Streamnotes: September 27, 2024

Most of these are short notes/reviews based on streaming records from Napster (formerly Rhapsody; other sources are noted in brackets). They are snap judgments, usually based on one or two plays, accumulated since my last post along these lines, back on August 27. Past reviews and more information are available here (24416+ records).

Recent Releases

Jessica Ackerley: All of the Colours Are Singing (2022 [2024], AKP): Canadian guitarist, based in New York, has several previous albums since 2019, this one backed with bass and drums, plus viola/violin (Concetta Abatte) on four (of seven) tracks). B+(*) [sp]

Adekunle Gold: Tequila Ever After (2023, Def Jam): Nigerian Afrobeats singer-songwriter, Adekunle Kosoko, went through a Silver phase before he turned Gold. Has an interesting beat I can't quite match up elsewhere. B+(**) [sp]

Bad Moves: Wearing Out the Refrain (2024, Don Giovanni): DC-based power pop quartet, third album after a 2016 EP, doesn't seem like much as first, but grows on you, especially with earworms like "I can't get the part where you fucked up out of my head." B+(***) [sp]

John Chin/Jeong Lim Yang/Jon Gruk Kim: Journey of Han (2024, Jinsy Music): Piano/bass/drums trio, some electric keyboards, six originals by Chin, one each by the others, plus a few standards. B+(*) [cd]

The Kris Davis Trio: Run the Gauntlet (2024, Pyroclastic): Pianist, from Canada, a major figure since 2004, with Robert Hurst (bass) and Johnathan Blake (drums). This is very good, rewards patient listening, but never quite grabs me. B+(***) [cd]

Guy Davis: The Legend of Sugarbelly (2024, M.C.): Blues singer-songwriter, son of actors Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, first album 1978, has been remarkably consistent since his third album in 1993. B+(***) [sp]

Wendy Eisenberg: Viewfinder (2022-23 [2024], American Dreams): Jazz guitarist, more than a dozen albums since 2017, singer-songwriter here, the songs focusing on seeing, occasioned by eye surgery. But the shift to instrumentals, chopped and skewed, gets more interesting. B+(**) [sp]

El Khat: Mute (2024, Glitterbeat): "Home-made junkyard band" from Tel Aviv, a quartet led by multi-instrumentalist Eyal El Wahab, whose roots are in Yemen. Third album. Arab groove with extra angst. B+(*) [sp]

Forq: Big Party (2024, GroundUP): Jazz fusion group, led by Henry Hey (keyboards), one 1999 album and several since 2014, a fairly long list of players here. Seems to have some intersection with Snarky Puppy. B+(*) [cd]

Satoko Fujii Quartet: Dog Days of Summer (2024, Libra): Japanese pianist, has run many groups for many albums since the mid-1990s, bills this particular one as her "jazz-rock fusion quartet," a revival "after an 18-year pause" -- Bacchus was recorded in 2006 and released in 2007, also with Hayakawa Takeharu (bass), Tatsuya Yoshida (drums), and Natsuki Tamura (trumpet), after four previous 2001-05 albums -- I've heard three, liked Zephyros (2003) a lot, but I didn't care for Bacchus at all. b>B+(***) [cd]

Frode Gjerstad Trio: Unknown Purposes (2023 [2024], Circulasione Totale): Norwegian saxophonist, started in Detail in the early 1980s, many albums since 1996, Discogs lists 22 just for his Trio, here with Jon Rune Strøm (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Frode Gjerstad/Margaux Oswald/Ivar Myrset Asheim: Another Step (2024, Circulasione Totale): Relatively short live set (2 pieces, 30:41), the leader on alto sax and clarinet, backed with piano and drums. B+(*) [bc]

Alden Hellmuth: Good Intentions (2023 [2024], Fresh Sound New Talent): Alto saxophonist, based in New York, first album, shifty postbop quintet plus guest trumpet/keyboards on several tracks. B+(***) [cd]

Keefe Jackson/Raoul van der Weide/Frank Rosaly: Live at de Tanker (2022 [2024], Kettle Hole): Tenor saxophone/bass clarinet player, from Chicago, live set in Amsterdam with a local bassist and another Chicagoan on drums. B+(***) [cd]

Joel and the Neverending Sextet: Marbled (2023 [2024], Motvind): Norwegian cellist Joel Ring, second group album, with Karl Hjalmar Nyberg on tenor sax/clarinet, backed with piano, tuba, bass, and two drummers. B+(***) [sp]

Ka: The Thief Next to Jesus (2024, Iron Works): Rapper Kaseem Ryan, just got news of his death at 52 and recalled that he had a recent album that I had trouble finding. B+(**) [sp]

Omer Leshem: Play Space (2024, Ubuntu Music): Tenor saxophonist, from Israel, based in New York, third album since 2017, Bandcamp shows two releases (2008, 2016) from what seems to be a different Omer Leshem (plays guitar, in Isarel), Discogs is no help here (one co-credit with Naama Gheber for an arrangement that could go either way). Original pieces, backed with guitar, piano, bass, and drums, nicely done postbop. B+(**) [cd]

Terence McManus: Music for Chamber Trio (2024, Rowhouse Music): Guitarist, albums start around 2010 with several duos, including ones with Ellery Eskelin (tenor sax) and Gerry Hemingway (drums), who return to fill out this trio. "Chamber" seems to mean soft and slow, which over 71 minutes can add up to plodding, but it's always nice to hear Eskelin. B+(***) [cd]

Simon Moullier: Elements of Light (2023-24 [2024], Candid): Vibraphonist, several albums since 2020, this mostly quartet with piano-bass-drums, plus a guest spot each for Gerald Clayton (piano) and Marquis Hill (trumpet). B+(*) [cd]

Kate Pierson: Radios & Rainbows (2024, Lazy Meadow Music): B-52s singer-songwriter from 1976 on, released a solo album in 2015, and now this second one. The herky-jerk one seems to have been Fred Schneider, but occasionally you get a whiff of that here. Notable lyric: "If you give your heart to science, I will give you mine." B+(**) [sp]

Dafnis Prieto Sí o Sï Quartet: 3 Sides of the Coin (2024, Dafnison Music): Cuban drummer, moved to New York in 1999, debut album in 2004 was widely acclaimed, won a MacArthur in 2011, never any doubt about his chops but I've been slow to warm to his records, at least until this utter delight, with Ricky Rodriguez on electric bass, and star turns by Martin Bejerano on piano and Peter Apfelbaum on soprano sax, tenor sax, and flute. A- [cd]

Dred Scott/Moses Patrou/Tom Beckham/Matt Pavolka: Cali Mambo (2023 [2024], Ropeadope): Piano, vibes, bass, percussion. One original, the rest standards, with "Manteca" especially fine as a closer. B+(**) [cd]

Patrick Shiroishi: Glass House (2023-24 [2024], Otherly Love): Alto saxophonist, from Los Angeles, prolific since 2014, no musician credits given here although there is a lot of piano/synths in the mix. B+(*) [sp]

Walter Smith III: Three of Us Are From Houston and Reuben Is Not (2024, Blue Note): Tenor saxophonist, from Houston, debut 2006 -- with bassist Reuben Rogers, who returns here (he's from the Virgin Islands), along with two other Houston natives who have made names for themselves: Jason Moran (piano) and Eric Harland (drums). Exemplary postbop, nicely balanced, ever-shifting, sketchy but pointed. A- [sp]

Sulida: Utos (2023 [2024], Clean Feed): Norwegian trio of Marthe Lea (tenor sax/flute), Jon Rune Strøm (bass), and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen (drums), first group album (but all three have albums under their own names), all songs joint credits. Very solid effort. B+(***) [sp]

Recent Reissues, Compilations, Vault Discoveries

Kampire Presents: A Dancefloor in Ndola ([2024], Strut): "Up-and-coming" DJ Kampire spins fourteen East African grooves, some dating back to the 1970s, others "present day," details hard to come by, although influences include Congo and Zambia -- home to Ndola, where the Kenya-born DJ grew up before landing in Uganda, where his parents started. A- [sp]

Miami Sound: Rare Funk & Soul From Miami, Florida 1967-1974 (1967-74 [2023], Soul Jazz): Pretty rare, with George and Gwen McRae the most recognizable names, but funk, for sure. [Rhapsody version is truncated from 17 to 9 tracks.] B+(**) [r]

Miami Sound: More Funk and Soul From Miami, Florida 1967-1974 (1967-75 [2024], Soul Jazz): More adds up to 20 songs, a few more artists I'm familiar with (Betty Wright, Latimore). B+(**) [r]

Raphael Roginski: Plays John Coltrane and Langston Hughes (2024, Unsound): Polish guitarist, albums since 2008, this reissue first appeared in 2015. eight Coltrane tunes plus two originals, solo guitar, adding voice (Natalia Przybysz) on two pieces built around Hughes texts. Reissue adds four bonus tracks on a second CD. B+(**) [sp]

Old Music

Ka: Languish Arts (2022, Iron Works): One of a pair of short albums released same day, at least digitally (vinyl and CD came out in 2023). Ten songs, 28:23. [sp]

Don Walser: Rolling Stone From Texas (1994, Watermelon): Country/western swing singer-songwriter (1934-2006), best known for his yodeling, started a group called the Panhandle Playboys in 1950, later led the Texas Plainsmen, but spent most of his adult years as a mechanic and auditor in the National Guard, before "retiring" in 1994 and recording this career-defining album. Wikipedia notes that "his extraordinary vocal abilities earned him the nickname 'the Pavarotti of the Plains," which definitely overlooks Roy Orbison -- a comparison that occurred to me as soon as the opening sea of yodel parted, although it took a couple of covers -- "Shotgun Boogie" and "That's Why I'm Walking" -- to clarify into something uniquely his own. Per John Morthland: "perhaps the last of God's great pure country singers." A- [sp]

Don Walser: Texas Top Hand (1996, Watermelon): Second album, opens with a yodel on the title song, drifts through various covers from "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" to "Weary Blues From Waiting" to "Divorce Me C.O.D." to "Danny Boy." 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.

Grade (or other) Changes

Sometimes further listening leads me to change an initial grade, usually either because I move on to a real copy, or because someone else's review or list makes me want to check it again. Also some old albums extracted from further listening:

Additional Consumer News:

Verve's Finest Hour series:

• Cannonball Adderley (2001)
• Fred Astaire (2003)
• Gato Barbieri (2000)
• Count Basie (2002)
• Willie Bobo (2003)
• Clifford Brown (2000)
• Betty Carter (2003)
• The Crusaders (2000)
• Duke Ellington (2002)
• Bill Evans (2001)
• Tal Farlow (2001)
• Errol Garner (2003)
• Stan Getz (2000)
• Astrud Gilberto (2001)
• Woody Herman (2001)
• Antonio Carlos Jobim (2000)
• Quincy Jones (2000)
• Roland Kirk (2001)
• Ramsey Lewis (2000)
• Chuck Mangione (2000)
• Carmen McBride (2000)
• Charles Mingus (2002)
• Wes Montgomery (2000)
• Anita O'Day (2000) A-
• Oscar Peterson (2000)
• Sonny Rollins (2002)
• Nina Simone (2000)
• Jimmy Smith (2000)
• Art Tatum (2000)
• Mel Tormé (2001)
• Sarah Vaughan (2000)
• Dinah Washington (2000)
• Ben Webster (2000)
• Joe Williams (2001)

Grades on artists in the old music section.

Music Weeks

Music: Current count 36534 [36534] rated (+0), 149 [149] unrated (+0).

Excerpts from this month's Music Week posts:

Notes

Sources noted as follows:

• [cd] based on physical cd
• [cdr] based on an advance or promo cd or cdr
• [lp] based on physical lp (vinyl)
• [dvd] based on physical dvd (rated more for music than video)
• [bc] available at bandcamp.com
• [r] available at napster.com (formerly Rhapsody)
• [sc] available at soundcloud.com
• [sp] available at spotify.com
• [yt] available at youtube.com
• [os] some other stream source
• [dl] something I was able to download from the web; may be freely available, may be a bootleg someone made available, or may be a publicist promo

Grades are probably self-explanatory, aside from B+, which is subdivided 1-2-3 stars, because most records that come my way are pretty good, but they're not all that good.