Jazz Consumer Guide (14):
The Raw Power of a Fresh Start

Pleasurable epitaphs, avant-garde daring, and wonder-filled immigrant songs

by Tom Hull

Pick Hits

Jewels and Binoculars: Ships With Tattooed Sails (Upshot) Michael Moore plays more alto sax and less clarinet on this trio's third volume of wordless Dylan songs, which should give them a harder edge, but the trio -- Lindsey Horner on bass, Michael Vatcher on drums -- sound more serene than ever, a feat of meticulous balance. Two previous records picked off Dylan's more obvious tunes, so most slip past me unrecognized, doing what filler should do, holding the album together around landmarks like "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" -- three with Bill Frisell, whose Americana interests are right at home. A

Powerhouse Sound: Oslo/Chicago Breaks (Atavistic) Another Ken Vandermark vehicle, or actually two. He wrote a batch of dedications to beats and raw power -- Coxsone Dodd, King Tubby, Lee Perry, Burning Spear, Miles Davis, Hank Shocklee, the Stooges -- and took them first to Oslo then to Chicago. Nate McBride, in his Spaceways Inc. electric bassist mode, made both trips. In Oslo, Lasse Marhaug's electronics plug into the Ingebrigt Haker Flaten-Paal Nilssen-Love rhythm team, a powerhouse platform for Vandermark's tenor sax. But the Chicago group has an extra dimension in Jeff Parker's guitar. Some Vandermark band names are obscure, but this one is just what it claims. A

Maria Anadon: A Jazzy Way (Arbors) Anadon turns her back to her native Portugal and takes a bite of "Old Devil Moon" and a dozen more show tunes and vocalese skits. Her Women of the World band, with Japanese Tomoko Ohno on piano and Israeli Anat Cohen on clarinet and tenor sax, are no less at home. More proof that sometimes immigrants discover wonders we take for granted, making them the best Americans. A MINUS

Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake: From the River to the Ocean (Thrill Jockey) The grizzled AACM saxophonist has never sounded more congenial. Life's been good lately: he got a fresh start when the Social Security checks started arriving and his virtual son developed into one of the world's outstanding percussionists. This makes five straight winners, the novelty this time the addition of guitarist Jeff Parker. A MINUS

Pablo Aslan: Buenos Aires Tango Standards (Zoho) The Argentine bassist's Avantango pushed his national heritage to extremes, dramatizing tango's twists and turns. This second album takes a different tack, eschewing bandoneon and violin in favor of a standard jazz quintet. The standards are more orthodox, but subtler and less jagged, opening up the melodies, as jazz is wont to do. A MINUS

Billy Bang Quintet Featuring Frank Lowe: Above & Beyond (Justin Time) The fire-breathing tenor saxophonist was down to one lung here, so out of breath by the end of the gig the promoter wanted to call an ambulance. Lowe died a few months later, leaving this as his last testament. All upbeat, with hard piano and swinging fiddle. Lowe makes up in clarity what he lacks in volume, his pleasure staving off the pain. A MINUS

Kahil El'Zabar's Infinity Orchestra: Transmigration (Delmark) His 25 years worth of trips to the Bordeaux Jazz Festival pay off, with the locals -- including turntablists, rappers, and 12 percussionists -- expanding El'Zabar's trio, a/k/a Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, to 39 pieces. The big band doesn't blow hot and brassy. Rather, they fill in details so subtly that it takes a while to realize how far they've expanded El'Zabar's world-brotherhood shtick. A MINUS

David Murray Black Saint Quartet: Sacred Ground (Justin Time) Begins and ends with two Ishmael Reed lyrics sung by Cassandra Wilson: the title cut, tied to Murray's soundtrack for the Marco Williams film *Banished*, recalls atrocities between 1890 and 1930 when rioting white mobs drove thousands of black Americans from their homes, clearing out whole neighborhoods, while the closer conjures up an ancient Cassandra as "The Prophet of Doom." In between, Murray waxes poetic -- lamenting the past, redeeming the present, offering hope for the future. A

Joshua Redman: Back East (Nonesuch) Before East takes over with two originals and Coltrane's "India" -- the latter a last session with father Dewey -- Redman has some fun with the West, including a rollicking "I'm a Old Cowhand." He earns his right to play soprano sax on three cuts, and the last time his tenor was this robust was when he played Lester Young in *Kansas City*. A MINUS

Logan Richardson: Cerebral Flow (Fresh Sound New Talent) The debut album from a Kansas City alto saxophonist starts a cappella, then takes flight over free rhythms acutely accented by Mike Pinto's vibes. Next up is a wry-toned ballad with Mike Moreno's guitar filling in. Step by step, Richardson works around the edges, showing everything you can do with an alto sax except sit on it. A MINUS

Sonic Liberation Front: Change Over Time (High Two) Their third album offers more of the same mix of Afro-Cuban Lucumi rhythms, avant-garde daring, and communal popcraft. Drummer Kevin Diehl studied with Rashied Ali before taking up the bata drums and launching his revolution. This time the songs don't go much beyond chants, compared to their sweet and sour *Ashé a Go-Go*, but the avant-ethnic fusion is still potent, and Dan Scofield's sax rises to the call. A MINUS

The Tierney Sutton Band: On the Other Side (Telarc) She declares her pursuit with eight songs featuring "happy" in the title, plus "You Are My Sunshine," "Smile," and "Great Day!" -- more fascinated with the search than the attainment, which she has reservations about anyway. Maybe that explains the odd song out, "Haunted Heart" -- the whole album feels haunted, from its tentative opening "Get Happy" to its wistful closer "Smile." Last time her shtick was "I'm with the band"; this time the band's with her. A MINUS

Albert van Veenendaal/Meinrad Kneer/Yonga Sun: Predictable Point of Impact (Evil Rabbit) Dutch piano trio, mostly hard rhythmic stuff, which Kneer's bass and Sun's percussion are clearly up for. Van Veenendaal's prepared piano offers some surprises, especially when the group slows down a bit. Dutch avant-garde jazz is known for biting humor. Here the joke is edge and energy you can still tap your toes to. A MINUS

Dud of the Month

Soweto Kinch: A Life in the Day of B19: Tales of the Tower Block (Dune) Kinch's previous Conversations With the Unseen littered its tasty sax blowing with rap skits. This time he reverses the ratio, burdening both: the raps are saddled with an ambitious narrative concept that's peculiarly British and left waiting a second volume to resolve (not that you care) while the grime beats stunt the instrumentals. He's conscious enough he has one character urging him to "put down the microphone and stick to the sax." But the irony is wasted in this shotgun wedding. B MINUS

Honorable Mention

William Parker/Hamid Drake: First Communion + Piercing the Veil (2000, AUM Fidelity) Riddim exercises and intimate exotica, doubling a studio reissue with a live warm-up.

Joe Morris/Ken Vandermark/Luther Gray: Rebus (Clean Feed) Abstract guitar leads spur tenor sax improvs recycling one piece six ways.

Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet: American Landscapes 1 (Okkadisk) Big birds have deep, rumbling hearts . . .

Frank Carlberg: State of the Union (Fresh Sound New Talent) Framing a voiceover critique of (political) stupidity with somber free jazz, forcing musicians (and us) to think.

Avishai Cohen: As Is . . . Live at the Blue Note (Razdaz/Half Note) Fluid quintet showcases the bassist's songbook plus funky "Caravan."

Phil Bodner: Once More With Feeling (1960s-70s, Arbors) Prolific studio pro offers a taste of old-fashioned clarinet.

Tord Gustavsen Trio: Being There (ECM) Low-key, precise, sensible, satisfying -- archetypal ECM piano.

Jason Lindner: Ab Aeterno (Fresh Sound World Jazz) Piano trio, transported with Afro-Latin beats, oud, and melodica.

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Hot 'N' Heavy (Delmark) Four now, with Fareed Haque's guitar adding pan-ethnic groove to hot trumpet, heavy sax, and El'Zabar's pan-ethnic beats.

Dave Liebman: Back on the Corner (Tone Center) Redeems his Miles Davis debut by jettisoning the keyboards and trumpet.

Kieran Hebden/Steve Reid: Tongues (Domino) If Hebden's laptop fails the Turing Test for improv, it's for lack of competition.

Nicole Mitchell/Harrison Bankhead/Hamid Drake: Indigo Trio/Live in Montreal (Greenleaf Music) Fred Anderson's rough tumbling rhythm section, iced with flute.

Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet: American Landscapes 2 (Okkadisk) . . . which swell over time, pumping longer and louder.

Charles Mingus Sextet with Eric Dolphy: Cornell 1964 (Blue Note) A rough and amusing draft for Town Hall Concert and all those Euro bootlegs Sue Mingus fumes over.

Duds

Kenny Burrell: 75th Birthday Bash Live! (Blue Note) History repeats, tragedy and farce in no particular order.

Kenny Garrett: Beyond the Wall (Nonesuch) Crawling up Mt. Coltrane, making fake vistas look painful.

Mark Murphy: Love Is What Stays (Verve) Lost his hip, leaving sensory deprivation and orchestral torture.

Addresses

Rated

This table provides a working guide to how the JCG is shaping up. This does not include anything moved to bk-flush: these include items relegated to Surplus, reviewed in Recycled Goods, or just passed over. Entries in black are written, gray graded but not written, red ungraded but with prospect notes (all these are at the bottom of their approximate grade levels, alphabetized). A-list, B-list and Duds are alphabetical; HM lists are ranked, with breaks for three-two-one stars.

Album count: 31; Word count: 1504 (graded 19: 1249; additional 12: 255).

Prospecting

I try to write up an informal note on every jazz record I hear the first (or sometimes second) time I play it. Those notes are collected over the course of a week, then posted in the blog. They are also collected here.

Surplus

The surplus file collects final notes when I decide that I cannot realistically keep a record under active consideration for the Jazz Consumer Guide. These notes are mostly written at the end of a JCG cycle and posted to the blog when the column is printed. In effect, they are the extended copy to the column. There are various reasons for this. For especially good records, it is often because Francis Davis or someone else has already reviewed it and my two cents would be redundant. For old music it is often because I wrote something in Recycled Goods and figure that was enough. Sometimes good records have just gotten old. Most of the time the records aren't all that interesting anyway. I can handle 25-30 records per column. It just doesn't make sense for me to keep more than 60-80 graded records in the active list at the start of a new cycle. In many cases, I decide the prospecting notes or Recycled Goods review suffices, so note that in the file.

Pending

All pending records have been moved forward.

Notes