (Ståle Storløkken), bass (Nikolai Hængsle), drums (Torstein Lofthus) -- 11th album since 2008, in a live set with the guitarist. Starts tentative, but they do finally catch fire, which is something to behold. B+(***) [sp]

Eliane Elias: Time and Again (2024, Candid): From Brazil, initially established herself as a postbop pianist, married her bassist (Marc Johnson), first significantly Brazilian album was an instrumental Jobim tribute in 1990, then finally sang Jobim in 1998 (quite well). Since then she has mostly gravitated toward playing and singing Brazilian standards, as she does here, with the guitar finally overshadowing the piano. B+(**) [sp]

Peter Evans: Extra (2023 [2024], We Jazz): Trumpet player, started out in Mostly Other People Do the Killing, own albums start in 2004, including many collaborations with various European free jazz figures. Trio here with Petter Eldh (bass) and Jim Black (drums), both electronics, while he plays piccolo trumpet, flugelhorn, and piano. B+(***) [sp]

Kate Gentile/International Contemporary Ensemble: B i o m e i.i (2021 [2023], Obliquity): Drummer, albums since 2015, composed these pieces for a small chamber orchestra -- a group of 7 drawn from the venerable (since 2001) and much larger (34 is the number I keep running across) artist collective, so: flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, violin, vibraphone, piano, and the leader's drums. B+(***) [bc]

Ayumi Ishito: Roboquarians Vol. 1 (2022 [2024], 577): Japanese saxophonist, based in Brooklyn, several albums since 2015, this an "avant-punk" trio with George Draguns on guitar and Kevin Shea on drums. Evidently, Draguns goes back to the 1980s: Discogs calls him a bassist, and locates him in groups like Form and Mess, Storm and Stress, and Slag. The hard edges I associate with punk give way to synth effects here, credited to Ishito, whose horn is less evident. B+(**) [bc]

Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra: Live at the Adler Planetarium (2023 [2024], International Anthem): Trumpet player, groups started with Chicago Underground and eventually led to this Exploding Star Orchestra (debut 2007, this is their 10th album). Fitting, at least to anyone who remembers Sun Ra, that the latter (now 9-piece) group should wind up performing in the Grainger Sky Theater. B+(**) [sp]

Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra/Small Unit: Spectral Fiction (2023 [2024], Corbett vs. Dempsey): The "compact version" of the trumpeter's big band is slimmed down to six, each well known: Damon Locks (voice/electronics), Tomeka Reid (cello), Angelica Sanchez (Wurlitzer), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass), and Chad Taylor (drums). The music is interesting, but how good the album really is will turn on Locks' words, which I haven't been able to really focus on yet. But my first impression is they may be a plus. B+(***) [bc]

Milton Nascimento/Esperanza Spalding: Milton + Esperanza (2024, Concord): Legendary Brazilian singer-songwriter, active since the late 1960s, holds home court in these duets with the young American bassist-turned-singer, who complements him nicely, much as you'd expect. B+(**) [sp]

Eva Novoa: Novoa/Gress/Gray Trio, Volume 1 (2019 [2024], 577): Earlier, more conventional piano-bass-drums trio, although Gress is also credited with modular synthesizer, and the leader with Chinese gongs. B+(**) [os]

Ivo Perelman/Aruán Ortiz/Ramón López: Ephemeral Shapes (2024, Fundacja Słuchaj): Tenor sax, piano, and drums trio, improv, seven numbered "Shape" pieces, plus one called "Ephemeral." B+(***) [dl]

Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: Magical Incantations (2024, Soul City Sounds): Tenor sax and piano duo, a partnership which goes back at least to 1996's Bendito of Santa Cruz, intensified after 2011, peaking with the multi-volume The Art of Perelman-Shipp (2017), and continuing -- this is the 11th Shipp co-credit I have filed under Perelman since 2018. Impossible to make fine distinctions, but this does seem to merit its title. A- [sp]

Ivo Perelman/Gabby Fluke-Mogul: Duologues 2: Joy (2024, Ibeji Music): Tenor sax and violin duo. Part of a series that started with Nate Wooley, although there must have been dozens of prior Perelman duos, with many more to come. B+(**) [sp]

Ivo Perelman/Ingrid Laubrock: Duologues 3: Crystal Clear (2024, Ibeji Music): Duo, both play tenor sax. This reminds me that I still haven't listened to Perelman's Reed Rapture in Brooklyn (2022): 11 two-sax duos, each given a full CD. Laubrock would have made sense in that company. B+(***) [sp]

Ivo Perelman's São Paulo Creative 4: Supernova (2024, self-released): Brazil's most famous avant-saxophonist, who seems to have played with every peer in America and Europe, returns home for a sax quartet, with Lívio Tragtenberg (bass clarinet/alto sax), Rogério Costa (soprano/alto sax), and Manu Falleiros (soprano/baritone sax). B+(**) [sp]

Neta Raanan: Unforeseen Blossom (2024, Giant Step Arts): Tenor saxophonist, from New Jersey, quartet where Joel Ross (vibes) is very prominent, especially at first. Eventually the group settles down, and gets better for it. B+(***) [bc]

Christian Tamburr/Dominick Farinacci/Michael Ward-Bergeman: Triad (2024, Ropeadope): Trio of vibraphone/marimba, trumpet, and accordion, the first two Americans, but Ward-Bergeman's bio is cagier, with study at Berklee and stops in New Orleans and Vancouver. The accordion is more common in European jazz, but also explains the Astor Piazzolla opener. The trumpet is more at home in New Orleans, which gives us a cover of "St. James Infirmary" -- one of three guest vocal spots for Shenel Johns, starting with a gutsy "I Put a Spell on You" and ending with a torchy ballad. The other guest is Jamey Haddad, on percussion (6 of 10 tracks). Album title will no doubt carry on as the group name. A- [sp]

Teiku: Teiku (2022 [2024], 577): Group led by Josh Harlow (piano/electronics) and Jonathan Barahal Taylor (drums), composers who based this on Passover songs, offered as "liberation music . . . a call for justice for all oppressed peoples," noting that "as Jews, we decry the senseless violence, displacement, and killing perpetrated in our name." Group adds Peter Formanek (tenor/alto sax/clarinet), Rafael Leafar (bass clarinet/bass flute/tenor/soprano sax), and Jaribu Shahid (bass/percussion). B+(***) [sp]

Trance Map (Evan Parker and Matthew Wright): Horizons Held Close (2024, Relative Pitch): Wright is a British "sound artist," using electronics, turntables, and various other contraptions. He released a duo album with the avant-saxophonist in 2011 called Trance Map, and they've had several more group collaborations since, including two albums on Intakt. Back to a duo here, with Parker playing soprano. B+(**) [sp]

Transatlantic Trance Map: Marconi's Drift (2022 [2024], False Walls): Trance Map was a 2011 duo album of "sound designer" Matthew Wright and avant-saxophonist Evan Parker. They've collaborated several times since, including a recent duo, two mixed group albums on Intakt, and this their most complex endeavor: "two ensembles playing simultaneously on either side of the Atlantic ocean, connected through the internet and improvising through the airwaves." B+(**) [bc]

Unionen: Unionen (2024, We Jazz): Two stars each from Norway and Sweden -- Per "Texas" Johansson (reeds), Ståle Storløkken (keyboards), Petter Eldh (basses), and Gard Nilssen (drums) -- their name referring back to the 1814-1905 United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway (and not to the Swedish trade union, which was Google's first suggestion). B+(***) [sp]

John Zorn: New Masada Quartet, Volume 3: Live at Roulette (2024, Tzadik): Zorn puts his name on so many albums he doesn't play on that it's surprising not to see it here -- not that there's no precedent for attributing it as I did (and as I've done for both previous volumes) -- where he plays his usual alto sax on his book of well-rehearsed tunes, backed by Julian Lage (guitar), Jorge Roeder (bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums). Great to hear him cut loose, but this adds a whole other dimension to Lage's guitar. A- [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Tim Berne/Michael Formanek: Parlour Games (1991 [2024], Relative Pitch): Sax and bass duo, Berne playing alto and baritone, in a previously unreleased session that predates their 1998 duo, Ornery People. This is terrific all the way through. A- [sp]

Brian Calvin and Devin Johnston: Some Hours (1999 [2024], Corbett vs. Dempsey, EP): Short album (5 songs, 22:53), recorded by Jim O'Rourke, with Calvin (guitar/vocals) evidently writing the music to poet Johnston's words (who also plays guitar and offer backing vocals). B+(**) [bc]

Johnny Cash: Songwriter (1993 [2024], Mercury Nashville): Just his vocals, scraped from a demo tape from the void between Cash's Mercury albums (1987-91) and his 1994 work with Rick Rubin, with new instrumentals constructed by John Carter Cash and his crew. A couple of new songs appeared later (like "Drive On"), and some go way back (like "Sing It Pretty, Sue"). Short (11 songs in 30:53), very nicely done. A- [sp]

Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian: The Old Country: More From the Deer Head Inn (1992 [2024], ECM): The pianist is still alive, but was knocked out of action by a stroke in 2018, so his label has ever since been scrounging around old tapes for more work by their best-selling-ever artist, as if the market for his wares is inexhaustible. This picks up where his trio's 1994 At the Deer Head Inn left off, with a set of 8 standards running 73:29, with the Nat Adderely title piece the longest. B+(*) [sp]

Soft Machine: Høvikkoden 1971 (1971 [2024], Cuneiform): British prog rock group from Canterbury, started 1968 with a set of odd ditties dominated by singer-songwriter Kevin Ayres. After Ayres split, the rest -- Mike Rutledge (keyboards), Hugh Hopper (bass), and Robert Wyatt (drums), joined by avant-saxophonist Elton Dean (curiously, the source of half of Reginald Dwight's stage name, the other bit taken from Long John Baldry) -- stretched out, with Wyatt the only vocalist, and an odd duck at that. (Wyatt's "The Moon in June" side on Third is my favorite Soft Machine track. After a fall left him paralyzed from the waist down, he went solo, working with Eno and Carla Bley -- high points include his vocals on Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports and Michael Mantler's The Hapless Child -- and ultimately releasing some notable agitprop.) While the group's studio albums, at least through Seven in 1974 (I missed three more through 1981, including one with Allan Holdsworth), tended toward pleasant noodling, several interesting live tapes have surfaced recently, as well as periodic revivals (starting with Soft Machine Legacy in 2005). The live albums, especially the Dean years (1970-72), are much more jazz-oriented, contributing to the burgeoning fusion tide. The best example remains Grides, released in 2006 along with the Legacy disc. This at best is comparable, but two long sets unedited can seem redundant and meander a bit. B+(***) [dl]

Old music:

• None.

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Erik Jekabson: Breakthrough (Wide Hive) [01-17]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Thursday, December 12, 2024

December archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 43304 [43255] rated (+48), 6 [12] unrated (-6).

Schedule around here has gone haywire. Last week I posted on Tuesday, but this Tuesday I was frantically struggling to mail out a second round of invites to vote in the 19th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I finally got my list of 300+ prospects down to less than 50 high priorities, and after midnight sent out 35 emails. (Some names on my list still lacked email addresses, so I saved them for further investigation.) After that mailing, plus a notice sent to previous invitees via my jazzpoll email list, I got a deluge of mail to sort through, which took me through the end of Wednesday.

In between Tuesdays, Laura's cousin came for a 3-day visit, during which I got very little poll work done, but did manage to cook a nice Jewish dinner that compared favorably to the fancy Chinese restaurant and to the barbecue takeout of the other days: roast chicken with tsimmes, latkes with all of the trimmings, mustard slaw, chopped liver, applesauce cake. I didn't collect any photographic evidence, but the chicken was exceptionally lovely, and everything else was just plain yummy. We did manage to get the construction cleaned up before the visit, so now we can rest on our laurels.

As I'm writing this, I'm caught up, with 62 ballots counted, and eight days to go until the Dec. 20 deadline. All year (well, month) long I've hoped for the biggest and best poll ever. It's impossible at this point to tell whether we're on track or not. What I can say is that I've had a lot of warm responses, and that whatever results we wind up with will very interesting to readers who want a better idea of how much really high qualify jazz is being created in 2024.

One of the invitees who has yet to submit a ballot is Tom Hull, who will try to rectify that here and now. The ballot is just a sample from my ever-expanding Best Jazz of 2024 list, which at the moment counts 92 New Music albums graded A- or above (probably an all-time record high, and I'm still a long ways from processing many records I'm only discovering now as I compile the poll results) + 3 late adds from 2023. Also 23 (+1) new releases of older music A- or higher. These top picks are followed at B+(***) with 188 (+8) new music albums plus 26 (+4) old music albums. Lest you think I'm a pushover, the file also lists 355 new and 30 old music albums that I assigned lower grades to (for a total to date of 646 new music albums + 84 old music albums; that's just jazz, as I've also listened to some non-jazz during 2024).

My ballot:

NEW ALBUMS:

1. Allen Lowe & the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong's America (ESP-Disk): two volumes treated as one album
2. Fay Victor: Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (Tao Forms)
3. Luke Stewart Silt Trio: Unknown Rivers (Pi)
4. Emmeluth's Amoeba: Nonsense (Moserobie)
5. Darius Jones: Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity)
6. Steve Coleman and Five Elements: PolyTropos/Of Many Turns (Pi)
7. Dave Douglas: Gifts (Greenleaf Music)
8. The Core: Roots (Moserobie)
9. Ballister: Smash and Grab (Aerophonic)
10. أحمد [Ahmed]: Giant Beauty (Fönstret) **

RARA AVIS:

1. Mal Waldron/Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors: Live in Antwerp (1995, Elemental Music)
2. Sonny Rollins: Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance)
3. NRG Ensemble: Hold That Thought (1996, Corbett vs. Dempsey) **
4. Phil Haynes' 4 Horns and What?: The Complete American Recordings (1989-95, Corner Store Jazz, 3CD) **
5. Charles Gayle/Milford Graves/William Parker: WEBO (1991, Black Editions Archive) **

VOCAL: Above, plus up to +3.

1. Fay Victor: Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (Tao Forms)
2. Queen Esther: Things Are Looking Up (EL)
3. Catherine Russell/Sean Mason: My Ideal (Dot Time)
4. Betty Bryant: Lotta Livin' (Bry-Mar Music) **

LATIN: plus up to +3.

1. Julia Vari Feat. Negroni's Trio: Somos (Alternative Representa)
2. Dafnis Prieto Sí o Sï Quartet: 3 Sides of the Coin (Dafnison Music)
3. Hermanos Gutiérrez: Sonido Cósmico (Easy Eye Sound) **

DEBUT: plus up to +3.

1. Ivanna Cuesta: A Letter to the Earth (Orenda) **
2. Alfredo Colón: Blood Burden (Out of Your Head)
3. Mathias Højgaad Jensen: Is as Is (Fresh Sound New Talent)

Several notes of explanation:

• The label split the Allen Lowe album into two volumes (each 2-CD), but in the poll we're treating them as one album. (They came out the same day, and actually share the same liner notes.)
• I bumped my earlier ranking of the Ahmed box up considerably to squeeze it into the ballot, just ahead of the group's really superb Wood Blues album. I very rarely cast a vote just to promote an album, but after this album finished surprisingly strong in the mid-year poll, I've been disappointed at just how few votes this extraordinary work has received so far. My vote here should help nudge it into the top 50 that ArtsFuse will publish.
• Unfortunately, the record that fell off the list to make room for Ahmed was James Brandon Lewis Quartet's Transformation. Lewis's record is currently in the top 20, and could wind up in the top 10 (as could his Messthetics album, which is currently running a bit higher, but is one I like a bit less). One thing that softens the cost of dropping Lewis is that he also not just appears but stars in the Dave Douglas album I have at 8. The Douglas album only has 2 votes so far (same as Ahmed), so its chances of winding up in the top 50 are rather slim.
• Three albums on my list have no other votes so far: Emmeluth, Ballister, and Core. I always have about that many albums all to myself. There are many more albums like that among my A-list, the next one down being Roby Glod's No ToXiC. Mike Monford's The Cloth I'm Cut From could have been another, but it does have one vote so far.
• The Ahmed box is the only one of my top 10 albums that I didn't get a physical CD of. (Hint to whoever, although in this case I didn't even get a download link or a piece of junk mail -- although I did for Wood Blues. I also didn't get a CD of Transfiguration. The streamed/downloaded albums on my 2024 list are marked ** -- for non-jazz, that is very near everything; I had stripped, but now have returned those markings to the ballot above).
• Archival recordings are poorly promoted, so it's especially tempting to restrict the Rara Avis list to promos, but I stopped at two, demoting the Miles in France box (which is good and I am thankful for) so I could mention three other albums that are exceptional but not nearly as well known. Rara Avis is a grab bag of several different things that are hard to compare to one another, so you're always making hard choices here. I've made my EOY file conform to the order here, but that wasn't really necessary.
• I originally had Julia Vari both in Vocal and Latin, but dropped the former to squeeze in Betty Bryant. It's rare that I have this many vocal albums rated this high. (In past years, I might have listed Monford here, as the album has a fair bit of spoken word. There may be more where my memory and/or notes are deficient.)
• Miguel Zenón's Golden City ranks high enough to make the Latin list, and at the moment is in a three-way tie to lead the category. My review played down its significance as Latin Jazz, which gave me an excuse to skip over it, in favor of the more obvious (Dafnis Prieto) and the more obscure (Hermanos Gutiérrez, possibly non-jazz but instrumental and definitely rooted in Ecuador).
• Unusual to find as many as three Debut albums on my A-list, so I went with what I obviously had. I also considered Bex Burch's late-2023 There Is Only Love and Fear, which should be eligible, but decided 2024 albums would be cleaner.

One thing I did last week was to write up a shorter version of the invite letter, where I tried to downplay the rules a bit and make it sound less like contract law. I like this part:

Don't sweat the details. If you have fewer than the maximum number of choices, send in what you have. Vocal and Latin are pretty much whatever you think they mean. Debut has a stricter definition (which almost never allows groups to be eligible), but if it feels right, the worst that can happen is the album is ruled ineligible, and you'll have the chance to come up with something else, or leave it blank. If you can't come up with a maximum list (or don't think it's worth the trouble), just leave it short or blank.

The point isn't to judge everything. You're just making your recommendations, and in doing so, we will all benefit from your knowledge and taste. We don't give out plaques or ribbons. All we are really doing is helping our readers to better understand the great bounty of jazz released each year.

I haven't really followed my advice here: this is much more exhaustively overthought than I expect or even want other people to do. But these lists don't just tell us things about the music on the list, but about the voter, what you know, how you work, and how you view the world. These ballots matter not just because they're easy to aggregate and analyze, but because each tells its own story. That's why we make them all available, even if few readers really care to know that much.

Pretty much everything below is jazz, and that pattern is likely to hold for a couple more weeks. I haven't begun to tabulate all the albums I haven't heard yet that have gotten votes in the poll so far, but the number must be over 100. One resource I've only started to look at is the folder where I've been stuffing all my download link/codes for the past year.

I'll try to post another Music Week toward the middle of next week, but cannot guarantee anything. I basically need a break like I had today, and that seems unlikely. Meanwhile, I'm playing stuff almost continuously, and working my way through whatever happens. After the shock and nausea of the election, this kind of busy work is some kind of blessing -- just not the kind that clarifies thinking. Instead, we just do, and hope for the best. The poll, at least, will be a good thing to come from this period. Syria, I'm not so sure about.

I should mention that while I'm way behind, I've done occasional bits of work on the Metacritic/EOY Aggregate file. Charli XCX has opened up a fairly clear lead, but I don't know whether that's due to early UK reporting, or whether it will sustain as I count more US sources (among others, I haven't done Pitchfork or Rolling Stone yet).

I have a question about Speaking of Which that I want to respond to, but I don't want to hold this up for that. Besides, I have another ballot wanting attention, so I need to get to that. Always open to more questions.

New records reviewed this week:

Alfa Mist & Amika Quartet: Recurring: Live at King's Place (2024, Sekito): Group and/or alias for British keyboardist Alfa Sekitoleko, four previous albums since 2017, unclear on credits and recording date, but the string quartet makes its presence felt. B+(**) [sp]

The Bad Plus: Complex Emotions (2023 [2024], Mack Avenue): Originally a piano-bass-drums trio (2000-17), had some crossover success with their Nirvana cover, auditioned a new pianist after Ethan Iverson left, but founder Reid Anderson (bass) and Dave King (drums) are exploring their options: here (as with their 2022 album) with Ben Monder (guitar) and Chris Speed (reeds). They seem to have settled into something merely nice. B+(**) [sp]

Dmitry Baevsky: Roller Coaster (2024, Fresh Sound New Talent): Russian alto saxophonist, based in New York, sought out Cedar Walton and Jimmy Cobb for his 2004 Introducing, third album for Jordi Pujols' label, a quartet with Peter Bernstein (guitar), bass, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Bark Culture: Warm Wisdom (2023 [2024], Temperphantom): Philadelphia group, a trio led by composer-vibraphonist (Victor Vieira-Branco), with bass (John Moran), and drums (Joey Sullivan). First album. B+(*) [sp]

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin: Spin (2023 [2024], Ronin Rhythm): Swiss pianist, mostly produces extremely enticing rhythm tracks -- an early album was called Ritual Groove Music, before this became his primary group in 2002, with Sha on alto sax and bass clarinet, plus bass and drums. B+(***) [sp]

Body Meπa: Prayer in Dub (2024, Hausu Mountain): New York-based fusion group -- Greg Fox (drums), Sasha Frere-Jones (owl guitar), Melvin Gibbs (bass), Grey McMurray (deer guitar) -- second album, all rich textures and glimmering sufaces. B+(***) [sp]

Willi Bopp/Camille Émaille/Gianni Gebbia/Heiner Goebbels/Cécile Lartigau/Nicolas Perrin: The Mayfield (2022 [2024], Intakt): Many names above and below the title, the sort alphabetical but Bopp's credit (sound design) seems foundational. As for the others: percussion, saxophones, piano, ondes martenot, guitar/electronics. B+(**) [sp]

Karen Borca/Paul Murphy: Entwined (2024, Relative Pitch): Bassoon player, from Wisconsin, studied with Cecil Taylor there, and became his assistant at Antioch, in 1974 marrying his saxophonist, Jimmy Lyons, who she played with until his death in 1986 -- Murphy was the drummer in that same group. Though fairly well known for her side credits, Borca never had an album under her own name until 2024, when NoBusiness collected a couple Vision Festival group sets as Good News Blues. Now comes "her first proper album," an improv duo with drums. B+(***) [sp]

Sarah Buechi/Franz Hellmüller/Rafael Jerjen: Pink Mountain Sagas (2024, Intakt): Swiss jazz singer, sixth album since 2014 on Intakt, second to share credit line with guitarist and bassist, this time adding a "feat." cover credit for Kristina Brunner (Schwyzerörgeli [an accordion]) and Andreas Gabriel (violin). B+(**) [sp]

Anna Butterss: Mighty Vertebrate (2024, International Anthem): Bassist, member of Jeff Parker's IVtet, same concept here with Josh Johnson (alto sax/effects), but different guitarist (Gregory Uhlmann) and drummer (Ben Lumsdaine), with the leader also contributing some guitar, synths, flute, and drum machine, which can add a bit of bounce. Parker guests on one (of ten) tracks. I like the lead track even more than the Parker album, but it loses a step later on. B+(***) [sp]

Charlie and the Tropicales: Jump Up (2024, Nu-Tone): Third group album, led by New Orleans trombonist Charlie Halloran, warms up a mambo, adds a dash of calypso, a cover of "Gee Baby," and plenty more salsa picante, often depending on which guest singer they can line up for what. B+(**) [sp]

Sylvie Courvoisier: To Be Other-Wise (2024, Intakt): Swiss pianist, based in New York since 1998, shortly after her long string of records begins. This one is solo. B+(***) [sp]

Josephine Davies: Satori: Weatherwards (2024, Whirlwind): British tenor saxophonist, originally from the Shetland Islands, debut 2006, released Satori in 2017, initially a trio with bass (Dave Whitford) and drums (later James Maddren), adding Alcyona Mick on piano for this fourth album. Very poised, albeit with a couple of tentative spots. B+(***) [sp]

Caroline Davis: Portals Vol. 2: Returning (2022 [2024], Intakt): Alto saxophonist, based in New York, several albums since 2011, including a Portals Vol. 1: Mourning (2020). Interesting music, guest vocals a mixed bag. B+(**) [sp]

David Friesen: A Light Shining Through (2021 [2024], Origin): Bassist-composer, steady stream of albums ever since 1976, approaching 80 when he took his quartet -- Joe Manis (saxes), Alex Fantaev (percussion), and Charlie Doggett (more percussion) -- to pre-invasion (but not pre-war) Ukraine to record with the Kyiv Mozart String Quartet. B+(***) [cd]

Asher Gamedze & the Black Lungs: Constitution (2023 [2024], International Anthem): Jazz drummer from Capetown, South Africa, with several albums since 2020, this an octet plus vocals (Tina Mene) and words (Fred Moten). The latter are engaging, but the former veer toward opera. B+(*) [sp]

Ginetta's Vendetta: Fun Size (2024, Kickin' Wiccan Music): Group led by Ginetta M. (for Minichiello), who plays pocket trumpet and sings, sixth album, wrote a couple songs while covering tunes like "Moon River" and "Misty." Band includes tenor/soprano sax (Danny Walsh, piano (Jon Davis), bass, and drums. B+(*) [cd]

Louis Hayes: Artform Revisited (2024, Savant): Drummer, from Detroit, played with Horace Silver, John Coltrane, and Cannonball Adderley in the late 1950s, has a 1960 album but emerged as a leader in the late 1970s, and again in the early 1990s. Last heard on his 2017 Serenade for Horace, back here at 86 with a vibrant quintet -- Abraham Burton (tenor sax), Steve Nelson (vibes), David Hazeltine (piano), Dezron Douglas (bass) -- adding a couple originals (and "A Flower Is Lovesome Thing") to a program of bop-era standards. B+(***) [sp]

The Jazz Passengers: Big Large: In Memory of Curtis Fowlkes (2023 [2024], FOOD): Recorded "shortly before [the trombonist's] death," the octet he co-led with saxophonist Roy Nathanson still sounds fabulous ranging "from the wistful and tragic to the vaudevillian and absurd, . . . a living memory, a yearning we all have for something just out of reach," although their vocals rarely approach the same level of craft. B+(***) [sp]

Emiliano Lasansky: The Optimist (2024, Outside In Music): Bassist, from Iowa, studied in Rochester, moved to New York, released an album with the group Kin (2019), moved on to Los Angeles, this counts as his debut, a quartet with Devin Daniels (alto sax), Javier Santiago (piano), and Benjamin Ring (drums), with vocals (Genevieve Artadi) on 4 tracks. B+(***) [sp]

Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: Brink (2024, Intakt): German saxophonist (tenor/soprano), based in New York, has been playing with the drummer at least since 2008, with several duo albums (especially during the 2020 lockdown). B+(**) [r]

Jeff Lederer: Guilty! (2024, Little (i) Music): Saxophonist (tenor/alto), has several albums under his own name but also works under group names (Brooklyn Blowhards, Shakers n' Bakers) and side credits. Here he revives his "post-modern Traditional Jazz band" Swing n' Dix -- Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Bob Stewart (tuba), and Matt Wilson (drums), with guest spots for Curtis Hasselbring (trombone/electronics) and Mary LaRose (vocals) -- for another round of old-timey sounds wracked by modernist maelstrom. B+(**) [sp]

Luis Lopes Humanization 4tet: Saarbrücken (2021 [2024], Clean Feed): Portuguese electric guitarist, fifth album since 2008 with this group, with tenor sax great Rodrigo Amado and two sons of the American trumpet player Dennis Gonzalez -- Aaron on bass, Stefan on drums. While the saxophonist is always impressive, the guitar is especially distinctive here. A- [bc]

Luis Lopes: Dark Narcissus: Stereo Guitar Solo (2024, Shhpuma): Not sure what the technical gimmick is here, but the tone is metallic, a collage of sound that retains its interest. B+(**) [bc]

Roberto Magris: Europlane for Jazz: Freedom Is Peace (2024, JMood): Italian pianist, led Gruppo Jazz Marca in the 1980s, solo albums start from 1990. This revives his Europlane group, which had recorded three albums 1998-2005: currently a sextet with Tony Lakatos (tenor/soprano sax), Florian Bramböck (alto/baritone sax), Lukás Oravec (trumpet/fluegelhorn), bass, and drums, for a long and often delightful (75:50) live set. B+(***) [cd]

Francisco Mela/Zoh Amba: Causa y Efecto (Vol. 2) (2021 [2024], 577): Drums and tenor sax duo, some voice from Mela, some flute from Amba. Label like to split its sessions into paired volumes then delay the second part. B+(**) [bc]

Eva Novoa: Novoa/Carter/Mela Trio, Vol. 1 (2021 [2024], 577): Spanish pianist, debut 2016, third different trio she's assembled for this label, this with Daniel Carter (tenor sax, trumpet, flute, clarinet) and Francisco Mela (drums). Long first-side piece is beautifully balanced. Second side drops in a bit of vocal (Mela) on one piece, some electric keyb on the other, but Carter is again superb. A- [os]

Adam O'Farrill: Hueso (2024, FOOD): Trumpet player, from New York, father and grandfather are famous Latin Jazz masters, but he's more likely to show up in free jazz contexts. Quartet here with Xavier Del Castillo (tenor sax), Walter Stinson (bass), and brother Zack O'Farrill (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Out Of/Into [Joel Ross/Gerald Clayton/Kendrick Scott/Matt Brewer/Immanuel Wilkins]: Motion I (2024, Blue Note): One of the label's occasional ad hoc supergroup projects, where Wilkins (alto sax) and Ross (vibes) are their latest generation of stars, backed here by well established piano-bass-drums players. They're all superb players, and this could easily pass as a fine album, if you didn't listen to much else that's been coming out. B+(**) [sp]

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet: The Way Out of Easy (2023 [2024], International Anthem): Guitarist, long associated with Chicago but seems to be based in Los Angeles these days, started in post-rock group Tortoise while working with Chicago Underground, Hamid Drake, Joshua Abrams, and others. ETA refers to Enfield Tennis Academy, the site of this quartet's breakout 2022 live album. With better PR/distribution, this album has already [by the day it appeared on streaming platforms] been reviewed by Guardian (4 stars) and Pitchfork (8.4!). Another live album, with Jeff Johnson (alto sax/electronics) riffing over immensely appealing grooves -- Anna Butterss (bass), Jay Bellerose (drums), and the leader's guitar. Perhaps a bit more focused on the landing than on the takeoff. A- [sp]

Ivo Perelman/Fay Victor/Jim Morris/Ramon Lopez: Messa Di Voce (2018 [2024], Mahakala Music): Avant-saxophonist from Brazil, first albums date from 1989, and he's become more and more prolific over the years: this is the 6th I've heard of 9 2024 albums in my tracking file, which I'm pretty sure is incomplete. Victor is a vocalist who is up to the challenge of a horn joust, with the others filling and driving on bass and drums. B+(***) [bc]

Ivo Perelman/Nate Wooley: Polarity 3 (2024, Burning Ambulance): Tenor sax and trumpet duo, their third since 2020. A fairly limited sonic pallette, especially without a rhythm section to move them along. B [bc]

Joe Sanders: Parallels (2021 [2024], Whirlwind): Bassist, based in New York, credits also include "drums, piano, voice, programming." Has a 2012 debut on Criss Cross, mostly side credits after that. Opens with four live tracks from 2021, with two saxes (Logan Richardson and Seamus Blake) and drums (Greg Hutchinson), followed by six undated studio tracks with only two guest spots. Each interesting in different ways, which don't add up. B [sp]

Jenny Scheinman: All Species Parade (2024, Royal Potato Family): Violinist, a dozen or so albums since 2000, plus quite a few side credits. Reflects on her roots in Humboldt County, California, which she returned to after making a name for herself in New York. Carmen Stief (piano) and Bill Frisell (guitar) blend into the countryside, with bass (Tony Scherr), drums (Kenny Wollesen), and additional guitar spots for Julian Lage or Nels Cline. Sprawls over 2-LP, but the 72 minutes fits a single CD. B+(***) [sp]

Jörg A. Schneider/Luis Lopes: Schneider/Lopes (2023 [2024], Schneidercollaboration): Drums and guitar duo. B+(**) [bc]

Shabaka: Possession (2024, Impulse!, EP): One of the most imposing saxophonist to come out of the UK ever, Shabaka Hutchings swore off his instrument last time out, opting for flute and a more ambient/spiritual flow. He continues here, with five songs, 23:37, drawing on hip-hop guests (like Billy Woods, Elucid, and fellow flute devotee André 3000), as well as Esperanza Spalding and Nduduzo Makhathini. B [sp]

Linda Sikhakhane: Iladi (2024, Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist from South Africa, based in New York, he has a couple self-released albums, one on Ropeadope, then this one on his pianist Nduduzo Makhathini's major label. With bass (Zwelakhe-Duma Bell Le Pere) and drums (Kweku Sumbry), and a strong sonic (sounds like spiritual) debt to Coltrane. B+(***) [sp]

Ben Solomon: Echolocation (2023 [2024], Giant Step Arts): Tenor saxophonist, based in New York, this got some votes for Debut album, but while Discogs doesn't list anything, his Bandcamp has two previous albums (one from 2023). Quartet with piano (Davis Whitfield), bass (Rahsaan Carter), and drums (Kush Abadey). Includes tributes to Coltrane and Shorter, whose influence is evident. B+(***) [sp]

Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: Secret Message (2023 [2024], Circle 9): Drummer, presumably from Detroit although this second group album was recorded in Paramus, has a swishy, big band feel but not the body count, swinging eight standards -- from Porter into Lennon-McCartney, Leon Russell, and Stevie Wonder. B+(**) [cd]

Chucho Valdés/Royal Quartet: Cuba and Beyond (2024, InterCat Music Group): Cuban pianist, father was a major bandleader, founded and led the group Irakere, still impressive in his 80s, his group a quartet with bass, drums, and percussion. B+(**) [sp]

Anna Webber: Simpletrio2000 (2023 [2024], Intakt): Canadian tenor saxophonist, also plays flute, born in Vancouver, studied in Montreal, moved to New York, steady stream of albums since 2010, this as advertised with below-the-title cover credit for Matt Mitchell (piano) and John Hollenbeck (drums), who are nobody's idea of simple. The fast stretches are exceptional, but the flute can slow them down. B+(***) [bc]

Ben Wolfe: The Understated (2023 [2024], Resident Arts): Bassist, tenth album since 1998, composed all pieces, most with Nicole Glover (tenor sax), Orrin Evans (piano), and Aaron Kimmel (drums), with guest spots (two tracks each) for Russell Malone (guitar) and Sullivan Fortner (piano). B+(*) [sp]

John Zorn & Jesse Harris: Love Songs Live (2023 [2024], Tzadik): Songwriters, music and lyrics respectively, Harris best known for his 2001-09 work with Norah Jones (although he has done much more since). The singer here is Petra Haden, backed by Brian Marsella (piano), Jorge Roeder (bass), and Ches Smith (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Louis Armstrong All Stars: Lausanne 1952 [Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series, Vol. 48] (1952 [2024], TCB): No real surprises here, as the set list is familiar from other live shots from the period, when the legitimately named "All Stars" that in 1947 featured Earl Hines, Barney Bigard, Jack Teagarden, and Big Sid Catlett, were down to Bob McCracken (clarinet), Trummy Young (trombone), Marty Napoleon (piano), Arvell Shaw (bass), and Cozy Cole (drums). They make for a very hot five, although the program becomes more varied when Velma Middleton enters, followed by features for the various "stars." B+(***) [bc]

Jakob Bro/Lee Konitz/Bill Frisell/Jason Moran/Thomas Morgan/Andrew Cyrille: Taking Turns (2014 [2024], ECM): Danish guitarist, debut album 2003, recorded his first ECM album in Oslo in 2013, a few months before this shelved studio session in New York. Bro original compositions, everyone lays back, though at this point anything by Konitz is welcome. B+(*) [sp]

Bill Evans: In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert (1970 [2024], Elemental Music): Pianist (1929-80), legend enough he has quite a bit of newly discovered archival work out. This is a trio with Eddie Gomez (bass) and Marty Morell (drums), from a strong year. CD runs 79:33, 2-LP runs €49.98. B+(***) [cd]

Al Jarreau: Wow! Live at the Childe Harold (1976 [2024], Resonance): Jazz singer (1940-2017), enjoyed some vogue in the late 1970s as a semipop crossover (five Grammys 1978-82, 5 more in 1986, 1993, and 2007; albums in 1981 and 1983 charted 9 and 13). Christgau dismissed him, "maybe because he neither writes nor interprets songs with the soul to match his freeze-dried facility." I checked him out, didn't care for what I heard, and forgot all but his name. But this newly discovered live tape does attest to his "facility," and largely justifies its title. B+(***) [cd]

NRG Ensemble: Hold That Thought (1996 [2024], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Group originally founded by avant-saxophonist Hal Russell (1926-92), with Mars Williams continuing the group for a few years after his death, notably recruiting young saxophonist Ken Vandermark, who would shortly bring Williams and bassist Kent Kessler into his Vandermark 5. (I didn't realize this until just now, but Russell's original name was Luttenbacher, hence he was the inspiration as well as a founding member of Weasel Walter's no-wave post-rock band, the Flying Luttenbachers.) Williams died last year, and this live set, from Utrecht, was found among his archives. It's an extraordinary piece of work, not just a tribute to past Russell but a harbinger of future Vandermark. A- [bc]

Old music:

• None.

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Jessica Jones Quartet: Edible Flowers (Reva) [01-03]
• Karl Latham: Living Standards II (Dropzone Jazz) [01-17]
• Noel Okimoto: Hō'ihi (Noel Okimoto Music) [01-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

December archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 43255 [43229] rated (+26), 12 [21] unrated (-9).

Another short week, attempting to revert to a normal (or at least more customary) publication date of Tuesday (or Monday). But also because we're expecting company from late tonight through the weekend, so I'm not expecting much more time to work on this (or anything else).

We finally moved back into our wrecked-and-renovated upstairs room, with all the dislocated clutter if not back in its original resting space at least stashed away somewhere we won't accidentally trip over. I'll still need to figure out some organization for the now empty closet space, but that's no longer on the critical path to something else. And if we do manage to declutter some, we might not even need it.

I wish I could say the 19th annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll was properly shaped up, but I've bumbled through another week of deep thought and lightweight hacking, making only small measures of progress. The initial round of 230 invites went out on or near Nov. 20. (The 8 bounces have since been reduced to 5. Anti-spam problems persist, even within the rather compact jpadmin mail list. (I'm overdue to send a reminder to the more global jazzpoll mail list, but I keep thinking I'll have better news soon.) The website Voter Notes have a lot more detail, but are still unfinished. The more urgent project is to get a second round of ballot invites out, which may take as long as the end of the week. If you're expecting one and haven't heard yet, please nag me.

I've counted 27 ballots, and have 4-5 in my inbox today that I'll get to after posting this. The pace should pick up steadily from this week, although it's impossible to predict whether we will wind up with 120 or 150 or 180 ballots (or maybe even 200 if the second round really explodes). The biggest uncertainty is how much mail is actually getting through to voters, as there is no way (at least that I know of) to ensure or even accurately measure delivery. In the past, I've urged people who read this to spread the word, but I've never seen any evidence of that working.

So I'm torn between feelings of panic and que sera sera, with the coming distraction favoring the latter. No new work on the ultimate Speaking of Which. I glanced briefly at The Intelligencer today for the first time in a week or two, discovering that Biden pardoned his son -- which at least short-circuits the question of whether Trump would have done so (in the hollowest gesture of bipartisanship imaginable). Also Ed Kilgore attacking "Sanders, Warren, and other progressives" for "looking to steal some of Trump's populist street cred" and "just deny Democrats a united front" (against what? street cred?). Nothing there on South Korea yet, where the right does seem to have provoked a "united front" in defense of democracy.

Meanwhile, I've moved from Marshall Berman's All That Is Solid Melts Into Air to another old book I've long meant to read, Eric Hobsbawm's The Age of Capital: 1848-1875. I have two more Hobsbawm volumes lined up after that, with The Age of Extremes on a shelf hereabouts since I bought it hot off the press. I might also note that I did manage to take a break Sunday to fix a very comfy dinner. Had leftovers tonight, and they were delish. With company, hopefully I'll get to cook some more. Helps relieve stress, even though it does tend to come back on you.

I haven't filed my own ballot yet, but will do so this week. For a rough draft, you can look at my Jazz list. I have to reconsider the order, which has always been slapdash, but the leading candidates haven't changed much in well over a month -- the adds have been way down the list, which currently is up to a possible record-high 89 A-list jazz albums. One likely change is that I'll combine the Lowe volumes into one entry and make it my top pick. (The Pollmaster has allowed that to be legal. See the op. cit. Voter Notes.) I'll publish whatever I come up with next week, along with whatever news crops up. Meanwhile, my Non-Jazz list remains relatively lame, with a mere 49 A-list new albums, which Lamar Kendrick barely missed this week. I've done a little bit of EOY Aggregate work, but not much. I'll have time to catch up later. One thing I have zero interest in right now is 2025 releases. My 2024 demo queue is down to 6 albums right now. I should knock them down next week. As for saved download links, not my problem right now.

I've skipped past much bookkeeping work over the last month or so, and doubt I'll make any progress on it for a couple more weeks, but eventually I'll get to it. Looking forward to changes, around here if not out there, after the Poll.

New records reviewed this week:

Jacqui Dankworth: Windmills (2024, Perdido): British jazz singer, daughter of saxophonist John Dankworth and singer Cleo Laine, started in theatre, at least eight albums since 1994. Standards, in orchestral arrangements, does offer a quite nice "Send in the Clowns." B+(*) [sp]

Djrum: Meaning's Edge (2024, Houndstooth, EP): British electronica producer Felix Manuel, has mostly singles and EPs since 2010 (Discogs lists 2 albums, from 2013 and 2018, but counts this 5 tracks, 31:59 as an EP). B+(**) [sp]

Taylor Eigsti: Plot Armor (2024, GroundUP Music): Pianist, ninth album since 1999, won a Grammy last time out, Tree Falls (2021). Many guest spots here, including trumpet (Terence Blanchard), sax (Ben Wendel, Dayna Stephens), and vocals (Lisa Fischer, Gretchen Parlato, Becca Stevens), plus "many appearances by a layered string section." B- [sp]

Floros Floridis/Matthias Bauer/Joe Hertenstein: Temporal Driftness (2023 [2024], Evil Rabbit): Greek clarinet player (mostly bass clarinet here, also alto sax), studied physics and math before choosing music, first albums 1979-80, has a fairly steady stream of albums (not huge, but Discogs places him on five 2024 releases), seems to be based in Berlin now. Free improv trio with bass and drums, working their way through 11 numbered "Drift" pieces, nothing spectacular but a fine example of how it's done. A- [sp]

Joe Fonda Quartet: Eyes on the Horizon (2024 [2024], Long Song): Free jazz bassist, many albums since 1981, Discogs counts 43 under his own name, but that skips many groups he led or co-led -- e.g., the Fonda/Stevens group, and FAB Trio (with Billy Bang). (Discogs has 182 album performance credits). He draws on longtime collaborators here: Satoko Fujii (piano, 5 duo albums since 2015), Tiziano Tononi (drums, 7 albums since 2018), and (going way back) Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet). Exemplary work all around. A- [cd]

Ben Goldberg/Todd Sickafoose/Scott Amendola: Here to There (2024, Secret Hatch): Clarinet player, including bass clarinet, backed by bass and drums/electronics, offers new tunes based on Thelonious Monk "bridges." B+(**) [cd]

Mickey Guyton: House on Fire (2024, Capitol Nashville): Nashville singer-songwriter, second album after several EPs and the breakout single "Black Like Me." Sounds more pop than country. B+(*) [sp]

Tom Harrell: Alternate Summer (2022 [2024], HighNote): Trumper player, debut 1976, by which time he had played with Kenton, Herman, and Horace Silver. Postbop group, all original pieces, with either Mark Turner or Dayna Stephens on tenor sax, Charles Altura on guitar (4 tracks, of 10), backed by a rhythm section of Luis Perdomo, Ugonna Okegwo, and Adam Cruz. B+(**) [sp]

Cliff Korman Trio: Urban Tracks (2021 [2024], SS): Pianist, from New York, has side credits back to 1984, many with Brazilian connections. Trio with bass and drums. B+(*) [cd] [12-06]

Marie Krüttli Trio: Scoria (2023 [2024], Intakt): Swiss pianist, several albums since her first trio in 2015, this one with Lukas Traxel (bass) and Gautier Garrigue (drums). B+(*) [sp]

Kendrick Lamar: GNX (2024, PGLang/Interscope): Los Angeles rapper, started as K.Dot, sixth studio album after a widely admired 2010 mixtape (Overly Dedicated), this one came with no advance hype, and no overarching concept. Some good bits here, but not much I'm connecting with. B+(***) [sp]

Hayoung Lyou: The Myth of Katabasis (2024, Endectomorph Music): Pianist from Korea, studied at Berklee and New England Conservatory, based in New York. Second album, trio with Thomas Morgan (bass) and Steven Crammer (drums). The focus is very much on the piano, wending its way from "syrupy Russian piano music" to the "hard-fought freedom into jazz." B+(**) [cd]

Rob Mazurek Quartet: Color Systems (2022 [2024], RogueArt): Trumpet player (+ piccolo trumpet, bells, electronics), many albums since 1995, practically trademarked the idea of Chicago Underground, and has expanded on that in various directions (even developing a Sao Paulo franchise). Stellar quartet here with Angelica Sanchez (piano), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Chad Taylor (drums). B+(***) [cdr]

Kresten Osgood Quintet: Live at H15 Studio (2017 [2024], ILK Music): Danish drummer, 120 performance credits since 2000, organized this group for a 2018 album, Kresten Osgood Quintet Plays Jazz, with this a live set from the same month (but repeating no songs). With Erik Kimestad Pedersen (trumpet), Mads Egetoft (sax), Jeppe Zeeberg (piano), and Matthias Petri (bass). B+(**) [sp]

Reut Regev's R*Time: It's Now: R*Time Plays Doug Hammond (2023 [2024], ESP-Disk): Trombonist, also plays "flugabone," based in New York, introduced R*Time band in 2009, plays some fusion of gutbucket blues and free jazz, married to drummer Igal Foni -- present here, along with Jean-Paul Bourelly (guitar) and Eric Revis (bass), with Hammond writing the songs and singing most of them. As usual, the vocals are the weak spot, but not without interest. B+(***) [cd]

Sara Serpa: Encounters & Collisions (2023 [2024], Biophilia): Jazz singer, from Portugal, studied in Boston, based in New York since her 2008 debut, dozen albums, some kind of art song, a style (slow, articulate, contorted) I've never cared for. The singing alternates with spoken word stories I have trouble hearing and instrumental backing -- Ingrid Laubrock (sax), Angelica Sanchez (piano), and Erik Friedlander (cello) -- I do enjoy. B+(*) [cd]

Skyzoo: Keep Me Company (2024, Old Soul Music): New York rapper Gregory Taylor, still underground after twenty years. "The only thing that sounds better muted is trumpet." B+(***) [sp]

Margaret Slovak & Chris Maresh: A Star's Light Does Fall (2024, Slovak Music): Nylon string guitar for that delicate touch, duets with acoustic bass, nicely ambient. B+(*) [cd]

Sun Ra Arkestra [Under the Direction of Marshall Allen]: Lights on a Satellite (2024, In+Out): Sun Ra's ghost band, still under the steady leadership of long-time alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, who had just passed 100 when he brought the 24-piece band to New York's Power Station to record this double-LP, starting with a 10-minut run through the title song (from 1961), before going earlier and later. After all the space talk, they wind up "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans." A- [sp]

Pat Thomas: The Solar Model of Ibn Al-Shatir (2024, Otoroku): Avant-pianist, based in London, early albums with Lol Coxhill (1993) and Derek Bailey (1997), has drawn on Arabic models, especially for his solo work (starting with Nur in 1999, and most impressively in his Ahmed group). B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Duck Baker: Breakdown Lane: Free Jazz Guitar 1976-1998 (1976-98 [2024], ESP-Disk): Guitarist, acoustic fingerstyle, straddles folk and jazz, first album 1975, scattered solos and duos with Eugene Chadbourne. B+(**) [cd]

Miles Davis Quintet: Miles in France 1963 & 1964 [The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8] (1963-64 [2024], Columbia/Legacy, 6CD): Another treasure trove of live quintet sets, with the young Herbie Hancock-Ron Carter-Tony Williams rhythm section, plus George Coleman (tenor sax) on the 1963 Juan-Les-Pins festival sessions, replaced by Wayne Shorter for the 1964 sets at Salle Pleyel. The 7/27/1963 set mostly appeared in Miles Davis in Europe (1964), but everything else was previously unreleased, with the extra focus on Coleman most appreciated. Overall, sounds about par for live Davis from the period -- which is to say, instantly recognizable and often sublime -- like The Complete Concert 1964 (with Coleman), Miles in Berlin (with Shorter), and the most intriguing path not taken, Miles in Tokyo (with Sam Rivers). [CD packaging is remarkably compact, unlike the earlier Bootleg Series vaults, or the pricey 8-LP.] A- [cd]

Miles Davis: Miles '54: The Prestige Recordings (1954 [2024], Craft, 2CD): Or 4-LP, which is probably the point, but the label takes their remastering seriously, and offers a range of formats. This collects four sessions from the pivotal year in Davis's 1951-56 tenure at Prestige, starting with three tracks (including "Four") from the back half of a 10-inch LP, followed by star-laden sessions eventually released as Walkin', Bags Groove, and Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants -- some with Sonny Rollins (tenor sax) or Milt Jackson (vibes), with Horace Silver or Thelonious Monk on piano, Percy Heath (bass), and Kenny Clarke (drums), with two tracks each for Jay Jay Johnson (trombone), Lucky Thompson (tenor sax), and Dave Schildkraut (alto sax). A- [sp]

B.B. King: In France: Live at the 1977 Nancy Jazz Pulsations Festival (1977 [2024], Deep Digs/Elemental Music): Memphis blues guitarist-singer (1925-2015), his classic singles date from the early 1950s, but with 1964's Live at the Regal he started to gain a rock audience, as well as hitting up a few jazz festivals, and he remained a popular figure past 2000. He rolls out the horns here, and puts on a good show, with the flagship 2-LP product squeezing neatly in to one 79:17 CD. B+(**) [cd]

Sun Ra: Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank (1978 [2024], Resonance, 2CD): Confusing to have this reissue share the same title as the new album by the ghost Arkestra -- song title goes back at least as far as 1961's Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow. This was a prime period for the big band, with their consummate knack of making a circus out of their imagined cosmos: while they can fall into schtick, or break down in chaos, their flights of fantasy are as primal as they are astonishing. A- [cd]

Old music:

Sun Ra & His Arkestra: Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow (1961 [2014], Enterplanetary Koncepts): Two New York sessions, shortly after the band moved from Chicago, including their first take on "Lights on a Satellite," the title of two prominent 2024 releases (one a 1978 live shot, the other a celebration of Marshall Allen's 100th birthday). Some early sonic experiments, but the underlying swing is strong, and a bonus track reminds you how hard John Gilmore could play. A- [bc]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Liz Cole: I Want to Be Happy (self-released) [01-28]
• Eugenie Jones: Eugenie (Open Mic) [01-20]
• Doug MacDonald: Santa Monica Session (DMAC Music) [01-01]
• Rob Mazurek Quartet: Color Systems (RogueArt) [11-11]
• Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: Secret Message (Circle 9) [11-15]
• Vincenzo Virgillito: Precondition (self-released) [01-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Thursday, November 28, 2024

November archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 43229 [43200] rated (+29), 21 [28] unrated (-7).

Having delayed posting of last week's Music Week until Friday (Nov. 22), I was uncertain whether to try to rush this week's post back to its normal Monday/Tuesday time frame, or hold back until the end of November (Saturday, Nov. 30), or even just skip the week and resync next Monday. I figured it would depend on what I had to say when about the 2024 Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll.

My goals for the week there were to whip the website into shape, both as the eventual home of the ballots and totals, and as a useful resource for voters. For the latter, I've mostly focused on a long and detailed Voters Notes file. My other big project was to come up with a second round of invites to vote. The first round went out on Nov. 20 to 228 critics, most of whom have voted in recent polls. I'm looking to add another 40-60 names to the list, or possibly more. (Some early research uncovered over 150 new names, but they still need to be vetted and contacted, and that's slow work.)

To date, I'm fairly happy with the website work -- the Voter Notes file still doesn't have everything I wanted, but it's getting there, while the hypothetical FAQ has been nixxed, at least for now. But I've made damn little progress on the second round voter list -- so little that I've decided to run this without waiting for better news.

I've had to hack on the software to handle the expansion of the Vocal/Latin/Debut categories, but that wasn't too difficult, so I'm generating good ballot and totals pages. I've tabulated 19 ballots, which reference 130 New Albums, 38 Rara Avis, 25 Vocal Albums, 22 Latin Albums, and 15 Debut albums. Lists of albums so far receiving votes are available here (alphabetized by artist, so as not to reveal much about the standings). Still, these lists are good for prospecting. I haven't run numbers this year yet, but in the past I've found that a third or more of the albums receiving votes were not previously in my tracking file. Much of the new jazz this week was suggested by ballots.

Counting the ballots is the fun part of the job. The bane of my existence is the aggravation and especially the uncertainty of email. I sent a message to 202 people on my "jazzpoll" email list, but how many actually received it? I don't know, and don't know how to find out. I sent 228 ballot invites out from my own email address, using a very laborious process that I believe works better than the mass mailing list, but how much better I still don't know. (I do know that 8 of those messages bounced.) This uncertainty haunts me, with visions of imminent failure. On the other hand, the people who do respond are doing great work, and their data input is extremely valuable. In the end, they will make this worthwhile, but the meantime is rough.

We have zero plans for Thanksgiving tomorrow, so maybe I'll get some work done. Perhaps even more urgent than the Poll is wrapping up the wrecked bedroom project. A few months ago, a chunk of ceiling fell in. I got a contractor to come in and patch it, recover the whole ceiling with new drywall, and steam the ugly wallpaper that has covered the walls since we moved in in 1999. The closet had even uglier wallpaper, and even worse surfaces. (This is a 1920 house, so lath/plaster everywhere.) I had bought paneling some years ago for the closet, but never got into it, so that became my piece of the project. It's taken many weeks, during which all the stuff from the room got moved into other rooms, creating endless hassles for both of us. (I just posted a picture on Facebook.) Tomorrow I'll work on the closet, and we'll start to move back into the room. Most of the weight is in books, which will fill three bookcases. Also the futon, a desk, and a piece I made to fit under the east window, with a couple drawers and a surface Laura keeps plants on.

When I made my initial cut on Wednesday, I was thinking that, like, last week, I would post an early draft of this, then update it later in the week. So, expecting to add later reviews, in my last November Music Week, I didn't set up a December Streamnotes file. Unclear right now how I intend to handle this.

I might also note here that while I have no desire to open another Speaking of Which can of worms, I have added a couple more items to my final (post-election) column, pushing the word count up to 37102. The latest add was an Alfred Soto piece, which he promised to be his last word on the subject.

As I didn't get this posted on Wednesday, when I made my initial cut, it will go up on Thursday, a Thanksgiving I have no social plans for, and otherwise am pretty indifferent about. Maybe I'll cook a little something for just the two of us? (I just pulled a pound of beef liver out of the freeezer. I have onions, and for sides some cabbage and pasta. That shouldn't take too much time away from working on house, poll, and blog. And if it does, it's a holiday, right? One more day won't make much difference.)

By the way, here's a Thanksgiving meme for you, courtesy of Richard D. Wolff, where the text (reduced from all caps) reads: "Happy Thanksgiving/Celebrating the day Americans fed undocumented immigrants from Europe."

That's a good note to end on, and get this out of the way. Today's new records, including a low A- from Joe Fonda and a Reut Regev album that needs another spin, should wait for next week, when hopefully I'll have more to report.

New records reviewed this week:

Holman Álvarez: Hidden Objects (2023 [2024], Sunnyside): Pianist, from Colombia, based in New York, nothing much in Discogs but claims five albums (2011-22) from his days in Bogotá. Quartet here with Adam O'Farrill (a standout on trumpet), Drew Gress (bass), and Satoshi Takeishi (drums). B+(**) [cd]

Awon x Phoniks: Golden Era 2 (2024, Don't Sleep): Rapper Antwan Wiggins, goes back to 2013 with the producer "known for his vintage-90's boom bap production style and melodic jazz and soul samples." Flow reminds me of Digable Planets. A- [sp]

Peter Bernstein: Better Angels (2024, Smoke Sessions): Jazz guitarist, several dozen albums and tons of sidework since 1998, I figure he's part of the Wes Montgomery tradition but looking through his discography, the tributes I see are to Tal Farlow and Attila Zoller. Quartet here with piano (Brad Mehldau), bass (Vicente Archer), and drums (Al Foster). B+(*) [sp]

Betty Bryant: Lotta Livin' (2023 [2024], Bry-Mar Music): Jazz singer, 94, website claims 14 albums but Discogs only lists 3, plays piano, wrote 4 songs to go with 5 standards. Opens with a swinging "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," shifts into songs that are talkier (including a delightful take on "The Very Thought of You." Band swings, and the sax is lovely (Robert Kyle). A- [sp]

Scott Colley/Edward Simon/Brian Blade: Three Visitors (2024, GroundUP Music): Bass-piano-drums trio, all long- and well-established, impressive enough on their own, plus a few guest spots: another strong sax spot for Christ Potter, but the rest is less interesting: several vocals, some strings, and percussion (Rogério Boccato). B+(**) [sp]

Steve Davis: We See (2024, Smoke Sessions): Trombonist, started with Art Blakey in the late 1980s, 20+ albums since 1995. Live set at Smoke Jazz Club in New York with a sextet of peers: Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Ralph Moore (tenor sax), Renee Rosnes (piano), Essiet Essiet (bass), and Lewis Nash (drums), jumping right into "Milestones." B+(**) [sp]

Elucid: Revelator (2024, Fat Possum): Rapper, from Queens, mixtapes back to 2002, half-dozen albums but better known as half of Armand Hammer. Too dense to decipher easily, but worth the effort. A- [sp]

Everliven Sound & Slimline Mutha: Echo Chamber (2024, self-released): Duo of Cymar Simmons (Cymarshall Law) and Jaron Simmons (Skit Slam), have an album from 2008, a single back to 2000, working with a "jazzy hip-hop beatmaker" from UK. Has a nice bounce to it. B+(***) [sp]

Ruth Goller: Skyllumina (2024, International Anthem): Bassist-vocalist, born in Italy, based in UK, had a previous album called Skylla in 2021. This strikes me as slow and ponderous, which may be unfair, but that's all I have for now. B [sp]

Paul Heaton: The Mighty Several (2024, EMI): English singer-songwriter, best remembered from the Housemartins (1986-87) and the Beautiful South (1989-2006), followed by often catchy but less compelling solo and duo albums. After several duos with Jacqui Abbott, this one is nominally solo, but guest singers pop up here and there (Rianne Downey, Danny Muldoon). B+(**) [sp]

John Hollenbeck & NDR Bigband: Colouring Hockets (2023 [2024], Plexatonic): Drummer, founded Claudia Quintet in 2001, later expanded to working with big bands, like this group, conducted by JC Sanford. Once again, mallet instruments are featured, with Patricia Brennan joining Claudia's Matt Moran. B+(***) [cd]

Snorre Kirk: What a Day! (2024, Stunt): Danish drummer, sixth album since 2012, composed eight tunes here, band members listed below the title: Giacomo Smith (alto/soprano sax), Joe Webb (piano), Anders Fjeldsted (bass), with a guest guitarist (Alexander Honey Boulton) credited with three tracks on the back cover. Easy going, quite enjoyably mainstream. B+(***) [sp]

Lemadi Trio: Canonical Discourse (2024, A New Wave of Jazz Axis): José Lencastre (alto sax), Dirk Serries (guitar), and Martina Verhoeven (crumar piano), runs a bit slower than the other albums in this series. B+(**) [cd]

Peter Lenz: Breathe: Music for Large Ensembles (2023 [2024], GambsART): Austrian drummer, studied in Graz, Amsterdam, and New York, where he is now based. Has a couple previous albums, back to 2012. Two big band pieces (one called "Eleanor," as in Rigby), two with added strings, one stripped down to "chamber orchestra," with some vocals. B [cd]

David Maranha/Rodrigo Amado: Wrecks (2023 [2024], Nariz Entupido): Electric organ and saxophones duo -- credit uses plural, but tenor is Amado's standard. The organ is dense and ugly, so it takes a while for the saxophone, initially aligned, to rise out of and distinguish itself from the murk. B+(***) [cd]

Claire Martin: Almost in Your Arms (2024, Stunt): English jazz singer, 20+ albums since 1992, well-regarded in Penguin Guide, but I've only lightly sampled her work, with nothing since her 2001 Very Best Of (which now is most of her career). B+(*) [sp]

Nuse Tyrant: Juxtaposed Echoes (2024, M25): Rapper, from San Diego, working with producers Trust One and Clypto. B+(**) [sp]

Adonis Rose Trio + One: For All We Know (2022 [2024], Storyville): Drummer, from New Orleans, director of New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, has several albums, both with them and smaller groups. Trio here with Ryan Hanseler (piano) and Lex Warshawsky (drums), but also featuring singer Gabrielle Cavassa. [Note: Two album cover variations: One with "+ One" and four names; one without the singer. Label Bandcamp page makes no mention of singer, nor does the cover pic at Spotify, but it does have the vocal tracks. So it seems probable that both variants are actually the same album.] B+(**) [sp]

Sophie: Sophie (2024, Transgressive): English electronica producer, released a compilation of early tracks in 2015, a full album in 2018, and was close to finishing a second album when she fell to her death in 2021. This is that second album, with finishing touches by brother Benny Long. Runs long, but gets better toward the end. B+(**) [sp]

Spinifex: Undrilling the Hole (2024, TryTone): Amsterdam-based avant-fusion group, ninth album since 2011, all compositions by Tobias Klein (alto sax), with Bart Maris (trumpet), John Dikeman (tenor sax), Jasper Stadthouders (guitar), Gonçalo Almeida (bass guitar), and Philipp Moser (drums). B+(***) [cd]

Tonus: Analog Deviation (2023 [2024], A New Wave of Jazz Axis): Trio of Dirk Serries (guitar), Benedict Taylor (violin/broken fiddle), and Martina Verhoeven (piano), tends to scattered abstractions. B+(*) [cd]

Transition Unit: Fade Value (2023 [2024], A New Wave of Jazz Axis): Trio of Amsterdam-based Portuguese alto/tenor saxophonist José Lencastre, pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro, and guitarist Dirk Serries. Free jazz, close to the edge. B+(***) [cd]

Twin Talk: Live (2023 [2024], Shifting Paradigm): Trio of Dustin Laurenzi (tenor sax), Katie Ernst (bass/voice), and Andrew Green (drums), third album since 2015. B+(**) [sp]

Tyler, the Creator: Chromakopia (2024, Columbia): Rapper Tyler Okonma, from Los Angeles, the biggest success out of the Odd Future collective, eighth studio album since 2009, all gold except for his self-released debut. I didn't care for his early albums, but he's gotten more solid. B+(***) [sp]

Martina Verhoeven Quintet: Indicator Light (Live at Paradox 2023) (2023 [2024], A New Wave of Jazz Axis): Belgian pianist, Discogs credits her with 14 albums, most multi-artist collabs, most of those with her husband, guitarist Dirk Serries -- present here, along with Gonçalo Almeida (bass), Onno Govaert (drums), and Colin Webster (alto sax), who dominates with fire and fury, which the rest fill out remarkably. A- [cd]

Cole Williams: How We Care for Humanity (2024, Four Corner): Soul-jazz singer-songwriter, plays bass guitar and percussion, born in Brooklyn (mother Jamaican) but based in New Orleans, EP in 2007, fifth album since 2011. Title song is practically a manifesto. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Emily Remler: Cookin' at the Queens: Live in Las Vegas 1984 & 1988 (1984-88 [2024], Resonance, 2CD): Jazz guitarist (1957-90), recorded six albums for Concord (including a duo led by Larry Coryell, plus one more) in her brief career, which in 1991 were reduced to two Retrospective volumes. This is the first new music that has appeared since her death, and is certain to rekindle interest in her post-Montgomery synthesis. A- [cd] [11-29]

McCoy Tyner/Joe Henderson: Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (1966 [2024]. Blue Note): Crackling live set, with Henry Grimes (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums), the pianist just out of John Coltrane's quartet, with the tenor saxophonist in the middle of a legendary series of Blue Note albums -- Tyner's first (and best) Blue Note, The Real McCoy, was still a year away. B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

Elucid: I Told Bessie (2022, Backwoodz Studioz): Rapper Chaz Hall, works with Billy Woods in Armand Hammer and other more obscure groups, Discogs credits him with 12 of his own albums since 2007. Even denser and more inscrutable than the new one. B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Miles Davis Quintet: Miles in France 1963 & 1964 [The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8] (Columbia/Legacy, 6CD) [11-08]
• Ginetta's Vendetta: Fun Size (Kickin' Wiccan Music) [11-24]
• Roberto Magris: Freedom Is Peace (JMood) [12-01]
• Rick Mitchell: Jazz in the New Millennium (Dharma Moon Press): book

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Friday, November 22, 2024

November archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 43200 [43153] rated (+47), 28 [26] unrated (+2).

Back on the 18th, I posted this much:

This week's Music Week is being held hostage until I get my initial round of Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll ballot invites sent out (aiming for Tuesday, but probably Wednesday). Meanwhile, you can probably find some new records in the November Streamnotes archive. Not a particularly big week so far, but I'm working on it.

My main reason for posting anything at all today is that I have some links to share:

• The 19th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll Begins: I posted this on Saturday, after sending out initial mail to my GNU Mailman list on Thursday. I don't have much more news yet, but wanted to make sure this much got some distribution. More in a couple days, but meanwhile, check out the Poll website. Focus right now is to provide information for voters. As we're currently updating the invite list, please feel free to suggest someone (even yourself). I also have set up the poll admin/discussion group, so if you're interested in following our deliberations (even if you're not a voter), let me know.

• Q and A: Two recent questions answered (well, sort of).

• Speaking of Which: No new one (now or most likely ever), but I keep finding things that seem like they belong here (and I feel like saving), so this swan song has grown to 317 links, 33193 words.

• The Best Non-Jazz Albums of 2024: Way back in July, in conjunction with my Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll, I compiled The Best Jazz Albums of 2024, and I've been trying to update it as we go, but I put off doing the Non-Jazz complement until now. So, 47 A-list new releases (+ 3 from 2023) and 7 reissues/historic music, which rather pales in comparison to 85 A-list new jazz (+3 from 2023) and 18 reissues/historic (+1 from 2023). Most years I have a large jazz/non-jazz ratio when I initially compile the lists, but that narrows as I catch up with the EOY lists. But I don't think I've ever had this much imbalance before.

• Metacritic Aggregate: I started working on this mid-year, but haven't done a very good job of keeping it up to date. But this week I added the first EOY lists from Uncut, Mojo, and Bleep. This is not a huge priority for me, but it does help guide me to things to check out. There is also one for new compilations of old/various music, but it is very short (44 albums, vs. 1210 for new releases).

I ran the ratings counter and so far I'm +30 on the week, but only one A- so far. Unrated is -1, but I still have some unpacking to do.

Back to work now.

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:

1. Write and post Music Week.
2. Update the website (mostly with an expanded but still unfinished Voter Notes file); although totals and individual ballots are locked down, the website does offer some public information: critics (who have voted so far), and albums (that have received votes, in each category).
3. Write email to the jazzpoll mailing list, confirming that the initial ballots have been sent, with any additional news.
4. Write email to the jpadmin mailing list, catching up on everything.
5. There's a new And It Don't Stop piece, under Christgau's name but actually by RJ Smith, I need to write a notice for.

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:

• Holman Álvarez: Hidden Objects (Sunnyside) [11-08]
• Duck Baker: Breakdown Lane: Free Jazz Guitar 1976-1998 (ESP-Disk) [11-01]
• Joe Fahey: Andrea's Exile (Rough Fish): LP+CD
• Ben Goldberg/Todd Sickafoose/Scott Amendola: Here to There (Secret Hatch) [10-25]
• John Hollenbeck & NDR Bigband: Colouring Hockets (Plexatonic) [11-15]
• Cliff Korman Trio: Urban Tracks (SS) [12-06]
• David Maranha/Rodrigo Amado: Wrecks (Nariz Entupido) [10-25]
• Margaret Slovak & Chris Maresh: A Star's Light Does Fall (Slovak Music) [11-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Back in 2006, Francis Davis decided to supplement his annual end-of-year top-ten at the Village Voice by running a poll of a circle of critics "currently living in New York and/or writing for New York-based publications." I qualified, not as a resident (although I had lived there in the late 1970s), but because I was writing the Voice's jazz consumer guide -- which, in an effort to fill Gary Giddins' shoes, added breadth of coverage to Davis's depth.

Davis always insisted on printing every individual ballot, but in 2009 the Voice's IT department balked, so music editor Rob Harvilla asked me to post them on one of my websites. When Davis left the Voice, he decided to continue the poll, and went looking for a new host. By then, Harvilla had left the Voice, and landed at the music streaming service Rhapsody, where he could sponsor the poll. Davis asked me to help, so I did, as I continued to do, as the poll later moved to NPR and ArtsFuse. (In 2022, I wrote a history of the poll, at least in terms of my involvement.)

Early on, Davis did everything, and just dumped whatever he had on me at the end. Which turned out, as the poll grew over 100 and up towards 150 critics -- now nationwide, plus a small contingent of international critics -- I felt the need to get organized and mechanized, eventually writing some software to count the ballots and format the web pages. By then I had made myself indispensable, and as Davis in recent years has been beset by declining health, he wound up trusting me to take his baby over. I think 2022 was the tipping point from which I took over (with him lurking).

While we're still in touch, this year it's pretty much just me, so I've started to change things a bit. My first big change was back in June, when I decided to run a Mid-Year Poll. Expecting a light turnout, I changed the point-weights for ranked ballots, compressing the range from 10-to-1 down to 3-to-1. I've never done a systematic study of it, but I've always suspected his scheme of distorting the results. This also gave me a chance to get rid of the 5.5 points for unranked ballots. Unfortunately, that didn't get rid of fractional point values, but they seem like less of an anomaly now. All of that required some hacking, but it's done now, and I'm generally happy with the new scheme (and got literally zero blowback, probably a combination of don't care and didn't notice), so I'm carrying it forward.

I also increased the Rara Avis -- Davis's preferred term, which I've never understood but am slowly getting used to -- ballot choices from 3 to 5 (with the option, as always, of fewer, even zero), which turned out to be widely welcomed. I also dispensed with the special categories (Vocal, Latin, Debut), which often seemed to me like more trouble than they were worth. Davis urged me to reconsider, so I have, but I've rethought how they work. I intend to write this up more precisely and include it in the supplementary documentation on the poll website, but the gist of it is that I want to encourage people who care most about those categories to offer more picks, so that we wind up with a better picture of the category. Davis's rules -- one pick per category, which if in your top-ten has to be the top eligible pick there -- resulted in short lists that were often totally swept by one breakout artist (e.g., Cécile McLorin Savant in Vocal, Miguel Zenón in Latin, and whoever Blue Note's rookie of the year was in Debut; those people will still win under the new system, but at least they'll have some competition).

I have several underlying considerations in making these changes. I bring two basic skills to this poll: I'm a critic (which is to say, someone who observes and deconstructs to figure out how things work), and I'm an engineer (which is someone who builds things to work better). So one big thing I try to do is to make it easier for more people to vote, while also making it easier for me to manage the process. One thing I've noticed in previous years is that we create a lot of churn when trying to enforce arbitrary rules, so I've tried to reduce this by allowing more flexibility. Some time ago, we decided that "Latin" and "Vocal" are whatever the voter thinks they are. This year, I'm further relaxing the rules on New vs. Old music, and on Debut -- I'm still providing guidelines, and I may note what appear to be anomalous choices, but I'm not into forcing things, especially when I can get good data easier.

I started calling this the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll a couple years back, after several voters had coined the term. It seemed like a good idea, not just to honor him but to help keep his vision for the poll front and center. He always saw the voters as colleagues, and the poll as part of the process by which we individuals come to think of ourselves as a community. In continuing this poll, I hope to serve our community, and perhaps to extend it. Jazz is good for us, and good for the world.

One constant struggle I have in running the poll is figuring out who should vote, inviting them, and getting them to respond. Davis did most of that work, even recently, and always struck me as much better connected than I am. I've inherited his lists, and added a few names along the way, and will continue to do so. You might look at last year's voter list, and see if there is anyone else you think we should extend invitations to. (We have sent invitations to several dozen more people. Turnout is usually about 75% of those invited, with the Mid-Year about half that, but the previous voter list is the only one I can share here.)

I have a mail list based on my server with most of these names on it, and I can send notices to them pretty easily, but due to the "poor reputation" of my server it seems that only about half of those messages actually reach their destination. (In many cases, the mail is flagged as "spam" and diverted to the recipient's spam folder, so it's a good practice to check yours, and do whatever you can to allow delivery of this mail.) I sent a notice out yesterday, to kick off this year's poll. For anyone who should have received it but didn't, here is the letter:

Just a brief note to get things going. Yes, we are running another (our 19th annual) Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I missed my self-imposed deadline of sending ballot invitations out by November 15, but you should receive yours sometime in the next week. Meanwhile, if you're on this mailing list, consider yourself invited. You can find a rough draft of the invitation here.

If you want to get this over with now (in which case, bless you), just grab the file, follow the instructions, and email it to me. I'm making a couple tweaks to what we've done in the past. As in the Mid-Year Poll, your Rara Avis ballot can list up to 5 (instead of 3) albums (anything recorded in 2014 or before belong there; anything later in New Releases, but I'm trying to do less bickering as I get older). I'm also reusing the points scheme from the Mid-Year Poll, which allows extra points for higher-ranked records, but no so many as to produce the distortions we got under the 10-to-1 point scheme. Those changes are easy for me, because I've already done the programming.

The other tweak will be in the Vocal/Latin/Debut categories, and this I'm going to have to do some programming for. I'll explain it in more detail when I do, but I figured the idea here was to generate more album lists, so I didn't like capping the list at one album each (I'm allowing 3 now, and if anyone seriously want to argue for 5, I might allow that). Moreover, I'm dispensing with the requirement that if you vote for an album in your top-ten list, you have to vote for it in the category list. I'm going to come up with some way to count eligible albums from top-ten lists in their categories, so what you list under the category is always extra. You can, if that's your thing, pick 10 Latin albums under New Releases, and add 3 more under Latin. It would help me if you designate which New Releases picks you think belong to which categories. We've given voters a lot of leeway on Latin and Vocal in the past. I don't want to impose my definitions on you, so it helps if you help me here.

I don't have a precise definition of Debut yet, but will work on it. We've been very strict about that in the past, and I think we should be less strict. One thing I do think is that this should be an individual, and not a group (maybe if everyone in the groups is strictly a debut, but that rarely happens). So this, too, will be more your choice, with less pushback from me (although I will reject any vote that strikes me as a prank).

The website will be updated as I have more information. I will try to answer most questions there, and you can help by asking me questions. I have a way to print out a list of albums that have votes, and possibly to break them down by category, which could generate a debut list. I know of one album that was released in two physical pieces but is really intended as a single album (I hear the artist blames the label), so I'll rule on and note things like that there.

I use this mail list for announcements, so respond to me, not to the list (which won't work, but leaves me stuff to clean up). While this list is pretty comprehensive, we've been plagued in the past by spam filters that, for no reason I can fathom, just don't like me. I can get around that by mailing individual invites out, but that takes me many hours, so I only want to go through that once. I'm going to sign up for a commercial email list service, and move everyone onto it. Hopefully that will work better, which will allow me to offer updates and nagging. Don't expect (or fear) a lot of mail, but be aware that something different will be coming. I'd advise you to check you spam directories, but if you're reading this, you don't need that advice, and if you're not, it wouldn't help.

I've had a couple people offer to help with various tasks. It's enough that I should probably set up an admin discussion list. If you want to get in on that, either to help or just to lurk, let me know.

One perennial question is who else should be invited? Let me know if you have any suggestions. That, plus nitpicking on the website, are likely to be high -priority discussion items.

I don't really have any news I can share about Francis Davis's health, other than that his participation in this his Poll is greatly diminished. I've been involved in it since its inception, and have done most of the work for several years now. I appreciate the continued trust you've shown in me in taking this over. Thanks.

I should probably clarify one thing. Although everyone on the mail list this was sent to is eligible and invited to vote, not everyone who we mean to invite is on the list. Moreover, history shows that only about half of the people on the list actually see the emails (mostly due to spam filtering). I have a more robust method of sending invitations, which is to run a form letter through Thunderbird's MailMerge extension, which turns it into a separate, customized letter for each recipient. Those drafts are them stuck in an outbox queue, from which I can send them one-by-one. (My SMTP server chokes if I try to automate sending.) This process takes 3-4 hours, beyond writing the letter, so I don't like to do it. I am going to do this when I get the lists sorted out better, hopefully in 3-5 days, but rather than wait that long, I used the mail list, and now this post, to get the ball rolling. Nice that I already have four ballots waiting to be counted.

We're looking for critics with credentials: mostly writers, although we also have a pretty substantial sampling of radio journalists (Davis was much more tuned into that world than I am, but like writers they are cultivated by publicists, so they are exposed to a wider range of new music than normal consumers, and have some practice at picking out what they prefer). Nowadays, credentials can even extend down to personal blogs -- you don't have to make a living as a professional critic (which, in any case, is nearly impossible these days), but to qualify you have to pursue this public service seriously.

We've generally avoided inviting two especially knowledgeable groups of people, who seemingly have conflicts of interest: musicians, and publicists. This isn't a hard prohibition, but I have retained Davis's rule about not voting for any record you have personal involvement in (which for critics often means writing liner notes; many critics also play music, but that seems to cause few problems). I'm open to considering exceptions, but need to see some open-mindedness.

This is not a "readers poll" or "fan poll," although in my experience there are many fans who are knowledgeable and discerning enough to rank as critics. During the Mid-Year Poll, I toyed with the idea of tabulating ballots from non-critics, but in the end I got virtually none. One thing I concluded from this is that readers polls are a measure of how many readers you have. As I have very few, it's hard to get a decent sample. So even if I wanted to run a fan poll, I would be very hard pressed to do so. Still, I would be curious if anyone wants to submit an unsolicited ballot. If you do have credentials, please point them out, which may get you qualified. Even if you don't, I might just factor your list into my EOY Aggregate (which includes most publications, at least as collated by Album of the Year -- which I find most useful among its various competitors -- but also lots of personal lists, mostly from my own social media hangouts).

As noted in the letter, I still have a lot of work to do on the website, as well as ambitions to rework the whole thing to make it more complete and coherent. If you are interested in helping on this, contact me (or use the question form, and I'll consider adding you to a more technical mailing list. (I'm still shopping for mail list software. Depending on what I find, I may break out several lists.)

Since I'm posting, a couple more personal notices. As I explained last week, I've given up on writing weekly Speaking of Which posts. However, I have, added a few more items to last week's post, especially as I've found open tabs with articles I meant to mention, or marginally later "post-mortem" arguments (starting, as these things often do, in the "chatter" section). But I haven't added new news items, such as anything on Trump's post-election appointments (horrifying as they are). Part of this is cost-benefit analysis, but part of it is also post-traumatic stress desensitization. I'm already way too conscious of what's happening to feel the need to research it further.

I've gotten some very nice comments on the last post, which I appreciate. Some were included in questions, which I will in due course attempt to answer. I'm making more regular entries in my notebook, which is available but not something I publicize. I tweeted one article recommendation, and may do more as I see fit. We'll see what else it makes sense to write and post. Music Week will continue on its usual schedule, at least through the end of the year. I'll probably offer updates on the Poll both here and on X. (I was going to do one on X today, then decided it would be better to post this first, then link to it.

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