Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Music Week

November archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 45155 [45120] rated (+35), 12 [16] unrated (-4).

So much stuff up in the air right now I'll need a moment to map it out. One thing that's taking a lot of my time is work on or related to the house. We had a hail storm blow through town in early September, which did some significant and much trivial damage. It was followed by swarms of insurance adjusters and roofing companies squabbling over which was which, and who's on the hook for how much of it. The insurance company decided we had $25k of damage, but they only had to pay $10k to cover it. One roofing company contended that the damage was really $45k, but they offered to do something for $16k. Two more companies submitted slightly lower bids, figuring that the insurance was done and just trying to soak up the cash. More came sniffing around, and for one reason or another made themselves scarce: was it me they didn't want to deal with, or the house? One never knows for sure, but my old paranoia has been kicking in.

So was my own peculiar view on what is important and what isn't. We spent a lot of time talking about attic ventilation, but I've had a 25-year itch to do something else with the attic space — not to finish it, but at least to make it accessible, and possibly useful as storage space. Also the carport, which has a patio on top, with rails around the perimeter that aren't quite straight. So I've come up with two construction projects that dovetail into roof work but I'll have to do myself: one is to lay down some more decking in the attic, raised above a lot of blown-in insulation; the other is to square away the patio railing. I have a guy lined up to help me with those two projects. I also finally decided on a roofer. Now I need to get my projects done approximately the same time the roofer shows up. That's a challenge, but I've been putting a lot of thought into it, and hopefully soon some actual work.

Then there's a dozen more home projects of various size and urgency. No point listing them here, but just know that there are many, most trivial and a few not, mostly things I can put off doing but some turn into emergencies rather quickly. Right now I interrupt this paragraph to drag trash and recycle bins to the curb. By the time I returned, I had to attend to a few more chores. This everyday life is always like that. Not leaving me much time to write about it as I had intended.

But by far the biggest time sink in my life this past week has been the 20th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. I sent out a mass email to prospective voters on Nov. 12, basically affirming that we are live and open for business. While that email list is easy for me to send to, it presents problems for many recipients. What I've found works better (but still, I can't tell but don't doubt, imperfectly) is to run my invitation letter through a mail merge program and generate a batch of letters that I can then send out one-by-one. The program that spits out the letters works fine. My SMTP service doesn't, so I have to not only hit "edit" and "send" for each letter, I have to space those out so my service vendor doesn't think I'm spamming the world. I wanted to hold off on doing all that until I had time to review the invite list and do some further research to qualify more voters. I didn't get any of that done, at least in time to meet my self-imposed November 15 deadline. So I ran with what I had, and generated 287 invites. I deleted 2 of them, and held back another half-dozen (thinking I'd like to add more personal notes to them), and started sending the rest, a couple hours into November 16. I finished about 20 hours later. So that's done. I got one bounce, which I resent to an alternate address. Since then, I've gotten a small amount of mail back: 4-5 ballots, a dozen-plus promises to vote, and 3-4 notices of no intention to vote.

I mentioned that in addition to the jazzpoll email list, I have a jpadmin list for people who are interested in helping out with various tasks — the bare minimum is listening to me rant, a sounding board I do very much appreciate. I've added one name to that list. I've only sent them one update since last week, but another one will be forthcoming after I get this posted. I also mentioned that I wanted to set up another list to update publicists and media about the poll. I call that jpmedia, and have initialized it with 30+ names/addresses, but haven't sent anything out yet. My main question for both of those lists will be to solicit suggestions as to who else we should invite. But we made enough progress with international contacts last year to give me a good feeling about this list. So I should probably hold back the panic.

From this point up to the December 21 deadline, I can possibly slack off a bit, and just let the ballot accumulate. (Without checking, I have 2 counted and 4 more in my inbox. I should get those returned tomorrow.) Still, I have things I can do along the way: fix any problems with the website; vet and invite a few more voters; think about the ArtsFuse article package; see if I can come up with ways to get more publicity for the poll; work on redesigning the old website, as well as filling in missing pieces (some of which Francis Davis sent me a year ago). I'll write more about these things in weeks to come.

With all this happening, along with my general slowdown, there is little chance I'll do any significant writing the rest of this year. The core ideas, of course, are still floating around my head. What happens next is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, I'll probably kill what little spare time I can find — mostly blah spots when I'm not feeling up to serious work but can still do something rote and brainless — adding data to my EOY aggregate file. I have to date only added one EOY list, and I doubt I'll be able to keep up, but I'd be surprised if I don't put some effort into it. I also expect I'll whip up my usual EOY lists for jazz (not updated since shortly after the mid-year poll) and non-jazz (just set up, with no real contents yet, although I was very surprised to find the A-list non-jazz outnumbering jazz 85-73, both of which are abnormally long for this point in the year).

I didn't get this up on Monday, so I'm resuming here on Tuesday (no new records, although there are some drafts in the monthly archive, linked at the top). I had some more things to mention, and just ran out of steam.

First, I need to release a Loose Tabs later this week. I've been collecting stuff as we go on — not a lot, and not very consistently — and it's piled up to the point where some stories are beginning to decompose and maybe even reek. (The first section is on the election, followed by the shutdown. I wrote a bit about both in my Nov. 12 Notes on Everyday Life newsletter. I also wrote about Dick Cheney and Jack DeJohnette there. Now I need to add Todd Snider. In the meantime, see Robert Christgau's Big Lookback.) I'll try to knock that out later this week. I doubt I can do justice to Snider. I've never been much good with lyrics, but he has many memorable ones. One that sticks in my mind is "in America we like our bad guys dead." That sums up a lot of what's wrong with this country. (That's from "Tension," which goes on to note that "Republicans/ that's what scares people these days/ that, and uh, Democrats.")

A big chunk of this week's A-list came from Christgau's Consumer Guide: November, 2025. That came out the same day as my NOEL post, so I included a checklist of what I had heard previously and what I hadn't (and in some cases wasn't even aware of — the Todd Snider and Gurf Morlix albums were in that category, as well as one of two African albums; the other I heard on a Phil Overeem tip, one of many nearly every week). Given that this week's report was cut short two days by my delay last week, I'm surprised that the rated count hit 30. But with ballots and EOY lists coming in, 'tis the season for moving fast and disregarding subtlety, confident that the major things you missed during the year will knock you over anyway.

This got me wondering how my attention this year stacks up against last year. This year, my tracking file shows I have 1159 albums rated so far. In 2024 that number was 1524, but as that includes albums rated after last year's freeze date (Mar. 31, 2025), it should be reduced by at least the number of late ratings in the 2024 file (79, so 1445). This year's total is 80.2% of last year's total. We are currently 320 days into 2025, so 87.6% through the year, which suggests that I'm down 7.4% from last year, but a more realistic gauge of the year would be February through January, as typically 80% or more of January reviews are of previous year records. (That's a swag, but wouldn't be too hard to check here. To be totally accurate, you'd also have to factor in reviews of 2024 albums in February and March, before the March 31 freeze date.) Shifting January (31 days) into the previous year means we're 289 days into 2025, so 79.1% done. That means I'm on very close to the same trajectory as in 2024: extending the current rate of 1159 albums over 289 days to a full year would bring me to 1465 albums, which would be +20 from 2024. I imagine there is some kind of function that could turn that number into a probability that I match last year's total, but lacking that, all I can do is guess, something like 85%. Nine months ago I would have guessed much less, something like 15%. So, like a Todd Snider concert, doubt this year's run of reviews is much more than an improbable "distracrtion from our impending doom." His death is a sobering reminder of how suddenly 85% can collapse to zero.

New records reviewed this week:

Ata Kak: Batakari (2025, Awesome Tapes From Africa): Real name Yaw Atta-Owusu, left his native Ghana in 1985 for Germany (and later Canada), recorded one and only album in 1994, Obaa Sima, which remained obscure even there until Brian Shimkovitz picked up a copy and, when he turned his blog into a label, reissued it in 2015. This appears to be a new album, making it his second, the initial hip-hop/highlife mix skewing towards boom-bap and dance grooves. Six songs, 26:19. B+(***) [sp]

Bloomers: Cyclism (2022-23 [2025], Relative Pitch): Free/chamber jazz trio with trumpet (Anne Efternøler) and two clarinets (Maria Dybbroe, also on alto sax, and Carolyn Goodwin, also bass clarinet). Songs titles are place and dates, "each dedicated to an important historical event in the struggle for women's freedom" — including the 1818 birthdate of Amelia Bloomer, "whose name became synonymous with the liberational cycling garment for women in the 1800s." B+(***) [sp]

Christer Bothén: Christer Bothén Donso N'goni (2022-23 [2025], Black Truffle): Swedish musician, in his 80s, most often plays clarinets but has taken an interest in African instruments, and only plays donso n'goni on this record. B+(**) [bc]

Juan Chiavassa: Fourth Generation (2024 [2025], Whirlwind): Drummer, from Argentina, first album as leader, recorded this in New York, hard to really treat it as a debut album given that his group consists of John Patitucci (bass), George Garzone (tenor sax), and Leo Genovese (piano/rhodes), with featured credits for Mike Stern (guitar) and Pedrito Martinez (congas), maybe just on the "bonus track." Hard to mistake the saxophonist. B+(***) [cd]

The Cosmic Tones Research Trio: The Cosmic Tones Research Trio (2025, Mississippi): Group from Portland, second album, includes: Roman Norfleet (alto/soprano sax, alto clarinet, flute, vocals, percussion); Harlan Silverman (cello, flute, modular synth, bass, vocals, percussion); Kennedy Verrett (piano/rhodes, duduk, vocals). B+(*) [sp]

Eddie Daniels: To Milton With Love (2025, Resonance): Clarinet and saxophone player, in his 80s, debut 1966, quickly developed an interest in Brazilian music, which he's pursued recently with tributes to Egberto Gismonti and Ivan Lins. Here he recreates Milton Nascimento's 1969 CTI album, Courage, with Anthony Wilson (guitar), Josh Nelson (piano), Kevin Axt (bass), Ray Brinker (drums), and the Lyris String Quartet. B+(**) [sp]

Amir ElSaffar: New Quartet Live at Pierre Boulez Saal (2023 [2025], Maqām): Iraqi-American trumpet player, born in Chicago, albums since 2007, often with an Arabic tinge. Member names are on cover: Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Tania Giannouli (microtonal piano), and Ole Mathisen (tenor sax). B+(***) [sp]

Steve Gunn: Daylight Daylight (2025, No Quarter): Singer-songwriter, from Pennsylvania, based in Brooklyn, has a couple dozen albums since 2007, including a recent jazz album with Beings. This one is slow, pretty and very self-contained. B+(**) [sp]

Lafayette Harris Jr.: All in Good Time (2025, Savant): Pianist, from Philadelphia, first album in 1993 on Muse, last couple on Savant, this with bass and drums plus "special guests" Houston Person (tenor sax) and Jeremy Pelt (trumpet). B+(**) [sp]

The Kasambwe Brothers: The Kasambwe Brothers (2025, MASS MoCA): Very little info here, but what I gather is that they're three brothers originally from Malawi (or maybe Mombassa, or maybe that's where they first recorded), that they've been playing for almost 40 years (since 1987), but that they've only just "made their first trip to the United States to take part in a residency at MASS MoCA during which they will record their first full-length album at Studio 9 and perform in the Hunter Center!" This is presumably that album, using homemade instruments, playing music that sounds old and timeless. A- [sp]

Dave Liebman/Billy Hart/Adam Rudolph: Beingness (2023 [2025], Meta/Defkaz): From two live sets at the Stone, Liebman plays soprano sax and wood flutes, with Hart on his drum set and Rudolph on hand drums, piano, thumb pianos, keyboards, gongs, dakha de bello, with live electronic processing. B+(**) [os]

Russ Lossing: Proximity Alert (2025, Blaser Music): Pianist, from Ohio, debut 1990, has close to 20 albums, this a trio with Mark Helias (bass) and Eric McPherson (drums), playing his own original pieces. Fine pianist, strong group. B+(**) [sp]

Gurf Morlix: Bristlecone (2025, Rootball): Alt-country singer-songwriter, associated with Blaze Foley early on, then with Lucinda Williams, moving on to his own albums from 2000 on. I didn't pick up the political overtones Christgau has applauded until I double-checked, but by then I was already struck by solid this feels. A- [sp]

Maren Morris: Dreamsicle (2025, Columbia): Country singer-songwriter, from Texas, three obscure albums 2005-11 before she went gold/platinum on Columbia in 2016. With Jack Antonoff producing (among many others), this moves more into mainstream pop, or maybe I'm just responding to the hooks. "Deluxe Edition" includes an extra single, "Be a Bitch." B+(***) [sp]

Van Morrison: Remembering Now (2025, Exile/Virgin): Legend, since 1967 has never gone more than 2 years between albums, creative peak was in the early 1970s, extending to 1982 with Into the Music and Beautiful Vision, but he's so singular and magical all he has to do is remind you of his old self. Of course, he's been less reliable lately, although 2016's Keep Me Singing and even more so 2012's Born to Sing are outstanding. This 47th studio album has more than a few moments of wonder. B+(**) [sp]

Willie Nelson: Workin' Man: Willie Sings Merle (2025, Legacy): At 92, he can still sing other folks' songs better than they did, even familiar ones from such unimpeachable sources as Haggard. My only reservation is that his interpretive effort was zero, even on a song like "Okie from Muskogee," which even Merle had trouble singing with a straight face. Pure chops, and not just the singer but the band. At this point I'm not even sure Lefty Frizzell would be an overreach. Still, I wish he'd do James Talley. How can he pass up a title like Are They Gonna Make Us Outlaws Again? A- [sp]

Red River Dialect: Basic Country Mustard (2024 [2025], Hinterground): English neo-folk band, David Morris the singer-songwriter-guitarist, eighth album since 2005. Mostly intimate, but backed with a full band, which fits needs. B+(***) [sp]

Ted Rosenthal Trio: Classics Reimagined: Impromp2 (2024 [2025], TMR): Pianist, debut 1990, made an appearance in the Maybeck Hall solo series, looking at his side credits, Randy Sandke and Ken Peplowski are prominent. I grew up with an intense distaste for classical music, which he quickly disarms with a Chopin that reminds me of boogie woogie, and ends with a Chopin waltz, touching on Beethoven and Brahms, Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff, Satie and Elgar and Dvorak. The trio has bass (Noriko Ueda) and drums (Quincy Davis or Tim Horner), plus guest spots for Peplowski (clarinet) and Sara Caswell (violin). Only the violin riles up my allergies, and just barely. B+(**) [cd]

Saint Pierre: Luck and Gravity (2025, Mutchcrud Music): Husband and wife team Julia & Danny St. Pierre, from Texas via California, seems to be their first album, press refers to Saint Pierre Band but album cover omits "Band," although they certainly have one, very straightforward rock with big gestures. Almost good enough to overcome my general disinterest in a style that reminds me first of the Eagles (but brighter and chirpier, probably because they aren't assholes). B+(***) [sp]

Amanda Shires: Nobody's Girl (2025, ATO): Singer-songwriter from Texas, plays violin, ninth album since 2005, plus collaborations with Rob Picott, Bobbie Nelson, Jason Isbell, and the Highwomen, and side credits that include John Prine, Todd Snider, and Luke Combs. While I've seen arguments that she was ex-husband Isbell's better half, I don't have much of an impression of her. I still don't, but this sounds quite accomplished, the arrangements impeccable, strings included, the voice winning and words (when I notice) a plus. A- [sp]

Todd Snider: High, Lonesome and Then Some (2025, Aimless): Folk singer-songwriter, started with Songs for the Daily Planet in 1994, passed through a period on John Prine's label — I saw him once, opening for Prine — into a string of superb albums at least up through 2012. Since then he's been erratic, aside from a live album where his shtick is as brilliant as his songs, but even when he's cryptic and/or harsh, he's worth listening to. A- [sp]

Spinifex: Maxximus (2025, Trytone): "European international modern fusion quintet based in the Netherlands," a dozen albums since 2011, the "core band" directed by Tobias Klein (alto sax), with John Dikeman (tenor sax), Jasper Stadhouders (guitar), Gonçal Almeida (bass), and Philipp Moser (drums), with extra depth here: trumpet (Bret Maris), vibes (Evi Filippou), cello (Elisabeth Coudoux), and violin (Jessica Pavone). Extra length, too, with 6 pieces running over 71 minutes. B+(***) [cd]

Tortoise: Touch (2025, International Anthem): Chicago group, originally just bass (Doug McCombs) and drums (John Herndon), conceived of themselves as "post-rock," adding Dan Bitney and John McEntire for their 1994 debut, with a series of guitarist before settling on Jeff Parker in 1998. Eighth studio album, this one coming after a 9-year break. Instrumental, well practiced grooves. B+(**) [sp]

Beatie Wolfe & Brian Eno: Luminal (2025, Verve): Wolfe is a "conceptual artist, composer, producer, activist" from London, much of which seems to appear as museum set pieces. She has three 2013-17 albums, and this year three collaborative albums with Eno: this one appeared at the same time as Lateral, which was credited first to Eno, and the later Liminal, which seems to be some kind of remix or merger or synthesis. Vocals are presumably hers. B+(**) [sp]

Brian Eno & Beatie Wolfe: Lateral (2025, Verve/Opal): Came out the same day as Luminal, no vocals, both with keyboards, although Eno also is credited with guitar. Better than average ambient, but nothing new about that. B+(*) [sp]

Beatie Wolfe & Brian Eno: Liminal (2025, Verve/Opal): Third duo album this year, appeared several months after the first two, billed as some sort of synthesis of the two previous efforts but titles are new, and Wolfe's vocals get her lead credit again. Seems slower and darker than Luminal, but that's sort of the attraction. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Nahawa Doumbia: Vol. II (1982 [2024], Awesome Tapes From Africa): Singer from southern Mali, released three records on AS in 1981-82, plus later ones on Syllart (reissued by Stern's Africa). This label reissued Vol. 3 in 2011, Vol. 1 in 2019, and here the fill the gap. Not obvious why they waited. B+(***) [sp]

Ø: Sysivalo (2014-17 [2025], Sähkö): Unfinished work by Finnish electronica producer Mika Vainio (1963-2017), mostly short drone and/or blip pieces that add up to over an hour. B [sp]

Jean Schwarz: Unreleased & Rarities (1972-2002) (1972-2002 [2025], Transversales Disques): French ethnomusicologist, composer, electronic music pioneer, with a couple dozen albums in this period. This is the first I've heard from him, although he has on occasion intersected with jazz musicians (notably Michel Portal and Don Cherry). A bit scattered, but some interesting pieces. Probably worth a deeper dive. B+(***) [bc]

Zig-Zag Band: Chigiyo Music Kings 1987-1998 (1987-98 [2025], Analog Africa): "Trailblazers of Zimbabwe's Chigiyo Sound," which I've seen described as "a vibrant fusion of reggae, traditional rhythms, brass arrangements and mbira-inspired guitar," with "raw, soulful Shona vocals." Discogs lists three 1989-92 albums by this group. This finds its groove, and keeps the energy up. A- [sp]

Old music:

Don Cherry/Jean Schwarz: Roundtrip (1977): Live at Théâtre Réccamier, Paris (1977 [2023], Transversales Disques): Trumpet player, started with Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler, moved to Denmark and expanded his horizons to and beyond Africa. Schwarz is a French avant-fringe composer, has a coupele dozen albums since 1974. He is credited here with: tape, synthesizer, treatments, on a live set that also features Michel Portal (bass clarinet/sax/bandoneon), Jean François Jenny Clark (bass), Naná Vasconcelos (percussion), with Cherry on pocket trumpet, ngoni, whistles, and vocals. B+(***) [bc]

Tortoise: Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1995 [1996], Thrill Jockey): Post-rock band from Chicago, second album (not counting the remix of their 1994 debut), named by The Wire as their record of the year, dumped on by Robert Christgau with a scornful B-. Core group of four (Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire) plus new guitarist David Pajo. I'm finding it in between, nicely centered, ambient with some extra heft but nothing remotely amazing. B+(***) [sp]

Tortoise: Tortoise (1994, Thrill Jockey): First album, Bundy K. Brown was the guitarist at the time. Strikes me as a bit more tentative. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • None.

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