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Thursday, August 13, 2026

Music Week

August archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46411 [46385] rated (+26), 25 [18] unrated +7).

Advance Music Week appeared August 12 on Substack. It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post. The introduction started there, but has been extensively revised/rewritten.

I spent a couple hours Tuesday at the local Toyota monopoly, for what was supposed to be a free service — every six months for the first two years (two oil changes and four tire rotations), part of the new car purchase deal. I complained about numerous glitches — disconnects, muting, spurious commands (common with phones, at least in my experience) — with the (looking up the proper term) "infotainment screen" that fills up the middle of the dashboard, where cars used to provide such useful things as a CD player, radio, and various HVAC/lighting controls. The lack of a CD player has kept me in a bad mood for a year now, exacerbated by Toyota's schemes to sell me extra-cost subscriptions (music deals, other crap).

The promise of the system is supposed to be its integration with my cell phone. I have managed to stream some music from Spotify using Bluetooth (thus far, mostly Chuck Berry; it's hard to find things using the Spotify phone interface, especially as I hadn't figured out how to get Android Auto working until two weeks ago.

So I complained to Toyota, and to the dealer. The dealer at least took a look at the problem, and concluded there wasn't one. I've been locked out of the Toyota app for nearly a year, so they gave me a phone number to talk to someone else about that. Not their problem, or deal. Nor is the confusion over the rot of expiring subscriptions to "services" that never made any sense in the first place. I wrote a Substack post earlier this week called Yahoo Mail Really Sucks. I had already been thinking about a Toyota Sucks piece when the Yahoo mess broke. It's still in the works, but it's most likely just another example of how modern companies waste no opportunity to rip off their captive customers.

Still, I feel the need for further research. I have a phone, but it's too old for updates. I hardly ever use it: rare phone calls, a plate pic when I cook, uploaded via email (which otherwise I don't use). I find the browser nearly useless. I resist adding apps, which I mostly regard as infernal plots to control. My wife does much more with her phone. Perhaps I should learn some new tricks?

As for music, it's possible to get a plug-in CD player. Local businesses want about $500 to mount one somewhere, then plug it into the car's one USB port. Amazon has similar devices for about $50. Given the cockpit design, there's no good place to mount it. Another possibility would be a MP3 player (or maybe FLAC: newer ones support multiple formats). Back in the day, I'd load up three travel cases with 200 CDs, then drive cross-country. New ones can hold that much music, maybe more. It would be smaller than a CD player, easier to mount, and more reliable. I'd need some way to load it up, and to find things on it. Researching those questions has been very frustrating, but there must be a way?

I don't like going through life with giant chips on my shoulder, but that seems to be my life these days. I don't understand it very well. I used to be better at coping. But I used to be better at getting all sorts of things done. I probably need to focus on the "serenity prayer," and other "core AA slogans." (Drinking isn't an option, at least one with any appeal.) And as far as chips go, I'm in nowhere near as bad shape as Donald Trump. That's a guy whose neuroses have really screwed up his life — a situation that isn't helped by having the power to inflict his misery on others.

I was pretty despondent when I got up Wednesday morning. Then I saw that Yahoo's POP server had coughed up 124 of my emails, with more arriving intermittently throughout the day. I did nothing to get this working again. And I have no communication from Yahoo saying they did anything, or were even aware of a problem. It may be that someone there did notice my post, or maybe they just looked at their own error log files, or maybe a broken server went offline and the slack got picked up by a working machine. At any rate, dozens of suggestions from their chatbot did no good whatsoever. They mostly served to deflect attention, with not the slightest care as to how much pain and aggravation they cause.

So, not knowing what else to do, I spent Wednesday posting my advance Music Week on Substack. This week is a day or two short of last week, but with fewer distractions I have a bit more to report. I've tried to catch up with more non-jazz, but I don't have much of a plan as to what to listen to. And having posted two long rants to Substack — the Yahoo piece mentioned above, and something on political categories (capitalism, socialism, the Left) occasioned by Jordan Peterson, I wound up skimping on many reviews below — satisfied that I had heard enough to render a grade, without taking the extra time to craft a coherent review. Examples below include pretty good B+(**) records by Johnny Blue Skies, Kiss Facility, Caroline Kraabel, Arlo Parks, The Strokes, Syd, Juanma Trujillo, and Yard Act, and B+(***) for Ravyn Lenae and Wiki.

On the other hand, I did write more about the albums I highlighted, if only because they have more history to frame. I'm surprised to find two of my favorite acts of the 1960s and 1980s have come up with top-tier albums this year, although both have had post-peak albums that I liked quite a bit, even if they never turned into regular plays. (Not much ever does these days.) That's probably the case here, too, but I've played them both a lot this week, and they do hold up.

Pussy Riot was a slightly harder call. I've never paid much attention to their singles, and had little preconception going into this album. I also noted that so far it's gotten poor reviews (AOTY 63/4; I've read several, and they align poorly with what I'm hearing). Conceptually, one problem is that they don't have a signature sound or style: there are 4-6 different approaches here, but most of them are remarkable on their own terms. Also, it's mostly in Russian, which blunts the politics, aside from "Disobey." Not that I know or care much their political agenda: while I blamed Putin for invading Ukraine, I have long thought that the war should be ended as quickly as possible, based on the current stalemate, and not drawn out in some vain hope of justice prevailing. But Putin is still their problem, even as my problem is Trump.

As for Satoko Fujii's second orchestra album this year, she's on a roll. I just got the third one in the mail. I've let my demo queue accumulate, as they're mostly advances, some out to October. I'll catch up in due course.

I omitted the Oliver-Smith Incomparables album from my advance, as it isn't scheduled until later, and I didn't want to confuse with something not readily available. The album had already gotten votes in the Mid-Year poll, and I was anxious to get to it. That happens sometimes, and I note future release dates below.

No idea what I'm going to do going forward. I should finish my facelift of the jazz poll website, and I need to update the database to the Christgau website. I half-expected an August Consumer Guide on Wednesday, but it's running late (no idea how late). I could always jot down more Loose Tabs. But I'm pretty disgusted with the world these days, as I feel not just less able to affect it, but even to survive it. Which is a shame, because in many respects, we as a species have never had more opportunities to live well, and have become so productive that there is no good reason why anyone should be left out.

New records reviewed this week:

Michael Blake: Piccolos Before Rifles (2025 [2026], Baby Tank): Canadian saxophonist, a couple dozen albums since 1997, many more group- (Blake Tartare, Slow Poke) and side-credits. Plays tenor/soprano here, plus flutes, with Guilherme Monteiro (guitar), Skye Soto Steele (violin), Gil Lopes (bass), and Rogerio Boccato (drums) — three of those from Brazil, the other Puerto Rican. B+(**) [sp]

Billy Childs: Triumvirate (2026, Mack Avenue): Pianist, from Los Angeles, straddles classical and jazz, with "chamber jazz" a middle position, early albums (1988-93) on new age Windham Hill, has had some Grammy success. Trio with Matt Penman (bass) and Ari Hoenig (drums). Nice little record. B+(*) [sp]

Isaiah Collier: Joy (2026, Brownswood, EP): Chicago saxophonist, has made a strong impression with his Chose Few group, even more so with the Ancients (a trio with Williams Hooker and Parker), comes out singing here with the title track, lifted by big band and strings, and ends with another gospel-inflected vocal ("God's By Your Side"). In between, three instrumental pieces, with flute and keyboards. Total: five songs, 27:13. Not my thing. B− [sp]

DOMi & JD Beck: Who Asked? (2026, Apeshit/Blue Note): French keyboardist Domi Louna (Domitille Degalle) and American drummer JD Beck, second album, has some vocals (probably Domi), a lot of extra orchestration (flute, clarinets, oboe, bassoon, violin). B− [sp]

Ferg's Imaginary Big Band: The New Atomic (2024 [2026], Trash City): UK (Leeds) bandleader-composer Fergus Quill, leads a band of 30 or so, aiming for that Basie big bang, and then some. B+(*) [sp]

Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe: After the Storm (2026, Libra): The second of this year's promised batch of five big band albums, a new recording where Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra was an archive from 2014. That was around the time when Fujii released four big band albums with different orchestras. At the time, I compared one of them to Basie's Atomic Orchestra from the 1950s, at least in terms of power and sheer brassiness. The new series is impressive so far, and this is one of the most immediately appealing of her large-scale efforts. A- [cd]

Iceage: For Love of Grace & the Hereafter (2026, Mexican Summer): Danish post-punk band, sounded solid on their 2011 debut, uninteresting on three (of four) 2013-2021 efforts, but getting a lot of hype for this sixth album. Not punk in any meaningful sense, but upbeat, engaging, with a few hooks. I like the song that goes "life is for the weak," for the words but also for the extra noise. B+(**) [sp]

Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds: Mutiny After Midnight (2026, High Top Mountain/Atlantic): Country singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson, debut 2013, second album as Johnny Blue Skies, first to add the band name. Strays far from country, but offers protest songs to open and close (the "Extended Edition" tacks on three extras, including "A Whiter Shade of Pale"). B+(**) [sp]

Leven Kali: LK99 (2026, Def Jam): Dutch-born American singer-songwriter, couple albums since 2019, first vocal here is a dead-ringer for Prince, especially as he's already established a funk groove. B+(*) [sp]

Kiss Facility: Khazna (2026, Ambient Tweets): Arabic-influenced dream pop duo of Mayah Alkhateri (from UAE) and Salvador Navarrete (from Egypt); first album after several singles (from 2023). B+(**) [sp]

Caroline Kraabel/Pat Thomas/John Edwards/Steve Noble: Transgressive Coastlines (2024 [2026], Shrike): Alto saxophonist, born in California, moved to London as a teen, has a fair number of records since 1997, but not much I've heard. The piano-bass-drums trio is long acquainted. B+(**) [bc]

Ravyn Lenae: Blue Island (2026, Atlantic): Alt-R&B singer-songwriter from Chicago, third album. B+(***) [sp]

Madonna: Confessions II (2026, Warner): Conceived as a sequal to 2006's Confessions on a Dance Floor, which could just as well have been a sequel to 1987's You Can Dance. Down side is that everything here sounds like something you already know. Good news is that it all sounds great (except maybe for the soft landing). A- [sp]

Oliver-Smith Incomparables: Stomp Your Stuff (2025 [2026], Turtle Bay): Trad jazz group led by pianist Andrew Oliver (2 at Discogs, which credits him with one album, but 30 more performances, including Sextets from 2008-10) and veteran drummer Hal Smith, with cornet (Colin Hancock), clarinet, trombone, guitar/banjo, and bass/tuba, playing vintage goodies from the 1920s. Instant joy. A- [cd] [08-28]

Arlo Parks: Ambiguous Desire (2026, Transgressive): British alt-pop singer-songwriter, third album, first two very good, this one a bit more, uh, ambiguous. B+(**) [sp]

Pussy Riot: Cyka (2026, Stem): Russian feminist performance art collective, fiercely anti-Putin (and these days pro-Ukraine), founded in 2011, membership fluid and often jailed or otherwise harassed, has released an EP and several singles, appears here with a full album, probably because co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova (and possibly others) escaped to Iceland. A fairly wide range of sounds and styles, where the punk/hardcore may be the most compelling because there the message comes through even without words, but the rap and electropop and something that sounds like a Kate Bush hit ("Pain") also impress, suggesting a worldview that goes beyond rage, but doesn't flinch from it when needed. A- [sp]

Rolling Stones: Foreign Tongues (2026, Rolling Stones/Polydor): Major group, rivaled the Beatles in the 1960s, has lasted much longer, survived the death of Brian Jones, the retirement of Bill Wyman, and more recently (and more importantly) the death of Charlie Watts. But the two singer-songwriters, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, are still active, however improbably, as is Jones replacement Ron Wood. But their ontogeny basically ended with 1972's Exile on Main Street. Since then they've mostly engaged in buckraking, with regular tours, concert films, live albums, and the occasional studio effort — most lukewarm, but some significant enough to be hailed as return-to-form comebacks. Those too have trailed off and thinned out, but this is the best in quite a while (probably since 2004's A Bigger Bang, or 1986's Dirty Work, or maybe 1981's Tattoo You. The key word is "return," as they virtually defined "classic rock," and can tap into any time they want — at least half of this overly long album. Key wisdom for the aged: "Life's too short for just making money." The irony is palpable, but the line is credible nonetheless. A- [sp]

The Strokes: Reality Awaits (2026, RCA/Cult): New York alt/indie group, considered a big deal with their 2001 debut, releases have slowed down since 2005, this just the second since 2013. Surprisingly good groove band, until they aren't. B+(**) [sp]

AJ Suede: Atomic Justice (2026, Knowhatimean, EP): Seattle rapper, underground, lots of albums since 2015, this one 12 songs, 25:34. B+(*) [sp]

Skúli Sverrisson/Bill Frisell: For All Your Flowers (2026, Newvelle): Guitarist from Iceland, based in New York, albums since 1997, side credits with groups like Alasnoaxis and Yeah No, as well as working as music director for Laurie Anderson. Duo with the famed American guitarist. B+(*) [sp]

Syd: Beard (2026, Free Lunch/Warner): Neo-soul singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, third album, has a nice, easy flow. B+(**) [sp]

Juanma Trujillo/Kenneth Jiménez/Vasco Trilla: Nada Es Nada (2026, Ramble): Venezuelan guitarist, based in New York, several albums since 2018, with Costa Rican bassist (also based in New York) and Spanish drummer, recorded in Barcelona. Works through some tricky changes. B+(**) [bc]

WDR Big Band: Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines: The Music of Ayn Inserto (2024 [2026], Summit): Inserto (b. 1976) studied at New England Conservatory, was a protégé of Bob Brookmeyer, teaches at Berklee, has two albums as Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, a couple more where her compositions are performed by others (she also conducts here). I tend to dismiss European big bands, but this group, featuring Sean Jones (trumpet), is pretty sharp, possibly because that's what the compositions demand (or inspire?). B+(***) [cd]

Wiki: Ancient History (2026, Wikset): New York rapper Patrick Morales, started in Ratking c. 2011, eighth album since 2017. B+(***) [sp]

Yard Act: You're Gonna Need a Little Music (2026, Universal Island): British post-punk group, from Leeds, singer James Smith, third album since 2022, most impressive when most intense. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

None.

Old music:

None.

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Dr. Gianni Bianchini: A Study in Songbook (Gianni Bianchini Entertainment) [08-01]
  • Geof Bradfield/Myra Melford/Ben Goldberg/Dana Hall: Open or Close (Calligram) [09-04]
  • Greg Chako: Hard Bop for the Record (Mint400) [09-04]
  • Christian Finger: Zeit Zirkel (Finger Music) [10-01]
  • Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin: Second Attempt (Libra) [09-04]
  • Gwen Hughes: The First Noel: Jazz Hymns for Christmas (Fairfield) [10-15]
  • Jason Kao Hwang/Human Rites Trio: Second Life (Flying Panda Music) [10-01]
  • Judi Silvano's Garden Winds: First Flight (JSL) [10-01]
  • Technocrats: Passionata: The Music of Gregg Hill (Cold Plunge) [08-28]
  • Chris Whiteman/John Toomey Quartet: Live at Révéler (self-released) [10-02]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, August 8, 2026

Music Week

August archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46385 [46366] rated (+19), 18 [11] unrated +7).

Advance Music Week appeared August 6 on Substack. It is also archived here. My cutoff was done before the Substack post, but the introduction is revised/rewritten the day or two after. I also published Loose Tabs (8) this week, on August 3, which was a recap of my August 1 Loose Tabs with further thoughts.

After racking up 184 reviews in July, I'm down to 19 this week (6 below + one revisit). I knew I wasn't going to keep the pace up this week. My cousin, Max Brown, died in January. He owned a ranch near Douglass, 30-40 miles southeast of Wichita, and the estate set up an auction of his equipment, tools, furniture, guns, and so forth for August 6. His nephew and nieces were coming up for that, and I spent some time with them, taking the opportunity to rustle up a fairly substantial dinner, mostly old family favorites.

So that roughly cut my week in half. But by the time that was done, I had gotten caught up in several tech crises. Unfortunately, these are not the sort of tech crises that one can research, troubleshoot, and find technical solutions to. These are tech crises wrapped up in an oozing blanket of corporate strategy, of the sort that Cory Doctorow wrote about as Enshittification.

For some reason, Toyota is not satisfied just selling cars. They've put a rather crappy computer console in the middle of the dashboard, and now they see that as an opportunity to squeeze more money out of their customers. Or also to charge third parties for the opportunity to prey on their customers: the car came with "free trial subscriptions" to AT&T and Sirius XM, which as far as I can tell are worthless. There are other deals with Amazon and Apple streaming services, which tie in with their decision not to include (or even offer) a CD player. Their "Toyota Connect" trial subscription ended July 31, which may (or may not) have something to do with lots of connection glitches, some of which occurred dangerously while I was driving on the highway.

I'll rant about this more later. My more immediate problem is with Yahoo email. My email address originally came from a local cable operator, but shortly after we moved here, they sold out to Cox, who changed my address (adding a "2" to the user name). I've had that address since 2002, but in 2024, Cox decided to stop supporting email (which, quite frankly, they were pretty bad at), so they sold their address list to Yahoo. That was annoying, but I managed to jump through their hoops and get Thunderbird working with their POP and SMTP servers. That was working ok until August 4, when I stopped receiving email. It took me another day to really notice what was going on. The error message says: "Server error - Please try again later." We are now four days later, with no successful RETR requests.

I'll spare you further technical detail, although I can assure you that I've spent many hours since then examining every aspect of the protocol, and I'm confident that the problem is not on my end. I've also spent many hours trying to get help from Yahoo. I haven't found any customer support, or any way to contact a human agent. I have spent 6-8 hours with their chatbot, going over all the possible changes I could make on my end to possibly remedy the problem. Note, however, that the chatbot is blissfully unaware of the meaning of the "server error" message: the only thing they are trained to do is to blame the customer's configuration for any mistakes. Still, I managed three times to steer it around to the point of offering to let me continue by speaking to an actual human. Yet each time after I agreed, they told me that none was available. Yahoo's webpage says as much. They sort of imply that if I had some kind of pair tier account, they would have offer 24/7 service, but it isn't clear how real that offer is. The things they offer service help on are routine user tasks. Quite possibly they are following the Cox model, where the people who actually run the servers are firewalled so the customer service people can't bother them. The assumption here is that our system is perfect, so all problems are yours (mostly due to your ignorance and/or incompetence).

I don't know what I'm going to do about this. For now, I can still read email using Yahoo's webpage app, and also, oddly enough, on my phone — which I never use for email, although I do have an IMAP/SMTP account set up there. The web app is pretty horrible. It is very slow and awkward to work. And I can't move mail to my archives. And while it probably keeps a record of sent email, that's not the same as having the archive on my own machine. But for now, suffice it to say that I'm still sorting through August 4 email, and have yet to look at any of today's email today.

I hoped to get some free time after the Mid-Year Poll, but we're off to a horrible, depressing start. With problems coming so fast, and solutions so slow, I'm starting to worry about bumping unprepared into another poll season. I am still expecting to run an end-of-year poll, but I'm hoping that will be my last, and that I can find someone else to carry it forward. I'm running out of years to . . . well, waste isn't the right word, but there are other things I still want to work on.

A few weeks ago, I decided to read up on AI, so I picked out four books I thought might be helpful (in the Recent Reading, to the left). For the most part, they were (I have some reservations about Robert Wright's The God Test, which I anticipated from the title, but had hoped he wouldn't get stuck there). I should write up some notes on them. My plan was to sign up for an LLM (probably Claude), and see what I can do with it. Now that, and much more, will have to wait until I can work through the email problem. In the meantime, I picked up a book on Venezuela I bought back when that seemed to be the most pressing Trump war policy problem.

By the way, last week's two full-A albums (Laurie Anderson: Let X = X, and Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife) are still in heavy rotation. (Cover images added.) That's another reason I've had less time for new music this week. I should also note that the main source for what I did manage to listen to last week was Phil Overeem's July list. After catching up there, I'm finding it surprisingly hard to figure out what to play next. I've paid little attention My own promo bin — disorganized again, but mostly full of future releases (as far out as October). I haven't been collecting a metacritic file, so I've mostly been leaning on a few sources (like Overeem, Dan Weiss, and Jeffrey Callahan) who are still doing the work to find things first (and that list is nowhere near complete).

Apologies if you've sent me mail I haven't noticed yet. I set thull2 [at] tomhull.com up back when Cox was giving me aggravation. It still gets through, is checked regularly, and pops up alerts I sometimes notice, but can find it easily enough, and archive the messages in my local folders. I'm not at this point saying you should use the alternative email address. I don't see it as being a real solution down the road. But it is available now.

PS: Even before the email problem, I expected to have a lot of highly technical issues to work through in the next month or two: changes to the jazz critics poll website, possibly to other websites (Robert Christgau's, mine, maybe more), investigating email alternatives for the poll, investing in some AI tools, as well as making some changes to my home stereo setup (which also flops over into the car problem). I have two email lists that I use to discuss such things. (Perhaps I should also look into public forums, which I used long ago, but not so much lately.) One list is specific to the jazz critics poll. The other is more oriented to the Christgau website. If you would like to help, or at least just enjoy listening to me banging on about such things, let me know, and I will sign you up.

New records reviewed this week:

Badger Hunt: Full Moon in My Pocket (2026, self-released): Brooklyn-based duo of Miles Lee Elissor (TX) and James McCarthy Walker (SC). Looks to be their second album, skipping three Free Noise compilations on their Bandcamp. Noisy, often in a good way. B+(**) [bc]

Concrete Rock: New York DIY (2026, Desert Island): Eleven short songs (35:09) by eleven groups, only one I've heard of (CS Cleaners, and that just last week), all new songs written for this release, inspired by Sidney Salk's "collection of comps from the 70s-90s," from punk to no wave to generic indie. B+(*) [bc]

Graham Coxon: Castle Rock (2026, Transgressive): English singer-songwriter, ninth studio album since 1998, was in Blur 1988-2002, leaving before the band's first hiatus, but also later reunions (2009, 2023). Some catchy songcraft, at least to open. B [sp]

CS Cleaners: What's This? (2026, Wharf Cat): Brooklyn-based post-punk band, first album after a 2023 EP, claim influences from "NYC downtown music from CBGB's diverse first wave through no-wave's mutations and deconstructions," but with hooks as well as overtures. B+(***) [sp]

Doseone & Height Keech: Wood Teeth II (2026, Hands Made, EP): Rapper Adam Drucker, from Idaho, was a cofounder of Anticon. Six songs, 15:42, kind of a metal vibe. B+(**) [sp]

Kelela: New Avatar (2026, Warp): Singer-songwriter from DC, last name Mizanekristos, parents Ethiopian, third studio album since 2015 (also has remixes and a live album), electropop with soul airs. B+(**) [sp]

Mark Lomax, II & the Urban Art Ensemble: Black Odes: A Reclamation Suite (2026, CFG Multimedia): Drummer from Columbus, Ohio, with many records since 1999, should be a major figure but few people are aware of him, or for that matter his brilliant saxophonist, Edwin Bayard. Part of the problem is that the streaming interface on his website is hard to find let alone trust. This seems to have four pieces, of indeterminate length, promising "jazz, classical, hip-hop, and poetry are brought together to imagine a world where racism never existed." Long on concept, but hard to track in this form. B+(***) [os]

Henrik Olsson: Antumbra Ensemble (2025 [2026], Cuneiform): Guitarist, (13) on Discogs (1 is a Swedish drummer; no bio here, but album was recorded in Denmark), debut album, a septet with alto sax, trumpet, trombone, tuba, electric bass, and drums, loosely modeled on Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus and "Rock in Opposition" bands like Henry Cow. Frenzied, for sure, but that's all I hear here. B [dl]

Mon Rovîa: Bloodline (2026, Nettwerk): Folkie singer-songwriter, but in Monrovia, Liberia, but adopted by an American family when he was seven, and grew up in Chattanooga, where he developed a fondness for folk music. B+(*) [sp]

Navy Blue: Sir Render (2026, Freedom Sounds): Rapper Sage Elesser, more than a dozen albums since 2020, serious thoughts over mild underground beats. This winds up his "Knighthood" trilogy, following on Memoirs in Armour and The Sword and the Soaring. Probably worth more study than I can muster. B+(***) [sp]

Odd Okoddo & Ogoya Nengo: Palagoma (2026, From Cool Waters): From Nairobi, Kenya, the former a duo of dodo singer-songwriter Olith Ratego and drummer Sven Kacirek, the latter an 83-year-old folk artist. B+(***) [bc]

Henrik Olsson: Antumbra Ensemble (2025 [2026], Cuneiform): Guitarist, (13) on Discogs (1 is a Swedish drummer; no bio here, but album was recorded in Denmark), debut album, a septet with alto sax, trumpet, trombone, tuba, electric bass, and drums, loosely modeled on Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus and "Rock in Opposition" bands like Henry Cow. Frenzied, for sure, but that's all I hear here. B [dl]

Lido Pimienta: Caribenya (2026, Anti-): Singer-songwriter from Colombia, grew up in Canada (Toronto), fifth album since 2010, titles and lyrics in Spanish. B+(*) [sp]

Speaker Music: Synoptic Audio (2026, Planet Mu): Techno producer DeForrest Brown Jr., from "the deep South," based in New York, has several albums since 2019, long on theory as well as esoteric technology. This one, for instance, is manipulated then played on a speaker array and re-recorded using an omnidirectional mic to pick up all the room vibrations. No doubt the method adds to the sonic depth, but I was more interested before it consumed the album (and I felt the need to turn it down a bit). B+(**) [bc]

Vince Staples: Cry Baby (2026, Loma Vista): Los Angeles rapper, seventh studio album since 2015, has come up with a different sound here, thin beats, moderate speed, words basic enough for rock, a combination I find appealing, much more than anything else he's done. A- [sp]

Frank Trompeter/Richard Gilman-Opalsky: Antifascist Freedom Music (2026, Mahakala Music): Saxophonist (tenor/alto/soprano) from Chicago, has several albums going back to 2001, in a duo with the drummer, who also plays wood flutes. The jazz is certainly free, if a bit shrill. But maybe that's what the times call for. B+(**) [bc]

Twisted Teens: Florida Water Blues (2026, Going Underground): New Orleans-based post-punk band, third album in quick succession, songs written by bassist C.P.N. Hollywell, sung by guitarist Cas P. Ian, 13 songs run an unrushed 42:29. Gets more interesting when it veers into swamp rock. B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Lekan Animashaun: Low Profile (1977-86 [2026], Strut): Nigerian baritone saxophonist, a long-time fixture in the bands of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, seems to be the only album under his name, two tracks totaling 23:03. Original album didn't come out until 1995. B+(***) [sp]

Los Orientales De Paramonga: 1972-1976 (1972-76 [2026], Analog Africa): Peruvian group, from somewhere north of Lima, recorded several albums in this time period. Really nice guitar and percussion. Vocals come and go, over 25 songs (73 minutes). Probably not major, but very pleasant. A- [sp]

Gary Stewart: One Track Mind (1970-73 [2026], Delmore Recording Society): Country singer-songwriter (1944-2003), made a big splash with his 1975 debut album (Out of Hand), which got MCA to finally round up a bunch of older singles and miscellany as You're Not the Woman You Used to Be. The search for his juvenilia continues here, in the label's third collection of "previously unreleased, pre-RCA recordings." Starts strong, in excellent voice, but my mind slides off the track by the end. Recording dates approximate. B+(**) [sp]

Gary Stewart: King of the Honky Tonks Live (1981 [2025], Gary Stewart): Live shot, from near the end of his RCA phase. So lots of familiar songs, a fair alternative to the many best-of compilations RCA has released from the period. B+(**) [sp]

Old music:

Twisted Teens: Twisted Teens (2024 [2025], Chain Smoking): New Orleans-based post-punk group, first album, looks like the initial releases were on cassette, first in Germany then in the US before other labels got involved. 11 songs, 32:08. I was expecting something tighter and grimmer, but instead they remind me of the Dead Milkmen. B+(***) [sp]

Grade (or other) changes:

Ratboys: Singin' to an Empty Chair (2026, New West): Chicago indie rock band, Julia Steiner the singer, guitarist David Sagan the other principal, sixth studio album since 2015. Sounded fine when I gave it an initial play, but evidently not much of a listen. [was: B+(**)] A- [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • The Joshua Breakstone Quartet: Wonderful! (1983, Capri) [08-21]
  • Rob Dixon: Naptown Soul (Strikezone) [08-21]
  • John Hollenbeck & Hot Club Jazz Orchestra: Peace & Justice (Flexatonic) [08-14]
  • Justin Pierce: Sway (Justin Pierce Music) [08-14]
  • Alex Roitman Tango Ensemble: La Cocina De Tango (ARTE-FL) [08-25]
  • Henry Threadgill Zooid: Cut You Where You Was (Pi) [08-28]
  • Gaia Wilmer Large Ensemble Featuring Mônica Salmaso: Parabólico: Reflections on Gilberto Gil Volume I (Sunnyside) [08-14]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Friday, August 1, 2025

Loose Tabs

I've spent roughly a week pulling this together. It's nowhere near as comprehensive as it should be, but part of that is that I'm rowing against a flood of mostly disturbing news. My idea is that I'll go ahead and post this on August 1, then write some kind of Executive Summary for a Notes on Everyday Life post in the coming week. While I'm pulling that together, I'll add a few links here, plus some more subject head writing. I'll also do the Table of Contents then. Big thing is to move on, which means putting this up sooner rather than later. I'll add change bars to mark whatever I add.

As it turns out, I'm not going to have a lot of time next week anyway. We'll have visitors, and that will take a fair amount of time and attention. It will probably result in the shortest Music Week in quite some time. Also next week is the primary election in Kansas. The big issue to be decided here is an Amendment on how State Supreme Court Justices are selected in Kansas. Republicans are upset because the State Supreme Court has ruled that abortion rights are protected by the Kansas State Constitution, so cannot be simply outlawed by the state's very gerrymandered veto-proof legislative majority. A couple years ago, they tried to pass another amendment to outlaw abortion. That measures was voted down 58.8% to 41.2%. Now they're trying this back door route. We'll also have open Democratic primaries for Governor, Senator, and the House, each with multiple capable candidates. They've been hard to come by in past years, so there is some small reason to hope for this fall.

This is an occasional collection of newsworthy links and comments, much less systematic than what I attempted in my late Speaking of Which posts. The new name comes from my extensive use of browser tabs. When I get around to cleaning up, I often find tabs opened to old articles I might want to comment on and/or refer back to. So these posts are mostly housecleaning, but may also serve as a very limited but persistent record of what 20+ years ago I started calling "the end of the American empire" and nowadays feels more like "the end of civilization." I collect these bits in a draft file, and flush them out when periodically (12 times from April-December 2025, not much more often in 2026). My previous one appeared 48 days ago, on June 14. The exceptional delay this time has much to do with my work on the Mid-Year 2026 Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll.

By the way, I've been trying to write some more in-depth pieces on major issues (and/or personal peccadillos), using Substack as an email agent. I call this series Notes on Everyday Life. Here's a list of recent ones, plus a couple of oldies I've pinned because they still seem relevant here, in LIFO order:

  • [07-29]: Famous Death Dwarves: Lindsey Graham is finally laid to rest. This was based on the section below.

  • [06-26]: Arafat and Abbas on Violence: Reflections from Tomorrow Is Yesterday.

  • [06-22]: After Iran: A funny thing happened on the way to the apocalypse.

  • [05-29]: But Reality Is Unscripted: Disturbing thoughts on Trump.

  • [05-05]: The Real Road to Serfdom: Tim Wu explains how monopoly power leads to fascism.

  • [05-02]: Lookback: Iraq 2003: Why does the Iran war story sound familiar? (with allowances for tragedy repeating as farce)?

  • [04-27]: Explaining Inflation: AI treats us like 5-year-olds. They leave out a few things.

  • [04-05]: Iran War: The Big Question: How does it end? Or does it end at all?

  • [04-03]: Iran War: The Three Questions: Why is this happening?

  • [03-13]: Days of Infamy: "Franklin Roosevelt knew how to sell a war." Donald Trump doesn't. He only knows how to start one.

  • [2025-10-21]: Making Peace in Gaza and Beyond: "Looking beyond the Trump points toward a peace we can all live with."

  • [2025-10-17]: Gaza War Peace Plan: "Twenty Trump points, for better or worse."

  • [2025-08-10]: Four Stories: My first post, which sets out the basic ideas behind my effort, and takes its title from a very wrong-headed Vox piece that offered some teachable moments. One sample quote I buried in parentheses:

    There is no problem that Trump is the solution to. But his slogan, "Trump will fix it," suggests that some people thought we had problems he could fix. I think Trump's slogan was very effective, especially as Harris made little or no effort to show how very ridiculous the boast was.

I also have a Notes feed there. While I've done very little with it so far, it occurs to me that I might be able to use it to publish Loose Tabs items and Music Week reviews as I write them, instead of having to wait for a long compilation post.

Table of Contents:

New Stories

Sometimes stuff happens, and it dominates the news/opinion cycle for a few days or possibly several weeks. We might as well lead with it, because it's where attention is most concentrated. But eventually these stories will fold into the broader, more persistent themes of the following sections, or vanish altogether.

The World Cup:

  • Graham Peebles [07-09]: Poisoning the World Cup: The American Way: "The football has been brilliant, because football is brilliant. But the 2026 World Cup — hosted across the US, Canada, and Mexico — mainly in America — is the most corrupt, polluted tournament in the tournament's 96-year history."

  • Bess Levin [07-29]: Everyone hates FIFA's plan to let Jared Kushner's brother run the World Cup: "How did interested parties react to the plan? In a word, badly. In three words, quite fucking badly, unless threatening to boycott the World Cup was intended to signal support for the idea."

Lindsey Graham: [Note: I published an extract of this on [07-29] as: Famous Death Dwarves.] The Senator (R-SC) died on July 11, age 71. While I have many unpleasant memories of the man who probably ranks as the most persistent war hawk in my lifetime (a span that includes Arthur Vandenberg, John Stennis, Henry Jackson, and Graham's amigos John McCain and Joe Lieberman), one that sticks in my mind occurred back when he was an obscure junior member of the House (1995-2003). I pretty clearly remember him talking about the need for Republicans to lock up the judiciary and other centers of power whenever they have the chance, to stay in power even when elections turn against them. (Admittedly, it isn't easy to fact check this rare instance of blurting out the usually unspoken part about subverting democracy.) While his passion for provoking armed conflict was his defining trait, he was an inveterate schemer, a political animal with no respect whatsoever for democracy, or for the people it's meant to serve.

  • Kelley Beaucar Vlahos [07-12]: Lindsey Graham, last great Cold War warrior, dead at 71: "The senator was an inspiration to those who believed military power was essential to making the world 'right.' Others thought he lost his 'America First' perspective in Ukraine and Israel." I think the "Cold War warrior" concept misses the point. While he was old enough to have formed his hawkish beliefs before the Soviet Union dissolved, the Cold War was always constrained by a sense of limits. Graham, on the other hand, fully embraced the post-Cold War euphoria, relishing America's singular superpower (aka hyperpower) moment, believing that the mere threat of "shock and awe" would cower enemies into surrender and submission. That doctrine almost immediately failed in Somalia (where it is still failing 35 years later). It failed in Afghanistan. It failed in Iraq. No nation embraced it more fully than Israel, and they've been locked in a hopeless forever war against everyone (even their own people) ever since. Most people know by now that Graham never met a war he didn't want to escalate. What's less commented on, perhaps because it's even more ridiculous, is his inability to ever see a downside in the wars he promoted. They've failed time and time again, not only to achieve their stated goals but by causing enormous collateral damage that has only generated more chaos and resistance. But his only answer to such failure was to double down on violence. He not only worshipped power. He was locked inside its web, unable to see or imagine anything else. But perhaps worst of all was how glib and giddy his delusions made him. I don't know why Al Smith was called "the happy warrior," but he couldn't have been a tenth as deserving of that title as Graham.

  • Benjy Sarlin [7-12]: Lindsey Graham sacrificed his reputation to Donald Trump. He got plenty in return. "His career explains why so many Republicans made peace with Trump — and what he gave up to do it." The assumption, which isn't unreasonable, is that Trump will be soon regarded as a disgrace, even to Republicans. But one could also ask the question, what did Trump sacrifice to gain the toadying allegiance of Republicans like Graham? (And Rubio, Cruz, Vance, dozens more, among them the most reactionary reprobates in American politics.) In 2016, Trump had the smarts to run against Republican orthodoxy on war, trade, corruption ("the swamp"), and social security. But after he got elected, he turned everything over to regular right-wing Republicans, reducing himself to nothing more than an inept front man.

  • The New Voice of Ukraine:

    • [07-13]: Inside Lindsey Graham's relentless last days spent fighting for Ukraine and sanctions: On July 9, Graham traveled to Ukraine (flew out of Turkiye, took a train from Poland, "a journey that lasted 10 hours"). He met with Zelensky.

      That same day, the senator and his colleagues announced they reached an agreement with the Trump administration to advance the revised version of the Russia sanctions bill.

      In Kyiv, Graham told reporters that the deal had been struck just 30 minutes earlier.

      According to Representative Michael McCaul, keeping Trump engaged in supporting Ukraine was largely Graham's doing.

      Graham returned to the US, where he died on July 11.

    • [07-28]: Witkoff, Kushner could visit Kyiv within weeks.

    • [07-28]: Iran, Ukraine ease tensions over Caspian sea attack: "Ukrainian and Iranian foreign ministers, Andrii Sybiha and Abbas Araghchi, spoke on July 28 to calm things down after Ukraine attacked an Iranian cargo vessel in the Caspian Sea on July 26."

  • Jeet Heer [07-13]: Lindsey Graham chose evil: "Conspiracy theorists liked to say that Graham's Trump sycophancy was a result of blackmail. But the truth is worse: He stuck with Trump to keep the US war machine going."

  • Michael Tomasky [07-13]: Lindsey Graham's legacy? It's about one thing, and it isn't good: "He alone had the moral authority within the Republican Party to try to stop Donald Trump, especially after January 6. He chose not to. That's what we must remember today." It's mind-boggling to think that Graham had any morality, much less moral authority. (I don't have any more respect for McCain, but at least he had an act he appeared to believe in.) And for the record, the one Republican who could have stopped Trump after Jan. 6 was McConnell, who could have gotten Trump banned from running again by declaring him invalid under the 14th Amendment (with or without convicting him on impeachment charges). But by then hyperpartisanship had so rotted his brain he couldn't conceive of crossing Trump.

  • Chas Danner [07-13]: Was Lindsey Graham an opportunist, operator, failure, or disgrace? Probably all of the above. None of those are words a normal person would welcome in a eulogy, although Graham himself might have opted for the first two.

  • Jeffrey St Clair [07-13]: Graham Crackers: The words of a professional warmonger. Lots of Graham quotes here, not a lot of context. He contradicts himself so often some quotes may appear reasonable, but rest assured that in its proper context everything he said was meant to be evil. Like this one, which can hardly be interpreted any other way: "When this [Iran] regime goes down, we are going to have a new Middle East, and we are going to make a ton of money." I doubt that Graham was ever in the war business that much for the money, so most likely this quote was intended for an audience of the one who was [Trump]. But it sums up nicely what Graham saw as his Faustian bargain: he gets his war in exchange for his soul, which was never worth much in the first place. Still, odds are that in the end Trump will just pocket the money, leaving the old Middle East much as it was, but poorer.

  • Nathan J Robinson [07-13]: Why mourn Lindsey Graham and not his victims? "The late Republican senator was constantly lobbying for the killing of others. Why should anyone weep for a man who didn't care about inflicting death around the world?"

  • Elie Mystal [07-14]: Lindsey Graham's defense of Brett Kavanaugh told us everything: "The senator's infamous cry of rage spoke not only to his cruelty but also to his larger role in changing the court." Well, not everything, but enough.

  • Jamelle Bouie [07-15]: Lindsey Graham knew better. Better than what? Trump? Maybe, but other explanations are at least as plausible. Graham, like most politicians, had an intuitive sense of what one could and could not say and do. He also has a fevered desire to get out front whenever he could. Consequently, when Trump said or did things that plainly violated Graham's expected code, he was quick to criticize, only to find himself flat-footed, as Trump got away with things Graham thought impossible. That Graham moved so readily into the camp of Trump sycophants should be taken not as hypocrisy but as evidence that his earlier critiques of Trump were merely tactical, soon recognized as mistakes and corrected. Same for JD Vance.

  • Peter Baker [07-28]: At Graham's funeral, a glimpse into power in Trump's Washington: "The political evolution of Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator, both captivated and confused many of his old friends but reflected the changing order in the nation's capital."A report from the funeral, which doesn't come close to capturing how very surreal it must have been. Imagine if all the old Nazis could have shown up for Eichmann's funeral.

  • Brett Wilkins [07-28]: 'Lindsey liked war': Trump laughs off Graham's giddiness over Iran onslaught: "He's never seen a war that he didn't like." And Trump finds that charming?

  • Al Jazeera [07-28]: Lindsey Graham 'almost cried' tears of joy over war on Iran, footage shows: "Excerpts from a planned documentary show the hawkish senator claiming credit for persuading Donald Trump to attack Iran."

  • Noah Robertson [07-29]: Inside the deal to clinch Lindsey Graham's 'sanctions bill from hell': "The late senator pushed for a bipartisan financial bill that could curb Russia's main source of income."

Trump's Nuclear Proliferation Deal With Saudi Arabia: Trump announced signing this agreement on July 22. It immediately met flack from multiple quarters, including from Israel, which led to Trump insisting that Saudi Arabia sign an Abraham Accords deal. I have half a dozen categories below I could have slipped this into, but it straddles several, and is worth considering on its own. My own theory is that, having relaunched his bombing of Iran, Trump was desperate to keep Saudi Arabia support — a big deal, given that it and the other Persian Gulf states are by far the most vulnerable to Iranian counterattack. On the other hand, if the purpose of the Iran war was to stop nuclear proliferation in the region, providing Saudi Arabia with the same technology isn't a good look.

  • Trita Parsi [07-22]: The US-Saudi nuclear deal makes no sense: "How will Washington get Tehran to accept intrusive inspections beyond the JCPOA when Saudi is offered enrichment with no IAEA inspections?" The sense I can make of it is that Trump was desperate to keep Saudi Arabia aligned against Iran, but asked what it would take to keep the Saudis in line? Nuclear power has long been a Saudi goal, and long frustrated by Israel, so the agreement is above all a test of Trump's independence from Israel. That it involved granting to Saudi Arabia terms that Trump went to war to deny to Iran is the sort of irony Washington is no longer capable of understanding.

  • Kenneth Roth [07-23]: Why would Trump agree to the Saudi nuclear deal?: "The agreement offers the Saudis the same options Trump has sworn Iran will never have."

    Why would Trump agree to such a deal? Money seems to have played a big part. The deal could provide tens of billions of dollars to the US nuclear industry if it were to sell reactors to the Saudis. Suddenly the principle that Trump said was worth fighting for can be jettisoned for the right price.

  • Zack Beauchamp [07-23]: Did Trump just kill his own nuclear deal? "The US inked a deal with the Saudis. A day later, Trump walked it back."

  • Mitchell Plitnick [07-25]: The farce of Trump's nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia: "The White House announced an agreement to supply nuclear material to Saudi Arabia, and then killed its own deal by linking it to normalization with Israel under Israeli pressure. But even if the deal fails, it will significantly impact Gulf politics."

Major Threads

War on Iran: Trump's war was suspended on June 17, when he signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which among other things promised to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while further negotiations took place for a formal peace agreement. A disagreement over protocol for shipping emerged in early July, where the US attempted to guide ships through the Strait without notifying Iran. Iran objected, and on July 6-7, opened fire on transgressing ships. On July 7-8, Trump declared the truce over, and resumed bombing of Iran, reigniting the war. Iran responded by closing the Strait, and by retaliating against US bases in the region.

  • Stephen Semler [06-22]: Iran War: Most unpopular US war in history. This was even before Trump restarted the war.

  • Andrew Cockburn [06-23]: No more Mr. Nice Iranian Guy — we killed him: "Why he never closed the Straits." "Ever since I got my hands on a secret study conducted by an Operational Intelligence Cell attached to U.S. Army headquarters in Baghdad in 2007, I've been reporting that assassinating enemy leadership figures is an entirely counterproductive exercise."

  • Robert Malley/Stephen Wertheim [06-23]: Trump's Iran debacle could be a gift for America: Since Trump resumed the war, the optimism herein has turned to dust.

  • Trita Parsi:

    • [07-01]: Why Iran believes Israel will attack again before October: "The recent Israeli-Lebanese agreement and Hezbollah's unreported role in the previous war is leading Tehran to this conclusion."

    • [07-06]: Israel belongs in the new Saudi-Iranian order: "An anti-Abraham Accords is taking shape. That would be a big mistake." This refers to something called the Better Order Project, which is basically a "two-state solution" reboot. As such, it is a non-starter for any plausible Israeli governing coalition, even with the enticement of participating in an economic zone with Saudi Arabia and Iran.

    • [07-08]: How the US-Iran fight in the Strait of Hormuz can be resolved before it blows up the MOU.

    • [07-13]: A new US-Iran war would end where the last one did: "The fundamentals won't change: Iran can threaten Hormuz, the United States can punish Iran, and neither can secure its objectives through force."

    • [07-16]: "Israel's impunity has ensured that peace is no longer part of Israel's survival strategy." "Western-provided impunity has made the Israelis believe that they can live securely without suing for peace and without ending the illegal occupation of Palestine."

    • [07-18]: Yesterday's US-Iran escalation is a mere prelude to what is likely to come

    • [07-28]: Is Zelensky trying to merge the Iran and Ukraine wars? ". . . and why Israel would benefit from intertwining these two wars." He explains the Israel angle thusly:

      This dynamic would also appeal to Israel. First, it would give the Iran war another lease on life. Second, it would internationalize the conflict further by drawing European governments into the Iran theater through their deep commitments to Ukraine. And third, perhaps most significantly, it would transform the political narrative. Defeating Iran would no longer be presented as a necessity to defend Israel, but rather, to defend Ukraine.

      Given the levels of elite and public support Ukraine enjoys — after all, it was the victim of an illegal invasion — such a framing is far more politically digestible than centering the war on Israel, given Israel's plummeting standing in the West due to its genocide in Gaza and critical role in starting the illegal war with Iran.

      Parsi turned this blog post into an article:

    • [07-28]: Zelensky's dangerous gambit to merge the Iran and Ukraine Wars: "Of course this would also appeal to Israel, prolonging the Middle East war and potentially drawing European governments into the theater, too." I've heard mixed reports about Trump's support for Zelensky: his arms pipeline has more/less shifted to Europe, which isn't capable of the same largesse as Biden provided, but also is less likely to saddle him with crappy weapons like the Abrams tanks. Zelensky's resolve to fight on has been bucked up by European support, while Putin's resolve builds on Trump's indifference to the war. So one can see how Zelensky's move tries to break this stalemate, but the key to getting Trump support isn't alignment with Israel: it's pushing Putin to align with Iran. At present, Iran is hard pressed to manufacture all their own missiles and drones. But Russia may have surplus manufacturing, and could provide Iran with weapons systems (like anti-aircraft, longer-range missiles, aircraft even) that could make a difference. Also, while Zelensky may fancy that the way to Trump's heart is through Israel, he's ignoring a lot of moral baggage that come with aligning with Israel. He's already been reckless in provoking Russia, repeatedly crossing so-called "red lines," which Putin has been reluctant to do anything about. But at some point, some Europeans are going to doubt the wisdom of following him into what might quickly become a World War. Especially if it involves supporting Israeli genocide.

    • [07-29]: Why did Iran launch a surprise attack on US bases in Jordan? "Tehran is using a risky strategy that's based on the idea that deterrence now requires demonstrating a willilngness to accept the risks of total war."

  • Mitchell Plitnick [07-11]: The US war of choice against Iran has now become the War of Hormuz: "American goals in the war on Iran were unclear from the start, driven by Donald Trump's personal ambitions and the fantasies of pro-Israel neoconservatives. Now, however, there is a clear agenda: to prevent Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz."

  • Rosemary Kelanic [07-21]: The Houthi blockade puts Trump in a serious bind: "The Iran-aligned group wants to halt shipping to and from Saudi Arabia, undermining a Strait of Hormuz alternative."

  • Chas Danner:

  • Elfadil Ibrahim

  • Qamar Cheema/Mir Ahmad Muritza [07-24]: Aiming at the Gulf, Iran shoots itself in the foot: "Tehran's attacks on its Arab neighbors have increased their reliance on the US rather than reducing it." I've long thought that Iran's best chance to force Trump to negotiate is to put pressure on the Gulf States (including Saudi Arabia), who really have the most to lose in an all-out war. Unlike Israel, they are within easy range of Iranian missiles and drones. Unlike the US bases, they are poorly defended and vulnerable to attack. Plus they have lots of money, which plays into Trump's motivations. But it's tricky to figure out the optimal amount of pressure. I think it's certainly the case that Iran has attacked much less than they could have. Some moderation makes sense: after the war, they will be neighbors, with mutual interests and concerns. But the harder Trump attacks, the more tempting it will be to strike back where US allies are most vulnerable.

  • Benjamin Hart [07-28]: Trump has only humiliating options left in Iran: Interview with Danny Citrinowicz, a 25-year veteran of Israel's intelligence groups, now a "senior researcher in the Iran and Shi'ite Axis Program at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies."

  • Spencer Ackerman [07-29]: A regional war, with options to expand: "And without any reason for Iran to trust in negotiations, this is a one-way elevator until US capitulation."

Israel:

  • Ramzy Baroud [06-22]: When the Iran War is over: The West Bank may be Netanyahu's next front: It already is, and has long been, but he'll have even more pent-up ire to vent somewhere.

  • Jason Ditz [06-22]: Israeli troops raid southwest Syria villages, interrogate shepherds, detain farm worker: Well, if they can't have their war in Iran and Lebanon, they'll just move on to Syria. For Israel, there will always be another war to fight, enemy to vanquish, and maybe even land to occupy.

  • Qassam Muaddi:

  • Paul R Pillar [07-21]: With Trump distracted by Iran, Netanyahu is squeezing Gaza: "The US administration needs to use its leverage to get Israel to follow through on the ceasefire agreement." I've long thought that Netanyahu's efforts to sick Trump on Iran were meant more to distract him from following up on the Gaza Peace Plan than to address any real or imagined Iranian threat, but I don't know that he really needed the distraction. After the hostages were exchanged, I seriously doubt that Trump cares what Israel does to Gaza and the West Bank, or even to Lebanon — maybe at the end of the rainbow he'd like to get another golf resort, but he has much shorter-term grifts to play. Trump's definition of "peace" is he doesn't have to field questions about war. Thanks to a very complacent media, that's not likely to happen (unlike with the hostage story).

  • Razi Nabulse [07-24]: How Israel's crackdown on Palestinian citizens of Israel created the crime epidemic now ravaging their communities: "Nearly every day, a Palestinian citizen of Israel is killed by gang violence within Israel. The crisis has been years in the making, but its roots trace back to Israel's war on Palestinian political activity."

  • Yakov M Rubin [07-24]: Israel in Crisis: A treat from within: Writes about the Haredim, a large group of "ultra-orthodox" Jews in Israel who are mostly anti-Zionist, noted especially for their refusal to serve in the IDF, which is to say as part of Israel's permanent war machine. Rabkin's book, What Is Modern Israel?, looks interesting (possibly dated, having come out in 2016).

  • Aurélie Daher [07-30]: Trump's Lebanon fantasy is running smack into reality: "Officials in Beirut know that any agreement with Israel would be dead on arrival at home." On June 26, official delegations from Israel and Lebanon "signed a framework agreement with great fanfare in Washington." The problem is that Hezbollah wasn't a party to the agreement, and no one else has the power to disarm them. Or for that matter, to stop Israel from continuing to devastate and occupy Lebanon.

    The systematic, large-scale destruction of the country's south and the massive killings of civilians did not produce Israel's desired results. Tel Aviv had ideally hoped for a polarization of Lebanese society that would lead to a civil war, in which Shiites would come under fire from their compatriots — or, at the very least, for a majority of Lebanese to condemn and permanently exclude Hezbollah from governance.

    The Israeli army's brutal campaign had the opposite effect, adding fuel to Hezbollah's fire rather than extinguishing it. In practice, the Israeli army has re-legitimized the Lebanese organization's narrative that it has a special (if self-assigned) mission to defend the territory against the enemy to the south.

    This represents an extraordinary failure for the pro-Israel position on the issue.

Israel-American-World Relations: I used to try to separate out Israel-related pieces into several bins. The Iran war has its own news section. The Israel section above pertains to security operations in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, and Lebanon, as well as internal Israeli political affairs. This one deals with America's relationship to Israel, and possibly with the world's.

  • Shaul Magid [06-14]: "Reactionary renewal": "Judaism," the "Jews," and a note on peoplehood: "Is Jewish renewal abandoning the left, and if so, why?" An interesting piece, not of much political import but it does bring to light a strain of thought within Judaism (Renewal, which I'm aware of only because my father-in-law was a student of Mordecai Kaplan) against the backdrop of Israel's incessant demands for fidelity.

  • James North:

  • Philip Weiss:

    • [06-21]: My generation still can't discuss Palestine, but thankfully we no longer control the debate: "My generation of Jews entered Harvard in the 1970s as outsiders and left as the establishment that built support for Israel. Today, attitudes have shifted completely, yet my group still can't discuss Palestine. Fortunately, no one is waiting for us."

    • [07-12]: Palestine and the role of the activist intellectual: Interview with Bruce Robbins, author of Who's Allowed to Protest, on "the new McCarthyism on campus targeting those who support justice for Palestine."

    • [07-23]: Nicholas Lemann's aggrieved article on Jews and progressives reveals a blindness to the evil of Zionism: "In a widely read New York Times article, Nicholas Lemann claims anti-Zionism in the progressive world marginalizes Jews. Yet his failure to even mention Palestinians reveals his ignorance of Zionism's role in driving the crisis he seeks to confront." Lemann's article is: [07-06] A profound question haunting Jews today. He does admit "the return to power of Benjamin Netanyahu, at the head of a far-right coalition, in 2022 was a devastating blow, compounded by his government's failure to prevent the Oct. 7 attack and its conduct of the wars that followed." But that's about it. I sympathize with the emotional attachment that many American Jews feel toward Israel. What I don't get is the blindness that ignores how self-centered, power-mad, and supremacist Israel has become, and how far that ethic has strayed from the one that has allowed Jews in America to largely free themselves from centuries of Euro-American prejudice. By the way, Lemann's article led me to:

      • Ari D Berman [07-01]: What Zionism has always meant: Or what actually-existing Zionism has almost never meant. The Ahad Ha'am quote is misleading — he was a critic of the idea of a Jewish state, not an idealizer — while the "similar" quote from Ben-Gurion is just misdirection: "saying that Israel's ultimate successes would be determined 'not by its riches or military power nor by its technical skills but by its moral worth and human values.'" Israel's leaders have amassed so much power that it's incredible they should persist in blaming their own moral failures on enemies they have allowed no other option to. Berman's conclusion:

        [Zionism] was a means of allowing Jews to live to their greatest potential, unfettered by the restrictive, often brutal, experiences of living in foreign lands. Zionism is thus an answer to a 3,800-year-old yearning, not only a response to a modern crisis.

        Seen through the lens of its history and ultimate purpose, Zionism becomes a framework for constructive dialogue and renewed inspiration. From its biblical beginnings until today, Zionism has carried one of humanity's most enduring ideas: that a people, rooted in its values and returned to its homeland, can build a society that honors faith, dignity, responsibility and hope.

        This reminds me of Gandhi when asked, "what do you think of western civilization?": "I think it would be a good idea." I don't mind much if today's Israelis look back to their Zionist (and/or Biblical, but don't confuse them) history to find support for better values — as Americans, we have a lot of practice at elevating higher principles from the deeply flawed individuals who founded the nation — but such efforts need to be accompanied by practice. Nations can change. There are Israelis who want this change, but they have thus far had little political impact. And that's at least partly because apologists like Berman try so hard to pretend that Israel isn't the repressive, racist powerhouse it has so plainly become.

  • Yonatan Touval [06-24]: US support is Israel's true weakness. In 1979, Jimmy Carter solved Israel's real security problem by brokering a peace deal with Egypt. This included a commitment of substantial aid to both Israel and Egypt. In Israel's case, this aid has been used to finance a long series of wars that did little if anything to enhance security, and much to convince the world that Israel is a rogue nation with no interest in peace and even less in justice. For a while, the US acted as a brake on Israeli excesses, but after Clinton's Camp David fiasco and Bush coming to power, Israel increasingly took advantage of the American blank check, and American presidents, especially Trump and Biden and Trump again, turned into mere supplicants. The result is that Israel has become abhorrent to the sensibilities not just around the world but even in the US, where there is a growing movement to finally cut the subsidies and complicity. It's unclear when this will actually happen — the Trump administration is not exactly known for its sensitivity to polling shifts, but the direction seems clear.

    • The end of Israel's American dependency will be painful. Dependencies tend to end that way. But the tragedy would not lie in the loss of indulgence. It would lie in losing it and learning nothing from the loss. If America is now withdrawing the certainty of unconditional rescue, that may be the last gift it can give. What follows will test not Israel's might, which is not in doubt, but whether it can learn the discipline that sovereignty demands.

  • Mitchell Plitnick

  • Connor Echols [07-08]: Inside the growing religious revolt against Christian Zionism: "Faith groups battled over Israel Tuesday during a marathon day of lobbying on Capitol Hill."

  • Elliott Colla [07-11]: The New York Times enabled the Gaza genocide and lost its legitimacy in the process: "Professor Elliott Colla was a lifelong New York Times reader but can no longer trust the paper due to its coverage of Gaza. In fact, he's found that there is a strong case for prosecuting many at the paper for their role in the genocide."

  • Andrew Prokop [07-16]: When Israel lost Democratic voters, in 3 charts.

  • Omer Bartov [07-21]: I'm a scholar of genocide. We're entering a terrifying new era.

  • Michael Arria:

  • Hillel Schenker [07-28]: Signs of cautious hope on the Israeli left: "One interesting development on the left is the new joint Jewish-Arab 'Place for All of Us' party, founded by leaders of Standing Together."

  • Hanno Hauenstein [07-30]: Free speech crackdown: Germany deports Bob Vylan frontman for anti-Israel chants.

Ukraine, Other Hot Spots, and World Politics:

  • Jennifer Kavanagh [06-16]: Trump is blowing his chance to make peace in Ukraine: "A serious attempt to end the war means shifting focus from territory, making realistic promises, and bringing all parties to the table."

  • Alina Khamatdinova/Matthew Blackburn [07-23]: The West's plan to pressure Putin has a glaring flaw: "Hopes that a Ukrainian deep strike campaign will force a ceasefire are based on a misunderstanding of Russian politics."

  • Stavroula Pabst:

    • [07-27]: As war drags on, Ukraine's population is collapsing: "As the war in Ukraine trudges through its fifth year, deaths there now outnumber births at a nearly four-to-one ratio."

      The new population figures come as fewer Ukrainians are demonstrating a desire to fight. Earlier this month, anti-conscription protests rocked the western city of Lviv. Ukraine also has about two million draft-dodgers and about 200,000 military deserters, according to the country's former defense minister.

      In line with polling it conducted last year, Gallup found last month that Ukrainians' support for continued fighting remains low. Only 24% of respondents told Gallup that Ukraine should keep fighting until it wins the war. In contrast, 66% wanted a negotiated solution to end it as soon as possible.

      About 52 million people lived in Ukraine in 1991. Back in May, Denys Uliutin, Ukraine's Minister of Social Policy, said the country now only has about 22 to 25 million residents.

    • [07-29]: Ukraine's 'turned tide' doesn't comport 'with basic military reality': "Cajoled by Zelensky, Western media is dangerously upselling — again — Kyiv's ability to win."

  • Caitlin Dewey [07-28]: Why Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average: "The wildfires sweeping France and Spain this week are the largest blazes either country has faced in modern history."

  • Connor Echols [07-28]: Zelensky's big idea for Trump: Ukraine is the Israel of Europe: "The Ukrainian president is emphasizing the close ties between Iran and Russia as he seeks greater US support."

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Washington with a bang Tuesday, just days after Ukraine carried out a missile strike against an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea.

    The attack appears to be part of Zelensky's effort to win over President Donald Trump, who has long had a tense relationship with the Ukrainian leader. The pitch is simple: Ukraine is the kind of partner who will take action when others won't.

    As George Beebe of the Quincy Institute put it, Zelensky's goal is to "convince President Trump that Ukraine will be an Israel-type partner for the United States in Eastern Europe, where it can serve to counter Russian aggression, contain Russian expansionism, and protect Europe and NATO." Beyond that, Kyiv is hoping to show Trump that it is "even more valuable than America's NATO allies," which the president has repeatedly criticized for being insufficiently supportive of his war with Iran.

Trump's War Department: I set this section up to deal with Trump's threats of war. We're obviously beyond that now, so see the section on Iran for more on that.

  • Ben Freeman [05-29]: Congress quietly moves to integrate US and Israeli militaries: "In the first step towards shifting aid further into the shadows, the House's 2027 NDAA would all but fuse the two countries' armed forces together."

  • Stabroula Pabst [06-25]: Trump's $88 billion Iran war request is stuffed with pork: "The proposal includes hundreds of millions for elevator and memorial repairs — and lawmakers aren't buying it."

  • Charles A Kupchan [07-02]: America does not know its own mind: "Internationalist are once more doing battle with America Firsters, cleaving the body politic between two incompatible approaches to global affairs." The previous time was the 1930s, when "America First" was a slogan of anti-interventionists (including fascist sympathizers), who were ridiculed as "isolationists" by advocates of extending America's increasingly global economic power into world politics. Of course, it was (and is) more complicated than that, and then and now much effort has been made to confuse the issues. I'm not finding much clarity in this thumbnail sketch of US history. Part of Responsible Statecraft's America 250 deep dive into American history, arguing about the past to score points about the present.

  • Medea Benjamin [07-10]: Eight contradictions behind NATO's Summit of "Love": Member nations have long had different views on NATO, as have people within those nations, and the result is not just confusion but an ingrained habit of stasis. For most of its history, the US was happy with that. Russia wasn't really a threat beyond its Warsaw Pact satellites, the US wasn't terribly demanding, NATO's existence allowed Europe to pretend at keeping a military while keeping it impotent (France and UK were partially exempt as long as they had colonies to suppress). This only got messy when the US went on the warpath, starting with Iraq/Kuwait in 1990, and accelerated with the War on Terror, where Washington expected them to fall in line. NATO increasingly became a US-dominated arms cartel aligned with Israel's militarism, US foreign policy was redirected to promoting arms sales, which meant provoking potential threats in Russia and China (where the Cold War playbook still resonated). What Europe (and Canada) got from this new regime was hard to quantify, but it's mostly been negative. Any reasonable analysis would move them to negotiate deals with Russia, China, Iran, etc., and cut the Americans loose. But their longstanding habit of humoring the Americans has held steady — so far, at least.

  • Joseph Solis-Mullen [07-23]: How Washington's interventions fuel Somalia's cycle of chaos.

  • Blaise Malley [07-24]: What a US war with Cuba would really look like: "Experts say every military option carries its own strategic, political, and humanitarian risks."

  • Dana Frank [07-29]: Trump's favorite drug trafficker returns triumphantly to Honduras: "Juan Orlando Hernandez came home with a skip in his step after receiving a pardon despite moving 400 tons of cocaine."

  • Jeet Heer [07-31]: Trump's Caribbean killing spree is a feckless, criminal failure: "Blowing up innocent fishermen hasn't curbed the drug trade."

Trump vs. Law: Early on the emphasis here was on ICE, which appeared as Trump's rough draft for a national SS. I've mostly deferred to Jefrey St Clair for those stories, but they are still killing people. I then moved on to focus more on Supreme Court cases (which Ian Millhiser covers especially well), and related cases. But lately Trump's crime spree — weaponization of the Justice Department, cover for corruption, and other abuse of powers — have spread far and wide.

Trump's Administration: Trump can't remake America in his own image (i.e., destroy the country, culture, and civilization) just by himself. He needs help, and having largely purged the government of civil servants and replaced them with his own minions, this is what they are doing (whether he's paying attention or not):

  • Aparna Soni [07-19]: 2.6 million lost health insurance after ACA subsidies expired. That has real consequences. "Many people switched to cheaper, higher-deductible plans, but average premium payments still rose 58% and deductibles climbed 37%, or more than US$1,000 per person. By February 2026, only 83% of people who selected a marketplace plan had paid their premiums and kept their coverage, down from 91% the previous year."

  • Dylan Scott [07-23]: So is the lettuce bad or not? "Can we trust anything the Trump administration says on cyclospora?" Nope.

  • Tony Romm/Brad Plumer [07-24]: Trump administration admits canceling grants to states that did not vote for him: "Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states 'based solely' on whether they backed Trump in the 2024 election."

  • Caitlin Dewey [07-27]: The worst year for measles in a generation: "Measures is back in part because we stopped fearing it." Also . . . Trump.

  • Emily Badger/Alicia Parlapiano [07-27]: Congress budgeted billions for big transit projects. Trump isn't spending it.

  • Brad Plumer [07-29]: Trump administration is repurposing federal land for AI data centers: "In the latest example, the Energy Department will convert a shuttered Cold War-era uranium enrichment facility into a data center campus and gas plants."

  • Thom Walsh [07-29]: The Big Beautiful Bill's market-based health care delusion: "The Rural Health Transformation program asks states to build market-style reforms in places where health care markets often do not exist." It is fair to say that the program is not only designed to fail, it is designed to fail irreplaceably:

    But the program is not simply a grant program. It is leverage. States are being asked to manage the consequences of reduced federal health care financing through plans that must satisfy federal expectations. If a state does not use the funds in accordance with its approved application, the federal government can withhold, reduce, or recover funds. The statute also bars administrative or judicial review of those decisions.

    That matters because the program is built partly around the familiar vocabulary of health care reform: choice, competition, technology, transparency, partnerships, right-sizing, and value-based care. Those ideas are not inherently wrong. The problem is that access-sustaining money is being used to push market-style policy in places where the market case for that policy is often weakest.

Donald Trump:

Politics: Pieces on US elections (recent and future) and, more generally, intra-party politicking. Party-specific pieces in following sections.

  • Ed Kilgore: Lots of pieces that could be sorted under other categories, but many become obsoleted almost as fast as they land.

    • [06-20]: Trump's new GOP midterm strategy is pure chaos: "He thinks Republicans should stop fixating on voters' concerns about prices and focus on his phony voter-fraud panic."

    • [06-23]: Tucker Carlson and MTG choose irrelevance over GOP: "These high-profile apostates may claim they represent many unhappy MAGA folk. But the fact is they're leading no one and going nowhere fast." For now, sure, but could there be a longer-term positioning angle?

    • [06-26]: JD Vance identifies with Nixon, which says a lot: "The veep compared himself to the former president, painting him as another bad boy who overcame his snooty detractors and achieved supreme power."

    • [07-07]: Why 'Medicare for All' is back on the Democrats' agenda: "Exploding health-care costs and a New Wave of progressive-candidates are reviving calls for single-payer health." It will be on the agenda until it is implemented, because anything less is bound to fail. The best one could hope for ACA was to delay the inevitable: it solved a few problems, and ameliorated some more, but at a high cost, as it also attempted to keep all industry business interests fat and happy. But rather than welcome what was actually a big victory for business, Republicans did everything they could to sabotage the law, which only accelerated its failure.

    • [07-10]: How Trump's polling lies fuel his election denial: "Trump conditions his supporters to believe his election fables by regularly making delusional claims about his popularity." And vice versa.

    • [07-15]: MAGA won't stand for limits on ICE brutality: "Efforts to rein in ICE tactics and poorly targeted mass deportations have been met with a backlash from Trump's base." As Adam Serwer put it, The Cruelty Is the Point.

    • [07-16]: Trump drags America deep down the rabbit hole: "In a White House address Trump spouted wild election conspiracy theories. Damage to the midterms could be profound."

    • [07-20]: GOP's midterm message: Democrats stink more than we do! "With Trump unwilling to defend his own record, Republicans must struggle to make the election comparative and smear the opposition as extremist." The thing is, this tactic has been backfiring. Indeed, it arguably backfired for the Democrats in recent elections, even though there is a good case that the Republicans are far more extremist than any Democrats. When Republicans attack Democrats as "socialist" or worse, the reaction is increasingly divided between "huh?" and "cool!" The charge only resonates for people who already hated Democrats.

    • [07-22]: Polls show even MAGA has soured on Trump's Iran War: "The Iran war has always been unpopular, and as the conflict drags on, public opinion is looking more and more dismal for the president."

    • [07-22]: John Fetterman's party-switch calculus: "The erratic Pennsylvania Democrat is flirting with a party flip. If the midterms produce a narrow Senate majority, he could have massive leverage."

    • [07-26]: Democrats need to postpone their civil war.

    • [07-27]: Will Trump make January 3 another January 6? "Reversing a 2026 midterms defeat wouldn't be easy, but the president is laying the groundwork."

    • [07-28]: Democrats poised to overreact to Michigan and Wisconsin primaries: Both races seem to be cases where the Democratic money people are in panic because their preferred candidates simply don't have the appeal of their challengers. The problem is that they're not coming up with good candidates to campaign for their do-nothing agenda.

    • [07-30]: Democrats need a better answer on voter ID. Here's one.

    • [07-30]: Trump is absolutely flailing in high-quality polls: Approval rates: CNN 34%, AP-NORC 33%, Quinnipiac 32%. At Silver Bulletin, Trump is −13% on immigration, &minus-22.4% on trade, $minus;-27.7% on the economy, −43.3% on inflation, and &minus-39.9% on his Iran war.

    • [08-02]: The GOP's big red scare is really stupid: "No, Democrats aren't communist, and the relatively small progressive surge in primaries isn't a Bolshevik revolution." I'd add that the success of the red scares (both after 1918 and 1945) was largely based on the charge that communists were effectively foreign agents, and their failure happened after McCarthy and the Birchers expanded their targets to include the Army, Eisenhower, and Earl Warren.

  • Robert Kuttner [07-28]: Yes, Trump will attempt a coup: "If we are vigilant, he won't pull it off."

Other Republicans:

  • Rick Perlstein [06-28]: Ronald Reagan to JD Vance: minimizing Watergate is a Republican tradition: "On the American right, there is an unbroken lineage of Watergate propaganda going back to the 70s from today." There was a brief period starting in the 1990s — I date from Clinton's shameful eulogy of Nixon — when liberals loved the irony of touting Nixon as a liberal icon. That went hand-in-hand with the tendency to view the Republican turn to the right as starting with Reagan in 1980. That turn was deeply embedded in the Nixon years, even if he let some laws pass that later conservatives decried (like Clean Air, and OSHA), and put Harry Blackmun on the Supreme Court. But Nixon also installed Rehnquist, which started the erosion of civil rights. (Also note that he turned the Office of Economic Equality over to Donald Rumsfeld's deliberate incompetence, so that the Great Society programs would end in failure.) Nixon also largely invented the "culture war" manipulations Reagan and others would later advance. But only with the advent of Trump has it become clear that Nixon's main contribution to the Republican right has been to justify presidential criminality, both against domestic and foreign "enemies." Unfortunately, the backlash against Watergate was limited to domestic affairs; his more serious foreign policy crimes, like the murder of Allende, were never addressed, partly because they weren't new with Nixon.

    • Lauren Gambino [06-25]: JD Vance says Nixon's Watergate scandal would be '12-hour news story' today. This says more about Vance, who was 12 year short of being born when Watergate broke, than anything else. He doesn't know the story (especially about how the cover-up overshadowed the crime, but also the whole panoply of "dirty tricks" Nixon was also hoping to cover up), and he has even less understanding of how people, including the media, viewed political crime back then. What's less clear is how much media have changed: certainly Republican-aligned media have cozied up to Trump's crazed criminality, so they can be counted on to deny and dismiss any charges. But it's not like Nixon didn't have allies hoping to bury Watergate. It couldn't be buried due to the way that it slowly leaked out, as every attempt at cover up backfired.

    • David A Graham [07-21]: JD Vance isn't a fool. Why does he act like one? "Every politician does some pandering, but few do it as clumsily, or with such evident disdain for their own supporters, as the vice president."

    • Thomas B Edsall [07-28]: Who does JD Vance think he is?

  • Bess Levin [07-15]: Ken Griffin, GOP megadonor and Rubio fan, goes all in on midterms: "The billionaire Citadel founder is said to be focusing on Senate races in hopes of shaping the party beyond Trump." He was the 5th biggest political donor in 2024, and "has contributed some $40 million to midterm races," which "could easily double by November." Susan Collins (R-ME), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and the Republican nominated to succeed Joni Ernst (R-IA) are major beneficiaries.

  • Ariana Aspuru/Sean Rameswaram [06-29]: How the rich got stingy: "The ultra-wealthy used to build libraries and public parks. Those days are over." Interview with Bella DeVaan, director of the Charity Reform Initiative at the Institute for Policy Studies.

  • Elisabeth Zerofsky [07-28]: What the crackup of the Heritage Foundation says about the post-Trump right: "The bastion of American conservatism best known for Project 2025 has been consumed by an ideological — and generational — civil war."

  • Virginia Heffernan [07-31]: Don't be fooled: America hates these toxic right-wing gasbags: "Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, and Erika Kirk get lots of attention. But America hates them. And increasingly, they hate each other." Hate, after all, is their stock-in-trade.

  • Annie Karni [08-02]: Ohio Senator calls former son-in-law accused of abuse unfit for office: "Senator Bernie Moreno, Republican of Ohio, broke his silence about allegations of domestic abuse his daughter had made against Representative Max Miller."

Democrats: Had I written this in real time, I probably would have expressed my dismay and revulsion over how prominent Democrats as well as the usual media vultures piled on to wreck the Graham Platner campaign in Maine, and especially over those ostensible Democrats who had promised to vote for Collins. I was never much of a Platner fan, nor am I overly enamored of his "working class charisma," and I know nothing (and care little) about the disputed facts. It's quite possible that my own kneejerk reaction isn't all that different from the way Trump fans responded to libelous charges against their hero. But we don't need to go into that any further. Platner has withdrawn. Maine Democrats have a new candidate. No need to rehash this again.

  • Kate Yoder [06-16]: The climate myth Democrats can't quit: Climate change seems to have slipped to the bottom (24 out of 25) of issues that voters identify as "very important to their vote," which is being taken as an indication that it's not worth talking about.

    The idea that talking about climate change is a liability for Democrats has become conventional wisdom. Last year, the Democrat-aligned think tank Searchlight Institute issued the advice "Don't say climate change." A recent op-ed in The New York Times concluded, "When it comes to climate change, for now, it might be better to say nothing at all." An early draft of the Democratic National Committee's autopsy report of the 2024 election, released under pressure in May, posited that messages about climate change and shifting to green energy "created anxiety among workers in traditional industries worried about job losses."

    This question deserves a much deeper answer, but all I can offer here is a paragraph. First, we have to get realistic: about the real dimensions of the threat; about how difficult it is to prevent the conditions from getting worse; and about what government needs to do to for disaster recovery. From this you can make at least two clear points: one is that Republicans are bad at disaster recovery, for lots of reasons (denial of causes, unwillingness to help anyone who isn't one of their chosen people, corruption in what they do spend); another is that climate disasters are driving up insurance rates, eventually to levels no one can afford (government needs to be able to provide insurance, starting with people who can't afford it, but also to make people who used to be able to afford it more comfortable). Neither of these things attacks people for driving SUVs or eating meat, nor do they try to shame people for setting thermostats wrong. But sure, once you start to rebuild trust, you can suggest sensible changes to reduce carbon footprint, etc. And you can justify investing money in changes that will eventually pay for itself in managing insurance costs. I suspect that the problem isn't denialism, although Republicans have campaigned on that. Most people believe the science. But they don't want to take personal responsibility for it, nor should they given the role that companies and government (like the military) play in making it worse. And they're not impressed by the solutions Democrats have been pushing so far, which are mostly just subsidies to alt energy companies and tax breaks for buying electric cars. That's a deep problem with the political system, which only supports proposals that make interest groups money.

  • Bhaskar Sunkara [07-02]: Jonathan Chait doesn't understand the socialists he's attacking: This seems to be the new definition of an academic squabble: not only is Chait's Atlantic essay behind a paywall, so is Sunkara's Jacobin rebuke. All we get is this: "Jonathan Chait thinks the Democratic Socialists of America has become the thing founders like Michael Harrington built it to oppose. He has the history totally wrong. The thread from Harrington's DSA to this one isn't hard to find."

  • Kevin Kruse [07-08]: Punching Left: Ed Kilgore refers to this as the "Democrats' civil war." Basically, there is one faction which has controlled the upper ranks of the Democratic Party since the Reagan-Bush era, largely by tapping into big business money (mostly in tech and finance). They saw this shift as both necessary, given the decline of unions as a force for political mobilization, and as an opportunity, given the Republicans' embrace of reactionary "culture war" issues. Indeed, by the time you get to Trump, their main pitch is that they're the only safeguard against fascism. But they found that they couldn't get the rich to support them unless they attacked anyone who challenged the rich and powerful, which is to say the left. This wasn't new. This happened way back with Truman and his "loyalty oaths." It happened when LBJ wrecked his Great Society to fight a pointless, hopeless war in Vietnam. And it's still a reflex for the Democrats who still raise money and direct campaigns, even though their candidates have lost much of their credibility. The problem is that their campaign pitches don't win, not least because their solutions don't work. And also because they keep embracing wars that make a mockery of their supposed commitment to peace and justice. It's no surprise that the people cited below who want to purge the Democratic Party of its left see support for Israel as their litmus test issue. (The link is to Shapiro, but Fetterman has been even more adamant.)

    Over the last month, there's been a flurry of panic from self-styled moderates and centrists in the Democratic Party about the success of a few socialist candidates in party primaries.

    Some of this grumbling has simply been the self-interested reaction of inert incumbents who are (rightly) worried that these political upstarts might be coming for their own jobs in Congress. But other prominent figures in the party have also gone out of their way to trash these leftists and assert that they have no place in the party's coalition. Rather than working alongside the left, these misguided moderates seem to believe the Democratic Party needs to distance themselves from them and denounce them.

    Today, professional concern troll David Brooks confirmed that this is a horrible idea by embracing it in a piece for The Atlantic titled Democrats Became Great By Fighting the Left.

    • As Kruse points out, at least from the New Deal forward, the left has been the leading force behind Democratic rises. I'd go further and make three more bold claims: the left has better solutions for most of the problems that trouble us today; that left arguments are potentially more effective than pitches for "moderation"; and that left overshoot is almost structurally impossible, so there is no reason to panic about power shifting left. We're a long, long ways from stopping the rich from getting richer, and even farther from making the rich poor. Few on the left even want that: we'd rather have poor people more secure, while reducing the power differences; some degree of inequality may be inevitable, but at some point the value of further leveling up may cease to matter.

    Also, I must say, if Brooks thought the Democrats were great in the 1940s by fighting the left, why did it take him until Trump came around to leave the Republicans?

  • Howard Dean [07-16]: Democrats' key to winning the midterms: "The party's healthcare affordability agenda could lower prices and put the Senate in play." One thing I've never forgiven Obama for was getting rid of Dean as DNC chairman, after Dean had engineered the Democrats' majority in Congress in 2006, and Obama's own election in 2008. Obama's pick may have helped him get reëlected in 2012, but by then Congress was lost, and stayed that way.

  • David Freedlander [07-20]: Like it or not, Kamala Harris is the front-runner: That means quite simply there is no front-runner. It's silly to even talk about the prospect. She lost to Trump. There is no excuse for that. And while she "comes in with 99 percent name ID," much of that ID isn't favorable, and virtually none of it was built by campaigning against any other Democrat.

  • Steven Greenhouse [07-22]: Democrats need to hammer Trump on his unprecedented corruption: "To win in this year's midterm elections, the party must highlight that Trump has made huge financial gains while millions struggle to make ends meet." While Trump embodies many character faults in the American people, this level of corruption should still be a major turn off. He cites Hungary as a similar example:

    Democrats should repeatedly hammer Trump for his greed, corruption and conflicts of interest the same way that Hungary's opposition repeatedly attacked Viktor Orbán for his immense corruption — a strategy that caused Orbán's popularity to plummet and caused Hungarian voters to oust their country's authoritarian leader last April. Peter Magyar, Orbán's challenger, defeated Orban by focusing on three issues the Democrats would be smart to focus on: the cost of living, the lack of economic opportunities, and the fact that their country's leader and his family grew ever richer even as many people grew poorer.

  • Andrew Prokop:

    • [06-24]: Why urban Democrats love socialists now: "Democratic socialists are winning in New York — and in other cities." I suggest everyone go back and read Thomas Geoghegan's primer on European (especially German) models for social democracy, Were You Born on the Wrong Continent? How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life. For sure, socialism is better for the poor than no socialism, but where the value of robust rights and generous public services really pays off is with the middle class. Socialism makes it possible for people with middle incomes to get a good education, to get health care when they need it, to bounce back from loss of a job, to give their children opportunities, to plan for retirement, and to avoid the pitfalls of sudden bankruptcy that haunt many Americans today. Highly educated, somewhat better than median income people, especially in large and expensive cities, may benefit even more. Moreover, they're likely to have traveled and seen that it's possible to have functioning government that treats people fairly and generously.

    • [07-30]: How "abundance" lost the Democratic war of ideas: "Moderates hoped 'Abundance' could be the party's new vision. It hasn't worked out." First I've heard of that, but centrists probably spoiled the concept by adopting it too fervently. I still haven't looked at the Klein & Thompson book, but probably will at some point. Klein makes some bad calls, but he's a pretty smart guy, and I'd expect him to have some good ideas. (Thompson I'm not so sure about, so let's forget him for the rest of this comment.) Also, I think Klein's intent was to convince the left to add yimbyism to their repertoire, and not as a substitute for everything else — which was the tack took by the centrists, who were looking to rekindle their love affair with the rich by adopting some kind of supply-side, trickle down economic agenda. And beyond that, they saw it as another cudgel for punching down the left. Of course, some on the left took their bait, and took it out on Klein. Mamdani, on the other hand, took what he liked, and ignored the rest — which seems like the right way to handle things. After all, the left does want things like more affordable housing, and has no affinity for zoning rules and anti-development hassle that derails development that would be worthwhile.

  • Bill Scher:

    • [07-28]: The DSA platform would destroy American democracy: "The socialist group's vision of a federal government without three equal branches providing checks and balances would facilitate the whims of a would-be authoritarian. Sound familiar?" Not really. The "checks and balances" system has been more effective at preventing popular reforms than it has been at preventing authoritarianism. The Republican-packed Supreme Court has pretty consistently backed Trump's authoritarian power grabs. Maybe not as consistently as Trump wanted, but the right has won some pretty serious arbitrary victories there, like ending abortion rights, allowing unlimited campaign spending corruption, and much more. What protects democracy is the right to vote, which is also under attack from Trump. It's certainly not the electoral college, the manifestly unrepresentative Senate, the gerrymandered House, the unelected war machine, or the highly politicized federal courts system.

      That much said, I'm in no position to defend DSA. I'm not a member. I'm not involved with them in any way. I've never read their platform, nor do I want to. My views are generically leftist (I believe that equality is the foundation of justice), democratic (I believe that government should serve all people, so should be responsive to all of their needs), and liberal (I believe that individuals should be as free as possible within the constraints of mutual respect and cooperation). The "socialism" label carries some historical baggage that I fear is unhelpful (as does "communism" and "anarchism"), but I recognize people who adopt such labels as fundamental allies, even if we may quarrel over details (as I also do with other leftists, democrats and/or liberals).

      Still, if the best charge Scher can make against DSA is that they want to write a new constitution which would abolish the Senate, that's a pretty weak complaint. The Founders certainly didn't regard their Constitution as permanent or sanctified. They allowed for amendments, and indeed for a new constitutional convention. The latter hasn't happened, because we've always found it easier to work with the old document than to open up a blank piece of paper. In recent years, the people pushing for a constitutional convention have been on the right, not on the left. Give this political threat, I've basically taken a defensive posture, and given no consideration to proposals to restructure government. On the other hand, if DSA wants to dream, I can only say, "good for them." Back when I was in my teens, before I settled on any real position in politics, I was fascinated by the various utopian thinkers, so it's fair to say I've always loved a good thought-experiment.

      Scher has long been the most dutiful of centrist DNC pundits, so it's pretty clear who he's carrying water for. His argument is pure distraction: DSA has many more immediate goals and plans before they get around to abolishing the Senate (which, however good in theory, can only happen after they win the Senate, by which point it will no longer be an obstacle). However, his argument takes a weird turn when he looks for a case where a "democratic socialist" case advocating "unrestrained majority rule" without constitutional checks and balances, and comes up with David Ben-Gurion. He was a nationalist first and foremost: his commitment to "socialism" was limited to "Hebrew Labor," a repudiation of the fundamental leftist notion that all are equal; and his view of "democracy" was as a bag of favors he could use to shore up his power bases and general legitimacy. There is much more that can be said about Israel's example, but one thing odd here is that one of the main complaints centrist pundits have about DSA is their opposition to Israel's wars on equality, human rights, and democracy.

    • [07-31]: How left will Democrats go in 2028? That depends on 2026: "Democratic voters, long partial to candidates who show a capacity for bipartisan compromise over ideological purity, may be changing." That statement is probably wrong on every point, except perhaps "may be changing." Democratic voters supported Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden against Bernie Sanders not because they wanted compromises with Republicans but because they feared unbridled Republican control, and thought that the better-financed "moderates" would be better positioned to protect them. They failed, in part because all this talk about seeking bipartisan compromises made Democrats look weak and wobbly, while raising the expectations that Republicans could be moderate. Also, there's no evidence that anyone on the left wing of the Democratic Party is hung up on ideological purity. As for "changing," Scher runs through a lot of polling data, of which the most surprising is:

      According to annual Gallup polling sampled from 1994 to 2025, the share of Democrats who identify as "liberal" — as opposed to "moderate" or "conservative" — sits at a record high of 59 percent, up from 25 percent during Bill Clinton's first term.

      The label poison seems to be wearing off, as it is also for "socialist" and all the other red-baiting epithets. Scher makes more hay with polling on how many Democrats are willing to compromise, but much of that can be explained by poll construction. Let me put it this way: if I was president, and had a Democratic majority in Congress, I would still profess my willingness to cooperate with Republicans on bipartisan solutions to any problem they were willing to engage with seriously. Any time you can reach a consensus, that's better than eeking out a narrow partisan win. But how often are Republicans willing to help solve a problem? Damn near never. Clinton once described his welfare reform bill as a fundamentally good bill "wrapped up in a sack of shit." At least since Clinton became president, the only times Republicans have been willing to work out compromise deals is if they wound up making Democrats look bad, mostly by alienating their base. (NAFTA was the first big example of this. ACA was an example of months of bipartisan negotiation compromising a bill that should have passed with 80% margins, only to be 100% of Republicans oppose it, they turn it into a political cudgel.) One shouldn't be surprised that Democrats are getting sick and tired of their politicians selling them short in a pretense of bipartisanship that only seems to ratchet right. It doesn't take ideological rigor to see that candidates with left principles are more likely to see through these centrist ruses and hold out for principled solutions.

  • David Atkins [07-31]: The case for the DNC's Ken Martin. Really: I don't have any insight or opinion here. As far as I've been able to tell, the only DNC chair who did any good was Howard Dean, and Obama put an end to that. Since then, it's been a tool of the money-grubbing "centrists," and as such dead weight on efforts to elect Democrats across all 50 states. I don't know whether Martin is a change or more of the same. I will say that having to assume $20 million of Kamala Harris campaign debt isn't a good look.

The Economy (and Economists):

  • Ha-Joon Chang [06-12]: The end of the old economic order is an opening for the left: Interview. Another subscriber's only thing. (My wife subscribes, but no, I don't have the password.)

  • John Herrman [06-29]: AI inflation is screwing with the rest of the economy: "Rising prices for computers, phones, game consoles, appliances, and cars are just the beginning."

  • Brad DeLong:

    • [06-30]: Is Kevin Warsh as bad a central banker as he seems? Perhaps . . . : "Standing on one's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination is no way to create a stable standard of value."

    • [06-27]: The centuries of Eric Hobsbawm, and:

    • [07-02]: The centuries of Eric Hobsbawm II: "Hobsbawm's Long Nineteenth Century — in which his unshakeable bedrock foundational commitment to Marxist teleology is both his superpower & his Akhilleus's heel." First piece is based on an Enzo Traverso review of a book by Emile Chabal. Untangling this gets messy, not least because DeLong wants to draw a line between Hobsbawm's 1789-1875 books and his later 1875-1991 volumes, praising the former, and condemning the latter, mostly for unfashionable politics, which are blamed for excessive gloom. DeLong sees his own book as the antidote, a choice that doesn't seem like much of an improvement: by limiting himself to "actually existing socialism" DeLong loses the critiques offered by all the other possible socialisms, which only serves to lock in actually existing capitalism. Still, I like this bit by DeLong:

      In Hobsbawms telling, 1848 fails as a social revolution. However, it succeeds in killing the old order: thereafter, rulers know that they must reckon with capitalism, mass politics, and national movements, and that if anything is going to stay the same, everything must change.

      I thought Hobsbawm was far too sketchy and far too glib about 1848, especially given that between the two books, I read Christopher Clark's 896-page Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World: 1848-1849. While the loss of detail may matter little, DeLong's two sentences are closer to the point than Hobsbawm's "nothing changed." What changed was the side the bourgeoisie aligned with. While they could proclaim equal creation and universal rights back in 1776 and 1789 without considering the possibility that their slaves and workers (and wives and children) might consider claim to such rights, by 1848, their world had changed, even if they weren't totally aware of it. They restarted their revolt against aristocracy, but quickly found they had more in common with the aristocracy than with the masses (something Marx anticipated in The Communist Manifesto, which is directed not against the aristocracy but instead against the bourgeoisie — this may be why Hobsbawm showed so little respect for the 1848 revolutionaries).

  • Paul Krugman:

    • [07-14]: Suddenly, Hormuz is less crucial than it was: "Why? Because the real energy crunch is coming from the Russia/Ukraine war." He points out, and has the charts, that pump prices have risen far above crude barrel prices, and that they came down less during the brief opening of the Strait. How much of that has to do with Russia isn't clear, but when Ukraine attacks Russia's "energy infrastructure," they're aiming at refineries, not production wells. While closing the Strait was certain to raise oil and gas prices, I've always been skeptical that the increased costs would spell economic disaster for the rest of the world. While demand for many individuals is sticky — it isn't easy to switch to more fuel-efficient transportation, or to cut your commute — there is some slack in the system to absorb shocks. (Krugman gives several examples.)

    • [07-24]: Quagmire of the vanities: "Why the world economy is still at risk from the Iran debacle." Following up on the previous post, he points out that the "crack spread" (the difference between the price of crude oil and the price of refined products like gasoline and diesel) "has exploded, from around $25 a barrel before the war to more than $65 now."

      Trump's gratuitous war on Iran has turned into a remarkable quagmire — remarkable because the only thing keeping the war going is Trump's vanity. He effectively lost the war in the first few days, when it became apparent that Iran's hardline regime had survived the initial decapitation strike and that the U.S. military couldn't keep the Strait of Hormuz open. But Trump is psychologically incapable of admitting failure. So the war goes on, weakening America by the day, as he searches for some way to spin his abject defeat as a victory.

Technology (Including AI):

  • Caitlin Dewey [07-22]: The AI that went rogue: "The models broke out of a controlled digital environment in an "unprecedented" show of AI risk."

  • Eric Levitz [07-30]: AI could end up too cheap to control: "Think anarchy, not oligarchy." He's talking about Chinese AI models, which are nearly as powerful and currently much cheaper than American models. Competition should drive software prices down to near-zero. AI I'm not so sure about, but I do believe that American AI companies will never make profits that justify their current valuation.

  • Kate Clark/Sam Schechner [08-01]: The race to build an American alternative to cheap AI from China: "Silicon Valley startups are setting up open models, with some operating on shoestring budgets because of limited interest from VCs."

The Environment:

Media:

  • Scott Carney [07-29]: The real reason that Substack is collapsing: "The subscription model has maxed out." Quotes Taylor Lorenz as saying, "I wish I could turn off the ability of anyone to 'follow' me. Because what good are followers when follower growth seems correlated with losing paid subs??" The author shows a graph of his total subscribers growing (+1.8%) while paid subscribers are dropping (−11.6%). He also notes that "on a good day my brain can only keep up with about 5 newsletters. Meanwhile my wallet is skeptical of the value of even paying for that number." I probably subscribe to a dozen (my two paid subscriptions were comped; I don't pay for anything else, but my wife pays for but I can't access; I very rarely pay for anything, but sometimes I can pick up on her subscriptions).

  • Margaret Sullivan [07-30]: No TV experience? At CBS News, that's no problem: "The conservative columnist Ross Douthat is the network's latest perplexing hire — but the move is in line with the new leadership."

Regular Columnists

Sometimes an interesting columnist writes often enough that it makes sense to collect their work in one place, rather than scatter it about.

Dean Baker: Look for links here. They are all worth reading.

  • [07-08]: The Sanders-Trump plan for an AI sovereign wealth fund: Don't buy it: "An AI sovereign wealth fund would concentrate political power, reinforce the AI bubble, and divert attention from more effective industrial and corporate tax policies." I'm not sure what Sanders' position on this is, but I doubt it's the same as Trump's. I can imagine developing a sovreign wealth fund system that could be beneficial, but the main point wouldn't be to piggyback on bubble riding (which is what investment in AI would be at this point) but to direct investment to businesses that need more support, including for countervailing power reasons like stimulating more competitiveness. Baker makes another pitch for his "serious corporate income tax: non-voting shares in lieu of taxes." Two questions here: I don't see how the government gets its in-lieu-of-taxes from stock buybacks; and while I can see the logic of the government not voting in corporate management, I'd like to see more employee ownership, with customers also having a voting stake, so why not give the voting shares to them?

  • [07-14]: Social Security is a problem of income distribution, not demographics: "Social Security's long-term financing shortfall is driven primarily by decades of rising income inequality and slower wage growth, not an aging population or overly generous benefits."

  • [07-15]: Blocking the Paramount-Warner merger: Keeping the Trumpers from owning everything: "The Paramount-Warner merger threatens media competition, increases political control over major news outlets, and underscores the need for alternative public funding of journalism."

  • [07-16]: The NY Times reports on China: A teachable moment: "The New York Times exaggerates the weakness of China's economy by misrepresenting GDP growth, misunderstanding deflation, and overlooking the country's longer-term economic transition."

  • [07-18]: Exporters are still not eating the Trump tariffs: They are taxes on us: "New import price data reinforce that Trump's tariffs function as taxes paid by American importers and consumers, not by foreign countries." This is mostly a point on Trump's misunderstanding, which is fair enough. Still, the point of tariffs is to disadvantage foreign products, which happens regardless of who pays the tax. What's less clear is who benefits? In theory, when foreign products become more expensive, domestic equivalents become more competitive, but nothing stops them from simply becoming more expensive, raising profits. The classic theory is that tariffs help protect developing industries, which as they grow may become competitive enough to no longer need tariff protection. This doesn't seem to enter into Trump's calculations at all.

  • [07-22]: Government-granted monopolies in health care create need for prices controls: "High health care costs are largely driven by government-granted patent monopolies on drugs and medical devices, making price controls a response to existing market intervention rather than a source of it." I'd rather get rid of patents altogether, but this is one of the least things one can do to make a difference in limiting the abuse.

  • [07-23]: Trump and Hegseth are demanding big bucks for their wars: "Trump's proposed military budget would increase defense spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, far exceeding the cost of many domestic programs that have faced intense political opposition."

  • [07-29]: Trump wildfires: The arsonist complains about the smoke: "Trump's threat to tariff Canada over wildfire smoke ignores his own role in promoting fossil fuels, worsening climate change, and raising costs for US consumers."

Jeffrey St Clair:

  • [06-26]: Roaming Charges: Call the shrink. Per Woodward and Bernstein, Nixon's last days in the White House were spent "having drunken conversations with the portraits of FDR, Jefferson and Lincoln." Unlike Nixon, "Donald Trump posts his insane rants online for all to see, nearly every night, and without the aid of alcohol to set him off, just his own disintegrating mind and no one bats an eye anymore. Last week, he compared himself to Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Alexander the Great, claiming he was more powerful than all of them, and was 'by far the most powerful person that has ever walked the planet,' because of his 'global reach.'"

    + AI-linked securities now account for a record 45% of the S&P 500, according to Yahoo Finance.

    + Ayn Rand acolyte Alan Greenspan, dead at 100, may have inflicted more human misery than any other American in the post-World War II era . . .

    + Speaking of housing costs, there are 25 million American adults living with their parents, a new record.

    + $2.5 billion: the total amount of taxpayer money the Trump administration has paid out (so far) to cancel offshore wind projects.

    + Sen. Roger Marshall: "53 Republican senators, you're gonna find 53 opinions. We're very strong-willed, typically top of our class type of folks. So we've got opinions. And the hope is, the debate within us, we take 2+2 and turn it into 8." Turning 2+2 into 8 is how the Pentagon ended up with a $1.2 trillion-dollar budget and still couldn't defeat Iran (total defense budget $20 billion) . . .

  • [07-03]: Priapic ambitions: Notes on George Washington.

  • [07-10]: Roaming Charges: The American mirror: Opens with another ICE story, this about them killing Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston. Farther down, he has a chart on "wealth per adult in USD": the US is number 2 in average wealth, but didn't make the top 20 in median wealth. (Switzerland dropped from 1 to 8; Luxembourg rose from 3 to 1; Belgium rose from 11 to 2; Singapore fell off the chart from 6; Denmark rose from 7 to 5.) More bullet points:

    + The Telegraph on the AI bubble: "The overvaluation of US stocks has now surpassed the level that brought the stock market crashing down in 1929. At a rating more than double that of their British and European counterparts, and the highest since the peak of the dotcom bubble, US equities are in for a hairy decade."

    + Trump made $2 billion on his crypto swindle and more than a million of his investors lost $3.8 billion . . .

    + Measles had largely been eliminated from the US. Trump and RFK, Jr. have brought the disease back, with a vengeance, as cases reach a near record high . . .

    + NYTimes Pitchbot: "Graham Platner's history of sexual assault proves he does not belong in the US Senate. He belongs on the Supreme Court." by Susan Collins.

  • [07-17]: Roaming Charges: When farce repeats itself: Starts with a Jean Beaudrillard quote, one-upping Marx. Then details another ICE killing, this one in Maine, Joan Guerrero, who was "shot and killed by ICE officer David Brouillette, a recent recruit with a history of domestic violence who was, in the words of one relative, 'extremely mentally ill.'" Also: "ICE has shot at least 17 people while they were inside their vehicles."

  • [07-22]: Transmitting the news from Neptune: Carl Estabrook's embrace of the life force.

  • [07-24]: Sound Grammar: When Hendrix hit home.

  • [07-29]: Sound Grammar: The best jazz records of 2026, so far: Among other things, describes my site as "essential reading for music fans."

    Music therefore can reach us without conditions, without expectations or contrived limits. It seeps through the boundaries of accepted discourse and hits us in the gut and the head and heart at the same time. And can only dispute the message if you play the sax, which has rarely, if ever, been an instrument of fascism. Jazz has other advantages in times of autocracy. It can express radical, even revolutionary, ideas and sentiments without falling under the censor's lash. Bill Orcutt's Music in Continuous Time may well be a call for sedition against the regime, but good luck to Todd Blanche proving it or even understanding it.

TomDispatch: Editor Tom Engelhardt has retired, which ironically gives him more time for writing, although his stock-in-trade remains rants about Trump which all lead back to global warming. Meanwhile, former intern Nick Turse has taken over, while remaining The Intercept's primary critic of American militarism.

Miscellaneous Pieces

The following articles are more/less in order published, although some authors have collected pieces, and some entries have related articles underneath.

Sara Herschander [07-09]: What that wobbling New York office tower reveals about America's housing crisis: The US is finally turning empty offices into homes. But it isn't always easy.

Paul Starr [07-22]: Proportional representation gets a new look: "Supreme Court decisions and unrestrained partisan gerrymandering are focusing attention on a fundamental election reform. But one version is more feasible than the others." This "fringe" idea is common around the world. It encourages the development of multiple political parties, which compete for leverage, then try to form coalitions once the votes are counted. It's a pretty good idea, but I've proposed a version that is, I think, better: I call this representative democracy. The idea here is that everybody (or almost everybody) gets their own representative. The country can still be divided up into districts, although they don't have to be equal sized. Each district would elect at least two representatives, and each of them would proxy for how many votes they received. Thus, for instance, in my district in and around Wichita, Ron Estes would be entitled to cast 198,465 votes (or 0.65 vote), but Esau Freeman would also get a ticket to Washington, where he could cast 106,632 votes (or 0.35 vote). Thus the 35% of the electorate who aren't in the least represented by Estes would still have representation. Elections would move from winner-take-all to minor adjustments. Gerrymandering would be pointless. The advantages of raising huge amounts of money would diminish, and with it all of the attendant corruption. Of course, this could be more complicated with third parties, independents, write-ins. I could see making allowances for people who didn't vote to sign up for a representative after the election, or for people who did vote to transfer their proxy. Of course, there is no chance of anything like this being implemented as long as the Republicans think they benefit from the current undemocratic system of corruption. But were that system to turn against them, representative democracy could be a lifeline, to at least stay in the game.

Emily Topping [07-22]: You should get to own your media, not rent it forever: "From Playstation games to ebooks and family photos, corporations are replacing ownership with temporary access. But we don't have to accept that." File this under "Enshittification." Leasing games go back a long ways, and come back whenver some company sees an angle to maximize profits that way. (Renting vs. owning houses is another example.) But the thing about media that's different is that the marginal costs of additional copies are so near to zero that everyone could have a permanent right to access. And, as someone who's spent most of his disposable income on print and music and has, thereby, ammassed a ridiculous amount of clutter, that sound much better to me (and, no doubt, even better for you). Of course, short of my imagined world, there are lots of reforms that can be implemented. A good first start would be to get rid of patents. Ensure a right to repair. Demand that products that are no longer maintained become part of the public domain, so that others can maintain them. Expand rights to share and copy. One more I'd like to throw out there: no clickthrough license can be enforced unless the provider can prove that the customer had adequate legal representation before clicking.

Books:

  • Zack Beauchamp [07-04]: The late historian who rekindled my hope for America's future: "Gordon Wood's argument for the 'radicalism' of the Revolution reveals something profound — and hopeful — about America." Wood has long been my "go to" historian for the period from 1875-1925, as he always seemed to have a view that was both generous and precise of very different people in a very different time. In short, he made sense to me, but I also appreciated that his view of the radicalism of the American Revolution fit in nicely with my view of its essential virtues.

  • Daniel Felsenthal [07-31]: The Jewish radicals who wanted equality for all: "In her history of the Jewish Labor Bund, Molly Crabapple tells the story of workers who opposed prejudice, tyranny, and nationalism." Which, among other things, means Zionism. The name of the book is Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund.

  • Joseph Heath [06-12]: Harari vs. Henrich: "What science actually says about human evolution." Contrasts two books on human evolutionary theory: Yuval Noah Harari: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and Joseph Henrich: The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter. The two books differ in how they order evolution. For Harari, it goes: 1. intelligence, 2. language, 3. cooperation, 4. culture. For Henrich, the opposite: culture, cooperation, language, intelligence. This may be explained by an ambiguity in the word "culture." While we commonly think of it as the constellation of arts produced by intelligence/etc., another meaning is the nutrient soup in the petri dish in which bacteria grow. That is at least logically previous to whatever else can develop. On the other hand, how can you tell you have intelligence unless you can manifest it somehow (like in language, or art)? Putting language before cooperation also seems backward, as the utility of language depends on interaction with others.

  • Katherine Kelaidis [07-06]: How historians took over liberal punditry: "The hottest resistance talking heads during the Trump 2.0 are academics. What happened?": The author names: Jill Lepore, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Joanne B Freeman, Kevin M Kruse, Heather Cox Richardson, and Timothy Snyder. Author focuses, rather critically, on the latter two — not my favorite examples, although I don't read any of them regularly (or Ben-Ghiat and Freeman at all). That overlooks numerous other academics, most prominently economists like Paul Krugman and Adam Tooze (who could just as well be considered a historian).

    • Charlotte E Rosen [2025-01-20]: The end of resistance history: Cited above, deals with many of the same people, more critically on Richardson, reminding me how she became a prominent fan of Biden's foreign policy, even when it ran off the rails with Ukraine and Israel. (Snyder is another one, a Russophobe and Ukraine hawk. His area is the "bloodlands" between Germany and Russia.)

    • Osita Nwanevu [07-03]: Who owns the Declaration of Independence? "The founding document has been fought over since it was written. Today, we can let Trump claim it, or we can take up its battle cry to 'alter or to abolish' what's destroying our country." A prime example of arguing over history to make current political points. I've long been sympathetic to the view that it is a radical document based on high ideals that still have some way to go to be implemented for all. For a detailed reading, see Danielle Allen: Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality.

  • Allen Lowe [05-17]: Melvin Gibbs' How Black Music Took Over the World: Book review. Noted because Lowe complained about the reactions he provoked, and I figured I should check it out. But I still haven't.

  • Michael Shorris [07-21]: What's so scary about the Frankfurt School? "In The Cultural Marxism Conspiracy, AJA Woods looks at how the Frankfurt scholars became the latest bogeymen for the contemporary right." I had never heard of Lyn Marcus, but Lyndon LaRouche, sure, what a nitwit! And then you get to William S Lind, and eventually Ted Cruz and Andrew Breitbart. Critical theory is difficult enough without having to extricate it from people who understand nothing and intend to keep it that way.

  • JD Vance: Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith:

Music: I should probably make this a regular section.

Obituaries: I had been using the New York Times, but they're giving me aggravation these days, so I'll switch over to Wikipedia (July, also June), which is probably better anyway. Roughly speaking, since my last report on May 12:

  • [05-20]: Cleve Moler, 86, American mathematician and computer programmer, developed the LINPACK and EISPACK math libraries, and MATLAB, a software package that helped non-programmers solve complex math problems.

  • [06-05]: James Bradley, 72, American historian. I read two of his books: The Imperial Cruise: The Secret History of Empire and War (2009); The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia (2015). His earlier Flags of Our Fathers (2000) was the basis for Clint Eastwood's movie about the legacy that followed the taking of Iwo Jima in WWII. [NYT]

  • [06-12]: David Hockney, 88, English painter. [NYT]

  • [06-15]: Abdullah Ibrahim, 91, South African pianist. [NYT]

  • [06-22]: Clive Davis, 94, record producer and executive. [NYT]

  • [06-22]: Alan Greenspan, 100, long-time Fed Chair. [NYT]

  • [07-05]: Mike Wallace, 83, historian, best known for his three-volume history of New York City, starting with Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (co-authored with Edwin G Burrows; he was the sole author on the other two volumes). In the 1970s, he was involved in the Radical History Forum, and Radical History Review. I have a memory of him writing about Mexico. I'm not finding much to substantiate that, but he was married to Mexican author Carmen Boullosa, and they co-wrote A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the "Mexican Drug War" (2016). [NYT]

  • [07-11]: Lindsey Graham, 71, American politician and war criminal. See his section above.

  • [07-13]: Pat Oliphant, 90, Australian-born American political cartoonist.

  • [07-15]: Plas Johnson, 94, American saxophonist. [NYT]

  • [07-19]: Richard Heinberg, 75, journalist and ecologist, wrote extensively on fossil fuels (especially oil depletion) and climate change. I've read a bunch of his books, including The Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies (2003); Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines (2007); and Blackout: Coal, Climate, and the Last Energy Crisis (2009) — seems like there must be more, but the only one I readily found on my shelves is The Post Carbon Reader: Managing the 21st Century's Sustainability Crises (2010). The idea of "peak oil" attracted a lot of interest c. 2000, but faded later in the decade as secondary production (aka "fracking") took off, especially in the US. With that, US production finally increased beyond the 1969 peak, which lulled people back into a sense of complacency — although by then, the worry was less about running out than about turning all we had into greenhouse gases. Actually, the advent of widespread fracking proved that the era of really cheap fossil fuels was over, and that oil and gas would only become more expensive to produce.

  • [07-20]: John C Dvorak, 80, tech writer. I read him regularly, especially in the 1980s personal computer magazines.

  • [07-20]: James Woolsey, 84, Clinton's first CIA Director, possibly his worst appointment ever (no mean feat). Especially prominent in his suport for Bush's invasion of Iraq. I recall a description of how Clinton appointed him: he was just a name the staff proposed; Clinton met with him once, 15 minutes top, and was satisfied. It was not a job he cared about, let alone realized would undermine his presidency. Now we should understand that his biggest mistake was his failure to radically curtail the military and CIA/NSA/etc., which metastasized under his benign neglect. That started with Colin Powell backing him down into "don't ask; don't tell," which turned a reasonable proposal into license for unprecedented enforcement. He should have fired Powell, like Truman did MacArthur. Instead, he kept promoting machine cogs like Woolsey (and his oily replacement, George Tenet), until the "vulcans" were calling the shots, and he was just rubber-stamping them — especially when he saw that bombing Iraq was a good political diversion from impeachment. [NYT]

  • [07-28]: Raoul Vaneigem, 92, Belgian author of The Revolution of Everyday Life, a major tract associated with the Situationist International (best known for Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle).

Some other names I recognize:

Tweets: I've usually used this section for highlighting clever responses and/or interesting ideas.

  • Kurt Andersen [08-01]: Picture is a Trump-posted meme which poses two pictures of Trump, one from his military academy days, and one current with an admiring glance of his youth, and the caption: "Same Guy. Even more energy now!"

    The ultimate malignant narcissist posting a perfectly unwitting self-parody of his malignant narcissism.

  • Kevin M Kruse [08-03]:

    I'm just going to keep screaming this until I'm hoarse, but until Trump the norm -- for 50 years -- was that sitting presidents had their taxes audited by the IRS and released to the public to show they were clean.

    But Trump refused repeatedly, and sued when his return was leaked, and now . . . this

    FLAG: Trump gets to keep tax immunity for himself, his sons, and the Trump Organization under the new 'deal' struck by Todd Blanche.

    The new order also reaffirms that Trump won't have to pay any taxes he might have owed the IRS.

    Kruse has another tweet about the Seattle Mariners bullpen deciding they believe that "Babe Ruth didn't exist."

    People in this country used to be afraid of announcing to the world that they were stone-cold idiots who shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel of a car. Now they're out there bragging about how dumb they are.

Original count: 299 links, 18965 words.

Current count: 344 links, 19921 words (25204 total)

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Friday, July 31, 2026

Music Week

July archive (finished).

Music: Current count 46366 [46332] rated (+34), 11 [14] unrated (-3).

Advance Music Week appeared here on Substack. It is also archived here.) Hopefully I'll get the album covers right before sending it out. (I did.)

We're a week past the publication of the Mid-Year Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I expected to have more to say about it at this point, but as is so often the case, exhaustion has left me distraught and distracted, looking elsewhere. I did start a slight facelift to the top-level website, but checked it in with just enough to cover the mid-year poll, and haven't gotten back to it. I think it works better for landscape screens, but probably not for phones (which I gather is what most people use for web browsing these days, although I almost never do). I know there's "responsive website" code for figuring that out. I just have to dig it up. I'm thinking of adding album covers for the landscape version. People seem to need graphics to look at a web page these days. Go figure.

I also need to move the Francis Davis obit notice into its own file. I also want to create new top-level files for charts that span the multiple polls. I have some cheat sheets I've compiled that I use for stats when I'm writing essays. There's no reason that information shouldn't be easily available. It hasn't happened because polls go in boom-and-bust cycles. During the voting period, it's all we can do to keep up. After voting ends and the essays are sweated through, we're busted and don't feel like doing any more.

One solution I've thought a bit about is to raise some money and hire someone to work on the poll more/less full time. I don't know whether that's even possible. One idea I had was to create a Substack, where the revenues would go to hiring a manager. We could then give voters free subscriptions for their troubles. (DownBeat continues to get lots of voters who won't give us the time of day, even though it takes at least ten times as long to fill out their ridiculous 50+ category forms. But they give voters a free subscription, and a promo T-shirt, or I guess it's a cap this year. I don't know that it makes a difference, but perhaps it does.) Or maybe there's some foundation money available somewhere. Or a "go fund me." I have no idea how that sort of thing works. There isn't a huge audience for the poll, but I'm pretty sure there is an appreciative one.

For my part, I'm pretty good at doing things on the cheap, and I like not having to cater to the whims of those with money. So I'm not the right person to attempt anything like that. And while I'm happy to help, at my age I'm not likely to be able to keep doing this sort of thing much longer. I'm fairly committed to running the poll again in the fall, but not beyond that. The question is how can the poll be organized this fall so it can continue in the future. Because the need is there, and most likely always will be.

As it is, I've spent most of the week trying to catch up after ignoring Loose Tabs for over six weeks — the longest gap since I gave up on doing the weekly Speaking of Which. My draft at present is up to 15,729 words (264 links). I am hopeful I can finally publish it over the weekend. It's already provided raw material for my Lindsey Graham post (Famous Death Dwarves). Very little reaction to that, leaving me with questions about the experiment. It probably would have had more impact had I taken my links/comments and restructured them as a straight essay.[*] I could also have expanded on where I see his legacy going. For now, the Ukraine war hawks are riding high on his dead horse.

More non-jazz this week than jazz, for the first time in quite a while. There are still many records from the poll that I haven't heard — I have a list I've been ticking off, which has shrunk from 295 to 242 albums (roughly from 50% of the poll picks to 40%) — but finding the ones that look most interesting is getting hard. While I still get a fair number of promos, I depend on Spotify and full albums on Bandcamp to make up the slack. I only rarely follow up on download offers — there must be some system that other people use to manage them, but I've never figured one out — and I rarely ask for CDs or downloads. Besides, I've neglected non-jazz over the last couple months. In particular, I've hardly looked at any mid-year lists this year (and I'm not tracking metacritic grades, so I've lost that major source of information).

I don't get many questions, but I tried to answer one today. Probably not very satisfactorily, but it's impossible to review everything, or anything remotely close, so one has to pick and choose, based on what seems promising, and what doesn't. I could have added that these days (thanks to streaming) I continue to check out virtually every record Christgau writes up, even the male alt/indie rockers I have little hope of actually liking. I was pretty solidly into rock and soul from the 1960s through the 1980s, diversifying only a bit into roots and jazz in the 1970s (before returning seriously in the 1990s), but not getting to hip-hop until late (like, Run-DMC, so I guess mid-1980s, not that late). So there's always a chance. But sorry, not a lot of patience these days.

[*] I'm in the market for some AI tools. Supposedly one thing they're good at is summarizing articles, which makes me wonder how good one might be at taking notes and forming them into a proper outline. Not quite the same thing, but related, at least if they evince some understanding. Could I, for instance, take everything I've blogged over 25 years and feed it to one, and have it spit out some kind of coherent piece on North Korea? It wouldn't even have to be right. Once I have something, I can fix it. The big problem is getting from very scattered notes to something I can work with.

I've been reading a series of books on AI, and am currently about one-third done with the fourth. The books are shown under "Recent Reading" to the left. I think the order is well-considered:

  1. Cory Doctorow: The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence — Before It's Too Late (2026, MCD)
  2. Arvind Narayanan/Sayash Kapoor: AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference (2024, Princeton University Press)
  3. Joanna Stern: I Am Not a Robot: My Year of Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything (2026, Harper)
  4. Robert Wright: The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning (2026, Simon & Schuster)

Doctorow emphasizes the business issues, expecting the bubble to burst, while warning that the key issue is who controls whom. AI Snake Oil admits that AI has many practical uses, but disparages "predictive AI." Stern is a tech-testing journalist, with access to lots of the latest gadgets and models, so helps break the big concept of AI down to its practical (and impractical) constituents. I hate Wright's title, and his general fascination with cosmic evolution, but I started reading his newsletter due to his good sense on foreign policy, and I've followed his interest in AI for several years now. More generally, I agree with is focus on the need for cooperation in political matters — to which point, I've read his 1999 book Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, which has the same God baggage, but isn't fatally undermined by it. I'm about a third of the way through The God Test, and it is the most troublesome of the four books, but I still have hope. For one thing, it is the only one that looks beyond the current state of the art to try to figure where it's going, how it will impact us, and what we might most constructively do about it. At that point, I suspect we'll be in substantial agreement. If AI can be abused by nefarious characters (including governments), and it almost certainly can, we need a kinder, more generous, more cooperative, more trustworthy politics and economy (something Wright might be tempted to call a religion).

I've read several other books, like Ronald Kneusel's How AI Works: From Sorcery to Science, and Matteo Pasquinelli's The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence. I've also found that AI figures in other recent books I've read, like Daron Acemoglu/Simon Johnson's Power and Progress: Our Thousand Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, and John Cassidy's Capitalism and Its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI. In the wings, I have a book from the library, Artificial Intelligence for Dummies: All-in-One, which runs some 716 pages. I expect it to be superficial, and tied to specific programs, few of which I will ever use, but I hope it might be worth thumbing through for ideas on how to use whatever tools I do try out.

New records reviewed this week:

A-F-R-O & Motion Plus: Frequencies (2026, Fro Thizzle Productions): Rapper James Dean Santiago-Gutierrez, handful of albums since 2016, acronym for All Flows Reach Out, with producer William Sterns, heavy on the turntablism. B+(***) [sp]

Akhavelli: Moorthodox Psyence (2026, Below System): London-based producer, first album as such, but also known as Yvng Face, billed as "instrumental" but his collages have lots of hip-hop vocal samples. Vibe strikes me as Public Enemy, but the artist is probably thinking more of Tupac Shakur. B+(***) [bc]

Ishmael Ali: Burn the Plastic, Sell the Copper (2023-25 [2026], Amalgam): Cellist, from Chicago, touted as his debut album but Discogs credits him with ten since 2020. Also credited with voice, electronics, and compositions, with Ed Wilkerson Jr. (tenor sax/alto clarinet), Corey Wilkes (trumpet), Jim Baker (piano, ARP), Brianna Tong (voice), and Bill Harris (drums). Voice a plus, for once. B+(***) [bc]

Laurie Anderson With Sexmob: Let X = X (2023 [2026], Nonesuch): Performance artist, combines very brainy spoken word with her violin and minimalist synths to produce a series of brilliant albums, starting with 1982's Big Science, with 1985's United States Live (a 5-LP box) and 1989's Strange Angels most remarkable. Live album, with 23 songs in 94 minutes, based by a jazz quintet organized by Steven Bernstein and Briggan Krauss (brass) in 1998, with Doug Wieselman (clarinet/guitar), Tony Scherr (bass), and Kenny Wollesen (drums). They don't replace, let alone eliminate, the synths and violin, but they add warmth, and occasionally some rhythmic flex. I suspect that Bernstein is the musical hero here, not for his trumpet but for his arranging skills. One surprise is they dropped in a vocal from the ghost of Lou Reed (they were married from 2008 to his death in 2013). But even more than the music, I'm struck by the philosophy, so much needed for our times: the last lines are "there are so many sad things in the world, and if you pretend they're not there, you're an idiot. The point is, that it is very, very important not to become sad yourself. And more than that, he said, 'You know, you need to remember that the reason we're here, the actual reason that we're here is to have a really, really, really good time.'" A [sp]

Nia Archives: Emotional Junglist (2026, Hijinxx/Island): British jungle/electronica producer Dehaney Nia Lishahn Hunt, I had her filed as such based on her early EPs, but this is a songs album, and she's a singer-songwriter, even if her beats are exceptionally deft. A− [sp]

Charli XCX: Music, Fashion, Film (2026, Atlantic): British pop star, eighth album, produced by A.G. Cook and Finn Keane, who co-wrote the 11 tracks (a tight 30:05, with the vinyl shorter, dropping a David Cronenberg vocal sample, and a "B-Sides Edition" extra CD available which only adds 5:45). B+(***) [sp]

Christopher Dammann: Dead Words (2025 [2026], Shifting Paradigm): Bassist, has a previous album (Sextet), Chicago group with trumpet (James Davis), strich (Jon Irabagon), piano (Jim Baker), and drums (Mike Reed), some electronics. Boisterous freebop. B+(***) [sp]

Eliane Elias: Ao Vivo (2023 [2026], Candid): Brazilian pianist, early albums (from 1983) were instrumental, started singing at some point — certainly by 1998's superb Sings Jobim — and that's become a regular dimension of her act. Live album, from a performance at SFJAZZ, with Leandro Pellegrino (guitar), Marc Johnson (bass), and Rafael Barata (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Andy Emler/Claude Tchamitchian/Eric Echampard: There Is Another Way (2025 [2026], La Buisonne): French pianist, albums back to 1982, in a trio with bass and drums, his regular group at least since 2003. B+(**) [bc]

Jimmy Farace: Big Shoulders, Big Sounds (2026, Shifting Paradigm): Baritone saxophonist, from Chicago, second album, trio with Clark Sommers (bass) and Dana Hall (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Kelly Green: Eat Your Greens! (2026, Green Soul): Pianist-singer, (19) at Discogs, has a couple previous albums. Mostly covers, with just bass and drums on one track, combinations of horns on the rest — most often Scott Robinson (tenor sax), with Wallace Roney Jr. (trumpet), Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Steve Wilson (alto sax), and Elijah J. Thomas (flutes), most successfully on oldies like "When You're Smilin'" and "Solitude." B+(**) [cd] [08-28]

Elias Haslanger: Legacy (2025 [2026], Bandstand Presents): Tenor saxophonist, based in Austin, debut 1994, takes a look back here, although I'm not really sure to what — bebop, I suppose. With Mike Sailors (trumpet), backed by piano, bass, and drums. B+(*) [sp]

Illit: Mamihlapinatapai (2026, Belift Lab, EP): K-pop girl group, fourth EP, 5 songs, 13:16. B+(*) [sp]

Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: Bury Deep My Heart (2026, Carrier): Country singer-songwriter Jeff Snyder, sneaking up on a career that started in 2011 with an EP, then an album in 2018. Second album. His country + EDM concept has settled in clearly on the country side, with fiddle and pedal steel more convincing than George Jones covers. Still, there's something synthetic here I don't quite buy, although I'm not opposed to pop art in principle. B+(***) [cd]

David Maranha/Rodrigo Amado: Desolation Row (2025 [2026], Comets Coming): Organ and tenor sax duo, second album together. I've never looked into Maranha's other work, which includes close to 20 albums back to 1994, as well as the experimental drone group Osso Exótico (9 albums 1990-2010). Here he fills out the background, for some pretty major tenor saxophone. A− [bc]

Rico Nasty: RX (2026, Sugar Trap, EP): Rapper Maria-Cecilia Kelly, four albums 2018-25, 9 songs but only 20:41 B+(**) [sp]

Jenny Reynolds: Willow & Stone (2026, self-released): Singer-songwriter from New England, based in Austin, where she won a poll as "Best New Local Act" in 2005. Fourth album, as far as I can tell (2002, 2008, 2020, 2026). Strong songwriter, but not much sticks. B+(**) [sp]

Tom Ricci: Happening in Buenos Aires: Live at Borges 1975 (2023 [2026], self-released): Standards singer, from Argentina, based in California, fifth album (can't find him on Discogs), "Borges 1975" is "a popular cultural space, jazz club, bar, and bookstore" in Buenos Aires. Plays guitar. Opens with very nice takes on "Mood Indigo" and "Night and Day," slips into Spanish (or Portuguese) for three songs in the middle (including a Jobim and "Besame Mucho"), followed by a touching reading of "What a Beautiful World." B+(**) [cd]

David G Smith: Hero Street (2026, Hey Dave): Folkie singer-songwriter, from Iowa, seven previous albums on his website, only one album I can find on Discogs. B+(***) [sp]

Clark Sommers: WaBaSH (2025 [2026], Calligram): Bassist, from Chicago, has a stimulating postbop group with two saxophonists (John Wojciechowski and Geof Bradfield) and drums (Dana Hall). B+(***) [cd] [08-07]

Swamp Dogg: Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife (2026, S-Curve): Jerry Williams, started as a mainstream soul producer for Atlantic in the 1960s, adopted this persona for one of the singularly great albums of 1970, and has been hit-and-miss ever since. But at 83 he's hitting as consistently as ever. Possibly his best since Total Destruction to Your Mind. Sure, the subject matter reminds me more of the later 1970s albums when his relationships went sour, but age has given him insights into the big picture, while he still has the chops to arrange and sing. A [sp]

The Westerlies: Have You Heard? The Music of Bill Frisell, Vol. 1 (2020-24 [2026], Westerlies): Brass quartet, formed in 2011 by Riley Mulherkar (trumpet) and Andy Clausen (trombone), here with seconds Chloe Rowlands (trumpet) and Addison Maye-Saxon (trombone). Over a dozen albums since their first on The Music of Wayne Horvitz. This one compiles eight Frisell compositions from eight separate dates, evidence that they've been thinking about his music for a long time. B+(**) [sp]

Earl "Guitar" Williams: The Soul King of Bessemer, AL (2025 [2026], Music Maker): Blues guitarist-singer, b. 1952, can't find him on Discogs but another source says this is his fourth solo album. B+(**) [sp]

Otomo Yoshihide/Kei Matsumaru: Shutsumin (2024 [2026], Trost): Japanese guitarist and turntablist, many albums since 1988, including some recordings as far back as 1975. I was looking for his rendition of Out to Lunch, but instead found this duo with saxophone. Way too discordant for my taste, which I only coped with by turning it way down (at which point, sure, it had some merit). B— [bc]

Tucker Zimmerman: Dream Me a Dream (2026, Big Potato): Singer-songwriter, recorded the modestly titled Ten Songs back in 1969, more albums up to 1983, big gap to 2003-05, got going again in 2021. Died with his wife in a house fire in 2026, leaving this final album. Others have complained about "musical drop-off," but I'm finding this very charming. B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Charles Lloyd: Sangam & Friends (2009 [2026], Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist, plays some flute, recorded an album in 2004 called Sangam with Zakir Hussain (tabla) and Eric Harland (drums), regrouping the trio in Mumbai in 2009, along with additional players, with vocals by Vijay Prakash. Hussain died in 2024, so this appears as a tribute. B+(***) [sp]

Shūdan Sokai: Live at Hachioji Alone (1976 [2026], Aguirre): Japanese free jazz quartet, recorded this one album, group name translates as "mass evacuation. Group is led by Yoriyuki Harada (piano) and Kazutoki Umezu (alto/baritone sax), back from a spell in New York exploring the jazz loft scene, with Junji Mori (alto sax) and Takashi Kikuchi (drums). Umezu went on to have the more notable career, but the pianist's Cecil Taylor moves are most impressive here. And when they switch gears, that's doubly impressive. A− [sp]

Sun Ra Arkestra: Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Live at the Bluebird Cafe, Bloomington, Indiana (1977 [2026], Strut): De trop: 26 songs, 141 minutes, fills up 2 CDs, 3 LPs, giving you a wide view of their entire schtick, some of which is wonderful, more may have been fun at the time (where the element of surprise is always in the air), some of which just wears on your nerves. B+(*) [sp]

Old music:

Plas Johnson: This Must Be the Plas! (1959, Capitol): Tenor saxophonist (1931-2026), a couple dozen albums and lots of side-credits from 1956, best known for his work with Henry Mancini. Second album, strong sax over an easy listening groove, with vibes, guitar, piano/organ, bass, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Plas Johnson: Bop Me Daddy (1956, Tampa, EP): Tenor saxophonist, playing eight songs (21:33), backed by piano, bass, and drums. Nothing exciting, but Johnson has a rich tone with a solid blues grounding. [Reissued 2014 on CD along with a second Tampa album, Drum Stuff, from 1957.] B+(*) [sp]

Plas Johnson/Red Holloway: Keep That Groove Going (2001, Milestone): Two tenor saxophonists, Holloway (1927-2012) mostly played with blues musicians in the 1950s, moving into soul jazz in the 1960s, especially with Jack McDuff. This one — with Gene Ludwig (organ), Melvin Sparks (guitar), and Kenny Washington (drums) — gives the leaders each a standard for a solo feature, plus seven more songs: two originals each, more from Coleman Hawkins, Arnett Cobb, and ending with "Dream a Little Dream of Me." B+(**) [sp]

Mary Lee Kortes: Will Anybody Know That I Was Here? The Songs of Beulah Rowley (2016 [2023], Lakeside Lounge): Story goes that Rowley was a Michigan singer-songwriter who died tragically in the 1930s, leaving a locked box of songs that Kortes eventually discovered, inspiring her to a career that thus far includes five 1996-2006 albums as Mary Lee's Corvette, plus this Hal Wilner-produced album, along with supporting prose, including a biography of Rowley. This doesn't sound antique, but I suppose the themes are timeless. The music production is very tasteful. A− [sp]

Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: A Love on My Mind (2008, Carrier, EP): "Debut album from electro-country pioneer Owen Lake," actually Jeff Snyder, just six songs (17:27), opens with a duet with Anna Stirr on "Just Someone I Used to Know." That establishes some country cred, which the electro doesn't do much with. B+(*) [bc]

Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: the Best of Your Lies (2018, Carrier): First album, a decade after first (and only) EP, draws on "1960s country, 1980s dream pop, and electronic dance music" for, well, it's hard to say. The country covers offer some interesting grounding. B+(**) [bc]

Dana Maragos: Unimaginable Things (2024, self-released): Singer-songwriter from Chicago, has a short album from 2020 (8 songs, 27:57), not much more here (8 songs, 28:49). Appealing, straightforward songs. B+(***) [sp]

Dana Maragos: October (2020, self-released): First album, short (8 songs, 27:57), every bit as solid. B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Mike Jones: Mike Jones With Strings (Capri) [08-21]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Friday, July 24, 2026

Music Week

July archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46332 [46299] rated (+33), 14 [10] unrated (+4).

Advance Music Week appeared here on Substack. (Thank you for subscribing. It means a lot to me.) It is also archived here.) A couple of oddities in the advance this week: I included Maya De Vitry's All My Faith from a few weeks back. It's release date is today, and it's an A− country album that deserves recognition, something it didn't really get when I jumped the gun. My intention was to omit it here, but nothing's stopping me from giving it a second exposure. Also, I didn't bother with the Miles Davis review in the advance, figuring that it was an automatic for music that's already rated A− (or higher) at least three times before, but I wound up adding the album cover there to balance out their gallery display. Hopefully, anyone confused there will read this here.

I wrote on this yesterday, but it's been such a large investment of my life that I feel entitled to mention it at the start of every post for the next month or so: Arts Fuse has published The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year. While that link is a good place to start, the place to go for everything is my archive website. And by everything, I mean totals charts down to one vote, every voter's complete ballot, links that tell you who voted for each album, the original drafts of the essays (including bullet lists of notes where I try to look beyond the music to find other subtle influences, and a lot of technical detail on the rules and how they are applied. There's also an "In Memoriam" piece that's nearly up-to-date. And when it occurred to me that I hadn't said very much about the music, I pulled together a collection of my reviews on every charted album I've heard. (This also reveals how many I haven't heard, a fairly substantial number — although I keep working to whittle it down, as this week's albums demonstrate.)

While I'm nominally done with the Mid-Year Poll, freeing myself from constant thought about it going to take some time. I feel some obligation to promote it, although my skills in that regard are negligible. I also feel like I've left a lot undone. (Although I do feel like I came closer this time than in the last Annual Poll. I was hoping to elicit comments then, but while I can complain about lack of response, I also dropped the ball. That's why, this Mid-Year, I decided to write everything on my own — although I did have some exceptional proofreading/editing help.)

More should be done on the website, including adding more notes and reviews, but the much bigger question is what happens to the website, and to the poll in the fall. I'll write more about that as the fall approaches. For now, I really need to do some kind of redesign on the poll website, even if it's just reprioritizing the current data (especially upgrading the link to the 2026 Mid-Year, which is currently microscopic at the bottom of the page).

Of course, it's also tempting to work on things I've been neglecting, such as Loose Tabs: I haven't posted one since June 14, and haven't collected much in the meantime (although I do have a couple dozen tabs to revisit). And I'd love to do a Book Roundup, which is even more daunting given that the last one came out on May 23, 2025 (14 months ago). I also hope to post some other pieces here, including one on the DownBeat Critics Poll. (I was going to do one after voting. The results are out now, but I haven't looked at them yet — partly because I decided it would be best not to get distracted while I was trying to wrap up our own poll. I was also going to do one catching up with 2025 EOY lists, which is really feeling old now. I have a couple of more everyday-life-ish items that I started writing but never got back to. And I was going to do one from the Hussein Agha/Robert Malley book, which I just had to return to the library.)

New records reviewed this week:

Yazz Ahmed: Shinrin-Yoku (2026, Night Time Stories, EP): British trumpet player, father from Bahrain, four albums since 2011, also several EPs, this one with four songs, 24:36. She's one of several London jazz musicians who, like Miles Davis, seem capable of crossover without compromise, but she's never quite hit the mark yet. B+(**) [sp]

Bob Bert: Beach Bongo Bloodbath (2026, Bar/None): Name shortened from Bertelli, father played pro football after winning a Heisman Trophy in 1943, first drummer for Sonic Youth (1982-85), played in Pussy Galore after that, later Chrome Cranks, Lydia Lunch Retrovirus, other bands. First album under his own name, 14 songs, 25:58, some originals, some covers (Richard Hell, Jonathan Richman, Lou Reed, John Lydon). The covers are extra interesting, not least for the drums. A− [sp]

Dave Burrell & David Liebman: Reservoir (2026, Bespoke Jazz): Pianist, b. 1940, records start in 1969, in a duo with the saxophonist, playing soprano. B+(**) [sp]

Jonas Cambien/Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard/Dag Erik Knedal Andersen: The Ear Behind the Airport (2025 [2026], Motvind): Belgian pianist, based in Norway, with bass and drums. I'm most impressed by the percussion here. B+(***) [bc]

The Paul Carlon Trio: Between Us Three (2024-25 [2026], TRRcollective): Tenor saxophonist, has several albums since 2006, credits include Grupo Los Santos and Schapiro 17; trio with bassist Alex "Apolo" Ayala and percussionist Wilson "Chembo" Corniel (congas, güiro, guataca, chemboro). I reckon this could count as Latin Jazz: the rhythms sure do, and the sax adds a single, uncluttered voice, a simplicity I admire. A− [sp]

John Clayton: The Two-o Duo Project (2026, ArtistShare): Bassist, brother of saxophonist Jeff Clayton, they've recorded 8 albums as the Clayton Brothers (1991-2015), as many more as Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, also father of pianist Gerald Clayton, who plays as this "duo-centered studio project grew organically into select trio performances." The third "duo" partner here is singer René Marie. I quickly lost track of who plays what with whom, and wasted a lot of time trying to look such basic info up. Part of that problem is that they all flow together so seamlessly. B+(**) [sp]

Maya De Vitry: All My Faith (2026, Mad Maker Studios): Folkie singer-songwriter based in Nashville, four previous albums since 2019. Sound reminded me first of Joy of Cooking, then Joni Mitchell (but warmer). That may be enough for now. I'll take the faith on faith. A− [cd]

Fathers: Fathers (2026, Blue Note): New collective — Kenny Beats (producer), Kiefer (keyboards), CARRTOONS (bass), Nate Smith (drums) — pitch is "to explode existing notions of what jazz is by fearlessly taking the music in new directions." Which is what? Something in the gap between instrumental hip-hop and disco, I guess. Eight pieces, 27:16. Voice on the finale doesn't help. B [sp]

Flöjter: Brest Blow (2025 [2026], Utech/Gigantonium): Improv duo of Mats Gustafsson (flute, slide flute, spilĺpipa, harmonica, live electronics, organ, so he left the heavy artillery at home) and Delphine Joussein (flute, electronics). Two tracks, 32:09. B+(**) [bc]

Flöjter: Paris Blow (2025 [2026], Utech/Gigantonium): Same deal, recorded the day before, only more so: 4 tracks, 50:24. B+(***) [bc]

Carlos Henríquez: Monk Con Clave (2026, self-released): Bassist, from New York City, fifth album since 2015 (including the similar title Dizzy Con Clave), started with Tito Puente in 1999 but main gig since 2004 has been the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, which provides much of the fire power for this big band album, with some vocals. B+(**) [sp]

Marquis Hill: (Beautifulism) Sweet Surrender (2026, Black Unlimited): Trumpet player, from Chicago, debut 2011, impressive sax solo early on (Immanuel Wilkins), but also a lot of vocals, including rap. Has been billed as an EP, with a demo and a remix pushing this out to 10 songs, 34:20. B [cd]

Julia Hülsmann Octet: While I Was Away (2023 [2026], ECM): German pianist, albums since 2000, ninth (or tenth) album on ECM, first octet, but that's counting three vocalists, leaving you with a piano-bass-drums trio (with Eva Kruse and Eva Klesse) plus violin and cello. Five songs by Hülsmann with borrowed lyrics (mostly poets), two songs (plus one lyric) by singer Live Maria Roggen, three others including an Ani DiFranco cover. B+(**) [sp]

Hannah Marks: Feed the Fire (2025 [2026], Endectomorph Music): Bassist, second album (first was on Out of Your Head), quartet with Nathan Reising (alto sax), Lex Korten (piano), and Steven Crammer (drums), produced by Jason Moran. Originals and selected jazz covers, including Dewey Redman and Geri Allen. Impressive. B+(***) [sp]

Pedrito Martínez/Antonio Sánchez/Michael League: Elipsis (2026, GroundUP Music): Cuban percussionist (conga/bata), moved to New York in 1998, also sings, with the Mexican drummer and a "genre-busting" bassist (founder of Bokanté, Forq, and Snarky Puppy), and others, one presumes. The percussion impresses, the vocals seem frantic, and the bassist brings doom and gloom, for better or worse. B+(**) [sp]

Orchestre National De Jazz: With Carla (2025 [2026], ONJ): French big band + strings, created 1986 by the Ministry of Culture, has had 12 directors and released 33 albums. This one seems to be led by Sylvaine Hélary (flute), mostly playing music by the late Carla Bley. B+(**) [bc]

Ivo Perelman/Elliot Sharp/Cyro Baptista: Triacontagon (2024 [2026], Defkaz): Tenor sax, 8-string electric guitar, percussion/vocals. At some point, one has heard so many Perelman albums that one starts to take the superb sax play for granted, and look to the others for differentiation. From the first note, this album stands out, with its metallic sinews and odd klangs. A− [bc]

Susana Santos Silva/Vasco Trilla: Mushin (2024 [2026], Defkaz): Trumpet and percussion duo, from Portugal and Spain. B+(*) [bc]

Elias Stemeseder/Thomas Morgan: Io Pur Respiro (2024 [2026], Squama): Austrian pianist, increasingly active since 2013, in a duo with the bassist. Starts with a madrigal, adding two 1930s standards and two originals to span "400 years of melodic evolution." B+(***) [sp]

Steve Swallow: Winter Songs (2024 [2026], ECM): Bassist, has played electric since the early 1970s, long associated with Carla Bley, 83 when this was recorded. With Mike Rodriguez (trumpet), Chris Cheek (tenor sax), Steve Cardenas (guitar), Gil Goldstein (piano), and Adam Nussbaum (drums). Original pieces, modestly numbered, elegantly played. B+(***) [sp]

Micah Thomas: Lucid (2026, Birdwatcher): Pianist, several albums since 2020, plays in Immanuel Wilkins Quartet. A notable here with Wilkins (alto sax), Kalia Vandever (trombone), Thomas Morgan (bass), and Lesley Mok (drums), but they are very careful to hew to the composer's vision. B+(**) [sp]

Ben Wolfe: Any Time After Now (2025 [2026], Resident Arts): Bassist, a dozen albums since 1998, mostly mainstream labels, side credits start with Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall, and Wynton Marsalis. Quintet draws on two rising stars — Joel Ross (vibes) and Sullivan Fortner (piano) — adding tenor sax (Chris Lewis) and drums (Aaron Kimmel). B+(*) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

John Butcher: Away, I Was (2008-25 [2026], Relative Pitch): British avant-saxophonist, prolific since 1985, offers a widely scattered collection of solo tenor and soprano pieces. B+(**) [sp]

Miles Davis: Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings (1956 [2026], Craft): As I've long owned the 8-CD Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings, I wasn't in a rush to check out Craft's year-by-year series, which started in 2024 with Miles '54: The Prestige Recordings, added Miles '55, and ends here. They skipped the scattered early 1951-53 stuff, so the three annuals add up to 7-CD, but 1954 was when Davis started to get his shit together, and in 1956 he got his much touted "first great quintet" together, with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. It was also the year he signed with Columbia, owing Prestige four last albums. Those four were cut in two sessions, one on May 11, the other on October 26, and Prestige released them slowly to compete with the new Columbias. The first was Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet, the rest replacing the verb with Steamin', Relaxin', and Cookin'. Despite the throwaway intent, they are among the major hard bop albums of the 1950s, and did as much as the more ambitious Columbias to establish the Quintet's legacy (at least until Kind of Blue made "modes" a by-word in 1959). Those are prefaced here by a March 16 session with Sonny Rollins that contributed three songs to Collector's Items. A− [sp]

Miles Davis: Miles '55: The Prestige Recordings (1955 [2026], Craft): Prestige was famous in the 1950s for just rolling the tape and knocking out product. Sonny Rollins was so great he did his best work there, but nearly everyone else got much better when they went elsewhere: Coltrane and McLean were prime examples, but Monk and Davis also count. B+(**) [sp]

Ellery Eskelin: Setting the Standard (1988 [2026], Prime Source): Tenor saxophonist, originally from Wichita, first album, a trio with Drew Gress (bass) and Phil Haynes (drums), released 1989 on Cadence Jazz, seven standards, remastered with two extra tracks added. Sometimes I talk about the major wave of tenor saxophonists that emerged in the 1990s. I've never really thought of him in that regard, possibly because he never appeared on major or mainstream labels, but on this evidence he could have squared off against any of them. B+(***) [bc]

Medeski Martin & Wood: Tonic (1999 [2026], Blue Note): Fusion band popular in the 1990s (albums 1992-2014), with John Medeski (keyboards: piano to start, electronic later, mostly organ), Billy Martin (drums/percussion), and Chris Wood (bass: mostly acoustic, some electric). Wood moved on to a folk-rock group called the Wood Brothers, with Oliver Wood on guitar. By the time they broke up, Martin and Medeski were doing other projects on the side: Martin released a series of solo percussion albums with occasional extras; Medeski played on a wide variety of sessions. This was their first live album, reissued as part of Blue Note's Tone Poet series. B+(**) [sp]

Big John Patton: Got a Good Thing Goin' (1966 [2026], Blue Note): Organ player (1935-2002), recorded for Blue Note 1963-69, a couple more scattered albums into the 1990s. This one features Grant Green (guitar), who co-wrote the first side originals, with Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke, and Duke Pearson tapped for the back side. With drums and congas. B+(**) [sp]

Hans Reichel: Dalbergia Retusa (1973-88 [2026], Black Truffle): German guitarist (1949-2011), debut on FMP 1973, also designed typefaces, and invented instruments, most famously the daxophone, but much of his guitar work involved some degree of preparation, modification and/or invention. This collects 2-LP worth of solo pieces. He gets a panoply of remarkable sounds. A− [bc]

Mal Waldron/Steve Lacy: Play Monk, Ellington & Strayhorn: Live at Yoshi's 1994 (1994 [2026], Elemental Music): Piano and soprano sax duets, nearly 2 hours worth. They've played together at least since 1972, mostly in duos. Moreover, Lacy's 1958 debut started with "Day Dream" and included Monk's "Work" and Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm." B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

Ellery Eskelin/Sylvie Courvoisier: Every So Often (2008 [2020], Prime Source): Tenor sax and piano duets, well known figures, recorded in a studio in Brooklyn. B+(**) [bc]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Nicki Adams and Michael Eaton Featuring Francisco Mela: Arrival (J-man) [09-10]
  • Barcelona Art Orchestra & Miguel Zenón: Expressions: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (Miel Music) [06-26]
  • Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe: After the Storm (Libra) [08-07]
  • Oliver-Smith Incomparables: Stomp Your Stuff (Turtle Bay) [08-28]
  • Sarah Pillow: Wanderer (Buckyball) [10-05]
  • Terry Waldo & the Gotham City Band: Treasury Volume 3 (Turtle Bay) [06-05]
  • Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo: El Arte Del Bolero Vol. 3 (Miel Music) [08-28]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, July 18, 2026

Music Week

July archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46299 [46249] rated (+50), 10 [15] unrated (-5).

Advance Music Week appeared here on Substack. (Thank you for subscribing. It means a lot to me.) It is also archived here.) Once again, I slipped up and sent the email out before I pasted the album covers in. I need some kind of checklist process.

I failed to get my essays done, so the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Mid-Year Poll will have to wait until next week. I've heard complaints about why don't you just post the results already? Sorry. They're tabulated, and if you're anxious just ask me. But the essay is my one chance to write the first draft of history, and I have things I want to say. And no, I'm not going to wait until I say everything I have to say. I expect to write more about the poll later. And I'd like to encourage you all to send in any questions or comments. While I have my own ideas about what's important, I'm open to discussing any aspect of the poll, or what it tries to cover, or even what it fails to cover.

Lots of records below. I'm still very much focused on jazz. As I've noted, before I started counting, I had only heard of about half of the 600 albums that received votes this half-year. Not easy to figure out how many of those 600 albums I had heard before I started counting, but I'm up to 420 rated 2026 jazz releases in my tracking file.

Lots of stuff I've neglected over the last six weeks. First up will probably be to start (yes, I mean start) compiling a Loose Tabs. Hopefully not much has happened, and what has happened isn't too aggravating, but I suspect not. Taking a break tomorrow to cook for friends. That I'm looking forward to.

New records reviewed this week:

Ricky Alexander: Ragology (2025 [2026], Turtle Bay): Clarinet player, third album since 2018 (plus one with singer Sweet Megg), "takes an emphatic dive into the roots of ragtime and tangentially related genres that morphed into jazz." Conal Fowkes plays piano, along with banjo, bass, and drums. B+(***) [sp]

Zoh Amba: Eyes Full (2026, Matador): B. 2000, made a big splash in 2022-23 with a flurry of astonishing free jazz saxophone albums, reinvents herself as a guitar-playing, Dylanesque singer-songwriter, but lower-fi and occasionally dissolving into some kind of detuned Sonic Youth postpunk. Not a direction I'd like to encourage, but fairly unique even if the signposts are easily recognized. A− [sp]

Florian Arbenz Feat. Bill Frisell/Greg Osby: Quiet Lights (2026, Hammer/Conversation Lab): Swiss drummer, started in the trio Vein, started remotely piecing together his "Conversations" during the pandemic, originally by passing tapes back and forth. This started with the drummer's soundscapes, but was recorded in a studio session without overdubs. B+(***) [sp]

Ran Blake & Dominique Eade: Roots & Byways (2023 [2026], Sunnyside): Pianist, debut 1965, won a MacArthur in 1988 (along with Max Roach, the first jazz musicians so honored), many records, I haven't done the math but roughly speaking they fall into three fairly equal bins: solos, trios, and duos with singers (starting with Jeanne Lee in 1966). (Although as with all generalizations, there are exceptions: my favorite of his albums is a piano duo with Clare Ritter, Eclipse Orange, and I very rarely fall for piano duos.) Eade has 9 albums since 1990, this her 3rd with Blake. She is one of those soprano divas I rarely react well to, but Blake brings out the best in her. B+(***) [cd]

Cheer-Accident: Your Smile / The Song Is Over (2026, Cuneiform): Prog rock group, founded 1981 by Thymme Jones, released their first album in 1986, hype sheet says this is their 27th without specifying when, but it is packaged (at least with my download) with two 2022-23 live shows, offered separately on Bandcamp. This hardly seemed worth the trouble until "The Blue Lie," a 9:37 hard groove piece, marred by unnecessary vocals. B [dl]

Cheer-Accident: CheerAx Basement, Chicago 4/2/22 // Reggie's Chicago 9/26/23 (2022-23 [2026], Cuneiform): Two live sets, available separate or bundled with the new album, the first expanding the septet to nine with an extra singer and drummer. It's not unfathomable that they would have a cult following, but this is an awful lot of not so very much. [PS: I left this hanging overnight, then finished it the next morning. When I was fresher, I found myself more amused and less annoyed, so nudged the grade up a bit, while doubling down on my summary line.] B+(*) [dl]

Alexander Claffy: Alive in Philadelphia Vol. 1: At Chris' Jazz Cafe (2025 [2026], Cellar): Bassist, has several albums since 2016, more side credits, mostly mainstream. Leads a veteran quintet with two saxophonists — Seamus Blake (tenor) and Jaleel Shaw (alto) — piano (Kevin Hays) and drums (Bill Stewart). Strong set, especially for Blake. B+(**) [sp]

Mike Clark: Kuon Ganjo (Time Without Beginning) (2025 [2026], Wide Hive): Drummer, made his mark in the 1970s with Herbie Hancock, and has been central to all the later Headhunters revivals. Returns here with a funk-oriented hard bop group: Eddie Henderson (trumpet), Craig Handy (sax), Patrice Rushen (piano/rhodes), Esiet Okon Essiet (bass). My wife thought this sounded familiar, and indeed half of the pieces are, with the others close enough. B+(**) [cd] [08-07]

Paul Cosentino's Boilermaker Jazz Band: Everything Is Jumpin' (2025, self-released): Clarinet player, leader of a trad jazz group with over a dozen albums back to 1995 (most just under the band name). This one is subtitled "Plays the Artie Shaw Songbook," so mostly hits from 1937-39, with vocals by Erin Keckan. B+(**) [sp]

Dominique Cravic Et Les Primitifs Du Futur: Les Crimes Du Musette (2026, Buda Musique): French guitarist, fondly remembered for two albums Sunnyside released in 2006-08 (World Musette and Tribal Musette, the former dating back to 1999). The booklet (scanned on Discogs) includes two pages of credits, and a gallery of 77 pics, which presumably map to the credits. French chanson, many singers, most offhand as is the fairly minimal music, booklet has notes on the 27 songs but no recording dates, cover art by R. Crumb. B+(***) [sp]

Marilyn Crispell/Anders Jormin: Memento (2025 [2026], ECM): Brilliant pianist, emerged in the 1980s in Anthony Braxton's quartet and on her own outstanding albums. Landed on ECM in 1997 with an Annette Peacock tribute I didn't think much of at the time, probably because I suspected the label of trying to tame her and tone her down, although 2003's The Storyteller and 2008's One Dark Night I Left My Silent House overcame my misgivings. Approaching 80, these are mild, measured duets with bass. Probably too mild. B+(*) [sp]

Caroline Davis: Fallows (2025 [2026], Ropeadope): Alto saxophonist, born in Singapore (parents British and Swedish), moved to Atlanta when she was 6, then to Texas. Eighth album since 2012, solo over electronics (something called the Organelle, which looks to be an open source patch processor and/or sampler). John Surman has done similar things, but never pushed the electronics this far. A- [bc]

Adam De Lucia: The Man Who Would Be King (2025 [2026], self-released): Guitarist, seems to be his first album, but talks about his "path to jazz fusion" starting in 1995 with "a decade of one-on-one study." His compositions, although some feature Oz Noy on guitar, most with Henry Hey (keyboards), Tim Lefebvre (electric bass), and Jordan Perlson (drums), some with sax (Donny McCaslin or Michael Ghegan), vocals (Ghegan and Chrissi Poland), one track with string quartet. One problem is that fusion often sounds heavy, even when the metal is flimsy. Then there's the problem of trying to do much. Maybe he should have aimed a bit lower, like Prince. B [cd] [08-07]

E'DU & Judgitzu: Nuku (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): E'DU is a traditional voudou ensemble from Togo. Judgitzu is French producer Julien Hairon. This appears to based on a 2023 recording of the group, a dense thicket of percussion and chant, with a veneer of electronics. [PS: Bandcamp only makes offers the 31:24 remix track, "Edu & Judgitzu," and that's all I've heard; the 29:55 second track, "Edu," appears to be the original, unheard 2023 track. The label usually presents all tracks, so this case is unusual.] B+(**) [bc]

Maria Grand: Both Sides (2026, Lilaila): Swiss saxophonist (tenor/soprano), sings some, half-dozen albums since 2017; first side with bass-drums-percussion; second side with piano (Angelica Sanchez), voice (Jasmine Wilson), and alto sax on two tracks (Immanuel Wilkins). The spoken word is interesting. B+(***) [bc]

Miho Hazama: Frames (2025 [2026], Edition): Japanese composer/conductor, based in New York, tenth album since 2012, has been leaning on European big bands since 2018, here with the Danish Radio Big Band (who Discogs gives a co-credit to, but Bandcamp doesn't). She's very good at this, and they're good enough, but I don't feel like figuring out exactly how much. B+(**) [sp]

Gerry Hemingway: Live at Bau 4 (2025 [2026], Hat Hut): Drummer, part of Anthony Braxton's famous 1980s Quartet, also of the long-running BassDrumBone trio, with several dozen albums on his own. This one features Izumi Kimura (piano) and Frank Gratkowski (clarinet/bass clarinet/alto sax/alto flute), who turn in exemplary solos, and Christian Weber (bass). A− [cd]

House of the Black Gardenia: Mazurka in Jazz (2026, HOTGB): Trad jazz nonet, led by bassist Neil Hopper and vocalist Elise Rana Hopper, second album after a 2020 debut. Mostly original songs, which shifts them from nostalgia act to some kind of cabaret sophistication. A− [sp]

I Compani: Basta! 7-Tet [The Last Concerts 2025] (2025 [2026], I Compani): Dutch group, led by saxophonist Bo van de Graaf, founded in 1985, decided to call it quits after a series of "last concerts" in December 2025. Throughout their career, they've mostly recorded film music, in the circus style that seems peculiar to the Dutch avant-garde (cf. ICP Orchestra and Willem Breuker Kollektief) and is often deliriously wonderful. Core group here includes no household names, so I'll just list instruments: oboe/english horn/duduk, violin, bandoneon, piano/keyboards, bass, drums. A companion volume squeezed another 18 friends onto the stage, and both CDs are reportedly available as Basta! The Last Concerts 2025, but they are split up for streaming, and further information is hard to come by. [NB: Last song glitched out, which I'll assume is Spotify's fault.] B+(**) [sp]

I Compani: Basta! Extended [The Last Concerts 2025] (2025 [2026], I Compani): The Dutch group's farewell concert at Bimhuis in Amsterdam, the Septet-minus-drummer joined by 9 friends (including a replacement drummer) to start, 3 more briefly on the second track, then another 6 for tracks 8-9 (of 13). The vocalists add an element of cabaret to the circus. B+(***) [sp]

Randy Ingram: Sound Within: A Celebration of Bill Evans (2025 [2026], Chill Tone): Pianist from Alaska, eighth album since 2009, trio "featuring" Rufus Reid (bass) and Joe LaBarbera (drums), both with direct links to Evans, adds two originals to two Evans songs, and a batch of standards common to all, done with the care and touch Evans was famous for. B+(***) [cd]

Mike Khoury: For Hind Rajab (2025 [2026], Relative Pitch): Violinist, based in Detroit, has a couple dozen albums since 2001, found this when I was looking for a forthcoming album with Jason Kao Hwang and two drummers. This is solo, a sound that often gets on my nerves, but nonetheless a tour de force. Hind Rajab was a five-year-old girl in Gaza, killed in the genocide, but unlike most anonymous victims remembered for her recorded calls desperately pleading for help after her family was killed by an Israeli tank (see the Oscar-nominated film, The Voice of Hind Rajab). I'm reminded of The Diary of Anne Frank as one more instance where focus on an individual helps dissolve the mass dehumanization that allowed such mass slaughter to happen. A- [sp]

Andrew Kim: Lineage (2025 [2026], Origin): Trombonist, studied at Michigan State, and draws heavily on their faculty and alumni for his debut album: Sharel Cassity (alto/tenor sax, flute), Xavier Davis (piano), Rodney Whitaker (bass), Ulysses Owens Jr. (drums), with Michael Dease producing and playing baritone sax on two tracks, and Randy Napoleon playing some very tasty guitar on two more. Five originals, two more from the band, new arrangements of JJ Johnson and Curtis Fuller. Perhaps tries to do a bit too much. B+(***) [cd] [07-24]

Kiri Ra!: Nen (2026, We Jazz): Finnish trio, second album, all three play piano, keyboards, balafon, and other instruments — Linda Fredriksson also plays sax and flutes. No recording dates, but "it took 10 years to combine the right pieces for the album." Intricate and slightly exotic music closer to ambient than to jazz, which doesn't mean it isn't. B+(**) [sp]

Knats: A Great Day in Newcastle (2026, Gearbox): "Geordie jazz" group from Newcastle, started by Stan Woodward (electric bass) and Kind David-Ike Elechi (drums), expanded to a quintet for their first album — trumper (Ferg Kilsby), tenor sax, keyboards — expanded much more here, with extra horns, strings, vocals, and Geordie Greep (from Black Midi) on guitar. Seems like another case of the "great" overwhelming the "good." B [sp]

Elan Mehler: Renee Said (2025 [2026], Newvelle): Pianist, based in Brooklyn, eleven albums since 2007, most of his Discogs credits are for producing records on Newvelle, which he co-founded. Originals plus one song each by Paul Motian and Frank Kimbrough. With Scott Robinson (tenor sax), Loren Stillman (alto sax), Ben Monder (guitar), Tony Scherr (drums), and either or both drummers (Francisco Mela and Matt Wilson). B+(**) [sp]

Sei Miguel: Viva! (O Carro De Fogo De Sei Miguel) (2023 [2026], Clean Feed): Portuguese trumpet player (1961-2025), first album 1988. This offers two improv sets (54:56 + 52:24) of an octet with trombone, alto sax, electric guitar, electric bass, organ, drums, and extra percussion, nicely spaced out with plenty of food for thought. This is being billed as the label's final new release, after 25 distinguished years. (A quick check reveals I have 639 of their records in my database: 6 A, 70 A-.) They will be missed, but the music will continue. B+(***) [sp]

Nils Petter Molvćr: Be Quiet (2026, Edition): Norwegian trumpet player, a major player in the development of jazztronica in the 1990s, first in Masquelero and then in a series of albums for ECM and Thirsty Ear. This dispenses with the beats, offering a series of ambient duos (one trio), most with electronics or exotica, but also piano (John Paul Jones), cello (Anja Lechner), percussion (Marilyn Mazur), voice (Imogen Heap). Quiet as advertised, which I don't find very engaging. B [sp]

Nolatet: Somethin' to Relax With (2025 [2026], Royal Potato Family): New Orleans quartet, third album since 2016, names on cover: Brian Haas (piano), Mike Dillon (vibes/percussion), Johnny Vidacovich (drums), and James Singleton (bass). Closer to MJQ than anything I associate with New Orleans. B+(*) [sp]

Onilu: Jakuta's Dance (2025 [2026], 577): Group name is Yoruba for drummers, was used as title in 2025 for an album attributed to Joe Chambers, Kevin Diehl, and Chad Taylor. I filed that one under the first-listed Chambers, but Diehl (ex Sonic Liberation Front) is the evident leader here, with Taylor out and two more percussionists added: Craig McIver and Daniel Villarreal. While all four know their way around a drum kit, Chambers' first credit is for vibraphone, and McIver's is for marimba. Diehl favors bata drums, and Villarreal adds conga and cajon to all of the above. B+(***) [dl]

Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/Bobby Kapp: Synesthesia (2024 [2026], Defkaz): Avant-saxophonist from Brazil, has hundreds of albums since 1989, many with the pianist, quite a few with the bassist. The drummer's discography is down around 30 credits, but it goes way back to 1967, and includes separate duo albums with Perelman and Shipp, as well as two previous quartet albums. B+(***) [sp]

Brooks Prumo Orchestra: Good Bait (2025 [2026], self-released): Austin-based guitarist, third group album, a 13-piece big band plus singer Alice Spencer, wants you to dance. B+(**) [sp]

Olivia Rodrigo: You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love (2026, Geffen): Pop star, was groomed from a very young age, with vocal, acting, and piano lessons, which got her on screen by 7, and into Disney roles in her teens. Her platinum (6X) debut album in 2021 was one of the year's best, and her sophomore effort topped my 2023 list (if only 3X). First couple songs sound great, but the "girl so in love" side is certain to beat out the "you seem pretty sad" side. But I'm less concerned with the narrative these days than with the sound. So while the hooks get subtler, they're still pretty satisfying. A− [sp]

Armand Sangalang: Waypoints (2025 [2026], Calligram): Tenor saxophonist from Chicago, second album, quartet with Dave Miller (guitar), Ethan Philion (bass), and Devin Drobka (drums). Mostly originals, but takes a swing at "Body & Soul" that could earn a spot if Gary Giddins ever updated his list. B+(***) [cd] [08-07]

Helen Sung Big Band: Oracles (2024 [2026], Sunnyside): Pianist, from Houston, parents from China, 10th album since 2003, first big band venture, conventional plus extra percussion. Note songs dedicated to Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Jimmy Heath. Also a section called "Pianism" that name-checks Barry Harris, Kenny Barron, and Herbie Hancock. B+(*) [sp]

Tyler "Twerk" Thomson: Plays in Bands (2026, self-released): New Orleans bassist, "young" by one account, no dates given but earliest side credit I can find, either under Tyler or Twerk, is 2013, but album cover is in the style of the old Bunk Johnson anthologies, and the music dates back a century (more or less). Five tracks with Thomson's Starting 7, followed by five with Charlie Halloran's Quality 6 and 4 with Tommy Mack's Band. Nothing spectacular, but exactly what this classic music should sound like. A− [bc]

Tierra Whack: Whack's Museum (2026, Interscope): Rapper, from Philadelphia, went viral with a 15-songs-in-15-minutes video, Whack World (2018). New mixtape is slightly less economical (12 songs, 27:07), slightly less striking. B+(***) [sp]

Hĺvard Wiik/Antonio Borghini/Tim Daisy: One Brief Cure (2025 [2026], Relay): Norwegian pianist, side credits since 1996, especially with Atomic, gained some note in Chicago at least in Ken Vandermark groups, notably Free Fall (named for the Jimmy Giuffre trio with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow). With the Italian bassist and Chicago drummer (ex-Vandermark Five), both with previous Wiik duos. B+(***) [bc]

Wrens: Live @ Nublu (2025 [2026], Out of Your Head): Quartet, fronted by rapper Ryan Easter (also trumpet), mostly dense electronics from Elias Stemeseder and Lester St. Louis (also cello), with Jason Nazary (drums), following up a very interesting debut album (Half of What You See) with a rather rough improv live set. B+(***) [os]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: Jazz Messengers '70 (1970 [2026], Good Time): The drummer's definitive hard bop group left Blue Note after 1964, and his stars split as well. Blakey's label work petered out, but he kept touring, and had a knack for finding young talent. This live album was released in Japan in 1970. The group: Bill Hardman (trumpet), Carlos Garnett (tenor sax), Joanne Brackeen (piano), and Jon Arnet (bass). They're mostly playing his hits — starts with "Moanin'" and "Blues March," ends with "A Night in Tunisia" — with only one new piece (by Garnett, the most interesting thing here). B+(**) [sp]

Art Blakey & the New Jazz Messengers: Buttercorn Lady (1966 [2026], Elemental Music): Another live set, released at the time on Limelight (a Mercury subsidiary). This particular group featured Chuck Mangione (trumpet, also wrote 3 of 6 songs), with Frank Mitchell (tenor sax), Keith Jarrett (piano), and Reggie Johnson (bass). Mangione started in the Jazz Brothers (aka Mangione Brothers) in the early 1960s, and went on to commercial success in the 1970s, leaving this as his only album with Blakey. While he is central here, Mitchell, Jarrett, and Blakey himself leave stronger impressions. B+(*) [sp]

Dollar Brand/Don Cherry/Carlos Ward: The Third World-Underground (1972 [2026], Wewantsounds): South African pianist, soon changed his name to Abdullah Ibrahim, debut album in 1963 "presented by Duke Ellington," soon became known for his integration of township jive with jazz, up to his death in 2026. With trumpet and alto sax (and everyone tapped for vocals and percussion), recorded live in Copenhagen, and released (until now) only in Japan. Strong ideas, somewhat harshly achieved. B+(**) [sp]

Mick Goodrick/Fred Hersch: Feebles, Fables and Ferns (1988 [2026], ECM): Guitar and piano duo. Goodrick (1945-2022) recorded his excellent debut album, In Pas(s)ing, for ECM in 1979; he worked with Gary Burton, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, and others, recording a few more albums, but mostly teaching. This was Hersch's session, previously unreleased. B+(**) [sp]

Thelonious Monk: Live in Paris, 1967: Volume One (1967 [2026], Rhythm-a-Ning): Estate-authorized bootleg, the Nov. 3 concert was released on France's Concert in 1988 (as Thelonious Monk Nonet: Live in Paris, 1967), running 68:49, then remastered and reissued in 2002 by Thelonious Records. This version, aimed at vinyl junkies, is trimmed to an introduction and four songs, 38:33, with a second volume promised. The original order opened with Monk's Quartet (Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley on drums), then added horns, starting with Ray Copeland (trumpet), then saxophonists Phil Woods (alto) and Johnny Griffin (tenor), Jimmy Cleveland (trombone), and finally Clark Terry (trumpet). This version moves the nonet tunes to Side A, the smaller groups to Side B. I have reservations about the business proposition, but Terry's solo reminds me that his previous encounter with Monk on In Orbit (1958) was one of his best albums. B+(**) [sp]

Jimmy Scott: Falling in Love Is Wonderful (1963 [2026], Tangerine): Jazz singer (1925-2014), originally "Little" due to his diminutive stature and high voice, recorded singles early, three albums for Savoy 1955-60, then this album for Ray Charles, which has been long out of print. His voice takes some getting used to, but he picks great songs, and puts his mark on them. Bigger problem for me is the string arrangements, which I've always gagged on. B+(*) [sp]

Sun Ra: East Two + 7 (1972-73 [2026], Cosmic Myth): Two previously unreleased sessions, named for the first track ("East Two") plus extra tracks (5 for the LP, 7 for the CD; the difference is extra live tracks from 1984-85). B+(**) [sp]

McCoy Tyner: Extensions (1970 [2026], Blue Note): Pianist (1938-2020), from Philadelphia, played briefly in the Jazztet (with Benny Golson and Art Farmer) before joining John Coltrane's legendary quartet (1961-65). Started recording his own albums in 1962, and went on to have a major solo career, notably with Blue Note (1966-70, although this one was held back to 1973). This sounds like it popped out of a Coltrane time capsule, spacey and spiritual but not burdened by the ambitions and delirium of Trane's last years. With two saxophonists (Gary Bartz on alto, Wayne Shorter on tenor/soprano), Ron Carter on bass, Elvin Jones on drums, and Alice Coltrane on harp. A- [sp]

McCoy Tyner: Asante (1970 [2026], Blue Note): Another leftover from Tyner's Blue Note period, released in 1974, makes more explicit the pianist's interest in Africa, with Andrew White (alto sax), Ted Dunbar (guitar), Buster Williams (bass), Billy Hart (drums/African percussion), Mtume (congas), and vocals on the first two tracks (Songhai, aka Sandra Smith). The 1998 CD reissue added three tracks from an earlier session, with Gary Bartz and Hubert Laws, that had appeared on Cosmos, a 1976 2-LP that also picked up two earlier sessions. (Cosmos was part of "The Blue Note Re-Issue Series," an attractive series I bought several of at the time, as they looked like useful intros to major artists. Most, like the Tyner, were actually previously unreleased sessions. I didn't buy the Tyner, but I did pick up sets by Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, and most importantly Herbie Nichols.) The new Tone Poet vinyl reverts to the original four tracks, but streaming includes the extras. The extra tracks don't add much (well, Bartz, and more good piano). I suspect that LP consumers will heavily favor the first side (the one with the vocals, which delight in the groove). B+(**) [sp]

McCoy Tyner: The Seeker: Live at Umbria Jazz Festival (1993 [2026], Red): Previously unreleased live album, a quartet with Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Avery Sharpe (bass), and Aaron Scott (drums), a few months before Tyner and Hutcherson recorded their duo album, Manhattan Moods. Their careers intersected as far back as 1966 (on Hutcherson's Stick-Up!) and 1968 (on Time for Tyner). But the rhythm section really helps here. A- [sp]

Old music:

House of the Black Gardenia: The New Lowdown (2020, HOTGB): I didn't notice this above, but this is a British group, from Newcastle. First album. Singer Elise Rana hadn't yet taken bassist-arranger Neil Hopper's name. Hopper also plays sousaphone and washboard. I'm not seeing song credits, but I'm pretty sure the one about sexting is new. B+(***) [bc]

L'Afrique Danse No. 1 (1965-68 [1969], African): French label, started compiling albums of Congolese hits with this volume, extending this numbered series at least to No. 11, although there are other titles, and other labels, including Sonodisc (which picked up the catalog in 1980). This is mostly O.K. Jazz (Franco) and Ensemble Conga Succčs (Jean Bokolo). I didn't feel up to tracking down the singles, but Google says 1965-68, despite "some sources citing an initial 1966 pressing" (e.g., Discogs). Nor do I know how much of this duplicates the piles of Franco I already have. But Bokelo (d. 1995) may warrant further research. And chances are that the rest of the series are worth hearing — after No. 3, they move to feature artists (Rochereau on No. 4, Docteur Nico on No. 5, Franco on No. 6, and Bokelo on No. 7. A− [sp]

Twerk Thomson: Plays Unpopular Songs (2017, Twerk-O-Phonic): New Orleans bassist, seems to be his first album, various groups credited as Twerk Thomson Trio, Twerk's Dance Band, Twerk Thomson's 5, and Twerk & Maria (Dixon, trumpet and vocals, with Thomson on tenor guitar). Designed to sound as ancient as possible ("recorded live with one microphone into a Presto K8 lathe, cut directly to acetate discs at 78rpm, and edited only for volume"). I'm no fan of the sound, but the last set, in particiular, does sound like ancient lost treasure. B+(**) [bc]

McCoy Tyner: Expansions (1968 [1969], Blue Note): Album before Extensions, with Woody Shaw (trumpet) joining saxophonists Gary Bartz (alto) and Wayne Shorter (tenor), Ron Carter moving over to cello, with Herbie Lewis (bass) and Freddie Waits (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Limited Sampling: Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect.

Art Ensemble of Chicago: People in Sorrow (1969 [2026], Play Loud!): Early album (first one listed by Discogs, but a 5-CD box of 1967-68 recordings was later issued on Nessa), recorded in France (where they cranked out 14 albums in 23 months) and released by Pathé Marconi there. Just snippets available. ++ [bc] (4 snippets, 8:14)

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Les Stances ŕ Sophie (1970 [2023], Play Loud!): Recorded toward the end of their Paris stay, a bit of soundtrack with Fontella Bass vocals. ++ [bc] (8 snippets, 5:01)

Jason Moran: Plays Duke Ellington (2026, Yes): Pianist, became a star during his 1998-2014 run at Blue Note, won the Jazz Critics Poll and a MacArthur in 2010, slipped back into obscurity after he retreated to his own label (although his 2023 album, From the Dancehall to the Battlefield, got consideable attention). + [bc] (7/12)

I tried combining the separate I Compani reviews above into one for Substack. I didn't figure my reservations about the 7-Tet grade sufficed to bring the Extended grade down. More likely, with multiple plays either or both could rise. But we're not there yet.

I Compani: Basta! The Last Concerts 2025 (2025 [2026], I Compani): Dutch group, led by saxophonist Bo van de Graaf, founded in 1985, decided to call it quits after a series of "last concerts" in December, 2025. Throughout their career, they've mostly recorded film music, in the circus style that seems peculiar to the Dutch avant-garde (cf. ICP Orchestra and Willem Breuker Kollektief) and is often deliriously wonderful. My understanding is that packages 2 CDs, which are available on streaming as separate albums. One is their core 7-Tet. The other is "Extended," where an additional friends or hangers-on drop in for a song or two or more. The latter includes more vocalists, who add a cabaret air. Of the digitals, I prefer the latter, but I wasn't able to give either nearly enough time. Maybe if the CDs exist, and could somehow be obtained? B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Gerry Hemingway: Live at Bau 4 (Hat Hut) [04-24]

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Thursday, July 9, 2026

Music Week

July archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46249 [46219] rated (+30), 15 [16] unrated (-1).

An advance Notes on Everyday Life version of this Music Week was published on July 9 as Music Week (7:2), and is archived here. This two-step process has given me more flexibility in scheduling, as well as a bit more discipline in editing. The advance version typically has the pick hits (all five of this week's A− albums) and more substantial reviews (like Russell and Salvant). This post, on the other hand, gives you the full week's context. Often I get to the end of a record and don't feel like I have anything interesting to say, so I just jot down a grade and move on. The advance trims that sort of thing out, while focusing on good tips, and other interesting items.

I finished counting ballots for the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Mid-Year Poll. We wound up with 127 ballots, which is +14 from last year — a margin provided by 14 first-time voters. It always seems to me that the hardest part of the job is vetting new voters and chasing down old ones, so that part is done.

The other hardest part of the job is writing the essays, something I've spun my wheels on for a couple days now. The problem there is getting started: deciding what to explain, what to focus on, what to leave out. I've done this twice before, so one idea is to look at what I've written before. In 2024, I wrote Diversity Brings Riches, which started with my listmaking habits, then noted the lack of jazz albums appearing in that year's numerous mid-year best-of lists. I noted that "this is one problem with the world I could actually do something about," given that I had website tools, a mailing list, and a willing publisher. The rest of the essay flows out of the charts, and concludes with the voter list. All I had left to do was to stress how diverse and all-encompassing the lists were.

In 2025, I shifted the focus slightly to the community of jazz critics who contributed to the poll. I called this piece Sharing What We Know at Mid-Year. One thing I might note here is that while Steve Lehman won the Mid-Year poll, the Annual Poll was won by Mid-Year runner-up Mary Halvorson. That suggests one of many possible avenues of research. Trying to keep on track while facing so many possible detours is going to be a challenge.

I also needed to address the issue of Francis Davis dying in April, including the inevitable question of "who the hell am I to be running his poll?" I wound up writing this:

Today's mid-year jazz poll covers the same ground in the same way, but feels different. Last year we were building something new. This year we're keeping something old going, struggling to hold back the rot, the stench, the assaults of a new barbarism. I'm sorry for bringing politics into this. I don't believe that there is anything inherently political in art, except when politics turns fascist and attempts to exterminate critical thought: that's when creativity itself turns into a struggle to survive. And that's where we're heading, and to a large extent already are. Listening to jazz may not give you quite the sense of solidarity as going to a demonstration does, but it sets you apart, gets you thinking, gives you something to care about — things fascism cannot abide. (And while I was pretty critical of the utility of "fascist" as a label last year, no other word adequately conveys the dead weight and despair of our increasingly oppressive political system.)

Again, personal motivations and the state of the world are weighing heavily on my mind. I ended last year's poll with serious doubts that I would ever do another. But after fraught months of winter and spring, when Bill Marx asked me if I was planning on doing a mid-year poll, I found myself saying yes. Again, I had the tools and skills. I also had the time, as some things had cleared up, while other projects hadn't yet been started. And after doing an increasingly despairing series of Loose Tabs reports, I felt like taking a break from a world gone mad (especially as it would see me through whatever Trump had in mind for July 4). So here we are. Even with my typical procrastination, it shouldn't take more than a week to wrap this up.

After that, I have projects I'm itching to get to. We'll look into them later.

New records reviewed this week:

Josh Berman Trio: Everybody Else's Life Too (2025 [2026], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Chicago cornet player, credits start in 2002, include groups with Keefe Jackson, Ken Vandermark, Mike Reed, Jason Adasiewicz, many more. Trio with Jason Roebke (bass) and Chris Corsano (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Seamus Blake: The Electrifying Seamus Blake Plays the Music of Eddie Harris: EH! (2025 [2026], Cellar): Tenor saxophonist, born in London, raised in Vancouver, has lived all over (Discogs says New York; Bandcamp page puts him in Cologne), has worked steadily since 1991 (Discogs credits him on 211 albums). This opens with Dawn Pemberton singing "Compared to What?" — backed by Sam Yahel (organ/keyboards), Tim Lefebvre (electric bass), and Corey Fonville (drums). This makes for agreeable funk, but the sax seems shortchanged. B+(*) [sp]

Henriette Eilertsen Trio: Moder (2024 [2026], Motvind): Norwegian flute player, side credits since 2011 and several albums, trio with Joel Ring (cello/electronics) and drums (Řystein Aarnes Vik), with pianist Jon Balke on a couple of cuts. B+(***) [sp]

Ingebrigt Hĺker Flaten (Exit) Knarr: Fly (2025 [2026], Sauajazz): Norwegian bassist, scores, probably hundreds of album since the early 1990s, several with this group since 2021: two saxophonists (Amalie Dahl and Karl Hjalmar Nyberg), piano (Marta Warelis), guitar (Jonathan F. Horne), and drums (Olaf Olsen). B+(***) [bc]

Hayeminol: Ingen Vĺr I Ĺr (2026, Tarmkylling): Norwegian punk band, but that doesn't sound like the real label, so Discogs also offers psychedelic rock and art rock. Quartet, everyone sings, the two songwriters play 10 + 21 instruments. Reminds me of the Flaming Lips, only in a language I can't understand, for better or worse. B [sp]

Colin Heshmat: Elastic Groove (2026, HMC): Pianist, first album, quartet with trumpet (Ryo Sasaki), bass (Yuma Takagi), and drums (Ben Cuness), eight originals plus three covers (includine Kenny Dorham and Herbie Hancock). Not especially a groove album. That's just one of many elements subsumed in their postbop. B+(*) [cd] [07-23]

Jana Horn: Jana Horn (2026, No Quarter): Singer-songwriter, born in Texas, based in Austin, but has no discernible country airs; started with an interest in Christian screamo, but teaches and writes fiction, and over three albums has settled into a very spare confessional style, playing guitar and synth, with minimal bits of piano, clarinet, and flute. B+(**) [sp]

It Was Her Idea: Daughter of War (2025 [2026], PNL): Quartet with singer (sometime cougher) Juliana Venter, backed by piano (Oscar Grönberg), bass (Ole Mortan Vĺgan), and drums (Paal Nilssen-Love), although I'm more impressed by the piano. B+(*) [sp]

Kirk Knuffke: Brother (2026, SteepleChase): Cornet player, "one of modern jazz's most skilled navigators of the divide between freedom and swing," presents a trio with Charlie Burnham (violin) and Thommy Andersson (bass), mostly keyed to Yusef Lateef. B+(***) [sp]

Nicolas Leirtrř's Action Now!: Entrance (2025 [2026], Sauajazz): Norwegian bassist, side credits since 2016, just emerging as a leader. Quartet with Mats Gustafsson (saxophones/flute), Kit Downes (organ), and Veslemřy Narvesen (drums), playing the leader's music, which mostly keeps Gustafsson safe from blowing our brains out, although it also saddles him with a flute section I didn't get into — not nearly as much as the loud section at the end. B+(***) [bc]

Camila Nebbia & Chris Corsano: Six or Seven Ways Towards Becoming Undone (2025 [2026], Relative Pitch): Tenor sax and drums duo, the former from Argentina but has been tearing up Europe since 2020. B+(***) [sp]

Bob Nell & Michael Bisio Trios: We Are Here (2025 [2026], Origin): Pianist, Discogs only lists 9 appearances, starting in 1979, and most with the bassist, who has logged 128 album credits, so while he's hardly a household name, he is much the more famous musician. Plural as they switch drummers, starting with Adam Greenberg, then Austin Belluscio. Originals by Nell. Nice as these things go. B+(**) [cd] [07-24]

OM: Südpol (2024 [2026], Intakt): Avant-fusion group from Switzerland, active 1972-82 with Urs Leimbruber (sax), Christy Doran (guitar), Bobby Burri (bass), and Fredy Studer (drums), have regrouped on anniversary occasions since then, until Studer died in 2022, and is replaced here by two drummers, Gerry Hemingway and Tony Buck. B+(**) [sp]

Rebecca Rafla: Fundamentally Unfinished (2024-25 [2026*], Rebecca Raffla Music): Jazz singer-songwriter, also plays flute, offers six originals, including the first five, with four standards, one a taste of Brazil to get the rhythm flowing. Steve Allee plays piano, along with horns and strings. The standards get better, especially with "What a Difference a Day Makes" the closer. [*] "first servicing to the press," after a 2025 self-release. B [cd]

Catherine Russell: Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center (2024 [2026], Dot Time): Jazz singer, got a late start at 50 with her 2006 debut, but her famous father was older still when she was born (that's swing bandleader Luis Russell, 1902-63, who after 1930 ceded top billing to his star, Louis Armstrong), although her less famous mother, Carline Ray (1925-2013, a singer who played guitar and bass) must have had a more direct influence. She's impressed every time out, but rarely moved this far into the old songs, with a seven-piece swing band — including Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet), John Allred (trombone), Evan Arntzen (tenor sax/clarinet), and Matt\ Munisteri (guitar), plus a tap dancer on four tracks. B+(***) [sp]

Cécile McLorin Salvant: With Every Breath I Take (2025 [2026], Nonesuch): Jazz singer, born in Miami, father Haitian, mother French, moved to France at 18, studied classical voice (and Sarah Vaughan), eighth album since 2013, moving into the top echelon of jazz artists — with the MacArthur "genius grant" to prove it, as if winning the vocal section of our poll every year she had an album out wasn't testimony enough. Still, I've never been much of a fan. I admit that she has exceptional technical command (as did Vaughan), but I've never much enjoyed her albums (aside from the odd song or two). And this one, hyped as her first with an orchestra (Metropole Orkest, with big band master Darcy James Argue co-producing), seemed pretty unlikely to appeal. Then I found myself tempted, by "Send in the Clowns" (of all things), followed by "Barbara Song" (I'm always up for Weill, and she has impressed me there before). But after that, nothing really meshes — not even the French song, or her masterful navigation of the notoriously tricky "Lush Life." Why is hard to pin down, or maybe doing so just doesn't seem worth the effort. B+(*) [sp]

Sweet Megg: Massive Negroni (2026, self-released): Retro standards singer Meaghan Farrell, has a dozen albums since 2017. Less swing and more slow ballads than I expected, but "Where or Win" sticks with you. B+(**) [sp]

Kalia Vandever: Mana (2026, International Anthem): Trombonist, sings some, fifth album since 2019, second solo album, with "spare piano" and other electronic effects. Title Hawaiian. Vibe ambient. Short (7 songs, 27:06). B+(*) [sp]

April Varner: Ella (2025 [2026], Cellar): Standards singer, based in New York, masters degree from Mahnattan School of Music, 2023 winner of "the International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition," second album (or fourth if you count two volumes of Winter Songs). The notes insist on how original her approaches are to the material, how she "never imitates her long-time idol," instead striving to "capture the spirit of Ella" with "her own creative imagination." Still, her voice is dead on, and her professional help — notably pianist-arranger Emmet Cohen and drummer-producer Ulysses Owens Jr. — know how to work a sure-fire formula, which is great songs swung hard with a more than capable singer. [PS: Alternate parsing of title: Ella by April Varner.] B+(***) [sp]

Karsten Vogel: Late Night Ballads (2026, Storyville): Danish alto saxophonist, b. 1943, credits since the 1960s, albums since 1976. Seven standards and an original, played slow, backed by piano-bass-drums.B+(*) [sp]

Hein Westgaard & Matt Maneri: Chamber (2024 [2025], Gotta Let It Out): Guitar and viola duo. Guitarist has a few albums, including one from 2023 I liked. Maneri has many records since 1994, picking up his father Joe Maneri's microtonal practices. "Chamber jazz" is a loose term borrowed from classical, where the defining feature is an intimate and intricate group of soft instruments: mostly strings, almost never drums, wind instruments only on their best behavior. Maneri's viola fits the mold, but usually sounds too classical for me. But the guitarist plays around the edges, keeping it interesting, even adding a bit of rhythm. A- [cd]

Jack Wright and Ben Bennett: Tourne (2026, self-released): Sax and drums duo, the former from Pittsburgh, with dozens of albums since 1983; the latter from Philadelphia, with several albums together since 2011. Three tracks (35:12). That's a good length for this sort of prickly free jazz, which I find instantly appealing as long as it doesn't run too long, or too loud. Reminds me that I've long appreciated Wright, even if I rarely remember his name. A- [bc]

Your Brother's Keeper & Gary Bartz: Where Rivers Meet (2023 [2026], Brownswood): British group, first album under this name but most were members of Maisha, which backed the veteran alto saxophonist (b. 1940) on his 2020 Night Dreamer Direct-to-Disc Sessions. This has a nice spiritual dimension. B+(***) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Carla Bley: Joyful Noise (Live in Hamburg 1984) (1984 [2026], Moosicus): Pianist (1938-2023), exceptionally famous as a composer and arranger, was a founder of the Jazz Composers Orchestra Association, whose initial project was her ambitious opera, Escalator Over the Hill. Large (10-piece) group, with four brass, two saxes, piano (Ted Saunders), organ (Bley), electric bass and drums. Title is taken from a song, but is also a philosophy of life. A- [sp]

Marion Brown: Awofofora (1976 [2026], Aguirre): Alto saxophonist (1931-2010), recorded his debut for ESP-Disk in 1965, followed by albums on Impulse! and ECM, but by this time he was consigned to obscure labels (this on Discomate, a Japanese label). B+(***) [bc]

Satoko Fujii: Satoko Fujii's Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra (2014 [2026], Libra, 2CD): Japanese avant-pianist, very prolific since 1996, went on a big band kick around 2007, organizing a series of orchestras wherever she traveled (first three were New York, Nagoya, and Tokyo). Many more since, with five new tapes of various vintages promised this year, starting with this one from Bielefeld, Germany (Bunker Ulmenwall was a WWII-vintage air raid shelter; to be followed later this year by the Orchestras Kobe, Nagoya, Berlin, and Tokyo). Detailed with many remarkable passages, demanding close scrutiny. A- [cd] [07-10]

Wynton Marsalis & Vince Giordano: The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong (2012 [2026], Blue Engine): They pulled this old tape off the shelf to celebrate the centennary of Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven sessions, so the reference is to the cutting edge of 1920s jazz, not to the pop icon of later years. Giordano is a long-time trad jazz leader, playing bass sax and tuba here, while Marsalis shares trumpet duties with Jon-Erik Kellso. B+(**) [sp]

Mal Waldron & Sam Rivers: Live in Mestre Venezia 1984 (1984 [2025], Caligola): Piano and tenor sax duets. Around this time, Waldron was playing in duos with Steve Lacy and Marion Brown, so he has a well-honed sense of how to engage here. It's hard to imagine a more astute accompanist, and his solos never leave you wanting. Probably helps that they stick to standards, including "Scrapple From the Apple" and "Blue Monk." A- [bc]

The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars: A Gift to Pops (2021 [2026], Verve): A discographical nuisance, opens with a genuine Armstrong from 1964 (Sparks, NV), but after that it's just another anonymous tribute band. I originally filed under Wynton Marsalis, but it turns out that Nicholas Payton plays most of the trumpet, and also does most of the arranging, with Wycliffe Gordon on trombone, soprano sax, and some vocals; also Reginald Veal (bass), Herlin Riley (drums), and scattered others, including vocalists who don't make the slightest effort at the original. Consequently, some songs stray, to mixed effect. B+(*) [sp]

Old music:

Northwest Improvisers: Fanfares (2022 [2023], Entropy Stereo): Free jazz ensemble, founded in upstate Michigan in 1976 by Mike Gilmore (vibes) and Mike Johnston (bass), added drummer Nick Ashton in 1986, first album was 1994, recorded several albums backing Faruq Z. Bey, one with Dennis González. Gilmore is absent here, but they've added two saxophonists (Dominic Bierenga and Donovan Boxey) and strings (Mike Khoury on violin, Jack O'Brien on cello). Opens with a Don Cherry piece to set up the groove, then builds around it. B+(***) [bc]

April Varner: April (2023 [2024], Cellar): Jazz singer, first album, covers 11 songs with "April" in the title — wrote some, including improvised lyrics and some vocalese to Pat Metheny. Only "April in Paris" is well known, done simply here with just piano (Caelan Cardello) backing, after just bass (Reuben Rogers) on "April Blues." The other sources and treatments vary widely, but include nice spots for Russell Malone (guitar), Benny Benack (trumpet), and Dayna Stephens (tenor sax). [PS: Alternate parsing of title: April by April Varner.] B+(**) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Randy Ingram: Sound Within: A Celebration of Bill Evans (Chill Tone) [07-10]
  • Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: Bury Deep My Heart (Carrier) [07-27]
  • Bill Scorzari: Sidereal Days (Day 2) (self-released) [09-25]
  • WDR Big Band: Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines: The Music of Ayn Inserto (Summit) [08-07]

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Friday, July 3, 2026

Music Week

July archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46219 [46191] rated (+28), 16 [14] unrated (+2).

My advance was published on Notes on Everyday Life Music Week (7:1) (archived here). You can get it delivered to your inbox by subscribing.

As I noted there, most of my time continues to get sucked up in running the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Mid-Year Poll. Deadline is July 5. I've set myself the goal of publishing a week after counting to write up and publish the results. I hope to keep it fairly simple, and let the data speak for itself. Otherwise I'll just find fault with everything, and wind up in a horrible state. I've already worried much too much about how many ballots we can get. (The past two mid-year polls produced 90 and 113, vs. 159 and 177 from the previous year-end polls. Last year we were down to 168, so a slight decline from 113 is probable. With 90 ballots counted so far, it's hard to tell whether we're on track or not.)

One positive note is that I've sent out more invites than ever before. On the other hand, I have a longer list of people I'm aware of but don't have email addresses for. And there are many more unknowns who are most likely qualified enough. It's a big job to figure this out, and I never seem to have the time or energy to do it. The negative note is that a lot of regular voters have bowed out, mostly figuring they haven't listened to enough as yet. I've tried to stress that this is a cooperative project, improved by small incremental efforts by everyone. Still, it's a tough sell.

In case you're interested, the ballots are already available online, as well as lists of all albums that have received votes. The totals will appear when we publish the poll results at ArtsFuse, in mid-July.

However, other things have chew up large chunks of my time this week (hence, the much lower rated count). My brother-in-law, Mark Shepherd (73) died last week, and the funeral was on July 1. Mark has long been part of a community here that restores classic cars, and they effectively staged a show in the mortuary's parking lot, then a parade from there to the cemetery. Our niece and nephew from Washington drove down for the funeral, so I tried to entertain them, including a comfort food dinner. So scratch one day cooking, and two more visiting, during which I didn't listen to anything I had to write about. Guests are gone now, but things are only slowly getting back to normal. Although "normal" seems an odd word to use for anything these days.

Some quick notes on records below:

  • I almost never get promos aside from jazz, but De Vitry was a rare country album, and an excellent one. (Asher Brinson's Midnight Hurricane was another). However, I accidentally reviewed it several weeks in advance of release date. In the past, I tried holding back advance reviews, but it got to be too cumbersome, and nobody much seemed to care. But I held this review back from the advance because it's not yet available.
  • I revisited the Messthetics album because it has since gotten so much support that I questioned my negative reaction. Although I've bumped it up a bit, I'm not really doubting myself. I'm a bit clearer now, especially that the Fugazi rhythm section isn't the problem; it's just the guitarist.
  • I used to like Emperor X a lot, so I jumped at seeing a new album, then quickly found I really wasn't in the mood (possibly for anything rock). Since then I've seen numerous raves from critics I generally like (e.g., Dan Weiss ranks it 7 on his The 40 Best Albums of 2026 So Far; much on this list I should check out when I'm done with the jazz poll). A better-than-average candidate for an upgrade, although I wouldn't bet on it.
  • Sad Daddy is being promoted by a publicist whose junk mail always gets spam-trapped. I dug this message out for no good reason, then figured why not give the sound of Eureka Springs a try? Only later did I discover that Melissa Carper is part of the group: she has several good records, with Borned in Ya (2024) my pick hit.

My only plans for 4th of July is that some friends are coming over for leftovers. Plus whatever the poll reveals. I imagine we'll hear nonstop fireworks tomorrow evening. I've been hearing them on occasion most of today, but it seems to me that the volume is down considerably this year. Not sure whether folks are simply not in the mood to celebrate, or if incomes have become so precarious few people are willing to literally blow up their savings.

New records reviewed this week:

Julian Argüelles: Echo Fields (2026, Escapade): English saxophonist (tenor/soprano), albums since 1991, trio with Larry Grenadier (bass) and Jorge Rossy (drums). B+(**) [bc]

Barcelona Art Orchestra & Miguel Zenón: Expressions: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (2025 [2026], Miel Music): Barcelona-based group, has at least one previous album, led by Néstor Giménez (piano), Lluc Casares (tenor sax), Joan Vidal (drums), and Lluis Vidal (piano), each composing a section here, featuring the alto saxophonist. B+(*) [sp]

Patricia Brennan/Sylvie Courvoisier: Talamanti (2024 [2026], Antlia): Mallets player, from Mexico, based in New York, won our debut poll in 2018, finished 1st and 2nd overall with her last two albums, in a duo here with the Swiss pianist. Piano-vibes duos are rather common, partly due to similar tones, but also because the vibes focus the piano as a percussion instrument. You get a taste of that early here, but then the piano meanders into its own less-but-still-interesting space. B+(***) [sp]

Ron Carter & Yotam Silberstein: Duets (2026, Jojo): Bass and guitar duo: the 89-year-old bassist almost certainly holds some kind of record for most albums appeared on; while he's still best known for his 1960s work with Miles Davis, one could probably construct a whole CG from his duo work, and delight in doing so. (Pick hit would be Chemistry, his 2016 duo with Houston Person.) The guitarist has appeared regularly since 2008, with a soft tone and delicacy that I find pleasant but rarely give a second thought. But this brief set (2 originals, 7 standards, 34:02) raises pleasant to pleasure. A- [cd]

Maya De Vitry: All My Faith (2026, Mad Maker Studios): Folkie singer-songwriter based in Nashville, four previous albums since 2019. Sound reminded me first of Joy of Cooking, then Joni Mitchell (but warmer). That may be enough for now. I'll take the faith on faith. A- [cd] [07-24]

Duchess: A Marvelous Party (2025 [2026], Anzic): Vocal trio, fourth album (including one live) since 2015, all three with notable solo careers: Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner, Melissa Stylianou. Favors older songs with harmonies reminiscent of the Andrews Sisters, and swinging arrangements by Oded Lev-Ari. B+(**) [sp]

Emperor X: Unified Field (2026, Bar/None): Singer-songwriter Chad Metheny, albums since 1998, first one I really noticed was Western Teleport (2011). Several strong song on the way out. B+(**) [sp]

Nick Fraser: Areas (2026, Elastic): Canadian drummer, close to 100 credits since his 1997 debut album, has several albums with Tony Malaby (tenor sax) and Kris Davis (piano), who return here, along with John Kameel Farah (electronics). B+(*) [bc]

Hannah Gill: I Like the Sunrise (2026, Turtle Bay): Standards singer, several albums since 2023, backed by guitar-bass-drums, with Ricky Alexander (sax). B+(**) [bc]

Devin Gray/Andrea Parkins/Frank Gratkowski: Hz of Gold (2021 [2026], Rataplan): Drummer, fair number of albums and side-credits since 2006, in an improv trio with electronics/accordion/wurlitzer and saxes/flutes/clarinets. B+(*) [sp]

Alden Hellmuth: Tether (2026, Leiter): Alto saxophonist from Connecticut ("she grew up surrounded by the legacy of the great saxophonist Jackie McLean"), based in New York, second album, seems to be a quartet with two basses (Logan Kane and Miller Wrenn) and drums (Justin Brown), but also "additional instrumentation" (trumpet, piano, voice, guitar, sound design, lots of effects). B+(***) [sp]

The Joymakers: A Texas-Sized Band (2026, Turtle Bay): Austin-based ten-piece trad jazz outfit, named for a 1920s Texas band of the same name, led by arranger Colin Hancock, who also plays cornet, alto & baritone sax, mellophone, kazoo, and is one of several singers. B+(**) [sp]

Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra: & Avin Omar (2026, We Jazz, EP): Swedish trumpet player, leading a group that includes two saxophonists (one is Jonas Kullhammar), keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums, featuring the Kurdish-Swedish vocalist, leads off with a trad Kurdish piece ("Suleymanieh") that is pretty captivating. Three songs (23:38), the first of three planned EPs with vocalists. B+(***) [bc]

La La Lars: Lilla Lars (2026, Gothborgen, EP): Swedish drummer Lars Skoglund, has four albums as La La Lars since 2017, many side credits since 1998, trio here with Carl Bagge (piano) and Johan Berthling (bass), four songs (18:00). B+(*) [sp]

James Brandon Lewis Quartet: Omni (2025 [2026], Intakt): Tenor saxophonist, possibly the best and certainly the most accomplished of any near his age (42), has won two of our jazz polls, often splitting his vote among multiple projects. Sixth quartet album on this Swiss label, with Aruán Ortiz (piano), Brad Jones (bass), and Chad Taylor (drums). Still keeps you on edge. A- [sp]

Virginia MacDonald: In Search Of . . . (2024 [2026], Cellar): Canadian clarinetist, first album (although Discogs gives her a share of a Canadian Jazz Collective album), side credits especially with Michael Dease and Caity Gyorgy. Backed by piano (Geoffrey Keezer), bass, and drums, with voice on two tracks. B+(***) [cd]

Nduduzo Makhathini: The Myth We Choose (2026, Blue Note): South African pianist, various local labels from 2009, picked up by Blue Note in 2020, fourth album there. He has some credentials as a "traditional sangoma header," which may be context I cannot begin to fathom. Sounds sedated to me, with many vocals I can make no sense of. But the piano has grown on me a bit. B+(*) [sp]

Michael Marcus Quartet: Next Stop Down (2024 [2026], ESP-Disk'): Reeds player, albums since 1991 including the Cosmosamatics (with Sonny Simmons), plays tarogato, soprano and tenor sax here, with "featuring" credits for Rod Williams (piano), Ricky Rodriguez (bass), and Allan Mednard (drums). B+(***) [cd]

Tal Mashiach: Who's Around? (2026, Anzic): Guitarist-bassist, has a previous album as well as appearance in Anat Cohen's Quartetinho. Original pieces, musicians come and go, with only the drummer on most cuts. First impression is rather scattered. Unclear whether multiple plays might elevate that to eclectic. B [cd]

Chris Potter: Alive With Ghosts Today (2025 [2026], Edition): Tenor saxophonist, got an early start in 1994, impressive soloist, albums can be uneven. Original pieces here, inspired by John Brown's 1859 uprising, played by a septet featuring Bill Frisell (guitar), with clarinet, trombone, violin, bass, and drums. B+(*) [sp]

Sad Daddy: Ozark Shine (2026, Catfish Music/Free Dirt): Arkansas group, Bandcamp page says Eureka Springs, fifth album since 2010, multiple singers, four songwriters: Brian Martin (guitar), Melissa Carper (bass), Joe Sundell (banjo), and Rebecca Patek (fiddle) — Carper also has a solo career with several notable albums. B+(**) [sp]

Harry Skoler: Echoes (2026, Red Brick Hill): Clarinetist, debut 1995, not many albums since, this one a quartet featuring Bill Frisell (guitar), with bass (Dezron Douglas) and drums (Johnathan Blake). B+(**) [sp]

SML: Spontaneous Music Live (2025 [2026], International Anthem): Los Angeles-based jazz quintet, third album, two pieces (23:46 + 24:34), selected and mixed from a three-night stand (credit Bryce Gonzales, who mixed Jeff Parker's live EVA IVtet albums). Close-knit group, most also known for their solo efforts: Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Josh Johnson, Booker Stardrum, Gregory Uhlmann. Groove is somewhat minimalist, but the differences matter. A- [sp]

Matthew Stevens: Matthew Stevens (2026, Candid): Canadian jazz guitarist, half-dozen albums since 2015, varying cast beyond bass and drums, with Josh Johnson (alto sax) on most tracks, including two vocals, and some Joel Ross vibes. Originals, with a Sonny Sharrock cover. B+(*) [sp]

Soojin Suh: Prism of Existence (2026, Endectomorph Music): Korean drummer, has several previous albums, this a trio with piano (Jaehun Kang) and bass (Hoo Kim), recorded over four sessions (but dates not given). B+(**) [sp]

Martin Wind: Stars (2025 [2026], Newvelle): German bassist, close to 30 albums since 1993, the title may well refer to the talent he lined up here: Kenny Barron (piano), Anat Cohen (clarinet), Matt Wilson (drums). A mix of originals and standards, with "The Stars Fell Down on Alabama" especially delectable. A- [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Either/Orchestra & Ethiopian Guests: Nalbandian L'Ethiopien/The Ethiopian [Éthiopiques 32] (2011 [2025], Buda Musique): Large band from Boston, founded by saxophonist Russ Gershon, released albums 1986-2010, website touts their "40th anniversary season," but this live tape, following up their 2004 Live in Addis [Éthiopiques 20], seems to be the only new release. B+(***) [sp]

Evan Parker/Paul Rogers/Louis Moholo: Tebugo (1992 [2025], Jazz in Britain): Live tape from the Vortex in London, tenor and soprano sax, bass, and drums. Takes a while to warm up, but delivers in the end. B+(***) [bc]

Old music:

None.

Grade (or other) changes:

The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency (2026, Impulse!): Guitar-bass-drums trio had a couple albums (2018-19) before they joined up with the powerhouse tenor saxophonist. I filed the early albums under rock as the bassist (Joe Lally) and drummer (Brendan Canty) came from Fugazi, although guitarist Anthony Pirog had a fringe-jazz resume (two albums with Henry Kaiser, one a conduction of Terry Riley, a couple more I've heard but don't particularly recall). Time to move them into the jazz file, but I'm not all that pleased. The saxophonist makes a strong effort, but the guitarist rarely if ever matches him, nor is he very complementary. It's not quite accurate to say that the rhythm section rocks: they move freely, but their energy mostly expresses itself in speed and volume, which can come off as clunky. My disappointment was such that I probably overreacted at first. [was: B] B+(**) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Colin Heshmat: Elastic Groove (HMC) [07-23]
  • Andrew Kim: Lineage (Origin) [07-24]
  • Bob Nell & Michael Bisio Trios: We Are Here (Origin) [07-24]
  • Rebecca Rafla: Fundamentally Unfinished (Rebecca Raffla Music) [06-22]
  • Armand Sangalang: Waypoints (Calligram) [08-07]
  • Claudio Scolari Project: Lines of Now (Principal) [04-24]
  • Clark Sommers: WaBaSH (Calligram) [08-07]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Saturday, June 27, 2026

Music Week

June archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46191 [46138] rated (+53), 14 [9] unrated (+5).

I posted a preview of this Music Week to Notes on Everyday Life as Music Week (6:4) (also archived here). For this I selected nine reviews from below: 7 new releases (5 jazz) and 2 reissues. Actually, I made a couple of edits there but not here: I combined the two Immanuel Wilkins volumes below into a summary of the three-volume series (it isn't a set yet, but probably will be); I also added some of the Jan Klare (1000) old music album as a footnote to the KIND review. My hope is to make the Substack versions easier to read and deal with than full Music Week posts like this one, which contain (sometimes many) more albums, many with cryptic reviews. You can think of this (and the monthly Streamnotes as the reference copy, and the Substack posts as (slightly) more polished columns.

Until this week, I've prepared the advance posts before running my cutoff (the point when I calculate how many records I've rated, and move the index from a scratch file to the notebook, marking the boundary between one week and the next). This week I did the cutoff first, on Wednesday evening. In the past, I was running so late I wanted to skip the extra cutoff work. This time, I was bogged down with other writing I wanted to post via Substack before I could get to Music Week. But with 50+ reviews piled up, I figured I should go ahead with the cutoff, and get to the post(s) whenever. This one was mostly written on Friday, but still needed work, so has slipped into Saturday. One thing having the cutoff done did was to make it easier to decide what to pick out. It also saved me from being tempted to slip in later finds (which, with a big June 26 release day, already include new albums by James Brandon Lewis and SML).

I did manage to get two non-music pieces out on Substack this week:

  • After Iran: "A funny thing happened on the way to the apocalypse": where I talked about the "memorandum of understanding" between Trump and Iran, which I saw as a surprisingly solid framework for actual peace, which benefit all sides. (Sure, Israel doesn't think so, but that's because peace worries them more than war.) However, whether the potential of the framework will be realized will depend mostly on whether Trump actually wants peace bad enough to force Israel out of Lebanon. There are reasons to be skeptical: Trump's desire for peace is easily contradicted by his belief in and appetite for force; and Trump so far has been a pushover for Netanyahu, not least because they share some of the same financial backers, but also because his staff is chock full of people who if not simply on Israel's payroll have fully bought into the myths Israel has spread.

  • Arafat and Abbas on Violence: "Reflections from Tomorrow Is Yesterday," the recent book by Hussein Agha and Rob Malley. I mention several other recent books I have read on Israel (plus one old one), but my main point was to quote a section on Palestinian leaders, which I found remarkably insightful. Agha was part of the Fatah negotiating team during and after the Oslo process. Malley had a corresponding role while working for Clinton and Obama, and independently while Bush and Trump were in office. Both developed keen insights into the flaws of both sides. While many books have been written about failed negotiations, real insight into the Palestinian leaders and their worldviews has been hard to find. (One reason I like Richard Ben Cramer's 2004 book is that he makes a genuine effort to understand "why there is no Palestinian state.") I'm likely to write one or two more posts based on points made in the Agha-Malley book.

While I'm fairly happy with the reception given my Music Week posts on Substack, these two pieces, which I think make important points you're unlikely to encounter elsewhere, got virtually no reaction. A big part of the reason I went to Substack was that I wanted to get some statistical feedback on readership. One thing I've learned is that the music posts are getting about 70% views, vs. 50% for the non-music posts. I'm reminded of the Preston Sturges (or was it Woody Allen?) movie where he tries to tackle the world's major problems, and all people have to say is "get funny again."

While these posts have taken considerable time, much more has been sucked up in running the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Mid-Year Poll. With 8 days left to the July 5 deadline, I have 59 ballots counted, with a couple dozen more commitments to make the deadline, a similar number of declines — for reasons which range from no time or no interest, with a few stories of long illnesses (and I'm aware of one death: Mark Holston). I've tried to encourage some to send in whatever they can if they find as much as a stray thought, but I've let most of them go. I may do some more voter prospecting — I'm often surprised by the amount of quality of jazz writing when I find time to go searching — and I welcome further suggestions, but the response so far is generating a huge amount of album tips (366 so far, 153 not previously in my tracking files), with I'm sure much more to come.

As I explained last week, the ballots are already available online), as well as lists of all albums that have received votes. The totals will only appear when we publish the poll results at ArtsFuse, in mid-July. My ballot, filled out when voting opened, is here. I've refrained from updating it, even as a couple of new albums have come very close, although I'm inclined to add James Brandon Lewis & Lutosławski Quartet: These Are Soulful Days to the 5th Rara Avis slot. (See below: I'm counting it as a reissue, although most voters see it as a new album.)

I was surprised to hear that Mark Shepherd died last week. He grew up just around the corner from us, was in my brother's classes, so I've known him, and his family, going on 70 years. His sister married my brother, so he's been family for most of that time. Like his father, he worked at Boeing until he dropped, and like his father, he had better things to do with the rest of his life. For Art, it was fishing. For Mark, restoring classic cars. He's part of the reason Wichita has more of them than anywhere (except Havana).

One more note: I seem to be off X/Twitter now. Last time I looked at it, they declared "Happening now." They offered to let me "Continue with phone," "Continue with Google," "Continue with Apple," or "Email or username." When I tried the latter, they rejected my password, and didn't offer me any way to reset or recover. I've only been using it to announce blog posts, which I also do on Bluesky (where I post more, but not a lot more). Its usefulness has really come into doubt recently, although I could say the same about Bluesky (although Bluesky tries harder to illustrate links). A recent stats sheet from Substack showed I got 4 views from Bluesky and 8 from Twitter. If you want to get notified, best to subscribe to Notes on Everyday Life and/or use the RSS feed. [PS: X allowed a reset option today, so I'm back in. Not that I really want to be.]

New records reviewed this week:

Ben Allison/Steve Cardenas/Ted Nash: Triological (2026, Sunnyside): Bass, guitar, and tenor sax/clarinet trio, stylized on cover as "Allison, Cardenas & Nash," all three long-established and familiar (with at least four previous albums together), song credits split 4-3-3. Model referred to is Jimmy Giuffre's drummer-less trio, but with guitar instead of piano. I'm not sure I ever got the model, but such distinctions are pretty subtle. B+(**) [sp]

Thommy Andersson: Shimmering Blue (2026, SteepleChase): Swedish bassist, Discogs credits him with 14 releases since 2004, 98 total performance credits (many with Pierre Dřrge). Drummerless trio with high and low brass: Kirk Knuffke (cornet and soprano trombone) and José Davila (trombone, tuba, euphonium, helicon, bass flute, didgeridoo). Nicely done, worth focusing on the bass. B+(***) [sp]

Ballister + Luke Stewart: Clocking the Wheel (2025 [2026], Aerophonic): Trio of Dave Rempis (4 saxophones), Fred Longerg-Holm (cello), and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), 7th album since 2019, adds the bassist for this go around. Two pieces, 72:46, exactly the sort of hard hitting free jazz one expects by now. A- [cd] [07-10]

Sam Barsh/Mark Guiliana/Keyon Harold: Straight08 (2026, La Reserve): Keyboardist, from Chicago, based in Los Angeles, has a previous album from 2008, but 40+ side-credits, mostly jazz but the big names are in or near hip-hop (Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Macy Gray, Doja Cat, Logic, Anderson .Paak). With drums and trumpet, the latter often quite striking. B+(**) [sp]

Luciano Biondini/Michel Godard/Lucas Niggli: Fables of Time (2025 [2026], Intakt): Italian accordion player, many albums since 2000, including a previous (2011) trio with Godard (tuba, serpent, E-bass) and Niggli (drums). B+(*) [sp]

Nat Birchall Quartet: Path of Enlightenment (2025 [2026], Ancient Archive of Sound): British tenor saxophonist, first album 1999, bears the "spiritual jazz" label because few if any have worked longer or harder to sound like John Coltrane, but also to expand on his legacy. To that end, he's kept the classic quartet format, with piano (Adam Fairhall), bass (Michael Bardon), and drums (Paul Hession). B+(***) [bc]

Nat Birchall: Liberated Sounds (2025, Na Bi): Aside from Coltrane, his great influence was from the Jamaican saxophonists of the ska and rocksteady periods. He gets them right, too. B+(***) [bc]

Adam Brodsky: American Epitaph (2026, Permanent): Antifolk singer-songwriter, released four albums 1995-2002, came back from wherever he went to "throw sand in the gears of the fascist regime." Advises "don't break bread with your fascist former friends." ("Their brains are broken from the poison they're fed.") Like many of us, his ideals were set early, only to find a nation that has forsaken them. ("We were once the good guys but no more.") I'm more tolerant of, and probably more sympathetic to, lapses of political judgment that he is, but he's on the right side. A- [sp]

Betty Bryant: Nothin' Better to Do (2026, Bry-Mar Music): Jazz singer, plays piano, originally from Kansas City, where Jay McShann was a mentor, moved to Los Angeles in 1955, played clubs but didn't record much — Discogs lists an album in 1987, two in 1999 — until she started releasing her own albums in 2013. Her Lotta Livin' (in 2023, at 93) was terrific, and this (at 96) is also quite satisfying. Three songs by her and/or producer Robert Lyle (soprano/tenor sax, flute). Some guest spots, good for trumpet, not so good for strings. B+(***) [sp]

Chrome Hill & Dōjō: Free Rangers (2024 [2026], Clean Feed): Norwegian free jazz group, sixth album since 2008, down to three here — Asbjřrn Lerheim (bass guitar, electric guitar), Roger Arntzen (double bass), and Atle Nymo (tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet), joined by a Japanese duo: Michiyo Yagi (electric 21-string koto) and Tamaya Honda (drums), with most also credited with electronics. B+(***) [bc]

Emmet Cohen: Universal Truth (2025 [2026], Mack Avenue): Pianist, close to a dozen albums since 2011, many designed to showcase old-timers (including 5 volumes of his Masters Legacy Series). Trio here with Joe Farnsworth (drums) and Yasushi Nakamura (bass), the latter spelled on three cuts by Ron Carter, with ample guest spots for Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), George Coleman (tenor sax), and Tivon Pennicott (tenor sax). B+(***) [sp]

Andrés Coll Cosmic Trio: Ride to Heaven (2026, XJAZZ Music): Mallets player from Ibiza, mostly marimba here, with Mateusz Smoczynski (violin) and Ramón López (drums/tabla). B+(**) [sp]

ContraPunctus [Mike McGinnis/Carmen Staaf/Gui Duvignau/Hamir Atwal]: ContraPunctus (2025 [2026]. Adhyâropa): Surnames on the cover, but group name is more than implied. Respectively: clarinet/bass clarinet/soprano sax, piano/fender rhodes, bass, drums. B+(***) [sp]

Lao Dan Chicago Quartet: Klotski (2024 [2026], Trost): Saxophonist from China (Dandong, near the border with North Korea), majored in bamboo flute, was featured in the Shenyang Conservatory of Music's youth orchestra, toured the US in 2018, has many albums since then, some trad Chinese, and some free jazz. He plays tenor sax, chinese flute, and suona here, with piano (Mabel Kwan) and a Chicago rhythm section of Joshua Abrams (bass) and Michael Zerang (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Jesse Davis Quartet: Reflections (2025 [2026], Cellar): Alto saxophonist, from New Orleans, was a student of Ellis Marsalis, early albums (1991-2000) on Concord, regular side credits since then but not a lot of albums under his own name. Quartet with Spike Wilner (piano), John Webber (bass), and (cover says "featuring") Lewis Nash (drums). Mainstream, but exceptionally vibrant, which could very well be the superb drummer hard at work, but you mostly hear it in the horn. A- [sp]

Thomas Dollbaum: Birds of Paradise (2023 [2026], Dear Life): Singer-songwriter from New Orleans with a rep as a poet, second album, a roots-rock affair aided sonically by MJ Lenderman, but Dollbaum probably needed no help with the story lines and words. I'm not much good at following such intricacies, but I hear echoes of John Prine and Neil Young, and that's pretty satisfying. A- [sp]

Neale Eckstein: Build Our Dreams (2026, self-released): Folkie singer-songwriter from Massachusetts, has been "chasing music his entire life" while working as a dentist, but set up his own studio, has recorded others, and has at least two albums of his own. B+(*) [sp]

Marty Ehrlich: Cartographies of Flight: Lines Set Afloat Towards Hope (2024 [2026], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Alto saxophonist, plays a lot of clarinet and some flute, grew up in St. Louis, where he started working with Julius Hemphill and Oliver Lake, moved to New York in 1978, albums from 1984. Sextet with Ron Horton (trumpet), Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon), Erik Friedlander (cello), Matt Pavolka (bass), and Satoshi Takeishi (drums), with poetry read by Erica Hunt. B+(***) [bc]

Fire-Toolz: Lavender Networks (2026, Warp): Electronica producer Angel Marcloid, based in Chicago, Discogs lists a dozen albums since 2016, some big gestures with quasi industrial klang and the occasional odd glitch. B+(*) [sp]

Vinny Golia Quintet: Angular Momentum (2025 [2026], Nine Winds): Plays all saxophones and clarinets, turns 80 this year. Quintet with Kris Tiner (trumpet), Cathlene Pineda (piano), Miller Wrenn (bass), and Clint Dodson (drums, vibes, waterphone). B+(***) [bc]

Golomb: The Beat Goes On (2025, No Quarter): Indie rock band from Colombus, Ohio, 3rd album per Discogs, more on Bandcamp, but looks like a label advance (2nd was a cassette, 1st barely had artwork), although they're still pretty lo-fi. B [sp]

Joy Harjo: Insomnia & Seven Steps to Grace (2026, Smithsonian Folkways): Singer-songwriter (b. 1951), from Muscogee Nation in Oklahoma, has over a dozen volumes of poetry, a play, several non-fiction volumes, eighth album since 1997 (including one as Poetic Justice). Some jazz touches, including a coda of "Goodbye Pork Pit Hat." B+(***) [sp]

Alexander Hawkins: No Nation but Imagination (2025 [2026], Intakt): English pianist, prolific since 2006, mostly free but fairly eclectic, opens with a synth solo, then the quintet kicks in, light tones and frothy rhythm: Rhodri Davies (harp), Nicole Mitchell (flute), Hamid Drake (drums), and Matthew Wright (turntables/live sampling). B+(**) [sp]

Jon Irabagon: Raw Dog (2025 [2026], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Always excited to find a new album by the MOPDTK saxophonist. Less excited to find out that it's solo, even more that it's bass saxophone, covering two compositions each from Anthony Braxton and Julius Hemphill. But it probably helps that the big horn handles slow, and is impervious to screeching (unlike, say, Braxton's For Alto, which some regard as a masterpiece but I couldn't stand). The results are neither "mind-blowing [nor] ear juddering," but the explorations of "Hemphill's deep blues feel and Braxton's erector set structures" are interesting. B+(**) [bc]

KIND: Count (2025, Umland): Group led by German alto saxophonist Jan Klare, dozen-plus albums since 1998, also plays bassoon, all original compositions, group a sextet with clarinet (Shabnam Parvaresh), trombone (Shannon Barnett), cello (Emily Wittbrodt), bass (David Helm), and percussion (Bruna Cabral). Superb postbop, as the ever-shifting harmonics revolve eccentrically around an ever-changing rhythmic drive. A- [bc]

March to August: Highway 75 (2026, Crisp): Husband-and-wife country duo from Fayetteville, Derrick (who sings) and Jodi Mears. Mostly drinking songs, especially if you count the not-drinking songs. B+(**) [sp]

Simon Moullier: Ceiba (2025 [2026], Simon Moullier Music): Vibraphonist, based in New York, sixth album, a quartet with Lex Korten (piano), Rick Rosato (bass), and JK Kim (drums), with guest percussion (Keita Ogawa) on two tracks. Original pieces. Sails right along. B+(***) [cd]

New England Jazz Collaborative: Tributaries (2025 [2026], ACP): An "artist-run nonprofit collective," ACP stands for Amherst College Press, which matches up featured composers with musicians for various programs. This first album features compositions from Jeremy Cohen, Matan Rubinstein, Darryl Harper, and Sam Spear, performed by a big band conducted by Ken Schaphorst, with some extra guitar from Eric Hofbauer, on their quite nice Latin turn. B+(**) [cd] [07-16]

Pascal Niggenkemper Ensemble Tuvalu: D'Une Rive ŕ L'Autre (2024 [2026], Subran Musiques Aventureuses): German-French bassist, living in Brooklyn, 20 albums since 2008. This piece is inspired by the Pacific archipelago of Tuvalu, a land especially endangered by climate change. "The stage plot consists of sixteen sounding curtains which surround the audience, 8 musicians and a poet circling nine sounding islands at the very center which symbolise the South Sea archipel Tuvalu." The group splits into two quartets, of cornet/trumpet, clarinet, accordion, bass/cello, with voice parts all around, in however many languages they can muster. B+(**) [bc]

Nite Bjuti: Minwi (2023 [2026], Intakt): Trio of Candace Hoyes (vocals), Mimi Jones (bass, vocals), and Val Jeanty (drums, electronics), lyrics credited to Hoyes. Seems to be Hoyes' first album. Art song, deeply ensconced in dark atmospherics. B+(**) [sp]

Outer Worlds Jazz Ensemble: The Kármán Line (2026, ATA): Leeds group, principally Chip Wickham (flutes) and Neil Innes (bass), with piano, bass, harp, drums/balafon, and percussion, plus some extra orchestra. Title refers to the hypothetical boundary between atmosphere and outer space. Some nice grooves at that distance. B+(***) [sp]

Mariam Rezaei/Sakina Abdou/Kobe Van Cauwenberghe: 1984 [I IX VIII IV]: The Forward Process (2025 [2026], Dropa Disc): Turntables, saxophones, guitars: I filed it under the latter, as he is principal composer. Most sources give group name as 1984, but cover offers four Roman numerals, in a 2x2 matrix, with the artist names above and the album title below, both in small print. B+(**) [bc]

Jeff Rupert Quartet: Sea Spell (2022 [2026], Rupe Media): Tenor saxophonist, mainstream, several albums back to 2009, including one as The Jazz Professors and another with Veronica Swift. Quartet with Richard Drexler (piano), Ben Kramer (bass), and Marty Morell (drums). Quite enjoyable easy listening. B+(**) [cd] [06-29]

Olaf Rupp: Berlin Eiskeller (2025-26 [2026], Scatter Archive): German guitarist, many albums since 1998, mostly in free jazz contexts, although he's largely escaped my attention. This one is solo. B+(**) [bc]

Serengeti: Symphony of Psalms (2026, CC King): Chicago rapper David Cohn, many albums since 2006, cover says "produced by Greg Saunier." B+(*) [sp]

Skerik: Skerik 061725 (2026, Loosegroove): Seattle-based saxophonist Eric Walton, has worked in many groups since the 1990s, including Garage A Trois, Critters Buggin, the Dead Kenny G's, and his Syncopated Taint Septet. This one is full-on ambient, like Eno's first ambient albums. Seems like a waste of a good saxophone to me, but on its own terms, this is nicely done. B+(**) [sp]

Colin Stetson/Greg Fox/Trevor Dunn: Nethering (2018 [2026], Envision): Saxophonist, plays a wide range of instruments but is best known for his bass saxophone, which he's employed in various projects, rock and classical as well as jazz. Improv here with drums and bass. B+(**) [sp]

Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary) (2022 [2026], We Jazz): British avant-pianist, also electronics, along with the duo (XT) of Paul Abbott ("real and imaginary drums") and Seymour Wright ("actual and potential sax"; you may know him from [Ahmed]). The duo has 7 other albums, one with Thomas (a rendition of Cecil Taylor's Akisakila). Three long (36:02, 43:24, 50:05) live sets on the 2-CD, plus two more digital tracks (20:31 + 16:43). Way too much, but pretty awesome when they all his peak intensity. B+(**)

Udeigwe: Four Lemmas (2026, LU Factors): First name Lawrence, from Nigeria, moved to US in 2000, got a Ph.D. and is a professor of mathematics, also sings, several albums since 2007. B+(*) [sp]

Joe Webb: Neath Beat (2025 [2026], Edition): Pianist, grew up in Wales, based in London, Discogs seems to have this album filed under the wrong Joe Webb (should be 5). Has a couple previous albums, including a Mercury nomination for Hamstrings & Hurricanes (2025). Trio with Will Sach (bass) and Sam Jesson (drums). Beat matters. B+(**) [sp]

Immanuel Wilkins Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. 2 (2025 [2026], Blue Note): Alto saxophonist, debut 2020 on a major label made him an instant star, big enough that his label decided to split up his live stand into three digital albums, rolling them out in monthly intervals. With Micah Thomas (piano), Ryoma Takenaga (bass), and Kweku Sumbry (drums), five tracks, 57:27. B+(**) [sp]

Immanuel Wilkins Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard Vol. 3 (2025 [2026], Blue Note): Four more songs, 61 minutes. This one seems a bit more consistently upbeat, which is where their strengths lie. But the distinctions are marginal, and patience is wearing thin. Needless to say, they could have edited the three volumes down to a more compelling hour, but the cost-benefit analysis seems to have favored more product. B+(**) [sp]

Zen Zadravec: New Paradigm (2026, Marmite): Pianist, from Canada, has several albums, gets a big band feel from a smaller (but revolving) group here. B+(*) [cd] [06-26]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Johannes Bauer/Michael Griener/Olaf Rupp: Aufsturz (2007 [2026], Scatter Archive): German trombonist (1954-2016), younger brother of Conrad Bauer, an improv bash with drums and guitar. B+(***) [bc]

Pierre Favre Trio: Bird Food (1968 [2026], Songs): French drummer, b. 1937, first albums 1964-65 were jazzed-up classical music, much notable work followed, especially his duos with Swiss pianist Irčne Schweizer. This recently unearthed tape appears to have been their first collaboration, a trio with George Mraz on bass, playing Ornette Coleman's title piece plus three by Schweizer (total: 29:56). B+(**) [sp]

James Brandon Lewis & Lutosławski Quartet: These Are Soulful Days (2021 [2026], TAO Forms): Tenor saxophonist, makes his entry into the sax-with-strings forum with a well-known Polish string quartet (dozen-plus albums since 2012, including jazz meets with Uri Caine and Kris Davis). This was originally released as a bonus CD with Lewis's poll-winning 2023 album, For Mahalia, With Love, so counts as a reissue here. A- [sp]

Tom Raworth & Peter Brötzmann: No Hard Feelings: For Steve Lacy (2005 [2026], Corbett vs. Dempsey): British poet (1938-2017), only album in Discogs is a 1969 reading, plus this rara avis, where "John Corbett schemed to make a duo record" from a 2000 reading with accompaniment by Steve Lacy. However, Lacy died in 2004 before delivering, so Brötzmann filled in a year later, playing tarogato, clarinet, and alto sax, short fragments plus some longer solos. Includes bits of music box, credited to Raworth. To some extent, a simple shuffle of two separate things, but each helps with the other's limits. B+(***) [bc]

Dick Spottswood & Tompkins Square Present . . . 1925 Songs: Blues, Country, Jazz & More (1925 [2026], Tompkins Square): Genre distinctions that meant far less then than now — black and white were the concepts back then, distinctions that have since become blurred, as Allen Lowe showed in his American Pop (his 1998 release of a book with 9 CDs ranging from 1893-1946). This is comparable, sticking close to the crossroads of the genres, and avoiding big hits (like "Sweet Georgia Brown" and the Bessie Smith version of "St. Louis Blues"; I don't keep many song dates in my mind, but one I do recall from 1925 is "Cake Walking Babies From Home"). B+(***) [sp]

Louis Stewart: Joyce Notes (1982 [2026], Livia): Irish guitarist (1944-2016), recorded extensively from 1975 on, but I've only noticed him since this reissue series began. A six part suite composed for James Joyce's centenary, with narration and readings from Ulysses by Eamon Morrissey, and a fairly large group with two saxophones, flute, piano, bass, drums, and extra percussion. The music is delightful, and the words add a powerful dimension. A- [bc]

Sun Ra: Hidden Fire (1988 [2025], Strut): Live album, originally released as two volumes ("in tiny quantities with minimal packaging and cryptic artwork"), combined here (6 songs, 77 minutes). Group has some extra violins (Billy Bang for one), and vocals (Art Jenkins?), and spends much time way out on the fringe. B+(**) [sp]

Old music:

Jan Klare/Wilbert de Joode/Michael Vatcher/Bart Maris [1000]: Played (2008 [2009], Leo): Discogs regards "1000" as a group name, although they also credit the artist names, at the top of the cover, and they list several other albums by the same group (5 total, 2007-22). Alto sax, bass, drums, trumpet. B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • David Ambrosio/Donny McCaslin/Ingrid Jensen/Bruce Barth/Victor Lewis: Civil Disobedience: Blue Note in the Progressive Sixties (Blue Frog) [05-16]
  • Ran Blake & Dominique Eade: Roots & Byways (Sunnyside) [07-03]
  • Ron Carter & Yotam Silberstein: Duets (Jojo) [06-06]
  • Liz Cracchiolo: Just a Girl I'm a Woman (Pacific Coast Jazz) [09-18]
  • Kelly Green: Eat Your Greens! (Green Soul) [08-28]
  • Virginia MacDonald: In Search Of . . . (Cellar) [05-29]
  • Tal Mashiach: Who's Around? (Anzic) [06-26]
  • Simon Moullier: Ceiba (Simon Moullier Music) [04-24]
  • Tom Ricci: Happening in Buenos Aires: Live at Borges 1975 (self-released) [06-20]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Friday, June 19, 2026

Music Week

June archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 46138 [46097] rated (+41), 9 [8] unrated (+1).

This week's advance copy went out to Notes on Everyday Life subscriber list Wednesday evening: Music Week (6:3) (also here). To get these delivered straight to your mail box, please subscribe.

I posted a very large Loose Tabs back on Saturday, June 14 (369 links, 26521 words). I've added a couple more items to the file, which are only appearing with this update. I haven't had time for any extensive revisions, let alone for starting work on next time around. More importantly, I haven't followed through on my intention to pull some excerpts out from the file, and rewrite them for posting on Notes on Everyday Life. I have a lot more to say, especially on the Iran/Lebanon war, but I'm having trouble keeping up, and wind up doing a lot of thrashing.

The main thing I want to say about Trump's "deal" is that the details, which seem mostly to be about money, don't really matter. The only things that really do matter are whether Trump is sincere about abandoning the war path, and is in sufficient control of his administration to stop Israel from sabotaging the deal. That he has been hurt politically by his decision to start bombing is way beyond doubt. That resuming the bombing would only hurt him more is also pretty obvious, although there are many consultants in Netanyahu's pocket who are arguing otherwise. Thus far the really worst case scenarios, which involve major destruction and possible upheaval in the Persian Gulf states, haven't really happened.

Of course, it will be really hard for Trump to control Israel. It will take discipline and clarity he has never yet demonstrated. For starters, Israel has developed a lot of deep-seated influence in Washington, including on his staff and in his cabinet — the very people he is powerless without. But also, Netanyahu is extremely persistent, as two-faced and under-handed as anyone in politics gets. He's shown, time and again, that he's willing to bend, but won't break, and will snap back first opportunity he gets.

It's also quite possible the Democrats will play this so badly he feels the need to resume the war to reassert his "tough guy" self-conception. It's easy enough to come up with a list of points showing that his deal is more generous to Iran than Obama's JCPOA deal was. But I'm more inclined to argue that both of those deals weren't generous enough. Instead of trying to hamstring Iran with technicalities (and "snap back" sanctions), merely to appease Israel's much publicized but insincere fears, Obama should have sought to normalize relations with Iran: ending the sanctions, assuring Iran that neither Israel nor the Gulf States would attack it, and seeking Iran's cooperation in resolving disputes around the region (e.g., Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, even Hamas — although Iran's influence with them was almost purely propaganda spin by Israel). By not even trying to end the conflict, Obama paved the way for Trump to withdraw from JCPOA and start his own disastrous war. Of course, the blame for that war lies squarely with Trump, but that's no excuse for Obama's failures, both viz. Iran and in failing to do anything meaningful about Israel's increasing marginalization and dehumanization of the Palestinians.

Sure, Obama's blind spot viz. Israel isn't much different from Biden's or Trump's. All three, like most American politicians, are totally in thrall to Israel's propaganda line — or at least were, until it started to become clear what kind of world Israel is building. The good and bad news here is that Israel doesn't need war with Iran to do what they really want to do, which is to drive the Palestinians away from their land claims. As I've noted many times, Israeli demonization of Iran has mostly served to manipulate the Americans (who still harbor grudges from 1979). Trump, on the other hand, doesn't need to see Iran as a threat, and he doesn't need to believe in "two-state" delusions. He's quite happy to support Israel's ethnic cleansing as long as it feeds into his graft. (Bribes are always much simpler/cleaner than ideology.) That may mean that Israel has to give up on their dreams of occupying and annexing Lebanon, but that's something Israel can save for later. (It was on Ben-Gurion's wish list from 1948, but you rarely heard much about it until 1982; after 2000, it faded again, until being revived last year following the "cease-fire" in Gaza. Give Israel a moment's peace, and they go looking for the next war.)

PS: I wrote the previous paragraphs yesterday. I have some further thoughts this morning, but I'll save them for a future Substack post, when I feel a bit less under the gun. As I explained in my April 5 The Big Questions post, the problem has always been one of Trump finding an off-ramp that was palatable to him politically. This one isn't ideal, but nothing with Trump is, or can be, because, well, he's stupid, and egomaniacal, and that's far from being his worst quality. So forget "do the right thing" as a guideline. That isn't even a concept with him. What he wants is to claim victory, and to avoid further punishment (politically, of course, but also anything that might diminish his graft). His victory claim is that he has stopped Iran from ever getting a nuclear bomb, and that the Strait of Hormuz will be open and toll-free. His concessions are to drop the sanctions (which are bad for business, and only serve to make Iran more anti-American), to promise not to bomb Iran again (which he can deliver on, because it was always a stupid thing to do), and to restrain Israel (from doing the same, which it could only do with American support, and from Lebanon, which will be a sticking point for Netanyahu and his coalition).

Israelis will scream bloody murder over having their wars curtailed, but that's a price they can well afford to pay — much as they did every time they removed their settlers from some untenable outpost (v. Sinai in 1979, Gaza in 2005). But what really matters to them is their "ethnic cleansing" in the occupied territories, and Trump has alrealdy proven to be their most reliable, and least squeamish, ally ever. Besides which, Netanyahu knows Israel can't afford to sustain those wars on their own, so Trump holds if not all the cards, the (pun inevitable) trump ones. Besides, while Ben-Gvir can exalt Israeli sovereignty and rail against American bullying, much of Netanyahu's political capital is based on the perception that he's a master manipulator of American politicians. So for him picking a fight with Trump is a lose-lose proposition. He has his own skin to save in elections that are fast approaching. Having failed to keep the Americans in the war, perhaps his best tactic is to claim his share of Trump's victory.

The other thing to bear in mind about the "deal" is that aside from the "nuclear issue," most of what matters is the money flowing from the Gulf states into Iran. Trump cannot politically afford to rebuild Iran, but the Gulf states cannot afford not to. Iran could collect tribute in tolls, but major development investment, free from American sanctions, has the same effect, looks better, and builds long-term ties.

The main reason I haven't had time to write up these thoughts, or much else on my mind, is the work it's taking to get the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Mid-Year 2026 Poll going. I sent the first round of ballots out last week. Voting so far is alarmingly light (19 ballots counted; less than a dozen more acks, many actually nacks). My worst fear is that the mail isn't getting delivered, and people who would vote aren't hearing about it, but there is very little I can do about that (beyond sending nag letters out, something I'm uncomfortable with, and likely to meet the same fate). I understand that most of the mid-year drop off is due to timing, uncertainty, doubt, and simply not having enough time to think about things this trivial. I've tried to emphasize that one shouldn't fret over getting this right: just take a couple minutes and jot down the titles of a few albums that you'd like your friends and readers to hear about. We'll table them up, and present them in a way that helps everyone get a better grasp on the year (so far) in recorded jazz.

So far, we're averaging about 9 new albums per ballot (the maximum, if a voter provides a full list of 10 new jazz albums and 5 rara avis, is 15). I'm already up to my ears in tips of records that I hadn't heard before, and most turn out to be very good. This is a bit part of the reason I have so many A- and B+(***) records this week (12 each). I'm still suppressing the totals on the website, but I've made it possible to see the ballots as they come in, as well as lists of all of the albums that have received votes. One thing I'm hoping for is that people will post links to their online ballots — my own ballot is here — and that this will stimulate some interest in the poll.

I should send out a second round of invitations soon, and maybe some reminders. I'm always worried about invitations and reminders getting caught up in spam traps, especially as there's virtually nothing I can do about it. It would help to stir up some chatter wherever potential voters hang out, but aside from mentioning it here and on my X/Bluesky feeds, I don't have many ideas. Last few years I worried about the poll falling apart under my stewartship. I did manage to push the vote total up in 2024, only to see it drop in 2025 (while DownBeat claimed their biggest poll ever, including dozens of names I had invited but didn't hear from; why anyone would slog through their 50 questions, which always takes me 6-8 hours, yet can't find time to write down a list of two of favorite albums, is beyond me — surely it's not just the T-shirt?).

Still, I find album lists much more interesting than trying to sort out a pecking order for pianists (too many great ones) or flautists (too few?). For me at least, albums are the units we search out. Everything else is just name-dropping. But I'm trying not to worry about turnout. Even if we only hit what I currently imagine as a minimal response (50-60 ballots), we are certain to generate lots of interesting information (at least for the few of us who try to follow such things). At 19, we already have.

One thing I haven't had time to do this year is to look at the other mid-year ("so far") polls that have been published (e.g.: Guardian; Hip-Hop Golden Age; NME; Rolling Stone; Saving Country Music; Shatter the Standards; Stereogum; Treble). For one thing, I'm not tracking them this year. (Whether I do an EOY aggregate remains to be seen, but I haven't started one, and it's a big piece of busy work I don't have time or energy to tackle.)

While most of the jazz albums below come from poll tips (although some, like Champian Fulton, caught my gaze while looking for something else), much of the non-jazz comes from Robert Christgau's June Consumer Guide. I was surprised to find only one album I had previously heard (Pony, which I had forgotten, so seemed like zero; more will appear next week).

New records reviewed this week:

Ambrose Akinmusire/Mary Halvorson: Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings (2025 [2026], Nonesuch): Two of the biggest names in jazz, the trumpet player with five top-five poll finishes so far, the guitarist with two outright wins, in a duo here after landing after landing on the same major label. Minor details prove their talents, in an intimate, low-key encounter that discourages hype. B+(***) [sp]

Lakecia Benjamin: We Dream (2026, Artwork): Alto saxophonist, half-dozen albums since 2012, has toured with r&b bands, has crossed over enough to get some Grammy attention, but sounds pretty solidly rooted in Coltrane here, with a side of hip-hop. B+(**) [sp]

Circular Arcs: Conventicle (2020 [2025], Castor & Pollux Music): Trio of Esteban Flores (guitar), John Rieder (bass), and Nathan Hubbard (drums); Hubbard has a substantial discography going back to 2002, but the others are relatively new. Fairly heavy noise-fusion, impressive as far as it goes. B+(***) [bc]

Cola: Cost of Living Adjustment (2026, Fire Talk): Post-punk guitar-bass-drums trio from Montreal, Tim Darcy the singer-songwriter, third album since 2022. Some fairly strong guitar. B+(*) [sp]

Corima: Hunab Ku (2026, Soleil Zeuhl): Los Angeles band "playing rock-fusion in the Zeuhl vein" — a term I had to look up, one originally applied to the French prog rock band Magma (which I recall from the 1970s; realizing that French wouldn't work for rock, and unwilling to switch to English, they invented a new lanaugage to sing in, Kobaďan); fourth album. Only one I recognize is saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi, but others play violin, keys, bass, and drums/tabla/harmonium. Most are credited with vocals, but they're not very intrusive. B+(*) [bc]

Florence Dore: Hold the Spark (2026, Propeller): Singer-songwriter from Nashville, teaches American/Comparative Lit in North Carolina, recorded an album in 2001, another two decades later, and now a third. Christgau describes her as "writerly," then makes his point in quotes. I wouldn't have noticed, but approve in theory, and look forward to accidentally stumbling on similar evidence. But sounds pretty solid as is. A- [sp]

Dave Douglas: Transcend (2025 [2026], Greenleaf Music): Postbop trumpet player, emerged as a more adventurous rival to Wynton Marsalis in the 1990s, tremendous chops, has always recruited top young musicians for his groups, hasn't always pleased me with his compositions. Another quintet, with James Brandon Lewis on tenor sax, and an unconventional rhythm section: Rafiq Bhatia (guitar), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Ian Chang (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Olof Dreijer: Loud Bloom (2026, Dh2): Electronic music producer from Sweden, formerly half of the Knife (5 albums, 2001-13) with slbing Karin Dreijer. Second solo studio album. Deep synths, heavy beats, some vocal fluff. I find it very appealing, although at volume it may disturb the neighbors. A- [sp]

Champian Fulton: House Party (2025 [2026], Turtle Bay): Retro-standards singer, started with David Berger's big band in 2007, plays her own piano, with her "longtime trio" of Hide Tanaka (bass) and Fukushi Tainaka (drums), also saxophonists Klas Lindquist (alto) and Cory Weeds (tenor). She is superb, but the real treat here is the 10:58 sax joust on "Billie's Bounce," which for a moment had me wondering whether I was playing "The Chase." A- [sp]

Goal Weight [Maggie Cox & Jennifer Gersten]: Keep Telling Yourself That (2025 [2026], Relative Pitch): New York City duo, bass and violin. B+(***) [sp]

Phillip Golub: Partisan Ship (2025 [2026], Berthold): Pianist, from LA but based in NYC, several albums since 2020, plays various synths here (Flexichord, Behringer Neutron, Arturia Digital), with spots for Yuma Uesaka (clarinets, tenor sax, blass clariflute), Anna Webber (flute, tenor sax), David Leon (alto sax), Layale Chaker (violin), Elias Stemeseder (more synths), some bass and drums (or drum machine). B+(**) [bc]

Gregory Hutchinson: Kind of Now: The Pulse of Miles Davis (2026, Warner Music Arts): One of many projects revisiting Davis on his centennary, led by the drummer, with Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet) in the key role, accompanied by Ron Blake (tenor sax/bass clarinet), two guitarists (Emmanuel Michael and Jakob Bro), piano (Gerald Clayton), and bass (Joe Sanders), playing three originals and ten pieces from the songbook (4 by Davis, 4 by Wayne Shorter, one each for Tony Williams and Charlie Parker, with a Victor Feldman assist). B+(**) [sp]

Ernesto Jodos/Rocio Giménez López: Una Casa Con Dos Pianos (2026, Blue Art): Two pianists from Argentina. Jodos has over a dozen albums since 1997. López a shorter discography, since 2017. Nice. B+(**) [sp]

K.A.A.N.: Kaancepts (2025, D-Ace Beats): Rapper Brandon Perry, from Maryland, based in Los Angeles, acronym stands for Knowledge Above All Nonsense, Wikipedia lists 27 albums, 3 mixtapes, 13 EPs, and 61 singles since 2014, but Discogs only has 8 albums plus 13 other releases, and neither has this one, which evaded attention in part by dropping on December 25. I've heard one album, Subtle Meditation (an A- from 2018). Could be that this is a compilation tied into a video, but that too is unclear. What is obvious is that few have ever rapped faster, so he generates his own frenzied rhythm, leaving producer D-Ace Beats (who sometimes gets co-credit, but landed on my source as the label name) to steady the ship. A- [sp]

Lime Garden: Maybe Not Tonight (2026, So Young): British "wonk pop" band, second album, Chloe Howard the singer, plays guitar (as does Leila Deeley, with Tippi Morgan on bass and Annabel Whittle on drums). First songs are very catchy, and while they're not all that striking, they never let up. A- [sp]

Joe Lovano: Paramount Quartet (2025 [2026], ECM): Tenor saxophonist from Cleveland, emerged in the late 1980s working with Paul Motian and Bill Frisell in the 1980s, then John Scofield; dominated the 1990s with Blue Note albums like From the Soul. He has been steadily productive since then, but the albums have been hit and miss. New quartet here with Julian Lage (guitar), Asante Santi Debriano (bass), and Will Calhoun (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Ashley McBryde: Wild (2026, Warner Nashville): Country singer-songwriter, sixth album since 2018, only has writing credits on 6 (of 11) songs, with the most striking song Randall Clay's "Rattlesnake Preacher." But McBryde owns it, establishing her rustic deep south roots, a firm foundation to rock out on. A- [sp]

Aja Monet: The Color of Rain (2026, Drink Sum Wtr): Poet, performer, activist, from New York, based in Los Angeles, second album after four books. Promises "all rhythm and no algorithm." But she lays on some serious politics: "From Palisades to Palestine/ An actress compares the LA oceanfront to Gaza/ Never mentions the Rafah border/ The cutoff of two thousand aid trucks / Neglects to mention body bags, rubble, or the Israeli snipers aimed at children," and "nothing like disaster to shock a heart into beating" and "HEPA can't filter this coruption/ Maybe, maybe socialism is on its way." A- [sp]

Jason Moran/BlankFor.ms/Marcus Gilmore: Shards (2024 [2026], Red Hook): Pianist, from Houston, early albums on Blue Note (1999-2006) established him as a major figure. (After two more Blue Notes, his self-released albums since 2016 have gotten little publicity, although 2023's From the Dancehall to the Battlefield was something of an exception; I haven't heard his new Plays Ellington.) Second album with this trio, Tyler Gilmore on electronics, and (presumably not related) Marcus Gilmore on drums. I can't say the electronics made much of an impression, but the piano did. B+(***) [sp]

The New Pornographers: The Former Site Of (2026, Merge): Canadian indie rock band, 10th studio album since 2000, leader is Carl Newman, although other singer Neko Case is probably better known given her solo career (as A.C. Newman has three solo albums 2004-12; Dan Bejar, aka Destroyer, was a third singer-songwriter until recently). I liked Case before I heard them, but she's never been the point, and after a few disappointments, I decided they don't have any. Still, this is pleasant and occasionally catchy. B+(**) [sp]

Miles Okazaki: Boomtown (2025 [2026] Pi): Guitarist, a dozen-plus albums since 2006, including a "Complete Compositions of Thelonious Monk." Large group here with three saxophonists (Caroline Davis, Anna Webber, Jon Irabagon), two trombonists (Jacob Garchik and Kalia Vandever), piano (Matt Mitchell), drums (Dan Weiss), and two bassists (Chris Tordini and Hannah Marks). Most impressive at full strength. A- [cd] [06-26]

Ivo Perelman/Wadada Leo Smith: Duologues 5 (2026, Ibeji): Tenor sax and trumpet duo. Two masters, though not a lot of contrast or momentum. B+(***) [sp]

The Phoenix Trio: Tomorrow Is Today (2025 [2026], Giant Step Arts): Mark Turner (tenor sax), Joe Martin (bass), and Marcus Gilmore (drums), order from back cover, with front cover going Gilmore-Martin-Turner. Martin wrote 4 (of 6) songs, with one each for the others. Turner was part of the 1990s mainstream resurgence, which coincided with the revival of major labels like Blue Note and Verve, and to my mind at least was led by a dozen or more major tenor saxophonists. He's had ups and downs since then, but seems ideally situated with these younger players. A- [cd] [06-19]

Ragini Trio: 3 (2026, W.E.R.F.): Sax trio from Belgium, with Nathan Daems (tenor sax/effects), Marco Bordoscia (double bass/bass guitar), and Lander Gyselinck (drums). Fine print says the group name comes from "years of deep exploration into long-form ragas, South Indian Carnatic traditions, konnakkol, and Western jazz." And here I thought I was just a sucker for a well-formed, full-throated saxophone trio. A- [bc]

David Sanchez: Tambó (2025 [2026], Ropeadope): Tenor saxophonist, from Puerto Rico, made a big impression in the 1990s (peaking in 1998 with Obsesión), first album since 2019, half soaring over Latin percussion like the good olde days, half slacks off a bit to show his ballad skills. B+(***) [sp]

Omar Sosa/Joo Kraus/Diego Pinera: Vibe Factor (2026, Music Hub): Cuban pianist, left in the 1990s for Ecuador, eventually wound up in Spain. Many albums since 1996. Strangely very little info available on this album, but Kraus (from Germany) plays trumpet, and Pinera (from Uruguay) drums. Apt title. B+(**) [sp]

This Is Lorelei: Holo Boy (2025, Double Double Whammy): Singer-songwriter Nate Amos, who defers to vocalist Rachel Brown in their band Water From Your Eyes, serves up a second album solo (short at 26:53 but with 10 songs), which dropped shortly before his "Super Deluxe" expansion of the first one. B+(***) [sp]

Terry Waldo & the Gotham City Band: Treasury Volume 3 (2026, Turtle Bay): Ragtime pianist, b. 1944, mentored by Eubie Blake 1969-83, but also studied with Roland Hanna, Dick Wellstood, and Jaki Byard; called his first band The Fungus Five Plus Two ("our music grows on you"), but best known for Waldo's Gutbucket Syncopators (1969-81), and now for his Gotham City Band (since 1984). Old songs, recently recorded (I've been assured). The first two volumes are treasures indeed. This is, if anything, even more delightful. A- [sp]

Work Money Death: A Portal to Here (2026, ATA): British jazz group, name from tenor saxophonist Tony Burkill's 2017 debut album, fourth album under the group name, only Sam Hobbs (drums) remains from the orginal group, which now has Johnny Richards (piano), Neil Innes (bass), and Sam Bell (percussion), plus extras here and there. "Aim to produce longform, improvised pieces inspired by the work of Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane." A fairly surefire formula (cf. Nate Birchall), which they deliver on. A- [bc]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Muriel Grossmann: Quartet (2008 [2026], Modernistas): Alto saxophonist, from Austria, one of her first albums, recorded in Ibiza, where she lives. With Radomir Milojkovic (guitar), David Marroquin (bass), and Marko Jelača. B+(***) [bc]

Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra: Vol. 1: Concert Ŕ Prades-Le-Lez (1974 [2026], Souffle Continu): Jazz group led by French pianist François Tusques (b. 1938), followed up his 1971 album Intercommunal Music by organizing this group, which in various guises recorded a half-dozen albums up to 1983. This one has two saxophonists (Jo Maka and Michel Marre), trombone (Adolphe Winkler), and percussion (Guem). Draws on sources "from New Orleans to Brittany to North Africa," and perhaps points south. B+(***) [bc]

Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra: Vol. 2: Concert Ŕ Prades-Le-Lez (1974 [2026], Souffle Continu): Continues for another four tracks, 38:44. B+(**) [bc]

Charlie Mariano/Sal Nistico: Barcelona Meeting (1989 [2026], Fresh Sound): Two saxophonists, alto and tenor, only together on three tracks, the rest quartet tracks, three led by Mariano, five by Nistico, all backed by Frank Strazzeri (piano), Isla Eckinger (bass), and Peer Wyboris (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Red Norvo: The Secret Session (1942 [2026], Dot Time): Mallets player (1908-99), started recording in 1933, filling up eight volumes in the Classics Chronological Series through 1951. This session, where he plays xylophone, was recorded in secret in late 1942, in defiance of the recording ban, just before the war would break up his band. Best known musicians here are Shorty Rogers (trumpet), Eddie Bert (trombone), and Aaron Sachs (clarinet/alto sax), backed by piano, bass, and drums. B+(**) [bc]

John Prine: Live at Old Town School of Folk (2010 [2026], Oh Boy): The new album I was looking for when I found his 1975 Other End set(s). Opens with "Spanish Pipedream," and the wear and tear on his voice — throat cancer did that, and could have done worse — is obvious. "The Oldest Baby in the World" suffers even worse, as the band that often picks him up lays back. The patter can be hard to pick up, although I recognized the "happy enchilada song" bit. B+(**) [bc]

John Taylor With Stan Sulzmann: Quintessence (1987 [2026], Jazz in Britain): English pianist (1942-2015), a major figure in British jazz, who worked with John Surman, Kenny Wheeler, and (in Azymuth) with Norma Winstone. Sulzmann (b. 1948) plays soprano sax here, backed by Rundfunkorchester Hannover des NDR. B+(*) [bc]

The Visitors [Earl & Carl Grubbs]: Motherland (1975 [2026], Craft): Saxophonist brothers, Earl Grubbs (d. 1989, tenor/soprano) and Carl Grubbs (1944-2024, alto), recorded four albums 1972-76; Carl had a few later albums on his own, plus work with Julius Hemphill and Odean Pope. Album cover lists their names right after the group name. Credit varied over time, with first album just The Visitors; the second (like this one) with names after group, the third with Earl & Carl Grubbs (The Visitors). With Jo Bonner (piano), John Lee (bass), and Victor Lewis (drums). Straddles free jazz and soul jazz. B+(**) [sp]

Old music:

Tony Burkill: Work Money Death (2017, ATA): British tenor saxophonist, first album, only one under his own name, but he has four more as Work Money Death. Quartet with Gerald Cooper (piano), Sam Hobbs (drums), and Pete Williams (percussion). He's got that Coltrane-Sanders thing going, which is pretty hard to screw up. B+(***) [sp]

Florence Dore: Perfect City (2001 [2002], Slewfoot): First album, didn't get to her second until 2022, but she wrote a couple books in the meantime — Novel Sounds: Southern Fiction in the Age of Rock and Roll, and The Ink in the Grooves: Conversations on Literature and Rock 'n' Roll. B+(**) [sp]

Florence Dore: Highways & Rocketships (2022, Propeller Sound): Second album, after a long break. Could be that the pandemic jolted her out of academia, or maybe marrying drummer Will Rigby (although the band credits are missing from Discogs, and merely hinted at on Bandcamp). B+(**) [sp]

John Prine: Live at the Other End Dec. 1975 (1975 [2021], Rhino/Atlantic): I vaguely recall email from the late singer-songwriter's label that they've come up with a new old live album, but I can't find the mail, or any evidence of it. But I did find this item, which has two hour-long sets from the very end of his Atlantic years: four 1971-75 albums, all strongly recommended. So few songs here I don't know and love. Presentation is singing over solo guitar, with Steve Goodman joining in for two songs, and intermittent patter. Probably unnecessary at the time, but works perfectly right now. A- [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week (incomplete):

  • Michael Marcus Quartet: Next Stop Down (ESP-Disk') [06-26]
  • New England Jazz Collaborative: Tributaries (ACP) [07-16]

 

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