Music Week [20 - 29]

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Music Week

July archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 44492 [44435] rated (+57), 18 [23] unrated (-5).

Music Week got pushed out a day this week, extending an already bountiful list even more. The reason was that I needed Monday to work on my intro essay to the Mid-Year 2025 Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll. Voting shut down on July 4, with 113 ballots counted, yielding 437 distinct New Jazz Albums and 134 Rara Avis. About half of those albums weren't in my tracking file before polling, but are now. Nearly everything below comes from checking out albums that received votes. This has overwhelmed my ability to post links on Bluesky to newly discovered A-list albums. The idea there was to gin up interest in the coming Music Week, so there's little point in trying to catch up now. But I will note that had I heard it earlier, The Ancients would have made my ballot (published here last week). As a rule of thumb, I figure it takes an average of 3 weeks after filing a ballot to find another album that was good enough to make it -- and more like 3 days to find a contender, but this week shows how a poll can accelerate that process. I have, by the way, cobbled together a Best Jazz of 2025 file (jazz only, and only the A-list portions).

The poll should be published at The Arts Fuse this week, at which point I'll unlock all the totals and ballots on my archival website. Already you can see the voter list and unranked lists of all the albums that received votes. I'm not perfectly happy with the state of the notes files on the website, but beating them into shape has been a very tiring task, and there's little evidence that people read them anyway. The other thing I would like to do is to set up some sort of framework for data analysis, but that too will likely have to wait. The poll seems to repeatedly go through a cycle of three phases: before voting starts, no real urgency to work on it; once voting starts, no time; and once it closes, no energy left.

I tried to minimize wear and tear this time by cutting back on how much I needed to write at the end, I asked one of Arts Fuse's regular writers, Jon Garelick, to write the keynote essay, while I just write an introduction to the tables and voter list. While the website could still use more work, the essays are basically ready to go.

I had some vague ideas about trying to publicize the poll, including a fairly open invite to let other people see the results in hopes they would write their own explorations. To date, nobody's taken me up on that offer. So, as exhaustion sets in, I'll probably wait until November before going into panic mode again.

In the meantime, I have lots of other projects to work on. After I hit a minor milestone, I stopped working on the woodpile project. Not a lot more to do there: some final sorting, some cleaning, and construction of my recycling kiosk. If the heat isn't unbearable, that's probably a week. I also have parts to build a new computer for my wife. That's maybe an afternoon. But mostly I need to get back to my planning, especially for writing, but also website development.

I'm leaning towards restarting the political book project. I'm sufficiently upset with the state of the world to bring some heat. The old outlines are all in the dustbin. The new one is what I call the "weird" book, because something weird happened in the 2024 election, and I think I can make sense of it now. The trick will be to write as much as I can as fast as I can, which means almost totally off the top of my head. It will be somewhat cryptic, and will need a subsequent fact-check phase, but I want to go all the way through the ultimate utopian/dystopian scenarios. It will mostly be about how I think, and how I think you should think. History offers evidence, but we need to bring mentality and psychology to the fore, because that's where the struggle actually is.

If I can knock out 80-120 pages in 4-6 weeks, I have little doubt that it can be fleshed out into a respectable book. I may look for help then, or may struggle on my own. One difference this time is that I feel very little pressure to moderate my views to establish some sort of common front with pro-business Democrats. I can go back to my early radicalism, which offers the sharpest critique of all political parties.

And if I can't write that much, it shows I lack the willpower and discipline, and might as well give up (again). I can always go back to writing bits about music and everyday life, to running polls, to hacking on websites, to entertaining occasional guests, and sorting out my stuff. Plenty to do on those accounts, and not exactly worthless or unpleasant, either.

But before diving into that, I figure I should write up a little Loose Tabs, just to get back into the swing of things. How far out of it I've been is possibly shown by my finding an article called A Tale of Two BBBs and wondering what the Better Business Bureau has been up to lately.

In books, note that I finally finished Greg Grandin's monumental America, América: A New History of the New World. The last couple chapters were so sharply critical of US policy in the region that my next book had to be Noam Chomsky's The Myth of American Idealism (co-written by Nathan J Robinson). I haven't ordered it yet, but the next logical choice would be John Cassidy's Capitalism and Its Critics: A History From the Industrial Revolution to AI. Zachary Carter has been recommending the book, and I'm curious about how wide-ranging the critiques are.

Lately I've been taking a fairly narrow view of capitalism, as the system where owners of capital get all the profits, and thereby accrue extraordinary power. The alternative doesn't have to be a system of communal ownership. Basically, any scheme that distributes profits and/or prevents the conversion of profit to power counteracts the dangers inherent in capitalism. I can think of a dozen, at least, including ones that sustain nearly all of the benefits of personal freedom, independent firms, and open markets.

New records reviewed this week:

Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quintet: Sound Remains (2024 [2025], Whirlwind): Pakistani guitarist, grew up in Los Angeles, based in New York, albums from 1993, mostly plays electric fusion with Indo-Pak airs, but has two 2010-15 Acoustic Quartet albums with Bill Ware (vibes), Stephan Crump (bass), and Eric McPherson (drums), adding extra percussion (Hasan Bakr) here. B+(**) [sp]

Alchemy Sound Project/Sumi Tonooka: Under the Surface (2024 [2025], ARC): Credit from spine. Front cover reads more like: Under the Surface: Alchemy Sound Project Performs the Music of Sumi Tonooka. Group is basically a composers collective, with a previous album from 2018, playing one or two pieces from each of their members: Erica Lindsay (tenor sax), Samantha Boshnack (trumpet), Salim Washington (tenor sax/bass clarinet/flute), David Arend (bass, replaced here by Gregg August), and Sumi Tonooka (piano) -- also on board here are Johnathan Blake (drums) and Michael Ventoso (trombone). Tonooka, from Philadelphia, has a distinguished but not very prolific career going back to the 1980s, well deserving of this showcase. B+(***) [cd]

Arild Andersen: Landloper (2020 [2024], ECM): Norwegian bassist, one of the generation heavily influenced by George Russell in the early 1970s, has a major career. This is solo, with effect pedals but recorded live, supplementing his own pieces with standards, including "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," "Ghosts" (Ayler), and an Ornette Coleman/Charlie Haden medley ("Lonely Woman"/"Song for Che"). B+(**) [sp]

Arashi With Takeo Moriyama: Tokuzo (2019 [2024], Trost): Free jazz trio of Akira Sakata (alto sax, clarinet some vocals), Johan Berthling (bass), and Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), fifth album since their namesake release in 2014, joined here by a second drummer, who has a long history with Sakata (both were b. 1945). Some powerful sax runs. B+(***) [sp]

Omer Avital: New York Now & Then (2023 [2025], Zamzama): Bassist, originally from Israel, long based in Brooklyn, recorded this live with trumpet/flugelhorn, two saxes, trombone, piano, drums, and justly excited crowd noise. "IDKN" seems to be his song, but sounds a lot like Horace Silver to me. And there's much more like that. Also a Lucy Wijnands vocal. A- [sp]

Sasha Berliner: Fantôme (2025, Outside In Music): Vibraphonist, from Los Angeles, debut album 2019, also credited here with synths, congas, and percussion, six tracks with Harish Raghavan (bass) and Jongkuk Kim (drums), plus keyboards (Taylor Eigsti or Lex Korten) and a couple horn spots. B+(**) [bc]

Dee Dee Bridgewater + Bill Charlap: Elemental (2025, Mack Avenue): Née Denise Garrett, from Memphis, grew up in Flint, married trumpet player Cecil Bridgewater, recorded some scarcely remembered disco albums in the 1970s, remade herself as a jazz singer with 1989's Live in Paris -- the first of a string of Grammy-nominated albums (with wins for tributes to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday). First album since 2017, just her and the pianist for eight standards, kicking off with Ellington's "Beginning to See the Light," giving her a lot of opportunity to scat. The ballads don't, but she nails them too. A- [sp]

Alan Broadbent: Threads of Time (2025, Savant): Pianist, from New Zealand, 78, started with a big band in 1979. I first really noticed him arranging strings for Charlie Haden, but he's a fluid pianist with a number of solo and trio albums. Info on this is scarce, but it's a sextet, with names on the cover: Sam Dillon (tenor sax), Scott Wendholt (trumpet), Eric Miller (trombone), Harvie S (bass), Lucas Ebeling (drums). Lush, of course. B+(**) [sp]

Kevin Brunkhorst: After the Fire (2023 [2025], Calligram): Guitarist, UNT graduate, old enough to remember seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, has a previous Bicoastal Collective album with Paul Tynan. Postbop quintet with trumpet, sax, bass, and drums. B [cd]

Nanna Carling: Melodies for Two (2024 [2025], The End): Swedish singer, also plays soprano sax, second album, part of a rather large family act that goes back to 2002, when she was 5 -- the one I'm familiar with is trombonist-singer Gunhild Carling, front and center on a 2004 album cover that also cites Max, Gerd, Ulf, Aina, and Hans, with Nanna still not listed on their 2023 album, only appearing on Idun Carling's 2024 album. Starts in the family's trad jazz vein, but loses a bit of swagger. B+(*) [sp]

Joe Chambers/Kevin Diehl/Chad Taylor: Onilu (2023 [2025], Eremite): Percussion trio, each with a long list of credits, although Diehl (leader of Sonic Liberation Front) specializes in batá drums, and Chambers plays conga and idiophones and is well established on marimba/vibraphone, which Taylor also plays, as well as mbira and piano. Title is from Yoruba, which pins down the center of their map, extending everywhere. A- [dl]

Chaos Magick: Through the Looking Glass (2024 [2025], Tzadik): Sixth album by a quartet formed in 2021 to play John Zorn compositions, consists of Matt Holenberg (guitar), Brian Marsella (Fender Rhodes), John Medeski (organ), and Kenny Grobowski (drums) -- Discogs credits the albums to non-player Zorn (common practice with him), but Tzadik credits group name. B+(*) [sp]

Etienne Charles: Gullah Roots (2025, Culture Shock): Trumpet player, from Trinidad, teaches in Miami, ten albums since 2006, several with "Creole" in the title. Leads a sextet, with a large number of guests (mostly singers, not my favorite part). B+(**) [cd]

Chris Cheek: Keepers of the Eastern Door (2024 [2025], Analog Tone Factory): Tenor saxophonist, from St. Louis, albums since 1997 as well as considerable side work. Also plays soprano here, with Bill Frisell (guitar), Tony Scherr (bass), and Rudy Royston (drums). B+(*) [sp]

Chicago Edge Ensemble: Paradoxes in Freedom (2024 [2025], Lizard Breath): Fourth group album since 2017, led by Dan Phillips (guitar), with Jeb Bishop (trombone), Josh Berman (cornet), Krzysztof Pabian (bass), Avreeayl Ra and/or Steve Hunt (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Laura Cocks: FATHM (2025, Relative Pitch/Out of Our Heads): Solo flute, not a promising proposition, but the concept is "space holding the possibility of everything and nothing, a breath that hasn't yet exhaled." Sort of, if you have the patience for that. B [sp]

Coco Chatru Quartet: Limbokolia (2024 [2025], Trygger Music): Swedish quartet, second album, group named for a "legendary Swedish adventurer, inventor and actress," bassist Håkan Trygger seems to be the principal, with 5 (of 10) song credits, "design," and his name on the label, but the other members also contribute songs: Linus Kåse (alto sax), Charlie Malmberg (baritone sax), and Daniel Kåse (drums), ending on an Ellington. B+(***) [lp]

Isaiah Collier/William Hooker/William Parker: The Ancients (2023 [2025], Eremite): Up-and-coming tenor saxophonist -- first appeared in Ernest Dawkins Young Masters Quartet (2016) -- along with relatively ancient wise men on drums and bass. Effectively a blowing session, but a really impressive one. This would have made my mid-year ballot as I gotten to it in time. A- [dl]

Eight Dice Cloth: The Songs and Arrangements of Armand J. Piron (2024 [2025], self-released): New Orleans trad jazz band, released an EP in 2015 and three numbered albums since, and now this tribute to the little-recorded violinist and bandleader (1888-1943; Discogs shows a compilation of 1923-25 recordings, not much more as a performer but lots as writer and arranger). B+(***) [bc]

Peter Evans/Petter Eldh: JazzFest (2023-24 [2025], More Is More, EP): Trumpet and bass, normally, but someone seems to be working some electronics in, perhaps in post-production. Short: 6 tracks, 21:02. B+(**) [sp]

Freedom Art Quartet: First Dance (2025, self-released): Group founded in 1991 by Lloyd Haber (drums) and Omar Kabir (trumpet/flugelhorn/sea shells/didgeridoo), released an album in 2003 (with Abraham Burton and Jaribu Shahid), returns here with Alfredo Colon (alto sax) and Adam Lane (bass), playing eight Haber originals. Fast and furious freebop. A- [bc]

Sinsuke Fujieda Group: Fukushima (2025, SoFa): Japanese tenor/soprano saxophonist, first Group album, side-credits back to 2003. Group includes piano, bass, drums, extra percussion, and violin. Starts out shades of Coltrane, replete with "spiritual jazz" hype, then gets even catchier. A- [sp]

Champian Fulton & Klas Lindquist: At Home (2025, Turtle Bay): Piano-playing standards singer, has recorded quite a bit since 2004, in a duo with a Swedish clarinetist who has very compatible tastes and skills. B+(***) [sp]

Renaud Garcia-Fons: Blue Maqam (2024, Sound Surveyor Music): French bassist, twenty-some albums since 1993. This one has vocals by Solea Garcia-Fons, with Jean-Luc Du Fraya (drums/percussion) and Stéphan Caracci (vibes/marimba). B+(**) [sp]

Nicole Glover: Memories, Dreams, Reflections (2025, Savant): Tenor saxophonist, several albums since 2015, recently appeared in the supergroup Artemis. Cover offers more names: Tyrone Allen II (bass), Kayvon Gordon (drums), adding "with Lester St. Louis" (cello). B+(**) [sp]

José Gobbo Trio: Confluence (2025, Calligram): Brazilian guitarist, based in Chicago area, With Max Beckman (bass) and Jay Ferguson (drums). B+(**) [cd] [07-11]

Mats Gustafsson/Ken Vandermark/Tomeka Reid/Chad Taylor: Pivot (2024 [2025], Silkheart): Tenor sax joust, backed by cello and drums, the principal switching off to baritone, Bb and bass clarinets, and flutes. They met in the late 1990s, when Vandermark recorded with the Aaly Trio, and were part of the sax trio Sonore with Peter Brötzmann, who was not what you'd call a moderating influence, but even he slowed down with age -- or just got more crafty. I don't hear much from Vandermark these days -- he has a subscription service neatly tucked behind a paywall -- but he is certainly still one of the greats. B+(***) [bc]

Hearts & Minds: Illuminescence (2023 [2025], Astral Spirits): Chicago trio with Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Paul Giallorenzo (keyboards), and Chad Taylor (drums), third album after a self-titled 2016 debut and a second album in 2018. B+(**) [bc]

Arve Henriksen/Trygve Seim/Andmers Jormin/Markku Ounaskari: Arcanum (2023 [2025], ECM): Norwegian trumpet player, established since 2000, in a quartet with sax, bass, and drums, also name players. B+(*) [sp]

Fred Hersch: The Surrounding Green (2024 [2025], ECM): Pianist, many albums since 1984, in his element here in a trio with Drew Gress (bass) and Joey Baron (drums). B+(**) [sp]

History Dog: Root Systems (2024 [2025], Otherly Love): Brooklyn quartet of Shara Lunon (voice/electronics), Chris Williams (trumpet/electronics), Luke Stewart (bass/electronics), and Lesley Mok (drums/percussion). Interesting words-on-noise mix, with possible roots in Patti Smith and New York No Wave. B+(***) [sp]

Chris Jonas: Backwardsupwardsky: Music From the Deserts (2022-23 [2025], Edgetone, 2-LP): Saxophonist, plays soprano and tenor, based in Santa Fe, Discogs lists a couple albums (first from 1999), but mostly group credits (back to 1991), including a saxophone quartet with Anthony Braxton and big bands led by Cecil Taylor and William Parker. Three sessions here: two trios with bass and drums, mixed in with a quartet recorded in Bologna with Luca Serrapiglio (baritone sax/contra alto clarinet). This latter session is exceptional, and mixed in as it is elevates the trio work, interesting in its own right. A- [lp]

Kaze & Koichi Makigami: Shishiodoshi (2024 [2025], Circum/Libra): One of Satoko Fujii's groups, with two trumpets (Natsuki Tamura and Christian Pruvost) and drums (Peter Orins), joined here by the Japanese vocalist, who also plays shakuhachi and more trumpet. This can get seriously noisy, or fill in with scratchy minimalism and cartoonish voice -- far from sure bets with me, but for once I find it all delightful. A- [cd]

Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys: Mutiny in the Parlor (2024 [2025], self-released): Trad jazz singer, recorded Come Into My Parlor in 1998, and found her band name, ten or so albums later. Formula is simple enough: "12 tunes from the 1920s and 1930s that will delight and soothe your soul!" That works for me. B+(***) [bc]

Joachim Kühn: Échappée (2023 [2025], Intakt): German pianist, from Leipzig in the East, founding a trio in 1964, but moved to Hamburg in 1966 and started recording the next year. This one is solo, a double (13 songs, 96:13) drawn from five dates. B+(**) [sp]

Jim Kweskin: Doing Things Right (2025, Jalopy): Folkie, founded his Jug Band in 1963, kicking off the careers of Geoff & Maria Muldaur. Sat out the '80s and '90s, but kicked up again around 2003. Cover legend here is: The Berlin Hall Saturday Night Revue Presents: Doing Things Right with Jim Kweskin, featuring: Samoa Wilson, Cindy Cashdollar, Annie Linders, Racky Thomas, Matt Leavenworth. B+(***) [sp]

Los Angeles Improvisation Ensemble: Insubordinate Lunar Transgressions (2021 [2025], Denouement): Despite taking a name representing a city of 3.8 million people (metro area 12.9 million), this is just four musicians: primarily Louis Stewart (piano), with Robert Hardt (woodwinds), Andrew Shulman (cello), and Michael Valerio (bass), which makes it a pretty typical chamber jazz outfit: the cello in particular gives it a classical feel, without triggering my usual aversion. B+(*) [cd]

Chad McCullough/Gordon Spasovski/Kiril Tufekcievski/Viktor Filipovski: Transverse (2024 [2025], Calligram): Trumpet player, based in Chicago, ten or so albums since 2009, here with a piano-bass-drums trio he met by chance in Skopje, Macedonia, and kept in touch with. A very elegant little record. B+(***) [cd] [07-11]

Tyreek McDole: Open Up Your Senses (2025, Artworks): Haitian-American jazz singer, won a prize named after Sarah Vaughan ("only the second male to do so in its 12-year-history"), first album. Runs the gamut here with touchstones from Joe Williams and Pharoah Sanders. B+(*) [sp]

Ava Mendoza/Gabby Fluke-Mogul/Carolina Pérez: Mama Killa (2024-25 [2025], Burning Ambulance): Guitarist, strictly electric, brings hard rock volume into avant-jazz contexts, but that may be oversimplifying things: I've never really gotten into any of the half-dozen albums I've heard. This one also adds violin (they also perform as the duo AM/FM) and drums: the latter's background is in death metal bands (Hypoxia, Castrator). B+(**) [dl]

Camila Nebbia/Dietrich Eichmann/John Hughes/Jeff Arnal: Chrononaux (2024, Generate): Tenor saxophonist from Argentina, impressive last couple years, with the German pianist (specifically credited with upright), bass, and drums, for one long improv (25:37) and another longer one (63:34). Both pieces are terrific. A- [bc]

Joshua Redman: Words Fall Short (2025, Blue Note): A major label tenor saxophonist since 1993, probably more famous than his father -- Dewey Redman, remembered for key work with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett as well as Old and New Dreams and his own signature albums -- but this also slipped into the poll window with scarcely a ripple. Quartet with piano (Paul Cornish), bass (Philip Norris), and drums (Nazir Ebo), with one-track guest spots for Melissa Aldana (sax), Skylar Tang (trumpet), and Gabrielle Cavassa (vocals). This one is simply very nice, including (or perhaps especially) the closing vocal. B+(**) [sp]

Claire Ritter: Songs of Lumière (2024 [2025], Zoning): Pianist, from North Carolina, record label name from Mary Lou Williams, has a dozen-plus albums since 1987, several collaborations with Ran Blake, claims over 300 compositions. Solo, originals sprinkled with a few distinctive standards. I'm not a big fan of the format, usually responding only to a lot of flash and/or a "left hand like God," neither of which apply here, but she keeps my interest throughout. A- [cd]

Kathy Sanborn: Romance Language (2025, Pacific Coast Jazz): Jazz-identified singer-songwriter, previous albums from 2011 and 2017, favors languid ballads with Brazilian airs. B+(*) [cd] [07-11]

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (2024 [2025], Corbett vs. Dempsey): Useful abbreviation here TSORPM, first album, quartet of Gabriele Mitelli (piccolo trumpet/electronics/voice), Mette Rasmussen (alto sax), Mariam Rezael (turntables), and Lukas Koenig (drums/amplified cymbals/bass synth), from all over but recorded in Vienna. This can be tough going, but it's not like it was ever going to be easy to stand up to the monsters. B+(***) [bc]

Something Blue: In the Beginning (2024 [2025], Posi-Tone): Mainstream label founded by Marc Free, released its first albums in 1995, has a long-established stable of players, occasionally formed into house band projects like this one, back for its third album with Art Hirahara (piano), Boris Kozlov (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) returning from the first album; Alton Sencalar (trombone) and Willie Morris (tenor sax) from the second; and first appearances from Diego Rivera (tenor sax) and Langston Hughes II (alto sax). Title refers to the early days of the label. B+(*) [sp]

Sons of Ra: Standard Deviation (2025, Free Electric Sound): Chicago prog/fusion group, unlikely to have much appeal to Sun Ra fans (which doesn't mean that they aren't), four EPs since 2016, this their first full album. Power trio with Erik Oldman (guitar/bass/synth), Keith Wakefield (bass guitar/tenor sax/synth), and Michael Rataj (drums). Some jazz composers in their repertoire (Coltrane, Carla Bley, Don Ellis), and take an interesting change-of-pace swing at "Nature Boy." B+(*) [sp]

Tessa Souter: Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (2025, Noanara Music): English jazz singer, based in New York, sixth album since 2004, seems like I've also seen her name on critic bylines. I have very little to say about Satie, who remains inscrutable, as are her lyrics, but the ending with "Ne Me Quitte Pas" is a nice touch. Some notable musicians, too: Nadja Noordhuis (trumpet), Steve Wilson (soprano sax), Luis Perdomo (piano), Yasushi Nakamura (bass), and Billy Drummond (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Larry Stabbins/Mark Sanders: Cup & Ring (2024 [2025], Discus Music): British alto saxophonist (also bass clarinet, flutes), b. 1949, not much as leader but Discogs lists 77 performance credits since 1971 (especially with Keith Tippett). Recent duo here, with drums. B+(**) [sp]

Pat Thomas: The Bliss of Bliss (2024 [2025], Konnekt): British avant-pianist, started appearing in the early 1990s but has become very prolific of late, especially in groups he's given Arabic names to (like Ahmed and ISM). Solo free improv here, a title piece of 41:27 and two short bits. Bill James came up with the idea of "similarity scores" as a way of finding patterns among baseball careers with few if any true comparables. I'm not sure exactly how that concept would work with jazz musicians, but a rough fit would say that the most similar pianist to Thomas is Matthew Shipp, and vice versa. This is remarkable, my only reservation being my impatience with solo piano. B+(***) [bc]

Triology Featuring Scott Hamilton: The Slow Road (2024 [2025], Cellar Music Group): Trio of Miles Black (piano), Bill Coon (guitar), and Jodi Proznick (bass), not the first group to settle on this name -- (4) in Discogs -- with a previous album from 2014, joined here by the "young fogey" tenor saxophonist, now 70. Nice but not much more. B+(**) [sp]

Uroboro: As in an Unpicking of Time's Garment (2023 [2024], Discus Music): Group, one previous album, presumably English (but I'm finding too little to be sure), principally Keith Jafrate, who plays sax, opens with spoken word, and wrote all the pieces, while backed by keyboard (Matthew Bourne), guitar (Anton Hunter), bass (John Pope), and drums (Johnny Hunter), with a vocal from Sylvie Rose. A- [bc]

Jeff Walton: Pack Animals (2023 [2025], Jules): Tenor saxophonist, quartet with Santiago Leibson (piano), Ed Heath (bass), and Chase Elodia (drums). B+(**) [cd]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Frank Kimbrough: The Call (2010 [2025], Sunnyside): Pianist (1956-2020), was at the center of a very influential cluster of postbop musicians, mostly working with Matt Baltisaris at Palmetto. Recently discovered solo tape from that period, the sort of thing that those who knew and revered him will fall for completely. B+(**) [sp]

Old music:

Nanna Carling: That's a Plenty (2022, Solters): First album, plays alto as well as soprano sax, also clarinet, and just lets the trad jazz band rip on the title cut. That's a real strength. B+(**) [bc]

Janet Klein: Come Into My Parlor (1998, Coeur De Jeanette): First album, plays ukulele and sings 26 "sweet, naughty and lovely tunes from the 1910's, 20's, and 30's," backed by John Reynolds (guitar) and Robert Loveless (mandolin, harmonica and accordion). B+(**) [sp]

Klas Lindquist: The Song Is You (2015, Do Music): Swedish clarinetist, accompanies Champian Fulton on her latest album, strikingly enough I wanted to look into his back catalog. Also plays alto sax here, in a quartet with guitar (Erik Söderlind), bass (Svante Söderqvist), and drums (Jesper Kviberg). I'm not seeing song credits, but mostly swinging standards. B+(**) [sp]

Klas Lindquist: Handle With Care (2024, Yellow Car): Fifth release as leader, some originals, more standards (including "Tea for wo," "Cry Me a River," "Stardust," "Cherokee," "Come Sunday"), just alto sax here, backed by piano, bass, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Dawn Clement/Buster Williams/Matt Wilson: Delight (Origin) [07-18]
  • Roger Glenn: My Latin Heart (Patois) [08-22]
  • Kelly Green: Corner of My Dreams (La Reserve) [08-22]
  • Rico Jones: Bloodlines (Giant Step Arts) [07-25]
  • Peter Lin/AAPI Jazz Collective: Identity (OA2) [07-18]
  • Gilbert Paeffgen Trio: Der Mann Auf Dem Trampolin (Rabbit Hill) [05-24]
  • Pat Petrillo: Contemporaneous (Innervision) [07-11]
  • Premik Russell Tubbs/Margee Minier-Tubbs: Oneness-World (Margetoile) [08-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, June 30, 2025

Music Week

June archive (done).

Music: Current count 44435 [44388) rated (+47), 23 [24] unrated (-1).

This will be another premature post, put up early so I can get back to working on my major project at the moment, which is wrapping up the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll: Mid-Year 2025. Deadline is tomorrow, July 1. While one wants to appear hardass about deadlines, you probably know by now that I'm a big believer in counting every vote, so I've always welcomed a few late ballots. Moreover, I figure that, like normal Americans, ArtsFuse will be taking July 4 off to enjoy the holiday. As a fairly abnormal American, I'll probably be hunkered down, working, playing music, trying to drown out sounds of fireworks and gunfire I once enjoyed but now have grown to despise.

I did manage to steal a few moments to compile a Loose Tabs last week. I posted it on Friday, but kept adding things over the weekend, so the expanded version (12549 words) will appear at the same time as this post. I haven't really dumped everything I have into it: a couple things figuring I should write more on them later. I also didn't do an obituary trawl, but there have been quite a few worth noting since the last time I did a section (May 14), including Brian Wilson and Sly Stewart, and most recently, Louis Moholo-Moholo. One item of possible interest here is my list of mid-year music lists. I haven't had time to do an exhaustive list of such, but I have incorporated these lists into my metacritic file (which otherwise I've struggled to find time to keep current).

A week ago, I was impressed by how many albums our poll critics were voting for that I hadn't heard or in many cases hadn't even heard of. But as I rushed to check out the most promising -- at least those most readily accessible -- I found that most were indeed quite interesting, but few made my A- grade. That changed big time this week, with one album crashing my ballot list, and another that quite likely could if I could afford to give it another spin. (The former is by Rodrigo Amado; the latter is by another Portuguese group, Motian & More.) Still much more I haven't gotten to. I've been especially remiss on following up on download links, and I'm afraid I've also neglected two vinyl albums I was generously gifted. (They don't fit in the physical queue, and I play LPs so rarely it's rather inconvenient to even get to the turntable. I will at least get to them this week.)

What I can do for now is disclose my own ballot (which may at least inhibit me from fiddling with it further):

NEW JAZZ ALBUMS

  1. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi)
  2. Archer, Sudden Dusk (Aerophonic)
  3. Rodrigo Amado & Chris Corsano, The Healing: Live at ZDB (European Echoes)
  4. Deepstaria Enigmatica, The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk)
  5. Larry Ochs - Joe Morris - Charles Downs, Every Day → All the Way (ESP-Disk)
  6. James Brandon Lewis Trio, Apple Cores (Anti-)
  7. Russ Anixter's Hippie Big Band, What Is? (self-released)
  8. Cosmic Ear, Traces (We Jazz)
  9. Satoko Fujii Tokyo Trio, Dream a Dream (Libra)
  10. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms)

RARA AVIS (REISSUES/ARCHIVAL)

  1. James Moody, 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (Origin)
  2. Jimmy Lyons, Live From Studio Rivbea: 1974 & 1976 (NoBusiness)
  3. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance)
  4. Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Live at Widney High December 26th, 1971 (The Village)
  5. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance)

At present, I have 69 ballots counted, plus another half-dozen or so in my inbox. My best guess is that we'll wind up somewhere in the 85-100 range. Last year's mid-year poll wound up with 90 ballots, far short of the 177 who voted in the year-end poll. While many critics keep running lists and/or can rattle one off the top of their heads -- which is something I try to encourage, possibly because I'm one of them -- others insist on preparation and review, so were unprepared for my late invite to a somewhat less solemn affair. Still, we already have accumulated a huge store of information on how the year is developing, and I think that anyone with the slightest concern to keep up with the state of the art will find much of interest here, both at the highly competitive tops of the charts and on the far fringes.

I will probably update this post later, or maybe offer a separate one on the poll. I've done minimal work to open up a new July Streamnotes archive, postponing the usual indexing. Other projects are worth talking about, but no time here.

New records reviewed this week:

Rodrigo Amado/Chris Corsano: The Healing: Live at ZDB (2016 [2025], European Echoes): Tenor sax and drums duo, the first of a promised series of archival tapes fallen by the wayside, but barely falls within our 10-year New Music window. Terrific straight out the gate. A- [bc] [08-01]

Benny Benack III: This Is the Life (2024 [2025], Bandstand Presents): Jazz singer, also plays trumpet, several albums since 2017, has one of those hipster styles (with a lot of scat) that I rarely enjoy (cf. Kurt Elling), but he makes it more fun than most. Live set, runs long, with Mathis Picard (piano), Russell Hall (bass), Joe Peri (drums), "with special guest" Benny Benack Jr. (tenor sax, presumably his father) noted on the cover. B+(***) [cd]

Antonia Bennett: Expressions (2025, self-released): Standards singer, daughter of Tony Bennett and actress Sandra Grant, has a couple of previous albums. Backed by a piano trio led by Christian Jacob. Caught my attention with an ebullient "Comes Love," followed by a song in French, and a jaunty "Right on Time." Several more bright spots here. B+(**) [cd]

Christer Bothén 3: L'Invisible (2024 [2025], Thanatosis): Swedish bass clarinetist, b. 1941, not a very large discography but established himself in the 1980s, and again since 2016 (notably in the new group Cosmic Ear). Also credited with "inside piano" here, in a trio with Kansas Zetterberg (bass) and Kjell Nordeson (drums), for two tracks (17:11 + 19:54). B+(***) [sp]

BROM: Чёрная голова [Black Head] (2023 [2025], Addicted Label): Russian free jazz group, Discogs lists 10 albums since 2008, longest term member Dmitriy Lapshin (bass), here with Ivan Bursov (tenor sax), Fesikl Mikensky (electronics), and Bogdan Ivlev (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Michael Buckley: Ebb and Flow (2025, Livia): Irish tenor saxophonist, has a trio album from 1998, at least one more, mainstream, nice tone, backed by piano-bass-drums. B+(**) [sp]

Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell: We Insist 2025! (2025, Candid): Drummer, first album in 1981 was very impressive, but was followed by widely-spaced albums in 1989 and 2002 before more regular releases, which ranged enough to snag Grammys in 2012 and 2014 and top a DownBeat poll in 2020. Here she updates Max Roach's 1961 We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, with Dashiell the featured singer -- a role originally filled by Abbey Lincoln. Front cover also mentions as "featuring": Weedie Braimah (congas/djembe), Milena Casado (trumpet/electronics), Morgan Guerin (bass), Simon Moullier (vibes/marimba, Matthew Stevens (guitar); while the fine print mentions a few more names (mostly vocals), plus "special gueset" Julian Priester (trombone on one track). B+(***) [sp]

Daniel Carter/Ayumi Ishito: Endless Season (2023 [2025], 577): Saxophone duo (also trumpet, clarinet, flute, and piano for Carter), recorded this as an acoustic set, then Ishito dubbed in synth beats and effects. The latter are quite pleasing, although the straight duets hold up rather well. B+(***) [bc]

Anita Donndorff: Thirsty Soul (2022-24 [2025], Fresh Sound New Talent): Standards singer from Buenos Aires, debut album 2021, moved to New York, this draws on sessions before and after the move, includes one original, and lands on a Jobim. B+(***) [cd]

Drank [Ingrid Schmoliner/Alexander Kranabetter]: Breath in Definition (2023 [2025], Trost): Duo, prepared piano and trumpet/electronics, four tracks, with guest marimba on one, voice on another. B+(***) [bc]

Marty Ehrlich: Trio Exaltation: This Time (2024 [2025], Sunnyside): Alto saxophonist (tenor one track), has an impressive discography since the mid-1980s, tends to produce tricky postbop but returns to basic here, in what is basically a blowing session, backed only by bass (John Hébert) and drums (Nasheet Waits), not that anyone could ask for more. Group name goes back to a 2018 album. Album cover can be parsed multiple ways. A- [sp]

David Grollman/Andy Haas/Sabrina Salamone: SCRT (2025, self-released): Improv trio, drums, saxophone, violin, with some spoken word poetry written by the drummer's late wife, Rita Stein-Grollman. Beyond its own merits, the poetry provides some focus, which sharpens the surrounding music. A- [cd]

Noah Haidu: Standards III (2023 [2025], Sunnyside): Pianist, based in New York, third volume in a series recorded closely together, mostly trio with Gervis Myles (bass) and Charles Goold (drums), with some cuts substituting the more famous collaborators from the previous volumes: Buster Williams and Peter Washington (bass), Billy Hart and Lewis Nash (drums), with Steve Wilson (alto sax) on one track. Haidu also claims three songwriting credits, but they touch on standards (e.g., "Stevie W."). B+(***) [cd]

Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts (2024 [2025], Nonesuch): Guitarist, student of Anthony Braxton, started producing interesting records around 2004, got her first A- in my book with Dragon's Head in 2008, and has moved on to effective stardom in the postmodern jazz world, with a major label contract, a MacArthur "genius" grant, and a Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll win with Amaryllis (2022). This reconvenes her stellar Amaryllis Sextet, with Adam O'Farrill (trumpet), Jacob Garchik (trombone), Patricia Brennan (vibes), Nick Dunston (bass), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums), adding saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins (alto) and/or Brian Settles (tenor) for four tracks each (three in tandem). This is dazzling as long as you keep your attention focused to pick up the myriad ever-shifting details. But it's not so compelling that I notice much without thinking to focus. I'm not sure that's even a knock. It may just be my own personal limitation. By the way, she's also having a terrific yet in side-credits. A- [cd]

Hanging Hearts: Where's Your Head At (2023 [2025], Ropeadope): Chicago-based sax trio, leader Chris Weller plays tenor and bass saxophones, with Cole DeGenova (keys, synth, synth bass) and Quin Kirchner (drums). First album was Chris Weller's Hanging Hearts (2014). B+(*) [sp]

Sun-Mi Hong: Fourth Page: Meaning of a Nest (2025, Edition): Korean drummer, based in Amsterdam, first album was Page 1 (2017). Meticulously layered post-bop quintet with trumpet (Alistair Payne), tenor sax (Nicolò Ricci), piano (Chaerin Im), and bass (Alessandro Fongaro). B+(*) [sp]

Jason Kao Hwang: Myths of Origin (2022 [2025], True Sound): Violinst, born in US but also has a solid grounding in Chinese classical music, subtitle here is "for improvising String Orchestra and Drum Set," I'm counting: 10 [more] violins, 5 violas, 4 cellos, 3 guitars, 1 bassist (Ken Filiano), and one drummer (Andrew Drury). Live set from Vision Fest, every bit as glorious as you'd expect. A- [cd] [07-07]

Jane in Ether: Oneiric (2023 [2025], Confront): Trio of Miako Klein (recorders), Magda Mayas (piano), and Billana Vouitchkova (violin, voice). Effectively a drone album. B+(*) [bc]

Sven-Åke Johansson Quintet: Stumps (2022 [2025], Trost): Swedish drummer (1943-2025), played with many avant-jazz figures since 1972, especially Schlippenbach. An earlier version of this material was recorded at Au Topsi Pohl in 2021 and released in 2022, but these are previously unreleased, from a set at Haus der Berliner 6.11.2022. Quintet with Pierre Borel (alto sax), Axel Dörner (trumpet), Simon Sieger (piano), and Joel Grip (bass). The little figures that begin and end each piece seem awkward, but each develops into a 12-17 minute extravaganza. B+(***) [bc]

Stefan Keune/Sandy Ewen/Damon Smith: Two Felt-Tip Pens: Live at Moers (2023 [2025], Balance Point Acoustics): German saxophonist (sopranino/alto), fair number of albums since 2002, mostly free jazz contexts, this one with guitar and bass on edge. B+(***) [sp]

Maruja: Tír na nÓg (2025, Music for Nations, EP): Punk/jazz band from Manchester, or post-rock in the sense of heavy instrumental riffing in place of improv, EPs from 2017 with one LP, this 4 songs, 22:07, title from Gaelic refers to underworld, the jazz component coming from a saxophone, but I'm unclear on credits, or much of anything else. B+(**) [sp]

Roscoe Mitchell: Gratitude: One Head Four People (2024 [2025], Wide Hive): Art Ensemble of Chicago founder and mainstay, plays bass saxophone here, with guitar (Sandy Ewen), bass (Damon Smith), and drums (Weasel Walter). Rather sketchy. B+(*) [sp]

Motian & More: Gratitude (2022-23 [2025], Phonogram Unit): Portuguese quartet, bassist Hernâni Faustino seems to be the leader, with José Lencastre (tenor sax), Pedro Branco (bass), and João Sousa (drums), opens with "Misterioso" (Monk), followed by four Paul Motian pieces, with "Mandeville" a very choice cut, and that's just a warm up for the finale. A- [bc]

Eva Novoa: Novoa/Kamaguchi/Cleaver Trio Volume 2 (2020 [2025], 577): Spanish pianist, from Barcelona, debut 2012 on FSNT, trio with Masa Kamaguchi (bass) and Gerald Cleaver (drums), follows a 2023 release from the same session. B+(**) [bc]

Potsa Lotsa XL: Amoeba's Dance (2024 [2025], Trouble in the East): Band led by German saxophonist Silke Eberhard, originally a quartet of brass and reeds for an Eric Dolphy tribute (2009-10), later augmented beyond Plus to XL (a tentet here). Original pieces, interesting but tends to slip away. B+(**) [sp]

The Quantum Blues Quartet: Quantum Blues (2025, Ropeadope): New fusion group: tempted to say "supergroup," as everyone involved is long established in their own right: Tisziji Muñoz (guitar), Paul Shaffer (keyboards), Jamaaladeen Tacuma (bass), and Will Calhoun (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Resavoir & Matt Gold: Horizon (2025, International Anthem): Resavoir is basically Will Miller, wide range of side credits (like from Whitney to SZA), third album since 2019, mostly plays keyboards here, while Gold plays bass, guitar, and drums, with others coming and going, bits of vocals. B [sp]

Matthew Shipp: The Cosmic Piano (2024 [2025], Cantaloupe Music): One of the major pianists in jazz history, many albums since 1988, I've written a whole Consumer Guide about his work, which was a substantial task 20 years ago and would have to be more than doubled today. Along the way, he's recorded well over a dozen solo albums, with this the latest, and this is one more. I've never been a huge solo piano fan, but this is clearly pretty remarkable, in ways that make him instantly recognizable. A- [sp]

Mark Solborg: Tungemål: Confluencia (2025, ILK Music): Danish/Argentinian guitarist, side-credits from 2001, albums from 2007, quartet here with Susana Santos Silva (trumpet), Simon Toldam (keyboards), and Ingar Zach (percussion). A little slow. B+(*) [sp]

Kevin Sun: Lofi at Lowlands (2024 [2025], Endectomorph Music, EP): Tenor saxophonist, impressive debut in 2018, has a deep understanding of history and lore. Trio with Walter Stinson (bass) and Kayvon Gordon (drums), short at 23:13, but pulls nine fragments from six live sets, and experiments: this is "Sun's initial foray into the seemingly limitless possibilities of post-production, for the first in a projected series drawn from the same sources. B+(*) [sp]

Sun & Rain: Waterfall (2022 [2025], Out of Your Head): Quartet of Nathaniel Morgan (alto sax), Travis Laplante (tenor sax), Andrew Smiley (guitar), and Jason Nazary (drums). Morgan has a fairly long list of side-credits since 2012 (69 per Discogs), but nothing under his own name. Smiley started with the avant-noise group Little Women. The others I've run across more often. B+(**) [sp]

Transcendence: Music of Pat Metheny (2025, FMR): Trio of Bob Gluck (keyboards), Christopher Dean Sullivan (electric bass), and Karl Latham (drums), playing five pieces by Metheny plus one each from Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett. I've never been much of a fan of Metheny's more popular albums, although I've noticed that he occasionally strays toward the margins, with mixed but sometimes interesting results. Gluck, on the other hand, has written a book on Metheny's music, and comes up with some unexpected twists. B+(**) [cd]

Terry Waldo & the Gothim City Band: Treasury Volume 2 (2025, Turtle Bay): Ragtime pianist, learned from Eubie Blake, who said that Waldo reminds him of Fats Waller. He first recorded in 1969 with his Gutbucket Syncopators, and introduced his Gotham City Band in 1984. Unclear how old these recordings are, or for that matter who's playing what, but at 80 he appears to still be active. I like modern (and for that matter postmodern) jazz just fine, but for me "real jazz" will always be pre-bop, and this really hits that mark. A- [sp]

Wheelhouse: House and Home (2024 [2025], Aerophonic): Trio of Dave Rempis (saxophones), Jason Adasiewicz (vibes), and Nate McBride (bass). Sort of the avant-garde's version of a chamber jazz group. The saxophonist remain supreme in any setting. A- [cd] [07-22]

Brandon Woody: For the Love of It All (2025, Blue Note): Trumpet player, from Baltimore, first album but on a major label, with a band of similar unknowns (keyboards, bass, drums, one vocal). B+(**) [sp]

John Yao and His 17 Piece Instrument: Points in Time (2024 [2025], See Tao): New York-based, originally a trombonist, albums from 2004, here just a big band composer/arranger (with Mike Holober co-producing). B+(**) [cd] [07-11]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Anthony Braxton: B-X0 N0-47A (1969 [2025], BYG Actuel): Early album, 2nd in Discogs' list, 4th for Wikipedia (where the title is rendered as Anthony Braxton, the latest of many reissues deriving this title from the graph Braxton used to title his 2nd side composition. First side has two pieces by band mates Leo Smith (trumpet) and Leroy Jenkins (violin) -- all have long lists of miscellaneous instruments, including percussion, which is mostly Steve McCall. B+(**) [sp]

Marco Eneidi Quartet: Wheat Fields of Kleyehof (2004 [2025], Balance Point Acoustics): Alto saxophonist (1956-2016), born in Portland, was associated with William Parker in the late 1980s, later based in Vienna. Improv quintet with Darren Johnston (trumpet), John Finkbeiner (guitar), Damon Smith (bass), and Vijay Anderson (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Bill Evans: Further Ahead: Live in Finland 1964-1969 (1964-69 [2025], Elemental Music): Three trio sets: 1964 with Chuck Israels (bass) and Larry Bunker (drums); 1965 with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Alan Dawson, with Lee Konitz (alto sax) in for the last cut; and 1969 with Eddie Gomez and Marty Morell. B+(**) [sp]

Charles Kynard: Woga (1972 [2025], We Want Sounds): Soul jazz organ player from St. Louis (1933-79), recorded for Pacific Jazz and Prestige in the 1960s, with this the middle of three 1971-73 albums for Mainstream, with a larger group -- two each trumpets and trombones, electric guitar and bass, and drums -- arranged and conducted by Richard Fritz. B+(***) [sp]

David "Fathead" Newman/Ellis Marsalis/Cornell Dupree: Return to the Wide Open Spaces (1990 [2025], Amazing/Steady Boy): Reissue of a live album recorded in Fort Worth's Caravan of Dreams, the headliners (alto sax/flute, piano, guitar) joined by James Clay (tenor sax), Dennis Dotson (trumpet), Leroy Cooper (baritone sax), Chuck Rainey (bass), and George Rains (drums) -- all cited in smaller print on the cover. B+(**) [sp]

Kristen Noguès/John Surman: Diriaou (1998 [2025], Souffle Continu): Celtic harp player (1952-2007), French but sings in Breton, released an album in 1976, several more in the 1990s. This a duo with the English saxophonist, mostly playing bass clarinet. This is really lovely, a unique item. A- [bc]

Ray Russell Quartet: The Complete Spontaneous Event: Live 1967-1969 (1967-69 [2024], Jazz in Britain): British guitarist, b. 1947, so was pretty young when these six BBC radio sessions were recorded: 6 tracks were released in 2000, expanded here to 20 tracks, 133:33, the with Roy Fry (piano), Alan Rushton (drums), and either Dave Holland or Ron Mathewson on bass. This is closer to classic bebop guitar jazz than to the avant/fusion strains developing around John McLaughlin, but is remarkably cogent and flat out enjoyable. A- [bc]

Louis Stewart: I Thought About You (1977 [2025], Livia): Irish guitarist (1944-2016), enjoying a reissues boomlet, recorded this studio session with John Taylor (piano), who was also in Ronnie Scott's band, and two Americans who were touring with Cedar Walton at the time: Sam Jones (bass) and Billy Higgins (drums). B+(**) [bc]

Sun Ra: Nuits De La Fondation Maeght (1970 [2025], Strut): Set at an art museum, opened in 1964, in France near Nice, this title is shared by much reissued live albums by Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor. Sun Ra's original came out in two volumes in 1971, finally expanded here to over 4 hours in what is surely the most definitive packaging ever. The usual mix of marvelous and corny, much too much to sort out. B+(***) [sp]

Sun Ra: Stray Voltage (1970s-80s [2025], Modern Harmonic): This is a sampler of "Ra's electronic peregrinations during the 1970s and '80s," with or (mostly) without Akrestra. Nothing I can find on exact recording dates, but the LP cover scans suggest some juicy technical details on the synths -- I'm guessing because I can't make out the words. B+(**) [sp]

Clifford Thornton: Ketchaoua (1969 [2025], BYG Actuel): Trumpet/cornet player (1936-89), started with Sun Ra in the early 1960s, then with Pharoah Sanders (1963-67). First album as leader (although some of his earlier work eventually panned out). Four tracks, starts as an octet (with Archie Shepp, Grachan Moncur III, Dave Burrell, and Sunny Murray), but the second side slims down, ending with just cornet and two bassists. B+(**) [sp]

Old music:

None.

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Antonia Bennett: Expressions (self-released) [06-13]
  • Kevin Brunkhorst: After the Fire (Calligram) [07-11]
  • Etienne Charles: Gullah Roots (Culture Shock) [06-30]
  • Lafayette Gilchrist & New Volcanoes: Move With Love (Morphius) [07-25]
  • José Gobbo Trio: Confluence (Calligram) [07-11]
  • Bonnie J Jensen: Rise (MGM Metropolitan Groove Merchants) [08-01]
  • Lili Maljic: The Nearness of You: In Loving Memory of Jim Rotondi (Pacific Coast Jazz) [09-12]
  • Chad McCullough/Gordon Spasovski/Kiril Tufekcievski/Viktor Filipovski: Transverse (Calligram) [07-11]
  • Sarah Wilson: Incandescence (Brass Tonic) [07-18]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, June 23, 2025

Music Week

June archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 44388 [44357) rated (+31), 24 [27] unrated (-3).

I've got a ton of work to do today, and tomorrow, and probably well into the near future. Music Week is one part of that work, the one that's most tightly scheduled -- is supposed to be done each and every Monday -- but not as important as urgent work on the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll: Mid-Year 2025. I sent a batch of invitations out to my jazzpoll [at] hullworks.net list a week ago (back on June 13) offering July 1 as the deadline for submitting lists. I had meant to do list and website maintenance before the mailing, but things got out of hand, so I figured I should go ahead and send out what I had to the list I had (210 members), and catch up later. I'm still working on that. So what I figured I'd do here is to post a Music Week stub, so I can scratch that off my todo list today, and update it later, at which point (probably not today) I'll have more definitive news on the Poll, possibly other projects as well.

I'm omitting the reviews for now. They're all in the June archive. (The Bandcamp pages for my pick hits are also linked on my Bluesky feed.) It wouldn't be a lot of work to dig them out at this point, but their absence underscores that this is just a stub. On the other hand, I thought I could use this space to organize my thoughts on what I need to do today on the Poll. Otherwise I just have this cloud of thoughts clashing around in my brain -- which needless to say is already agitated over the beyond-insane Netanyahu-Trump attack on Iran, probably not the worst thing either has done but the most performatively pointless exercise in self-delusion . . . well, I can't think of a comparison.

But back to basics: Of those 200+ invites, I've received and counted 20 ballots so far. I'm not sure how that compares with past polls, but it doesn't give me a lot of confidence that the invites have been received much less taken seriously. I like this particular mail list because with it all I have to do is compose one message and hit "send" and it goes to everyone. But the list has been a massive headache in the past, because many email providers regard the messages as spam, so they get routed to rarely-checked spam folders and sometimes flat-out rejected. Moreover, it's impossible for me to monitor how much mail is delivered and read, which allows considerable operating room for my paranoia. I had some hope that this year would be better because the list is hosted on a new server and the vendor has a system for maintaining its reputation. But again, I have no metrics showing that is the case. (That is something I need to look into, but that will also be take a lot of time.)

I have an alternate method for sending out invites, which is to use the Thunderbird MailMerge utility to generate individualized emails, which I can then send out one-by-one -- a process which takes several very tedious hours. These messages are much more likely to be delivered. Given the large number of people who never got invites because I hadn't updated the list, I've reluctantly decided I have to do this again this week. I should also resend invitations to the initial list members who have not voted. The largest piece of work here was to figure out who's missing from the two lists. That much I largely got done yesterday -- leaving aside the question of whether invitations should be extended to new people (which is not something I'm terribly worried about). That leaves for today:

  1. I need to edit the standard long-form invitation to produce a short-form version. The short-form gets straight to the point, trying to be less intimidating, with less emphasis on the fine points of rules and points, and fewer links that can add to spam scores. The short-form will be the basis of today's mass mailing.

  2. I need to check a couple more website files, to make sure the information in them is consistent and coherent. At this point I'm not going to worry about the "-notes" files, which try to provide very detailed explanations of everything. I will still need to work on them after today. I also need to make a programming change to reflect the decision to sort totals on votes and tie-break with points, a reversal from past polls, but that can wait, as the totals aren't public yet. The key point here is that when someone receives an invitation, they need to be able to access the website for further information, including a reference copy of the invite. That's the point of the update.

  3. Next thing is to write an email message based on the short-form invite, and run it through MailMerge, which will generate and queue up about 300 messages. (Although the program can send the mail, my ISP will start rejecting messages if sent too quickly. There may be a delay mechanism, but it's unclear how to tune it. Plus there is an advantage to not sending everything automatically.) I can then go through the folder and delete messages to people who don't need them. I can also individually edit the messages, not that I want to. The sent messages can also be used as templates for later invites. I usually send 5-8 messages in series, then take a break for a minute or two before sending the next batch. It takes several hours to send 200 messages.

  4. Next I will compose and send a message to the jpadmin mail list, which consists of volunteers who have taken an interest in the Poll. I write to them whenever I do a website update and/or have significant news to share and/or want them to look at something. In this case, it will be the updated website, and the prospective voter list. I can send further invites based on their feedback, as well as my own further research.

  5. Finally, I will need to update this Music Week post. More then. Maybe I'll get around to mentioning other projects. Perhaps I'll even come up with my own ballot.

Update [06-24]: I've added the reviews, below. I managed to send the first batch of additional Poll invites (34 recent voters not on initial mail list) out Monday night. I got two ballots back Tuesday morning, plus a couple other notes. Second batch (50 people we've invited in the past but haven't voted) went out today, in dribs and drabs to avoid angering the mail gods. I've heard from one person (a gmail user) on the initial list who never got the original invite, so I should probably proceed with sending individual reminders to everyone on the initial list who hasn't voted. Unfortunately, there is no real way to identify list members who haven't actually seen their mail.

I'll send a notice to the email list after I post this and update the website -- either late tonight or first thing tomorrow. I've held back pending expected updates to the website, but just a week before deadline we need to start beating the drums to get the ballots in. Besides, work on the website can be a perpetual, neverending task, especially as I don't get enough feedback to get a good sense of what is adequate and what needs improvement. That leaves me forever going back over various pieces, finding little details that can use a little tweaking. Meanwhile, my many other projects have been on hold the last few days. I need to balance better. Hopefully the ballots wil l roll in without much further sweat or angst on my part.

Big project last week was sorting and storing the wood pile. To that end, I've built the new racks in the shed, and moved most of the wood out of the basement and the house, so it's in the target area, if not necessarily in its final resting place. So it's coming along, and will get a test in the next week or so, when I try to build my recycling kiosk. The bigger question is whether the extra space I opened up in the basement will finally allow me to sort the tools and hardware. If I can do that, I can reclaim even more space in the basement and garage.

Unfortunately, my most likely diversion for the next couple days will be to turn the Loose Tabs scratch file into a blog post. I have two major sections long written, and I probably have 20-30 tabs I need to wrap up and close. While I've avoided most news, my chance encounters of late have been very disturbing. But perhaps there's no way to avoid having to deal with that. I'm also almost 500 pages into Greg Grandin's monumental America, América: A New History of the New World, and can recommend it highly -- although I suspect that there's still a lot he glosses over and/or simply skips. I'm reminded of the contrast between the treatments of the 1848 revolutions between Hobsbawm and Christopher Clark: the latter wrote 896 pp on all of the various revolts and reactions, which Hobsbawm dispensed with in less than ten pages (split over two books, with 1848 as the dividing line) which basically boiled down to: some stuff happened, but it amount to anything. Grandin has a similar eye for focusing on significance.

New records reviewed this week:

Sophie Agnel/John Butcher: Rare (2024 [2025], Les Disques Victo): French pianist, released a solo album in 2000, a couple dozen albums since are nearly all shared with other free jazz figures, this the second I see with the British saxophonist. B+(**) [sp]

Sophie Agnel: Song (2022-24 [2025], Relative Pitch): Solo piano, seven songs simply numbered, 41:05 total. B+(*) [sp]

Yves Brouqui: Mean What You Say (2024 [2025], SteepleChase): French guitarist, has several albums since 2002, including a tribute to Horace Silver. This is a quartet with piano (Spike Wilner), bass, and drums, playing three originals, seven standards, including "Besame Mucho," "Caravan," and the title piece from Thad Jones. B+(**) [sp]

Gerald Clayton: Ones & Twos (2025, Blue Note): Pianist, debut 2009, father and uncle are famed as the Clayton Brothers as well as individually (John, Jeff). Title refers to two LP sides and a "turntablist concept" I neither understand nor can hear. Clayton also plays synths and organ, with trumpet (Marquis Hill), vibes (Joel Ross), flute (Elena Pinderhughes), drums (Kendrick Smith), and percussion/post-production by Kassa Overall. B [sp]

Michel Doneda/Lê Quan Ninh/Núria Andorrà: El Retorn De L'Escolta: A La Memòria De Marianne Brull (2023 [2024], Fundacja Słuchaj): French soprano saxophonist (also sopranino here), has a substantial discography going back to 1985, but little I have heard. One 53:32 piece with two percussionists. Brull (1935-2023) was a Swiss-born publisher of anti-Franco literature, who eventually wound up living in Barcelona. B [bc]

Signe Emmeluth/Ingebrigt Håker Flaten/Axel Filip: Hyperboreal Trio (2023 [2025], Relative Pitch): Alto sax, bass, drums trio. Distinctive tone, reminds me of Jackie McLean. B+(***) [bc]

Alon Farber Hagiga: Dreams | Dream (2024 [2025], Origin): Israeli saxophonist (soprano/alto/tenor), came to my attention in 2005 with a FSNT release as Hagiga Quintet but had previous albums back to 1996, and continues to use the band name for this sprightly quartet, backed with piano, bass, and drums. B+(**) [cd]

Paul Flaherty: A Willing Passenger (2021 [2025], Relative Pitch): Avant-saxophonist, discography starts in 1982, is fairly substantial by now but he remains a pretty obscure figure. Bandcamp page has a story about a revelatory 2005 duo set with drummer Chris Corsano as part of a protest against GW Bush's second inaugural, called "Noise Against Fascism." This one is solo, alto & tenor, which can be rough going and is unforgiving: as I was my grading of Braxton's legendary For Alto (a D: "perhaps the ugliest thing I've ever heard"). B+(*) [bc]

Danny Grissett: Travelogue (2025, Savant): Mainstream pianist, tenor so albums since 2006, frequent side work (especially with Tom Harrell and Jeremy Pelt). Trio with Vicente Archer (bass) and Bill Stewart (drums), playing his originals and a couple standards. B+(**) [sp]

Kneebody: Reach (2025, GroundUP Music): Jazz group founded by former Eastman students Adam Benjamin (keyboards), Shane Endsley (trumpet), and Ben Wendel (tenor sax), plus Nate Wood (drums, also bass after Kaveh Rastegar left in 2019; this is their first album without him), debut 2005. Not exactly what I would call fusion, but doesn't distinguish itself clearly. B [sp]

Littorina Saxophone Quartet: Leaking Pipes (2024 [2025], NoBusiness): Four saxophonist from the Baltic Sea region: Maria Faust (alto), Mikko Innanen (alto, soprano, baritone), Fredrik Ljungkvist (soprano, tenor), and Liudas Mockunas (sopranino, soprano, bass, lugging the latter on the cover pic). All contribute pieces, and they keep them sweet and succinct. B+(***) [cd]

K. Curtis Lyle/George Sams/Adi Du Dharma Joshua Weinstein/Damon Smith/Ra Kalaam Bob Moses/Henry Claude: 29 Birds You Never Heard (2022 [2024], Balance Point Acoustics): Spoken word by the poet, who has a previous album from 1971, two new ones in 2024, a book from 1975, not much more I can find, but he's been around, knows a lot, and has his way with words. Also with music here, backed by trumpet (Sams), bass (Weinstein & Smith), percussion (Moses & Claude). Reminds me of Conjure. A- [bc]

Joe Magnarelli: Concord (2024 [2025], SteepleChase): Mainstream trumpet player, started on Criss Cross in 1998, has close to 20 albums, lots of side credits where he frequents big bands (going back to Buddy Rich and Toshiko Akiyoshi, recently with Mike Holober and Dannyh D'Imperio). Quartet with Victor Gould (piano), Paul Sikivie (bass), and Rodney Green (drums), half originals, half standards. B+(**) [sp]

Mark Masters Ensemble: Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! (2024 [2025], Capri): Big band arranger/leader, debut was Early Start in 1984, features tenor saxophonist Billy Harper playing his own compositions -- they go back, at least to 1991. B+(***) [cd]

Mark Masters Ensemble: Sam Rivers 100 (2023 [2025], Capri): Big band tribute to Sam Rivers (1923-2011), playing his songs on his centennial birthday, with tenor saxophonist Billy Harper again prominent among the soloists. B+(***) [cd]

Camila Nebbia/Kit Downes/Andrew Lisle: Exhaust (2025, Relative Pitch): Tenor saxophonist from Argentina, has been prolific since 2015, joined here with piano and drums. B+(***) [bc]

Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio: Armageddon Flower (2024 [2025], TAO Forms): Avant-saxophonist from Brazil, based in New York, albums start around 1989, recording pace picked up considerably, probably 8-12 albums per year over the last decade. The pianist is his most frequent collaborator, stating with a duo in 1996, plus a trio that year adding William Parker. The string section here consists of Parker and Mat Maneri (viola), who also has duos and trios with Shipp and/or Parker going back to the late 1990s. A- [cd]

Andrew Rathbun: Lost in the Shadows (2025, SteepleChase): Canadian tenor saxophonist, based in Brooklyn but teaches in Kalamazoo, started on Fresh Sound New Talent in 1999, has been a regular here since 2006. Tenth album, a quartet with Nate Radley (guitar), Jay Anderson (bass), and Billy Drummond (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Felipe Salles: Camera Obscura (2024 [2025], Tapestry): Saxophonist (soprano/tenor plus various clarinets/flutes) from Brazil, teaches at UM Amherst, debut 2007. Original pieces, backed by piano (Nando Michelin), bass, drums, and string quartet. B+(**) [cd]

Frank Paul Schubert/Dieter Manderscheid/Martin Blume: Spindrift: Trio Studies (2022 [2025], Jazz Haus Musik): German saxophonist (alto/soprano), with bass and drums. Group has a 2020 album Spindrift, and it was a close judgment call whether to take "Spindrift" as the group name here, or as part of the title (the three artist names follow on a second line; I took the colon on the top line as a hint). B+(***) [sp]

Julian Shore Trio: Sub Rosa (2024 [2025], Chill Tone): Pianist, albums since 2009, trio with bass (Martin Nevin) and drums (Allan Mednard), playing originals plus a couple covers, including one from Brian Wilson. B+(**) [cd]

Ches Smith: Clone Row (2024 [2025], Otherly Love): Drummer, also vibes and electronics, roughly a dozen albums since 2006, last couple on this label have polled well, more side credits, many in interesting circles (Tim Berne, Marc Ribot, John Zorn). Quartet with two guitarists (Mary Halvorson and Liberty Ellman) plus bass (Nick Dunston). Some remarkable guitar herein, tricky rhythms, etc., so not sure what's holding me back. B+(***) [cd]

Ches Smith: The Self (2023 [2025], Tzadik): "One of the most versatile and in-demand percussionists in the Downtown scene" is a plausible boast. Solo, credit reads: drums, vibraphone, timpani, glockenspiel, chimes, tam-tam, percussion. B+(*) [sp]

Inés Velasco: A Flash of Cobalt Blue (2025, self-released): Composer, from Mexico, studied at Berklee, based in New York, first album, arranged for big band, with narration (title comes from a poem) by Jorge Esquinca and a vocal by Catey Esler. B+(*) [cd]

Dan Weiss Quartet: Unclassified Affections (2024 [2025], Pi): Drummer, composer, many side credits, has led albums since 2008, mostly postbop confections I didn't much care for -- although his 2024 album, Even Odds, proved the exception. He goes for interesting chemistry here, matching last year's poll-winning vibraphone player, Patricia Brennan, with former MOPDTK trumpet player Peter Evans and guitarist Miles Okazaki. B+(***) [cd]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Misha Mengelberg/Sabu Toyozumi: The Analects of Confucius (2000 [2025], NoBusiness): Piano and drums duo, recorded in Japan, on the latter's home turf. Coming in my playlist right after dazzling piano from Cecil Taylor and Irène Schweizer, this took a bit longer to sort out, but in the end he won me over. I suppose it's a bit like comparing Monk and Peterson (or maybe even Tatum), an analogy he would most likely find flattering. A- [cd]

Irène Schweizer/Rüdiger Carl/Johnny Dyani/Han Bennink: Irène's Hot Four (1981 [2025], Intakt): Swiss pianist (1941-2024), an astonishing player, especially in her duos with various free jazz drummers -- the ones with Bennink are among the best, but not alone. She started in the 1970s with Carl playing saxophones, clarinet, and accordion. A- [sp]

Cecil Taylor/Tony Oxley: Flashing Spirits (1988 [2025], Burning Ambulance): "Pioneering avant-garde pianist" (1929-2018), holds the record for most 4-star albums in Penguin Guide, partly because they're so consistent they're hard to sort among, partly because at any given moment the one you're listening to is likely to sound uniquely brilliant. It's easy to pick 1988 as his peak, not least because he recorded so much in Berlin that year. Duo with drums, one of many that year but Oxley was the one he worked with most in later years, and good reasons for that. A- [bc]

Old music:

Kenny Burrell With Art Blakey: On View at the Five Spot Café (1959 [1960], Blue Note): Guitarist, made his debut in 1956, recorded intensively through the 1960s and regularly up to 2016, at which point he was 85. Live album here was expanded for its 1987 CD, and has just reappeared in a 2-CD/3-LP Complete Takes set, but this stream just covers the 1960 LP release. With Tina Brooks (tenor sax), Ben Tucker (bass), the featured drummer, and either Bobby Timmons or Roland Hanna on piano. B+(*) [sp]

K. Curtis Lyle: The Collected Poem/For Blind Lemon Jefferson (1971, Mbari): Poet, from Los Angeles, in 1966 a founding member of the Watts Writers Workshop, later moved to St. Louis, where he met Julius Hemphill, who accompanies him on this, the only album attributed to him before two new ones in 2024. (Turns out he has a few side credits on albums by Hemphill, Baikida Carroll, and Oliver Lake.) B+(**) [yt]

Grade (or other) changes:

Wolf Eyes X Anthony Braxton: Live at Pioneer Works, 26 October 2023 (2023 [2025], ESP-Disk): Edit to artist credit/title/recording date, reflecting some fine print I had missed. Original review is here. May deserve a revisit. Turns out this is not their only recording together. B+(*) [cd]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Jacob Garchik: Ye Olde 2: At the End of Time (Yestereve) [08-29]
  • The Haas Company Featuring Jerry Goodman: Thirteen (Psychiatric) [08-01]
  • Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts (Nonesuch) [06-13]
  • Jason Kao Hwang: Myths of Origin (True Sound) [07-07]
  • Kaze & Koichi Makigami: Shishiodoshi (Circum/Libra) [07-11]
  • Billy Lester Trio: High Standards (Ultra Sound) [09-12]
  • Los Angeles Improvisation Ensemble: Insubordinate Lunar Transgressions (Denouement) [03-26]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Music Week

June archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 44357 [44332) rated (+25), 27 [32] unrated (-5).

I made the cutover in reasonable time on Monday, but didn't get anything written until late, so this will be posted late. Big thing I've been doing is a fairly massive reorganization of what I refer to as the woodpile. We did a major renovation of the kitchen/dining area roughly 15 years ago, and it produced a lot of scrap wood that's been piled up in the basement ever since. Moreover, there is quite a bit of wood in the garage: one wall as a rack for stick lumber, and the opposite wall has a cage that I built that holds 4x8 sheets (plywood, MDF, underlayment, paneling, etc.), and there are lesser scraps of everything. As the woodworking tools are mostly in the garage, I wanted to move the wood from the basement to the garage and a nearby shed. That's involved building more storage for odd bits. I've averaged several hours a day on this for a couple weeks. Progress is slow, as everything gets harder the older one gets. But I'm hopeful of getting the wood sorted and moved by the end of the week. Next step beyond that will be building a kiosk that can be used as a staging area for recycling. Other storage projects are likely to follow, as well as a serious effort to sort the tools and hardware. And books and CDs, which are by far the largest categories.

Meanwhile, I've sent out a round of invitations to the Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll: Mid-Year 2025. I'm still way behind on cleaning up the website, and perhaps more urgently on checking the mailing lists, which I suspect are missing a number of 2024 voters. I have three ballots counted so far, but another 10-12 sitting in my inbox. Deadline is June 30, so we still have a fair amount of time. I'm already finding new records I wasn't aware of. [PS: Trying to close this Tuesday evening, I have 10 ballots counted, with 2 more uncounted, and a similar number of promises, plus 2 notes from usually reliable voters regretting (or perhaps just thinking) they'll skip this round. Thus far we have votes for 106 albums (75 new, 31 old), 29 of which weren't previously in my tracking file, which previously stood at 502 jazz albums. The 2024 jazz tracking file wound up with 1572 albums.]

Two upgrades this week from Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide. I already had the Buck 65 and Willie Nelson albums at A-, and Tune-Yards at B+(*). I still have more work to do there (Arcade Fire, Ghost Wolves, Girl Scout, Justin Golden, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, Bruce Springsteen). I've added the MY lists at AOTY into my Metacritic file, but haven't yet gone looking for more trouble. One list I'm aware of but haven't catalogued yet is the set from RiotRiot: Albums (30-11); Albums (10-1); and Songs.

I got rained out on Tuesday. We had a pretty severe storm blow through around 5 AM, which took down a lot of small limbs. The rain finally let up when I got up around 9, so after breakfast I opened the garage/shed up to work, but wound up spending a couple hours just picking up limbs, cuting them up, and packing them into the newly emptied trash can. I quit when I ran out of space, having not even started on the back yard. I broke for lunch, counted a few ballots, kept meaning to get back to it, until I heard thunder and had to pack everything back up. Still raining as I write this.

Tomorrow's going to be disrupted by a dentist appointment, and whatever I feel like doing after as opposed to coming home to work. I did manage to listen to some stuff today, kicking off with three straight A- albums under old music. They're not in Music Week yet, but are in the June archive if you care to go there (link up top). What I will do is refer you to the Loose Tabs draft file, which has two long sections, one on Israel as a revolutionary experience, another on the "abundance" political pitch.

So much shit is happening in the world these days that it's hard to just ignore it all, especially when it's so easy to see the delusions people in power are acting on. There is absolutely no sense to be made out of Israel's attack on Iran, nor is there any sense to be made out of Trump's willingness to take credit for starting the war. Netanyahu is effectively demanding that Iran finally fulfill his prophecy and build and use the nuclear weapons he claims he's trying to safeguard against. Still, the only realistic defense against nuclear war is peace, which is the one option Netanyahu is unwilling (or unable) to consider. Sure, it's possible that Iran will never take the bait, but who's going to admit that just proves how wrong Netanyahu has always been.

The real message that Israel is sending is their intention to do things so horrific that other nations will be so repulsed they may be driven to unthinkable measures just to stop them. The last time any nation has worked so hard to turn the world against them was Germany and Japan in starting WWII. (Even there, it is sobering to note that it wasn't genocide against Jews that motivated the UK, USSR, and USA to fight Germany and Japan, but direct attacks against their own imperialist interests.) It will be much harder for Israel to provoke devastating reaction this time, because most sensible people are wary of entering into war, especially to stop an arsenal of nuclear weapons. That seems to be part of their calculation for aggression.

When we look back at all this, we should realize that BDS was an opportunity to peacefully but firmly remind Israel that there must be limits to abusing the powers of a nation to inflict suffering on one's own people and others. It failed because Israel was able to organize corrupt support from the US and Europe, and in doing so, especially with "blank check" support from Trump and Biden, has only fed the arrogance of Israeli politicians, including some who were until recently regarded as criminals within Israel -- not a coincidence that America installed another escaped criminal as president.

PPS: Just as I was getting ready to post this late Tuesday evening, the internet went out, pushing this post into Wednesday. It stayed out all night, but was working by noon today. By then, I took a look at what I had written, and decided to add a few more words on Israel and Trump. One more point: both are convinced that the harder they get hit, the more their people will rally to their support -- a conceit that makes they especially reckless, especially given their inability to see that Iran's leaders understand that just as well. It was, after all, Hitler who turned Stalin and Churchill into heroes, erasing their long and lamentable histories of misrule.

New records reviewed this week:

Aya: Hexed! (2025, Hyperdub): British electronic music producer, last name Sinclair, second album under this name, released a previous one as Loft. Leans into metal toward the end. B [sp]

Hannah Cohen: Earthstar Mountain (2025, Bella Union/Congrats): Singer-songwriter from San Francisco, based in New York, fourth album since 2012. B+(*) [sp]

Michika Fukumori: Eternity (2023 [2025], Summit): Japanese pianist, moved to New York in 2000, fourth album since 2004, a trio with Steve Whipple (bass) and Adam Nussbaum (drums). Opens with seven originals, then stretches out with some covers (Kurt Weill, Fats Waller, a mashup of Chopin and Jobim, "Be My Love"). B+(***) [cd]

Ms. Ezra Furman: Goodbye Small Head (2025, Bella Union): Singer-songwriter, led band albums 2007-11, solo efforts since then, some seemed notable at the time although I can't say as I recall any of them. Too much of a mixed bag for me to try to sort out, but some interesting stuff if you care. (One track reminds me that Furman wrote a 33-1/3 book about Lou Reed's Transformer album.) B+(**) [sp]

Alexander Hawkins: Song Unconditional (2024 [2025], Intakt): British pianist, quite a few albums since 2008, this one solo. B+(**) [sp]

Izumi Kimura & Gerry Hemingway: How the Dust Falls (2025, Auricle): Japanese pianist, based in Ireland (which she's incorporated into past work), a second duo with the drummer -- they also have two trios with Barry Guy, all recommended. B+(***) [cd]

James Brandon Lewis Quartet: Abstraction Is Deliverance (2024 [2025], Intakt): Poll-winning tenor saxophonist, well-established quartet with Aruán Ortiz (piano), Brad Jones (bass), and Chad Taylor (drums) -- their fifth album. This starts out sounding like a hitherto unknown Coltrane masterpiece. It doesn't develop much beyond that level, but how much can anyone ask for? A- [sp]

Carol Liebowitz/Nick Lyons: The Inner Senses (2023 [2025], SteepleChase LookOut): Piano and alto sax duo, both very measured and precise. B+(***) [cd]

Lifeguard: Ripped and Torn (2025, Matador): Indie/postpunk band from Chicago, Asher Case the singer-bassist, second album. B [sp]

Ramon Lopez: 40 Springs in Paris (2024 [2025], RogueArt): Spanish drummer, moved to Paris in 1985, has dozens of co- and side-credits since 1992, including a solo album in 1998. This, again, is solo. B+(**) [cdr]

Momma: Welcome to My Blue Sky (2025, Lucky Number/Polyvinyl): Dream pop band, led by Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten (both guitars, vocals, "additional instrumentation"), fourth album since 2018. Pretty much what I imagine the new Garbage album will sound like. B+(**) [sp]

Greg Murphy: Snap Happy (2024 [2025], Whaling City Sound): Pianist, eighth album since 2004, mostly trio with Obasi Akoto (basses) and Steve Johns (drums), plus guitar (Mark Whitfield) on three tracks, and a vocal (Sy Smith) on one. B+(**) [cd]

Billy Nomates: Metalhorse (2025, Invada): English singer-songwriter Tor Maries, first album (2020) was clearly influenced by Sleaford Mods, third album here is much more easy-going. B+(**) [sp]

Ploy: It's Later Than You Think (2025, Dekmantel): British tech house producer Sam Smith, second album, other releases and mixes going back to 2016, hits a nice spot and sticks there. B+(**) [sp]

Scowl: Are We All Angels (2025, Dead Oceans): Postpunk band from Santa Cruz, Kat Moss is the singer, second album after a couple of EPs. This has some real heft. B+(***) [sp]

Sherelle: With a Vengeance (2025, Method 808): Last name Thomas, first album after several singles/EPs/DJ mixes. Experts tab this as a cross between footwork and jungle. I'm not one, but that sounds about right. One vocal piece shows some potential that could be extended, but the hard fast beats suffice. B+(***) [sp]

Bartees Strange: Horror (2025, 4AD): American singer-songwriter, grew up in Oklahoma, originally Bartees Cox Jr., third album. B+(*) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

African Jazz Invites O.K. Jazz (1961-70 [2025], Planet Ilunga): Vintage Congo soukous, designed for 4 LP sides, 28 tracks total, two batches credited to L'O.K. Jazz (Franco Luambo), one to L'African Jazz (Joseph Kabasele, aka Le Grande Kallé), the batch called "The African Jazz school - Style Fiesta 1961-1970" the only one with pieces that stretch beyond 3:00. B+(***) [bc]

Dave Burrell/Sam Woodyard: The Lost Session: Paris 1979 (1979 [2025], NoBusiness): Avant pianist, known on occasion to look back with delight, at the moment he was coming off an excellent Plays Ellington and Monk and a Lush Life I haven't heard, and would later go on to The Jelly Roll Joys. Here he's in a duo with Ellington's longtime drummer, whose name rarely shows up in sluglines. Mostly originals, some of which could be vintage rags, but they work in "Lush Life," "Sentimental Lady," and "Embraceable You." A- [cd]

Jimmy Lyons: Live From Studio Rivbea: 1974 & 1976 (1974-76 [2025], NoBusiness): Alto saxophonist (1931-86), best known for his work with Cecil Taylor, but his own albums are almost all worth checking out, and this one is crackling: two improv sets (27:52 and 26:10), the first with Karen Borca (bassoon), Hayes Burnett (bass), and Henry Letcher (drums), the second with Syd Smart (drums) and Burnett again. A- [cd]

Motoharu Yoshizawa/Kim Dae Hwan: Way of the Breeze (1993 [2025], NoBusiness): Japanese bassist (1931-98), credited here with "homemade electric vertical 5-strings bass," duo with Korean free jazz percussionist (1933-2003), who takes charge early with one of the most striking drum solos I've heard lately. Gets more complicated further on. A- [cd]

Old music:

Docteur Nico: Dieu De La Guitare (1954-70 [2018], Planet Ilunga): Famed Congolese guitarist Nicolas Kasanda (1939-85), started with Joseph Kabasele's L'African Jazz, split in 1963 with Rochereau to lead L'Orchestra African Fiesta. He left a couple hundred singles under variations of his nickname. B+(***) [bc]

Muriel Grossmann: Universal Code (2022 [2023], RR Gems): Saxophonist (soprano/alto/tenor), born in Paris, parents Austrian, based in Ibiza, heavily influenced by Coltrane's spiritual jazz tangent, a formula hard to resist. I missed this one, backed with guitar (Radomir Milojkovic), organ (Llorenç Barceló), drums (Uros Stamenkovic), and bass (Gina Schwarz, 3 of 9 tracks). B+(**) [bc]

Resilient Vessels: Live at the Cell (2020 [2021], RR Gems): Live set, from a residency organized by visual artist Josh Werner, who also plays bass here in a quartet with James Brandon Lewis (sax), Patrick Holmes (clarinet), and Ches Smith (drums). Pretty scintilating -- an element I missed in Lewis's new, but otherwise excellent, album. A- [bc]

Grade (or other) changes:

Robert Forster: Strawberries (2025, Tapete): Australian singer-songwriter, one of two in the Go-Betweens (1978-90), went solo after that, and seems to have excelled at recapturing the group's sound since Grant McClennan's death in 2006. This hits the spot more often than not. [was: B+(***)] A- [sp]

Lambrini Girls: Who Let the Dogs Out (2025, City Slang): British punk duo, started by others but here a duo of Phoebe Lunny (lead vocals/guitar) and Lilly Macieira-Bosgelmez (bass guitar/backing vocals), plus drums. First album after several singles and an EP I liked, 11 songs (29:25). This got enough hype I noticed it right away, but obviously didn't pay enough attention. Sound alone should have been good for a boost, even before deciphering the earned rage. [was: B+(*)] A-

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Alchemy Sound Project/Sumi Tonooka: Under the Surface (ARC) [06-27]
  • Ryan Keberle & Collectiv Do Brasil: Choro Das Aguas (Alternate Side) [07-18]
  • Wheelhouse: House and Home (Aerophonic) [07-22]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, June 9, 2025

Music Week

June archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 44332 [44300) rated (+32), 32 [23] unrated (+9).

I published a Loose Tabs on Wednesday, June 4. I've added an article index, which is useful if you want to link to a specific section. I've fixed a couple typos, edited a tiny bit, and added some more reviews of the Jake Tapper book, although nothing I find all that revealing. [PS: I added some more reviews/notes on 06-10.] If I did have to do the research, the question I'd want to find an answer to is how the people advising Biden fail to recognize that his persistent low polling after leaving Afghanistan -- which should have been a big plus after 20+ years of repeated failure -- was a problem that Biden simply wasn't articulate and/or empathetic enough to talk his way out of.

I've really avoided working up any new material since posting, so the current scratch file doesn't have much, and isn't likely to for a while. There is so much really dreadful crap going on that it's hard to know where to begin, and harder still to decide when to stop. I will say that overhearing some 10-15 minutes of Fox News spin on Trump's deployment of national guard to quell "riots" in California was enough to convince me that Trump is picking this fight because he believes it generates reactions that he believes will help him (and hurt Democrats) politically. And it's not really even immigration policy where he thinks he has the advantage. What turns him and his fans on is the action, underscored by the performative cruelty. It doesn't really matter how many people he deports -- Biden and Obama generally topped his counts -- but how people perceive his commitment and toughness.

Not much to say about music here. I got a lot of the records below from Phil Overeem's list, plus the latest batch of reviews by Dan Weiss, and what I've picked up from the first few mid-year lists that I've factored into my metacritic file:

New today and not counted yet: The Fader; Paste; Spin. Rolling Stone started off their list in typical form: "What a year it's been for great music -- as opposed to, say, everything else." But looking at my metacritic file, I'm not all that impressed: while my tastes rarely align with the critical consensus, the current top five strike me as exceptionally weak: FKA Twigs (*), Bon Iver (**), Japanese Breakfast (*), Horsegirl (**), Lady Gaga (***). Beyond that: Julien Baker & Torres (***), Mogwai (*), Black Country New Road (B), Lambrini Girls (*), Sharon Van Etten (*). Granted, I have five A- records between 14-20 (Lucy Dacus, The Delines, Craig Finn, Billy Woods, Jason Isbell). But my scale is skewed to favor records I like (also Robert Christgau and some of his close followers), and he has all but the thus-far-unreviewed Woods at A- or higher.

Speaking of mid-year polls, I'm thinking about running a jazz critics one, as I did in 2024. If so, I really should get invites out this week, with a June 30 deadline and an early-July publication date. Setting up the website should be easy enough, and firing off the mail list is easy if it works. (Last year it didn't work very well, but I have a new server this time, and supposedly it comes with a better reputation, although over-aggressive spam filters are still a risk.) One good reason for doing this would be to force me to do some prep work for the end-of-year poll.

Downside is that a lot of people who will vote in the annual poll aren't really up for a mid-year poll. But we got 90 ballots last year -- albeit only after a lot of laborious nagging -- and that produced some very useful information. And while I'm unimpressed with the non-jazz so far this year, this seems to be shaping up as a typically solid year for new jazz releases (although maybe not yet for rara avis). I haven't split my 2025 list into jazz and non-jazz yet, but I have a healthy 56 A/A- albums so far, which on first pass are evenly split 28-28.

I've been putting a fair amount of time into household tasks, which will continue for the foreseeable future. Big project this week has been to clean and reorganize the garage and shed, where along with much junk I have a lot of scrap lumber. I'm making slow but fairly steady progress, but it's taking a lot of time from my listening and writing, so things like the planning documents have been suffering.

PS: It's agreed that I'll run a Francis Davis Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll. I'll set up a website for managing the poll in the next day or two. It should appear here, under the archive website. The minimal job there is to copy the old 2024 Mid-Year directory, delete the old albums/votes, and edit the rest of the files to reflect the year change, any rule changes, and whatever other notes seem helpful. The idea is that voters should be able to refer to the website to answer any questions about the poll, so I'm trying to make it as clean and clear as possible. A simple copy from last year is a start, but still leaves a lot more that should be done.

I have an admin maillist with a dozen or so people who volunteered to help out with last year's poll. Next thing on my todo list is to write them and get them engaged. I'm contemplating a couple of minor rule changes, which I will write up and request for feedback. There isn't a lot of easily distributable work to do -- the one big thing is qualifying and communicating with voters -- but it helps me to write up my ideas and plans, to have a sounding board and get advice, and to watch over how it all works, especially to catch errors before they get out of hand. If you would like to volunteer, please let me know. (Thus far it's only voters, so if you're not one, convince me. Also if you want to vote, convince me. And if you know of someone who hasn't been voting but wants to and should be included, also let me know.)

I also have two email lists for voters: one easy for me to use, but which has had poor deliverability in the past; the other is a lot more work, but is more effective. I'll write up an invite and send it to the former list by the end of the week. When I do that, I'll also post a note on the blog, and on my Bluesky and X accounts. Deadline for ballots will be June 30. I need to review the lists, and make sure they are complete and up to date (as best I can). I'll keep track of letters and ballots as they come in, and I'll probably send nag notes a couple days ahead of deadline to whoever I haven't heard from.

ArtsFuse will publish the results and an essay or two in early July. Complete results, including individual ballots, will be on the archive website, as usual.

New records reviewed this week:

Yugen Blakrok: The Illusion of Being (2025, IOT): South African rapper, third album since 2013. B+(***) [sp]

Car Seat Headrest: The Scholars (2025, Matador): Indie band from Virginia, principally singer-songwriter Will Toledo, 13th album since 2010 per Wikipedia (first 8 were DIY, so 5th album on Matador since 2015 is more like it, with one of those a dupe from early days). Billed as a "rock opera," running 70:32 (or 127:47 deluxe), so no surprise that that I'm not able to focus enough to follow or care, but this is pretty consistently listenable, and may merit more serious consideration. B+(**) [sp]

Central Cee: Can't Rush Greatness (2025, CC4L/Columbia): British rapper Oakley Caesar-Su, first studio album after a couple mixtapes. Can't just idle around either. B+(**) [sp]

Sarah Mary Chadwick: Take Me Out to a Bar/What Am I, Gatsby? (2025, Kill Rock Stars): Singer-songwriter from New Zealand, based in Melbourne, 11th album since 2012 (per Discogs), one noted by Christgau in 2021. This one barely, with slow speak over spare piano, barely registers . . . until "I'm Not Clinging to Life," where she fights back. Interesting character, but music not so much. B [sp]

The Convenience: Like Cartoon Vampires (2025, Winspear): Indie rock guitar/drums duo from New Orleans, Nick Corson and Duncan Troast, second album, moves along. B+(**) [sp]

Cosmic Ear: Traces (2025, We Jazz): New free jazz group, mostly well known Scandinavians remembering and revering Don Cherry: Christer Bothén (bass/contrabass clarinet, ngoni, piano); Mats Gustafsson (tenor sax, flutes, clarinets, electronics, organ, harmonica); Goran Kajfes (trumpets, electronics); Kansan Zetterberg (bass, ngoni); Juan Romero (percussion, berimbau, congas); with "special guest" Manane N Lemwo (kangnan). A- [sp]

Amalie Dahl: Breaking/Building Habits (2024 [2025], SauaJazz): Danish alto saxophonist, based in Oslo, has several albums with her group Dafnie, this a quartet with guitar (Viktor Bomstad), vibes (Viktoria Holde Søndergaard), and drums (Tore Ljøkelsøy). The percussion is especially striking here. A- [bc]

Dickson & Familiar: All the Light of Our Sphere (2024 [2025], Sounds Familiar): Glenn Dickson (clarinet) and Bob Familiar (synthesizer) create ambient music that is complex and radiant, and possibly a bit tiresome. B+(**) [cd]

DJ Shaun-D: From Bubbling to Dutch House (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): As best I can tell, a Dutch electronica producer, born in The Hague, father Dutch, mother "Caribbean," may have some records as Shaun D and/or DJ Shaun -- De Schuurman, whose 2024 Bubbling Forever has much the same appeal, cites him as an influence, so presumably he's a bit older. B+(***) [sp]

Rocio Giménez López/Franco Di Renzo/Luciano Ruggieri: La Forma Del Sueño (2023 [2025], Blue Art): Pianist, from Argentina, fifth album since 2017, with bass and drums, playing a selection of jazz classics from Rollins, Parker, Coleman, Coltrane, Peacock, Monk, and Ellington. B+(***) [sp]

K. Curtis Lyle/Jaap Blonk/Alex Cunningham/Damon Smith/Kevin Cheli: A Radio of the Body (2024, Balance Point Acoustics): Lyle is a poet, originally from Los Angeles, was a founder of the Watts Writers Workshop in 1966, moved to St. Louis and recorded an album in 1971 with Julius Hemphill, but that seems to be all until this and another 2024 album. Blonk is a well-known Dutch vocalist and electronics/sound artist, and the others play violin, bass, and drums. B+(***) [sp]

Madre Vaca: Yukon (2025, Madre Vaca): Originally a quartet from Jacksonville, sixth album, now styles itself as a collective, but still a quartet on this sixth album, with three founders -- Jarrett Carter (guitar), Jonah Pierre (keyboards), and Benjamin Shorstein (drums) -- joined by Thomas Milovac (bass), who wrote 3 (of 8 songs; Carter 3, Pierre 2). B+(***) [cd]

Mean Mistreater: Do or Die (2025, Dying Victims Productions): Hard rock/heavy metal band from Austin, second album, cover couldn't be anything else even if the most conspicuous metal is just calcium. Janiece Gonzalez is the singer, with two guitars, bass, and drums. B+(*) [bc]

Ela Minus: Día (2025, Domino): Singer-songwriter from Colombia, studied at Berklee, now based in Brooklyn, second album, electropop (more or less), the catchiest refrain going "I'd love to save you but you've got to save yourself." B+(**) [sp]

MonoNeon: You Had Your Chance - Bad Attitude (2025, Floki Studios): Bassist Dywane Eric Thomas Jr., from Memphis, more than a dozen albums since 2012, some experimental/jazz, but this one is a set of eight idiosyncratic funk tunes (29:30) -- imagine Swamp Dogg starting with Prince instead of Muscle Shoals. B+(*) [bc]

Joe Morris/Elliott Sharp: Realism (2023 [2025], ESP-Disk): Two guitarists, the former also credited with "effects," the latter with "electronics," both have been on the fringe since it was called "avant-garde" (hype sheet says since 1983 and 1979, respectively). This sums their life's work up admirably. A- [cd]

Mourning [A] BLKstar: Flowers for the Living (2025, Don Giovanni): Cleveland group, formed 2015 by RA Washington and LaRoya Kent, fifth album, has soul and gospel in its history, jazz and electronics in its toolkit. B+(**) [sp]

Nao: Jupiter (2025, Little Tokyo): English neo-soul singer-songwriter Neo Jessica Joshua, fourth album since 2016. Choice cut: "Happy People." B+(***) [sp]

The Onions: Return to Paradise (2025, Hitt): Pop/rock band from Columbia, Missouri, (3) in Discogs, second album after a 2015 debut, the kind of band that would cover "Wonderful Wonderful" as surfer or maybe bubblegum but owes more to Les Baxter than to Chuck Berry. C+ [bc]

Sverre Sæbo Quintet: If, However, You Have Not Lost Your Self Control (2025, SauaJazz): Norwegian bassist, has a couple side credits but this looks to be his first as leader. All original pieces, quintet with three horns -- Heidi Kvelvane (alto sax/clarinet), Aksel Røed (baritone/tenor sax/clarinet), Andreas H. Hatzikiriakidis (trumpet) -- and drums (Amund Nordstrøm). B+(**) [bc]

Samia: Bloodless (2025, Grand Jury): Indie pop singer-songwriter, full name adds Najimy Finnerty, after parents who are actors of some note. Third album. B+(***) [sp]

The Sharp Pins: Radio DDR (2025, K/Perennial Death): Young (20) singer-songwriter from Chicago, also records as Lifeguard Dwaal Troupe, and A Towering Raven; this, after a couple DIY releases, seems to be the jangle pop project. My first impulse was to reject it, but then I started hearing things -- derivative, perhaps, not enough to stick with, but there could be something here. B+(*) [sp]

Deborah Silver/The Count Basie Orchestra: Basie Rocks! (2025, Green Hill): The singer has a previous album from 2016 called The Gold Standards, which are indeed good ol' good 'uns. The ghost band is directed by Scotty Barnhart these days, but no names jump out at me, at least until I find Patience Higgins in the "additional musicians," but the featured musicians are well known, including George Coleman and Wycliffe Gordon. I also recognize the songs, which run (chronologically) from "A Hard Day's Night" to "Every Breath You Take," most swung mightily to little avail -- "Tainted Love," "Band on the Run," "Joy to the World," and "Fly Like an Eagle" are beyond help, and "Paint It Black" is worse. Only song where they came up with a revealing new take was "Life's Been Good." B [cd]

Um, Jennifer?: Um Comma Jennifer Question Mark (2025, Final Girl): New York-based indie rock duo, Fig and Eli, offer "love-drunk and hate-fueled hallucinations," but also "a whimsical view of transness." B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

The Bitter Ends: The Bitter Ends (2022 [2025], Trouble in River City): St. Louis garage rock band, although I'd pinpoint their origins in 1960s punk, still richer melodically than 1970s punk or 1980s hardcore because they listened to AM and knew a hook when they stole one, but were definitely heading toward a rowdier and noisier future, with no real sense of how postmodernism would relativize everything. Most of this would fit right into Nuggets. Originally self-released, so technically a reissue. A- [bc]

Mazinga: Chinese Democracy Manifest: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (2024 [2025], Rubber Wolf?): Punk band from Ann Arbor, Discogs credits them with one previous album (1999), some singles/EPs (1997-2000, 2008). Bandcamp has some more singles/EPs from 2012 and 2024, as well as a 1996-2008 compilation. This looks like another comp: I can source 5 (of 10 songs) to 2024 releases, leaving 5 more unaccounted for (total 26:11). B+(***) [sp]

Sweet Rebels: The Golden Era of Algerian Pop-Raï: The Ecstatic Electro Sound of Original Raï Cassettes 1986-1991 (1986-91 [2025], We Want Sounds): Algerian music, dates back to the 1920s but developed explosively in the 1980s, especially in Oran, before Islamic fundamentalism and civil war tore Algeria apart (1991-2002), driving many musicians abroad. I was first introduced to the music with Earthworks' 1988 compilation, Raï Rebels, which includes several of the artists here, in this compilation of eight rare cassettes that works just as well. B+(***) [bc]

Old music:

Amalie Dahl/Henrik Sandstad Dalen/Jomar Jeppsson Søvik: Fairytales for Daydreamers (2022 [2023], Nice Things): Danish alto saxophonist, based in Oslo, free jazz with bass and drums. A 43:41 piece called "Chapter I" and a 12:05 encore called "Chapter II." B+(*) [sp]

Amalie Dahl: Memories (2023, Sonic Transmissions): Alto saxophonist, first solo album, four tracks, 32:15. B+(*) [sp]

Amalie Dahl/Jomar Jeppsson Søvik/Henrik Sandstad Dalen: Live in Europe (2023 [2024], Nice Things): Two trio sets a week apart, one from Prague (March 3), the other Brussels (March 10). B+(**) [sp]

Andy Haas/David Grollman: Act of Love (2023, Resonant Music, EP): Saxophone and percussion duo, Grollman also credited with balloon and voice -- reading poems written by his late wife, Rita Stein-Grollman, who died early 2023 from "the cruelties of the [Early Onset] Alzheimer's Disease." Short (7 tracks, 17:34) and rather harrowing, or perhaps cathartic. B+(*) [bc]

Les Rallizes Denudés: Blind Baby Has It's Mothers Eyes ([2003], bootleg): Japanese experimental noise band, formed in 1967, active through 1988 and again from 1993-96, parts of their discography have appeared on Temporal Drift since 2021, including a live tape I've heard, Citta' '93, and evidently there is much more in the works: AOTY has a list of "86 Bootlegs (+7 unsorted dates/audience recordings), of which this item has been singled out by Phil Freeman for a AMG review (****), and which popped up on a Phil Overeem list, and is accessible on YouTube (full album, no track information or dates, 54:06). Presumably this was recorded somewhat earlier -- shortly before or after their hiatus is a fair guess. The historical uncertainty and lack of commercial packaging bothers me, as that's necessarily a part of my job reviewing, so I'm inclined to hedge. Also I'm not wild about the closing amplifier feedback, but for a long while, you could describe this as drawing a line from the Velvet Underground through Pulnoc and on toward oblivion, and that's interesting both as concept and revelation. B+(***) [yt]

Mazinga: Mazinga (1999, Reanimator): Ann Arbor punk group, first album after a couple singles/EPs, recorded less after 2000, with more singles/EPs in 2008, 2012, and 2024. Fifteen fast ones, 37:30, including a cover of "Mongoloid" (Devo), although I'm less happy that it's followed up with one called "That Yellow Bastard," but the closer ("No Rewards") helps. B+(*) [bc]

Deborah Silver: The Gold Standards (2016, Deborah Silver): Last heard fronting the Basie ghost orchestra in their romp through a batch of rock-era pop songs that will never become jazz standards, she presented the voice and phrasing of a capable standards singer, so I thought I'd check out this debut (and so far only other) album, where the standards are indeed golden -- "The Nearness of You," "Ain't Misbehavin'," "Slow Boat to China," "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," "I Could Write the Book," etc. Alan Broadbent plays piano and arranged for a big band that's short on brass but long on reeds. She's about as good as I expected, but still this comes up a bit short. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Benny Benack III: This Is the Life (Bandstand Presents) [06-27]
  • Dave Burrell/Sam Woodyard: The Lost Session: Paris 1979 (NoBusiness) [05-02]
  • Ran Blake/Claire Ritter: Eclipse Orange (2019, Zoning)
  • Anita Donndorff: Thirsty Soul (Fresh Sound New Talent) [06-06]
  • Noah Haidu: Standards III (Sunnyside) [06-06]
  • Izumi Kimura & Gerry Hemingway: How the Dust Falls (Auricle) [05-20]
  • Litorina Saxophone Quartet: Leaking Pipes (NoBusiness) [05-16]
  • Jimmy Lyons: Live From Studio Rivbea: 1974 & 1976 (NoBusiness) [05-02]
  • Misha Mengelberg/Sabu Toyozumi: The Analects of Confucius (2000, NoBusiness) [05-02]
  • Claire Ritter: Songs of Lumière (Zoning) [01-01]
  • Jeff Walton: Pack Animals (none) [06-27]
  • John Yao and His 17 Piece Instrument: Points in Time (See Tao) [07-11]
  • Motoharu Yoshizawa/Kim Dae Hwan: Way of the Breeze (1993, NoBusiness) [05-02]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, June 2, 2025

Music Week

June archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 44300 [44276) rated (+24), 23 [22] unrated (+1).

Rated count well down this week. Main reason was I spent two days cooking, which are documented in the notebook here and here, and on Facebook here (second dinner just merited a comment to the initial post). Both came out of a desire to use up leftovers from an earlier and more ambitious Thai/Burmese dinner (cf. Facebook and notebook). I feel like I'm done with that sort of thing for a while, but am generally pleased with the food. While I"m conscious of my physical and (to some extent) mental decline, this is one area where I'm still capable of producing exemplary results. In some respects, perhaps better than ever: while I've always been able to follow complex recipes, I'm much better than I used to be at fixing mistakes and improvising enhancements.

Only two A- records this week, but a whopping 10 B+(***): seemed for a while like everything was landing there. Good chance a couple of those could have benefitted from the extra plays I gave Ochs and Truesdell -- not that my third play of Madre Vaca today has moved the needle beyond B+(***). I've struggled a bit picking out new records to check out, but a new list from Phil Overeem as well as the latest from Dan Weiss should help. A big part of finding as much as I do comes from knowing who to lean on.

My count of Bluesky followers was stuck at 102 for a week, then dropped before recovering. I haven't been posting much, but got to one of this week's two pick hits today. I skipped Truesdell because I couldn't find a playable link, although the previous volume, Lines of Color (an A- in 2015) seems to be on Soundcloud. Some info on the new album is here. Still, my forecast is for below-average reviewing for the next few weeks. While I'm unlikely to do much cooking, I have a lot of tasks around the house to attend to, and other things that will take me away from the computer. When on the computer, I hope to make more progress on my planning documents. I'm generating a lot of ideas -- far more than I can possibly act on, I'm afraid, but much that strikes me as worthwhile.

I also lost an afternoon last week when Robert Christgau's website got shut off. It took a good deal longer than it should have to fix, due to various miscommunications between Christgau, me, and the vendor. It's been resolved, and shouldn't recur. It reminded me that the tech stuff is more fun than the writing, not least because it can reach a successful conclusions, whereas writing never feels really done. (Cooking in this regard is more like programming, and possibly more satisfying.)

One thing I need to think about is whether to run a Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll. Target publication should be July 1, so this is about when I should send invites out. I don't quite feel up to it. Related to this is that we haven't had further discussions since Francis Davis passed. I haven't felt the need to move on, so haven't pressed the issue, it would be unfortunate to miss the opportunity.

I've avoided doing any work on Loose Tabs, but the last one came out on May 14, and the scratch file turns out to have a lot more in it than I remembered (4800 words), which is probably enough to dump out on its own -- especially as it's already becoming dated: only two tweets and a Roaming Charges since May 20, nothing since May 26. On the other hand, I wouldn't be surprised to find a dozen or maybe even two open tabs (which I need to clean up, as I'm already getting snap complaints). So expect something on that front later this week, even if I don't put much more work into it.

I got my books from the big April 25 Book Roundup. I finished Pankaj Mishra's The World After Gaza before they came, so read Gideon Levy's The Killing of Gaza in the meantime. While Mishra went deep into the psyches that allowed and ultimately rationalized the genocide -- territory I was generally familiar with from Norman Finkelstein and Idith Zertal, although it resonates with books by dozens of other writers, and is more systematic than anything before -- Levy just batters you with a series of weekly columns, each with new details of the same old brutality, and many redundant salvos of his opinion that most Israelis have lost all sense of what they're doing, and ultimately of their own humanity. It was hard reading, but thankfully ended after less than six months, leaving it to the reader to fill in the following year, same as the old but even more craven.

After that, I moved straight into Greg Grandin: America, América: A New History of the New World, despite its daunting length. I'm still in the first section, but I'm already impressed by the novelty of describing the Spanish Conquest through the words of its dissidents, and not just Bartolomé De Las Casas. To get a sense both of the book and of its relevance today, see Grandin's TomDispatch piece, The Conquest Never Ends.

New records reviewed this week:

Tunde Adebimpe: Thee Black Boltz (2025, Sub Pop): Singer-songwriter born in St. Louis, parents from Nigeria, was lead vocalist in TV on the Radio (2004-14), first solo album. I've heard the band albums, but don't remember them at all (even the two I graded A-), but this is probably in the same ballpark, but with less ballast, which I'd guess makes it less impressive but more appealing. At least that's how this one leans. B+(**) [sp]

Aesop Rock: Black Hole Superette (2025, Rhymesayers): Rapper Ian Bavitz, ten albums and more since his 1998 mixtape. B+(***) [sp]

Jon Balke: Skrifum (2023 [2025], ECM): Norwegian pianist, two dozen or so albums since 1991, this one solo. B+(*) [sp]

Bon Iver: Sable, Fable (2025, Jagjaguwar): Singer-songwriter Justin Vernon, fifth album since 2007, all well received, this one currently tied for 2nd place in my Metacritic file (with Japanese Breakfast, behind FKA Twigs). I've never seen the point, but the soul/funk effects have some appeal. This repackages Sable, his 2024 3-song 12:17 EP, on one CD, supplemented with the longer Fable (9 songs, 29:20) on a second. B+(*) [sp]

Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful (2025, MCEO/Columbia): A pop star of some renown, 7 of her previous 8 albums (since 2007) have charted top-five. Big production, hits intermittently. B+(**) [sp]

Robert Forster: Strawberries (2025, Tapete): Australian singer-songwriter, one of two in the Go-Betweens (1978-90), went solo after that, and seems to have excelled at recapturing the group's sound since Grant McClennan's death in 2006. This hits the spot about half of the time. B+(***) [sp]

Joe Lovano: Homage (2023 [2025], ECM): Tenor saxophonist, backed here by what was once known as Tomasz Stanko's "young Polish trio": Marcin Wasilewski (piano), Slawomir Kurkiewicz (bass), and Michal Miskiewicz (drums). Starts with a piece by Zbigniew Seifert, followed by five Lovano originals. No shortage of talent here, but also no interest in raising the temperature from a dull chill. B+(**) [sp]

The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra: Mixed Bag (2025, Summit): Originally a trombone player, sings, composes (4 of 11 here), arranges for big bands. Early albums include a Glenn Miller Project. Fourth album with this group (not his first big band). B+(**) [cd]

Ava Mendoza: The Circular Train (2024, Palilalia): Electric guitarist, approaches free jazz from an experimental rock framework, or maybe vice versa, which is one approach to fusion (or two?). Solo. Sings two songs. Covers "Irene, Goodnight." B+(*) [bc]

Larry Ochs/Joe Morris/Charles Downs: Every Day → All the Way (2023 [2025], ESP-Disk): Tenor/sopranino sax, bass, drums; the former best known for his work in ROVA, but has a long history of bracing free sax work, to which this is an excellent addition. A- [cd]

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet: HausLive 4 (2024 [2025], Hausu Mountain): Guitarist, credits his first inspiration to Muddy Waters, started in rock bands like Trash Monkeys and Harry Pussy, but by 2009 was mostly doing solo improv, expanding to duos and sometimes more. recording Music for Four Guitars in 2021, then finding some extra guitarists to play it live -- the others here are Wendy Eisenberg, Ava Mendoza, and Shane Parrish. B+(**) [bc]

PinkPantheress: Fancy That (2025, Warner, EP): British pop singer-songwriter Victoria Walker, one album, second mixtape, just 20:28. B+(*) [sp]

Preservation Brass: For Fat Man (2025, Sub Pop): This seems to be different from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band founded by Allan Jaffe in the 1960s and led by his son Ben Jaffe since 1989, but shares ties to the New Orleans jazz institution. Fat Man is the late drummer Kerry Hunter, who is credited as playing here. Six brass (including sousaphone), two reeds (tenor sax and clarinet), two drummers and a percussionist, and some vocals, playing trad jazz with considerable grit and polish. B+(***) [sp]

Marc Ribot: Map of a Blue City (2025, New West): A jazz guitarist of much note, he has done a wide range of things, ranging from fringe to fusion to agitprop to Postizos Cubanos and Ceramic Dog, tries his hand at intimate singer-songwriter fare here, mostly solo but with the occasional odd guest spot. Hard to hear much here, but some interesting bits. B+(*) [sp]

Viagra Boys: Viagr Aboys (2025, Shrimptech/YEAR0001): Swedish post-punk band, fourth album since 2018. Mixed bag, evidently by design, to dilute the fast and noisy ones. B+(***) [sp]

Jim White/Marisa Anderson: Swallowtail (2022 [2024], Thrill Jockey): Drums and guitar duo, the former an Australian with Chicago connections who's played in many rock bands since 1980 (and not the only Jim White you're likely to run across), Discogs credits him with 7 albums: 1 as the sole name, 2 as the first name (both with Anderson), 4 further down the slug line. Anderson, based in Portland, has a dozen albums since 2005, mostly solo, other duos with William Tyler and Tashi Dorji. B+(*) [sp]

Yeule: Evangelic Girl Is a Gun (2025, Ninja Tune): A "music project" from Singapore, fourth album, started as "glitch pop," this seems more conventionally pop. B+(**) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Nellie McKay: Gee Whiz: The Get Away From Me Demos (2003 [2005], Omnivore): Born in London, mother American, grew up in New York, holding dual citizenship. Has since become notable for interpreting others' songs, but wrote her own for her 18-song, 2-CD 2004 debut, which is reprised (or anticipated?) here. Without looking back, the demos don't sound stripped down, possibly because the main instrument is piano. Half (or more) of this makes me wonder whether I underestimated the debut, but caution keeps me from overestimating this nice reminder. Adds three bonus tracks (which do sound like demos). B+(***) [sp]

Moskito: Idolar (2001 [2025], Awesome Tapes From Africa): South African kwaito group, started with Mahlubi Radebe and Zwelakhe Mtshali, adding two more, first album. Not very polished, especially in the rap/vocals, but the beats have grown on me. B+(***) [sp]

Gerry Mulligan: Nocturne (1992 [2025], Red): Baritone saxophonist (1927-96), topped DownBeat's poll a record 29 straight times, with a previously unreleased tape from late in his career, a quartet with Harold Danko (piano), Dean Johnson (bass), and Ron Vincent (drums). B+(**) [sp]

John Surman: Flashpoints and Undercurrents (1969 [2025], Cuneiform): English saxophonist, plays all of them but here just soprano and baritone, plus bass clarinet, has had a notable career on ECM since 1981, but started in 1969 near the founding of the Anglo-European avant-garde with an eponymous album followed by groups called The Trio and S.O.S., and a Penguin Guide crown album, Tales of the Algonquin (1971) -- as well as side-credits like Extrapolation (1969, with John McLaughlin). Cuneiform has uncovered a couple more tapes from 1969 (Flashpoint, and Way Back When), and now this one, a rousing tentet with Kenny Wheeler on trumpet, three more saxophonists (Alan Skidmore, Ronnie Scott, and Mike Osborne), two trombones, piano, bass, and drums. This is rather extraordinary, but the overwhelming power can be a bit much. B+(***) [dl]

Ryan Truesdell: Shades of Sound: Gil Evans Project Live at Jazz Standard Vol. 2 (2014 [2025], Outside In Music): Composer, arranger, conductor, appeared in 2012 with Centennial: Newly Discovered Works of Gil Evans, and followed that up with an excellent live "Gil Evans Project" album, Lines of Color (2015). This Vol. 2 comes from the same stand, and reminds us how impressive the interplay and the solos were. A- [cd]

Old music:

Syran Mbenza: Sisika (1986, Syllart): Congolese soukous guitarist-singer (b. 1950), played in several notable groups, with a few albums under his own name (or M'Benza). Five songs (28:08). B+(***) [sp]

Soft Works [Elton Dean/Allan Holdsworth/Hugh Hopper/John Marshall]: Abracadabra in Osaka (2003 [2020], MoonJune): Soft Machine was a Canterbury prog rock band that started as a vehicle for Kevin Ayers and Daevid Allen, who soon departed for other projects, as did drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt, leaving a trio that having run out of vocalists gravitated towards jazz, especially when saxophonist Elton Dean joined. Their main run was from 1966-78, with several revivals and spinoffs (Soft Heap, Soft Head, Soft Ware, Soft Mountain, Soft Bounds, and from 2005-15 Soft Machine Legacy). This iteration -- with Dean, Allan Holdsworth (guitar), Hugh Hopper (bass guitar), and John Marshall (drums) -- cut one album before touring Japan, where this was taped. B+(***) [bc]

Soft Works: Abracadabra (2002 [2025], MoonJune): This was the quartet's studio album, released in Japan in 2003, and remastered, with two bonus "live in Tokyo" tracks. Appealing especially at first, but pretty much interchangeable with the live album. B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Alon Farber Hagiga: Dreams | Dream (Origin) [06-16]
  • David Grollman/Andy Haas/Sabrina Salamone: SCRT (self-released)
  • Greg Murphy: Snap Happy (Whaling City Sound) [06-06]
  • Felipe Salles: Camera Obscura (Tapestry) [06-06]
  • Julian Shore Trio: Sub Rosa (Chill Tone) [06-06]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Music Week

May archive (final).

Music: Current count 44276 [44235) rated (+41), 22 [22] unrated (+0).

I had thought I might try to get this posted late Sunday night. I've noticed that many of my tasks have to wait until a week day, and spending Monday on Music Week makes it hard to get the week started. As it turns out, this not only chewed up Monday but most of Tuesday as well. I know it doesn't look like it. The cutover occurred Monday morning, but seeing as how this was the last Monday of May, I had extra work to do in closing out the May Streamnotes archive and opening up a new one for June. Then I found that I was three months behind in the annual and artist index. That literally took the rest of Monday, plus a big chunk of Tuesday. But now I'm pleased to say that I'm caught up, for the first time in at least six months.

I posted a Book Roundup last Friday. I ordered four books thanks to my research:

  • Andrew Boyd: I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor
  • Greg Grandin: America, América: A New History of the New World
  • Sarah Maza: Thinking About History
  • Jathan Sadowski: The Mechanic and the Lulddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism

I've recently read the Carlos Lozada and Pankaj Mishra books, and found them both very useful. After finishing Mishra's study of how the Shoah has been politicized in ways that have ultimately been allowed Israel to commit genocide, I started reading Gideon Levy's The Killing of Gaza (from a previous Book Roundup, which provides a micro-journalist complement to Mishra's macro-historical survey: a lot of gory details, framed by the author's outrage. I get the point, and got it in real time based on skimpier reporting. The one fairly big thing in the book that hasn't been adequately reported is the evidently near-unanimous support the war has received from within Israel. Mishra provides some explanation for that, but here more details might help.

I've also bought and poked around some of the music books (generally, the ones with cover pics, including Glenn McDonald's book on Spotify), but haven't found much time to go deeper. Some issues there I would like to write up at some point.

I should also note that I answered a question on May 25, mostly about my listening habits. I have very little to add on the records below, and little to say about my near-future plans. Perhaps just that it's 2:30 AM as I'm trying to wrap this up, and these days I'm getting awful tired at that hour. So let's hit post and be done with it.

New records reviewed this week:

Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons: Live in Philadelphia (2022-24 [2025], Otherly Love/Ars Nova Workshop): Alto saxophonist, joined Sun Ra in the 1950s and continues leading his ghost band as he's turned 101. Bandcamp page isn't very forthcoming about recording date(s) and credits -- says group founded 2022 and includes "guitarist DMHOTEP alongside an all-star cast of rotating musicians including Immanuel Wilkins, Yo La Tengo's James McNew, James Brandon Lewis, The War on Drugs' Charlie Hall, Wolf Eyes, and more." (Later info: the group first appeared in 2022, and this "collects 16 exploratory tracks from the ongoing series' first two years, captured live on stage at Solar Myth." The still incomplete list of musicians also includes William Parker, Eric Revis, Luke Stewart, Chad Taylor, and vocalist Tara Middleton. One vocal pegs Allen as 99. Another source mentions nine performances "between November 2022 and January 2024.") Some interesting material here, but there's a lot of it (88 minutes), and it's can be scattered and/or marginal. B+(***) [sp]

Eric Bibb: In the Real World (2024, Stony Plain/True North): Blues singer-songwriter, couple dozen albums since 1972, has a nice, easygoing manner for his songs. B+(**) [sp]

Bloodest Saxophone Featuring Crystal Thomas: Extreme Heat (2024, Dialtone): Japanese jump blues/swing band founded 1998 and led by Koda "Young Corn" Shintaro, seems to have made a breakthrough when Big Jay McNeely toured Japan for a pair of 2016-17 live albums. They reciprocated with In Texas, working with blues singers (Texas Blues Ladies, Texas Queens), finally settling on Thomas, who also plays a mean trombone. B+(*) [sp]

Chris Cain: Good Intentions Gone Bad (2024, Alligator): Blues singer-guitarist, "(4)" at Discogs, but he's been around, had three albums on Blind Pig in the early 1990s, second on Alligator (the first inevitably titled Raising Cain). Seems easy, but grew on me. B+(**) [sp]

Chuck D: Chuck D Presents Enemy Radio: Radio Armageddon (2025, Def Jam): Public Enemy majordomo retains his signature sound, which sounds as hard-edged as ever, but the impact is blunted by the radio concept, which chops and screws everything. B+(*) [sp]

Paul Dunmall Quartet: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (2022 [2024], RogueArt): British avant-saxophonist (tenor/soprano), many albums, with Liam Noble (piano), John Edwards (bass), and Mark Sanders (drums). Joint improv, making it look easy as well as dazzling. A- [cdr]

Early James: Medium Raw (2025, Easy Eye Sound): Singer-songwriter James Mullis, from Alabama, third album, produced by Dan Auerbach, showed up on a blues list for could just as well be taken for a low-fi folkie. B [sp]

Bill Frisell/Andrew Cyrille/Kit Downes: Breaking the Shell (2022 [2024], Red Hook): Guitar, drums, organ. Label was founded by a former ECM producer, which may help explain the big names and small ambitions. B+(*) [sp]

Don Glori: Paper Can't Wrap Fire (2025, Mr Bongo): Australia-based songwriter Gordon Li, plays muiltiple instruments, uses various singers (sounding like typical "alt-r&b"), also employs a pretty fair saxophonist, likes Brazilian grooves, shows some promise but doesn't deliver much. B [sp]

Larry Goldings: I Will (2023-24 [2025], Sam First): Probably better known as an organ player, many albums since 1991, playe piano here, a trio with bass (Karl McComas-Reichl) and drums (Christian Euman), one original and five standards, the title tune from Lennon-McCartney. B+(*) [sp]

Homeboy Sandman & Brand the Builder: Manners (2025, self-released, EP): Even shorter than usual: four songs, 10:50. B+(*) [bc]

Ute Lemper: Pirate Jenny (2025, The Audiophile Society): German singer and actress, released her first Kurt Weill collection in 1987 (her only previous album was the original German cast recording of Cats), and has returned several times, with a side line of cabaret songs. B+(*) [sp]

Magnus Lindgren & John Beasley: The Butterfly Effect (2023 [2024], ACT Music): Saxophone and piano duo, the former playing tenor, clarinet, and flute. Originals by either or both, plus "Come Together." B [sp]

Taj Mahal & Keb' Mo': Room on the Porch (2025, Concord Jazz): The former has been warming up blues and roots songs since 1967, has written plenty of his own but has a genius for covers that rivals and has probably caught up with Ray Charles. The latter got a lot of hype in the 1990s when he tried to fill those shoes but failed. They finally got together, hyped as two "blues giants," in 2017 for a nondescript album, but this one is better, perhaps because it's loose enough to just let that genius seep to the surface. B+(***) [sp]

Fergus McCreadie: Stream (2024, Edition): Scottish pianist, several albums since 2018, this a trio with bass (David Bowden) and drums (Stephen Henderson). Some serious piano jazz. B+(***) [sp]

Nate Mercereau: Excellent Traveler (2024, Third Man): Guitarist, debut was the 2019 album Joy Techniques, appears on a couple albums with Carlos Niño (who gets a guest spot here, as does André 3000), otherwise this is solo, aside from samples. Listed as electronic, but shows up on jazz lists, but could work as some kind of experimentalist soundtrack. B+(***) [sp]

Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas: Totality (2025, Drag City): Two fringe jazz/rock bands from Chicago, the former led by bassist Joshua Abrams, with Jason Stein (bass clarinet), and Mikel Patrick Avery (drums); the latter with Cooper Crain (organ/keys), Rob Frye (flute/synth), and Dan Quinlivan (electronics). B+(**) [sp]

Nikara Presents . . . Black Wall Street: The Queen of Kings County (2022-23 [2024], Switch Hit): Vibraphonist Nikara Warren, from Brooklyn, granddaughter of Kenny Barron, group name recapitulates title of her 2021 debut album. Most tracks with trumpet (Alonzo Demetrius), tenor sax (Craig Hill), keyboards, guitar, electric bass, and drums, plus some extras (including several Barrons), working covers of Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield in with the originals. B+(**) [sp]

Bruno Parrinha/Carlos "Zingaro"/Fred Lonberg-Holm/João Madeira: Enleiro (2024 [2025], 4DaRecord): Chamber jazz quartet, with bass clarinet, violin, cello, bass, emphasis on strings, but also free improv that is always in motion. B+(***) [cd]

Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band: Honeysuckle (2025, Family Owned): Actually just a trio, from Brown County, Indiana, with the Reverend on guitar and vocals, Breezy Peyton on washboard, and Jacob Powell on drums. Eleventh album since, with some guest spots. B+(**) [sp]

Dan Phillips Trio: Array in Brown (2025, Lizard Breath): Guitarist, leader of Chicago Edge Ensemble, trio here with Krzysztof Pabian (bass) and Avreeayl Ra (drums). B+(***) [bc]

Ron Rieder: Día Precioso! (2025, Meson): Composer, from Massachusetts, pictured with piano but not listed as playing here, second album, cover notes arrangements by Ricardo Monzón, 8 songs, 32:48, a mix of Afro-Cuban jazz, sambas, mambos, and tango. B+(*) [cd]

Scheen Jazzorkester & Fredrik Ljungkvist: Framåt! (2023 [2025], Grong): Norwegian big band, started as a jazz composers workshop in 2011, nine albums, most feature guest artists like the Swedish tenor saxophonist here, who composed all of the pieces here. B+(***) [cd]

Elijah Shiffer: City of Birds: Volume 2 (2024 [2025], self-released): Alto saxophonist, several previous albums including Volume 1 (2023), "dedicated to the birds of New York city," with a field guide on the cover, but the grooves are effectively a cutting contest with Kevin Sun (tenor sax), backed by bass and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Luke Stewart/Silt Remembrance Ensemble: The Order (2023 [2025], Cuneiform): Bassist, DC area, has a lot of projects over the last decade, the best known being Irreversible Entanglements, but he's also played on recent albums by David Murray and James Brandon Lewis, has two very good Silt Trio albums, and a Remembrance Quintet album. This combines those two groups, so you get three saxophonists (Jamal Moore, Brian Settles, and Daniel Carter, the latter also on trumpet), with Chad Taylor (drums). While much of this is very impressive, some of the horn thrash just wore me out. B+(***) [dl]

Melinda Sullivan/Larry Goldings: Big Foot (2024, Colorfield): Goldings is well known for his organ and piano work. First album for Sullivan, who Wikipedia identifies as a dancer, but she's effectively a percussionist here, with variations on tap dance, while Goldings plays piano figures on one hand, and synth baselines on the other. Some cuts add extra musicians, with Goldings' daughter Anna offering a vocal. B+(*) [sp]

Sumac and Moor Mother: The Film (2025, Thrill Jockey): Canadian-American metal band, five albums on their own since 2015, also have three collaborations with Keiji Haino before this one with jazz rapper Camae Ayewa. (This was preceded by a Moor Mother remix of a Sumac track on a 2024 EP.) She adds weight a message that they probably already considered, while they provide the gravity. Just "don't look away." A- [sp]

Tune-Yards: Better Dreaming (2025, 4AD): Duo of Merrill Garbus (vocals, etc.) and Nate Brenner (bass, etc.), sixth studio album since 2009. I can't say as I've ever been impressed, amused and/or simply pleased, although I keep trying. (Friends love their albums, notably Robert Christgau, who has graded the series { A, A, A-, A-, A }, vs. my { **, *, **, B, B }.) Some interest here, but hard to hear her even with three plays. File under "distinctions not cost-effective." B+(*) [sp]

Kali Uchis: Sincerely, (2025, Capitol): Pop singer-songwriter, born in Virginia, father from Colombia, where she lived during her high school years, has a couple albums in Spanish as well as those in English, this her fifth since 2018. Hit or miss in the past, neither this time, although I could see getting comfortable in her groove. B+(**) [sp]

Nasheet Waits: New York Love Letter (Bitter Sweet) (2021-22 [2024], Giant Step Arts): Drummer, many side credits (both free and mainstream, perhaps best known for Tarbaby and Jason Moran), just his third album as leader (although Discogs counts over 20). With Mark Turner (tenor sax), Steve Nelson (vibes), and Rashaan Carter (bass), opening with two originals, with pieces by Moran and Andrew Hill before closing with two Coltranes. Turner, in particular, was having a very strong year. B+(***) [bc]

Michael Waldrop: Native Son (2024 [2025], Origin): Drummer, Discogs shows a 2002 album, I have four since 2015. Cover credits for Vasil Hadžimanov (piano) and Martin Gjakonovski (bass), recorded on their turf in Serbia, and small print for percussionists Brad Dutz and Jose Rossy (6 and 3 cuts, respectively). B+(**) [cd]

David Weiss Sextet: Auteur (2023 [2024], Origin): Trumpet player, FSNT debut 2001, some interesting albums/projects (including New Jazz Composers Octet), this one five originals plus covers from Freddie Hubbard and Slide Hampton. With Nicole Glover (tenor sax), Myron Walden (alto sax), piano, bass, and drums (EJ Strickland). B+(***) [sp]

Ben Wendel: Understory: Live At The Village Vanguard (2022 [2024], Edition): Canadian saxophonist, based in New York, ten or so albums since 2009, with a "world-class rhythm section" of Gerald Clayton (piano), Linda May Han Oh (bass), and Obed Calvaire (drums). Original pieces (one cover), well done. B+(**) [sp]

Carolyn Wonderland: Truth Is (2025, Alligator): Blues singer-songwriter from Houston, née Bradford, based in Austin, dozen albums since 2002, has some songs and a powerful voice. B+(**) [sp]

Carlos "Zingaro"/Flo Stoffner/Fred Lonberg-Holm/João Madeira: Na Parede (2023 [2025], 4DaRecord): Violin, guitar, cello, bass, pretty much the same avant-chamber jazz lineup as on bassist Madeira's other recent production (Enleiro, listed under Bruno Parrinha, replaced here by the guitarist; both records are, of course, joint improv). Although this seems like a self-limiting concept, but details really replay close listening. A- [cd]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Ella Fitzgerald: The Moment of Truth: Ella at the Coliseum (1967 [2025], Verve): Previously unreleased live tape, from the year she moved from Verve to Capitol, which tried to throttle her jazz instincts and move her into covering contemporary pop songs -- two examples here are "Alfie" and "Music to Watch Girls By" -- but her band here was well stocked with Ellington horns (including Gonsalves, Hodges, and Carney on saxophones, Cat Anderson and Cootie Williams on trumpet) and she couldn't help but swing. B+(**) [sp]

Masahiko Togashi: Session in Paris Vol. 1: Song of Soil (1979 [2025], We Want Sounds): Japanese drummer (1940-2007), recorded this album with Don Cherry (cornet/flute/trumpet/percussion) and Charlie Haden (bass). A minor add to the Cherry discography, but he's not likely to be remembered for his flute. The drummer is worth focusing on. B+(**) [bc]

Masahiko Togashi: Session in Paris Vol. 2: Colour of Dream (1979 [2025], We Want Sounds): Same time and place, but less star power: Albert Mangelsdorff (trombone), Takashi Kako (a Japanese pianist based in Paris), and Jean-François Jenny Clark (bass). A minor add to the Mangelsdorff discography -- the German is less reknowned in the US than Cherry or Haden, but should be regarded as a comparably major figure -- and this suggests that Kako might be worth further investigation. B+(**) [bc]

Old music:

Nate Mercereau: Joy Techniques (Deluxe) (2019 [2020], How So): Guitarist, most tracks guitar synth, also credits for programming and percussion, but label says "no keyboards were used in the making of this record," and most tracks have Aaron Steele on drums. Deluxe version adds 4 tracks. B+(**) [sp]

Sumac: The Healer (2024, Thrill Jockey): Sources refer to them as "American/Canadian metal band." I'm always put off by the metal label -- not something I disapprove of in principle, but I've rarely found any reason to enjoy in practice -- but this album got enough widespread approval last year I'm surprised that I didn't get to it earlier. Fifth album since 2015. Four long pieces, for 76:08. Guitar/bass/drums, with Aaron Turner growling. B+(*) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Coco Chatru Quartet: Limbokolia (Trygger Music) [06-00]: LP
  • The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra: Mixed Bag (Summit) [05-23]
  • Joe Morris/Elliott Sharp: Realism (ESP-Disk) [05-30]
  • Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio: Armageddon Flower (TAO Forms) [06-20]
  • Kathy Sanborn: Romance Language (Pacific Coast Jazz) [07-11]
  • Deborah Silver/The Count Basie Orchestra: Basie Rocks! (Green Hill) [05-02]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, May 19, 2025

Music Week

May archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 44235 [44197) rated (+38), 22 [21] unrated (+1).

I published a Loose Tabs on May 14 (actually, late Tuesday night). I figured I should clear the decks, as I would be cooking on Wednesday and Thursday. I had shopped on Tuesday, and planned out a fairly grand Thai menu -- panang curry duck, pad thai, tom kha gai (soup) -- plus that Burmese tea leaf salad I wasn't able to pull off for my birthday dinner. I thought of pineapple upside down cake for dessert, with ice cream. I also picked up some odds and ends, which turned into three side dishes: cucumber salad, water chestnut salad, and grilled Japanese eggplant with Thai peanut sauce. I wrote up lots of notes as I worked. Rather than trying to recap them here, you can find them in my notebook.

The two days of cooking took my mind of writing, including reviewing any records. That's reflected in the reduced rated count this week, but not severely. I think we have a nice mix of exceptional records this week, although I did fall down on my promise to tweet about them on the fly. I don't feel like I'm getting much value out of Bluesky at the moment, although I'll concede that part of the problem there is I'm not putting much work into it.

I have very little idea what I'll be doing this coming week. I could try to wrap up a books file, but the amount of stuff worth mentioning is huge -- especially if you include the propaganda and nonsense that one can only ridicule.

New records reviewed this week:

Julien Baker & Torres: Send a Prayer My Way (2025, Matador): Two singer-songwriters with enough reputation for me to have checked out their solo catalogs -- three Baker, four Torres -- and accorded them respectable if unenthusiastic B+(*) grades (5, with ** for the first Torres, B for the middle Baker; Baker is also one-third of Boygenius, stuck at B for a widely-admired album and two EPs), merged here as "an American country duo," which means common songs with somewhat southern voices and (mostly) acoustic arrangements. The vocal contrasts help sustain interest, which may be all the songs ever needed. B+(***) [sp]

Jon Batiste: Beethoven Blues [Batiste Piano Series, Vol. 1] (2024, Verve): Pianist from Louisiana, studied at Juilliard, was music director and bandleader on Colbert 2015-22, has since moved on to other projects, which this as the first of a promised series of solo piano explorations, with a mix of original pieces and covers. Given my ingrained antipathy to nearly all classical music, the best I can say here is that nothing here bothers me, and this is downright pleasant. B+(*) [sp]

Blondshell: If You Asked for a Picture 2025, Partisan): Singer-songwriter Sabrina Teitelbaum, grew up in New York, where her father ran a vaping products company, based in Los Angeles, second album, alternate title "More Songs About Bad Faith and Sexual Ambivalence." B+(**) [sp]

Buck 65: Keep Moving (2025, Handsmade): Rapper from Nova Scotia, started releasing albums around 1999, with 2003's Talkin' Honky Blues an early masterpiece, ran out of steam around 2014, but nearly everything since his 2022 reboot has been terrific. This one compiles 31 short, sharp pieces (51:25). A- [bc]

Mackenzie Carpenter: Hey Country Queen (2025, Valory Music): Country singer-songwriter from Georgia, first album, makes a nice impression. B+(*) [sp]

Lucy Dacus: Forever Is a Feeling (2025, Geffen): Singer-songwriter from Virginia, fourth album since 2016, not counting her share of Boygenius. This almost won me over with sound, and the lyric videos almost convinced me the words have weight. I don't normally factor politics into my reviews, but while I was sitting on the fence here, I read in Wikipedia of her referring to Obama as "war criminal" and took that as the tie-breaker. A- [sp]

Erik Friedlander: Dirty Boxing (2024, Skipstone): Cellist, several dozen albums since 1991. This one is backed by Uri Caine (piano), Mark Helias (bass), and Ches Smith (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Erik Friedlander: Floating City (2024, Skipstone): Discogs combines this as a second CD with Dirty Boxing, but Spotify has they as separate albums. Another quartet, with Mark Helias returning on bass, but the piano/drums replaced with guitar (Wendy Eisenberg) and voice (Sara Serpa). B [sp]

HiTech: Honeypaqq Vol. 1 (2025, Loma Vista): Techno group from Detroit, rapper-producer-DJs go by King Milo, Milf Melly, and 47Chops; two previous albums, 11-12 cuts but time probably comes up short. B+(*) [bc]

Jenny Hval: Iris Silver Mist (2025, 4AD): Norwegian singer-songwriter, studied in Australia, started in a gothic metal band, worked through a couple more bands, moved back to Norway, this her ninth solo album, plus she has two more as Lost Girls, and four novels. The metal influence may have contributed to the C+ album in my database, but it's an outlier. I certainly don't mind this one, but can't say I'm following it carefully. B+(***) [sp]

Salif Keita: So Kono (2025, No Format): Legendary Malian griot, started with Les Ambassadeurs, still going strong at 76. B+(**) [sp]

Alex Koo: Blame It on My Chromosomes (2024 [2025], W.E.R.F.): Belgian pianist, sings some (but not especially well), mother is Japanese, father was a missionary sent to Japan, fifth album since 2014. B+(*) [sp]

Jinx Lennon: The Hate Agents Leer at the Last Isle of Hope (2025, Septic Tiger): Irish poet with music, 16 albums since 2000, has messages, stories, and anger -- more than I can digest, but enough to respect. B+(***) [sp]

Model/Actriz: Pirouette (2025, True Panther/Dirty Hit): Boston rock band, new-wavish, Cole Haden the singer, second album. B+(**) [sp]

Willie Nelson: Oh What a Beautiful World (2025, Legacy): Per Wikipedia, Nelson's 77th solo studio album (I have 114 albums rated under Nelson's name), a collection of a dozen very good Rodney Crowell songs, a nice production with a singer still good enough to cover anything. Seems too easy, but at his age what more can you hope for? A- [sp]

Enrico Pieranunzi/Marc Johnson/Joey Baron: Hindsight: Live at La Seine Musicale (2024, CAM Jazz): Italian pianist, many recordings since 1975, a long-running trio with bass and drums -- his association with Johnson goes back to 1992, with various drummers (Billy Higgins, Paul Motian) until Baron took over in 2009. B+(**) [sp]

Simona Premazzi/Kyle Nasser Quartet: From What I Recall (2024 [2025], OA2): Piano and saxophone (tenor/soprano), backed by bass (Noah Garabedian) and drums (Jay Sawyer). B+(**) [cd]

The Gary Smulyan and Frank Basile Quintet: Boss Baritones (2024, SteepleChase): Two baritone saxophonists, Smulyan by far the better known, with a steady stream of albums since 1997 (including a Tough Baritones with Ronnie Cuber), while Basile mostly has side-credits with big bands (starting at UNT in 1999). Backed here by piano (Steve Ash), bass (Mike Karn), and drums (Aaron Seeber). Anyone expecting a rousing sax joust will be disappointed, but not much: these are nice guys who prefer to swing and bop in tandem. B+(**) [sp]

Billy Woods: Golliwog (2025, Backwoodz Studioz): Rapper, from DC, mother a lit professor from Jamaica, father a "Marxist intellectual" from Zimbabwe, tenth solo album since 2003, not counting collaborations, most notably in Armand Hammer. Dense, rambling, hard for me to get a solid handle on this, but I have no doubt there's much to return to when/if I can find the time. A- [sp]

Neil Young: Coastal: The Soundtrack (2023 [2025], Reprise): Solo album, "features 11 songs selected from Young's 60-year career, recorded live on his 2023 tour," cast as a soundtrack for a video tracking the tour. B+(*) [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

James Moody: 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note March 26, 2005 (2005 [2025], Origin): Bebop saxophonist (1925-2010), mostly tenor, also played quite a bit of flute, joined Dizzy Gillespie in 1946 and was a regular in his various bands, while he established his own career with "Moody's Mood for Love" in 1952. He opens this 80th birthday bash singing "Benny's From Heaven," badly at first but so infectiously he won me over. He opened with a solid band -- David Hazeltine (piano), Todd Coolman (bass), and Adam Nussbaum (drums) -- then brought out the stars for the back stretch: Jon Faddis (trumpet), Paquito D'Rivera (alto sax/clarinet), Slide Hampton (trombone), plus guest spots for Randy Brecker (trumpet) and Cedar Walton (piano). He turns this into an old-fashioned bebop revival, reprising his hits as well as "Cherokee," "Birk's Works," and "Bebop" itself. A- [cd]

James Moody: The Moody Story: James Moody Septet 1951-1955 (1951-55 [2025], Fresh Sound, 3CD): Saxophonist (1925-2010), started on alto but mostly played tenor, played in an army band during WWII, then joined Dizzy Gillespie in 1946, and even now is probably best known for his work in later Gillespie bands. After a few years in Europe, he returned to the US, and recorded these early sessions for Mercury and Prestige. Various lineups here, but aside from the odd vocalist he appeared in septets, with Dave Burns (trumpet) prominent enough to get larger type on the box. [NB: Volume 1, which covers 1951-54, is not available to stream, so is unheard here. This grade only covers Volume 2 (1954-55) and Volume 3 (1955), which I've played, but the separate volumes only seem to exist for streaming.] B+(***) [sp]

Pink Floyd: Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII (1972 [2025], Columbia): Live concert from 1972, released as a film in 1974, and newly remastered, so the songs here predate their mega hit albums -- The Dark Side of the Moon came out in 1973, but there are two takes of "Echoes" (from 1971's Meddle) prototype here. B+(*) [sp]

Louis Stewart & Jim Hall: The Dublin Concert (1982 [2024], Livia): Irish guitarist (1944-2015), a couple dozen albums from 1975 on, plays host here to the more famous American guitarist (1930-2013). Easy does it. B+(**) [bc]

Sun Ra: Inside the Light World: Sun Ra Meets the OVC (1986 [2024], Strut, 2CD): "OVC" stands for Outer Space Visual Communicator, a device Bill Sebastian invented, "a giant machine, played with hands and feet, that allowed artists to create and finger-paint with light similar to how musicians create and explore sound with their instruments." I doubt the visuals make any difference, although Sebastian could hardly hope for a more fortunate alliance. B+(***) [sp]

Horace Tapscott's Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: Live at Widney High December 26th, 1971 (1971 [2025], The Village): A phenomenal pianist from Los Angeles, also notable as a community organizer, ran this not-quite-big band at least through 1979's Live at I.U.C.C.. Starts strong with a 25:03 version of John Coltrane's "Equinox," with Al Collins on tenor sax, two trumpets (Butch Morris and Walter Graham), two trombones, two bassists, drums and congas. The following pieces, with vocalist Linda Hill and "word musician" Kamau Daáood are no less wonderful. A- [bc]

Hiroshi Yoshimura: Flora (1987 [2025], Temporal Drift): Japanese ambient musician (1940-2003), first album 1982, this one only released in 2006, after his death. Starts mostly piano, shifting later to contemplative synth tones -- which recall early Eno ambients, reportedly an influence. B+(***) [sp]

Old music:

Armonicord: Esprits De Sel (1977, L'Électrobande): French free jazz band, formed 1973, this their only album until a live tape from 1975 surfaced in 2023, only name I recognize is Juke Minor (baritone/sopranino sax, flutes, contrabass clarinet, guimbri, also wrote the liner notes and composed all but the Django Reinhardt cover), joined here by Jean Querlier (alto sax, oboe, English horn, flute), Joseph Traindl (trombone), Odile Bailleux (harpsichord), and Christian Lété (drums). Rough in spots, but vital. B+(***) [yt]

The Buttress: Endofunctor (2023, self-released, EP): Rapper Bethany Schmitt, from New Jersey, second album (per Discogs, this one short at 9 songs, 21:53; the other, from 2011, even shorter, at 6 songs, 6:13), title here "a mathematical function that leads back into itself," with an analogy to satanism, an interest that suggests an abusive Christian upbringing. The murkiness is no doubt intentional. B+(**) [sp]

The Buttre$$: Structural Stabilization of an Historic Barn (2011, self-released, EP): Early work, six pieces, 6:13, noise exercises generated on EMU modular synthesizer, not the worst I've heard, but not something I'm much interested in. B [bc]

James Moody: In the Beginning (1949 [2017], Inner City/Solid): Possibly the tenor saxophonist's earliest records, the first five tracks released as Max Roach Quintet (with Kenny Dorham trumpet, Al Haig piano, and Tommy Potter bass), the other seven as James Moody Quartet & Orchestra (with Art Simmons piano, Buddy Banks bass, and Clarence Terry drums). B+(**) [sp]

James Moody: Moody's Mood for Blues (1954-55 [1994], Prestige/OJC): Tenor saxophonist (some alto), compilation originally relesed in 1969, draws from four sessions, most originally released on the short albums Moody and James Moody's Moods (art work for both on cover, although half of the latter is skipped). A mixed bag of blues, ballads, standards ("Over the Rainbow," two takes of "It Might as Well Be Spring"), and bebop, with two Eddie Jefferson vocals and one where Ilona Wade channels Billie Holiday. B+(**) [sp]

James Moody: At the Jazz Workshop (1961 [1998], Chess/GRP): Reissue of Cookin' the Blues, which came out in 1965, plus some extra cuts. Septet again, Howard McGhee (trumpet) the best known, plus trombone, baritone sax, piano, bass, and drums, with Eddie Jefferson singing on three tracks. B+(**) [sp]

James Moody: Homage (2003 [2004], Savoy Jazz): Nothing in my database for him between 1961 and 1996 -- years when he got by with his Las Vegas gigs and road work but I also missed at least a dozen albums on Muse, Vanguard, and Novus. After Dizzy Gillespie died in 1993, he mounted something of a comeback up to his death in 2010. This is a good example of his rich tone and easy flow. Raps a bit at the end. B+(**) [sp]

Torres: What an Enormous Room (2024, Merge): Singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott, sixth album since 2013, one I didn't bother with at the time, figuring she had settled into a rut and I wouldn't have anything to say anyway. Slightly better than that, but still don't have much to say. B+(**) [sp]

Joanna Wang: Modern Tragedy (2018, Sony): Singer-songwriter, originally Wang Ruolin, from Taiwan but raised in Los Angeles, a dozen or so albums since 2008, some with titles in Chinese (this one has a Chinese title on Spotify, but Discogs gives English titles for album and songs, which are mostly in English). B+(**) [sp]

Carl Winther/Richard Andersson/Jeff "Tain" Watts: WAW! (2023 [2024], Hobby Horse): Piano/bass-drums trio, just last names on the cover. The Danish pianist started in his father's group -- Jens Winther (1960-2011), played trumpet -- and has led his own groups since 2010. B+(**) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Larry Ochs/Joe Morris/Charles Downs: Every Day → All the Way (ESP-Disk) [04-11]
  • Bruno Parrinha/Carlos "Zingaro"/Fred Lonberg-Holm/João Madeira: Enleiro (4DaRecord) [04-25]
  • Scheen Jazzorkester & Fredrik Ljungkvist: Framåt! (Grong) [04-01]
  • Carlos "Zingaro"/Flo Stoffner/Fred Lonberg-Holm/João Madeira: Na Parede (4DaRecord) [04-25]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, May 12, 2025

Music Week

May archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 44197 [44154) rated (+43), 21 [21] unrated (-0).

Another week, and not a hell of a lot to show for it, although the rated count remains rather high -- boosted by wrapping up the rest of the Strata-East reissues I hadn't prioritized last week. Since then, and with my demo queue mostly caught up, it's been a struggle to find things to check out, although I now have a fairly sizable checklist based on the DownBeat Critics Poll ballot, which is sending me back to 2024 records, many of which never even placed in my 2024 EOY Aggregate (which among other things means they went unmentioned in the 2024 Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll).

I blew out a full two days of my time filling in the 73 categories DownBeat asked me to vote for. As usual, I took notes, this time being careful to copy down all of the nominees they offered in all of the categories. To save time, I dispensed with attempting any sort of running commentary -- as I've often done in previous years (which start in 2003, well before they first invited me to vote) -- although I may return and add some later. As my method is to start with last year's notes and edit them as I go, I'm aware that most of what I dropped were lists of snubbed musicians (which in major categories like alto sax and piano could be very long; but to do them properly, as opposed to just reiterating last year's lists, would take a lot of effort, something I was in no mood for).

I also have thoughts on the design and implementation of the poll, but they would do little good. Some I've actually shared with DownBeat, like splitting Hall of Fame into separate living and dead sections, since they tend to be judged differently, and the two-per-year process is too limiting -- cf. the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's by-the-dozen approach, which, easy to say, is way too much. I also think the album categories should be calendar aligned: that critics should have an extra 3 months to consider the past year, and that readers should have 9 months, should not just be deemed a feature but relished as a luxury. It takes time to catch up, and more time for things to sink in, so why not take advantage?

I have a million other complaints -- ok, more like a couple hundred, but the mass is way too daunting to detail. The least I can do is mention this line from the invite: "As you already know, it's a LOOOONG ballot and will probably take a little less than an hour to complete, but your input is truly valued." I've never completed it in less than three hours, and that was only by cribbing from past note sheets and voting for 90% of the same people again. Even this year, where my revotes came close to 80%, it took me 6-8 hours, spread out over three days. There are 73 categories, and each one offers 40-75 nominees (with new jazz albums peaking at 136 -- only 22 on my A-lists, out of 110 for 2024, so 80% of my top picks don't even get nominated).

Other than that, I managed to get a small amount of house work done last week. I cleared out a pile of dead, decrepit, and/or just disgusting electronics and hauled them off to recycle. I've done some sweeping, some window cleaning, and some yard work. I more-or-less fixed a porch rail that's been leaning alarmingly. I found where an air conditioner plastic slab has broken, so I need to figure out how to straighten it out and get it level. The big task of finding proper places for all the CDs and books, including weeding a few out, remains, as does the more confusing job of sorting out the tools and hardware and putting them where I can find them. The garage and basement need major cleaning.

I should go shopping for glasses. While my eyesight is improved, short/medium distances are still troublesome. I need to work on my planning, especially for writing, website development, and finding a new car. Unclear how long the current one will even keep running. It certainly doesn't inspire me to consider any sort of road trip.

I do have enough material for a Loose Tabs this week. Possibly for a Books post as well: draft file has 16 main section books; while in the past my standard has been 40, I've been wanting to cut that down, especially as the sublists have grown, and I once posited 20 as a good size. We're beginning to see the first post-2024 election books, and there are a number of important new books on Israel. I also have a big section on jazz books, which I've rarely compiled before. And I still have a lot of tabs open.

I also have a couple of questions I hope to answer -- I considered knocking them out today, but don't want to delay posting any more than necessary. How much of this stuff I'll get done next week is anyone's guess. The only project I'm actually enthusiastic about is a dinner, which will give me a chance to combine the salad I missed from the Burmese birthday dinner last October with a couple of old Thai favorites (including one, panang curry duck, that I haven't made since a birthday dinner over a decade ago).

Minor housekeeping note: as I've been listening to 2024 releases, I've been adding them to the appropriate 2024 files, including tracking, jazz and non-jazz, and even the EOY aggregate (although I'm making no active effort to collect more data for it). I've basically given up on the idea of including previous-year albums that were unknown to me in the new year lists (as I had done for many years). Eventually, I think that all of the older annual lists should be resynched to calendar year, although at this stage the amount of work involved is hard to imagine doing.

I'll also note that my Bluesky account has finally topped 100 followers. I got nervous for a while when the count dropped from 100 to 99, especially as that happened right after a non-music post that no one seems to have understood.

New records reviewed this week:

Albare: Eclecticity (2025, Alfi): Australian guitarist Albert Dadon, 16th album, also uses a guitar synth, offers a nice groove album setting off Phil Noy's saxophone riffs. Title is quite the tongue-twister. B+(*) [cd]

Håkon Berre: Mirror Matter (2025, Barefoot): Norwegian drummer, based in Denmark, several albums since 2009, various side credits (especially with Maria Faust). This one is solo, with electronics as well as percussion. B+(**) [sp]

T Bone Burnett: The Other Side (2024, Verve Forecast): Americana singer-songwriter, probably better known these days as a producer but his 1980-92 releases were much esteemed, my favorite the last one, The Criminal Under My Own Hat. Only a few proper albums since, but this one is in much the same vein -- not that he doesn't sound older, and a bit less assured. B+(**) [sp]

Cyrus Chestnut: Rhythm, Melody and Harmony (2024 [2025], HighNote): Mainstream pianist, emerged as a major figure in the 1990s with his Atlantic albums, has found an agreeable home here. Quartet with Stacy Dillard (tenor/soprano sax), Gerald Cannon (bass), and Chris Beck (drums). Six originals, three covers, "There Is a Fountain" is especially nice. B+(***) [sp]

Yuval Cohen Quartet: Winter Poems (2023 [2025], ECM): Soprano saxophonist from Israel, brother of Anat and Avishai and member of the 3 Cohens, backed here with piano (Tom Oren), bass (Alon Near), and drums (Alon Benjamini). This is lovely, a secluded calm before the cataclysm. B+(**) [sp]

George Colligan: You'll Hear It (2024, La Reserve): Pianist, based in Portland, counts as his 38th album (starting in 1996), I'm not finding a credits list, but opens as a trio, with some horns and a singer and switching to electric on the second track. [sp]

Alyn Cosker: Onta (2025, Calligram): Drummer, from Scotland, first album 2009, side credits from 2003 including Tommy Smith and Scottish National Jazz Orchestra. Assembled from multiple sessions with various musicians, including several vocalists. I do like the closing folk song ("Làrach do Thacaidean"). B+(*) [cd]

The Coward Brothers: The Coward Brothers (2024, New West): Howard and Henry Coward, the former better known as Elvis Costello, the latter as T Bone Burnett, with a back story that goes back to 1956, and an actual single from 1985. If you take Burnett's solo album as a reference, this one is much more eccentric, for better and for worse. B+(*) [sp]

James Davis' Beveled: Arc and Edge (2024 [2025], Calligram): Flugelhorn player, from Chicago, wrote all the pieces here, joined by a second flugelhorn player (Chad McCullough), two bass clarinetists (Jeff Bradfield and Michael Salter), bass, and drums. Nice postbop mix. B+(***) [cd]

DJ Dadaman & Moscow Dollar: Ka Gaza (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): South African, no Discogs history that I can find, just a note that DJ Dadaman "started his journey way back in 2003," in something called "bacardi music" ("a potent cocktail of kwaito, house and synth pop"), with a hint that this may be older music belatedly released. B+(***) [sp]

Djrum: Under Tangled Silence (2025, Houndstooth): Felix Manuel, Discogs lists as DJ Rum but recent albums have run the alias together. B+(***) [sp]

Maria Faust Sacrum Facere: Marches Rewound & Rewritten (2024 [2025], Stunt): Alto saxophonist, from Estonia, based in Denmark, debut album 2008, third album with this group, which stems from a 2014 album title. Group consists of six horns -- three brass (including tuba), three reeds -- plus two drummers. B+(**) [sp]

Satoko Fujii This Is It!: Message (2024 [2025], Libra): Pianist-led trio with trumpet (Natsuki Tamura) and drums (Takashi Itani), third group album, although the first two probably have close to a hundred together, and this is their most basic grouping, and exemplary as usual. A- [cd]

Galactic and Irma Thomas: Audience With the Queen (2025, Tchoup-Zilla): New Orleans-based jam (or funk) band, active since 1996, with a couple dozen albums, functioning here as backup for "the soul queen of New Orleans" -- a title she earned with hits in the 1960s. She's 84 now, a decade past her last album, but she sounds strong, and the band does her proud. B+(***) [sp]

Hamell on Trial: Harp (for Harry) (2025, Saustex): Folkie singer-songwriter from Syracuse, couple dozen albums since 1996, did this one sounds live sometime after last November 6, which you can tell because he asks how the audience is coping. Just guitar and voice, like The Pandemic Songs, which is all he really needs. A- [sp]

Joel Harrison: Guitar Talk Vol. 2: Classical Duos/Jazz Duos (2025, AGS, 2CD): Guitarist, has a couple dozen albums since 1996, organized something he calls Alternative Guitar Summit, releasing a batch of solos in 2024, followed here by two sets of duos: the titular Classical Duos with Fareed Haque & Dan Lippel, and Jazz Duos with Gregg Belisle Chi, Nels Cline, Adam Levy, Camila Meza, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Anthony Pirog, Brad Shepik, and Mike Stern, with scattered bits of voice. B+(*) [cd]

HHY & the Kampala Unit: Turbo Meltdown (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Jonathan Uliel Saldhana, a producer from Portugal, working with the label's Ugandan house band. B+(**) [sp]

Hieroglyphic Being: Dance Music 4 Bad People (2025, Smalltown Supersound): Chicago house producer Jamal Moss, many albums since 2008. B+(***) [sp]

Art Hirahara: Good Company (2023 [2024], Posi-Tone): Pianist, regular albums since 2011 plus side credits on many of the label's albums, this one with Paul Bollenback on guitar and Ron Horton on trumpet/flugelhorn. B+(*) [sp]

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis and Bryan Stevenson: Freedom, Justice, and Hope (2021 [2024], Blue Engine): Stevenson is director of Equal Justice Initiative, and he introduces the various pieces here with reminders of the long struggle for civil rights. I suspect he's preaching to the choir here, but I can't fault anything he says. I can't fault the music either, where the big band plays Rollins, Coltrane, Fats Waller, and "I Shall Overcome." B+(**) [sp]

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra With Wynton Marsalis: The Music of Max Roach (2024, Blue Engine): A big band program celebrating the bebop drummer's 100th birthday, with Obed Calvaire acting as music director. B+(*) [sp]

KnCurrent: KnCurrent (2024 [2025], Deep Dish): Bandleader is alto saxophonist Patrick Brennan, who has several albums going back to 1999, some as Sonic Openings Under Pressure. Group adds Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Cooper-Moore (generally a pianist but plays his homemade diddley-bo here), and On Ka'a Davis (guitar). B+(***) [cd]

Hedvig Mollestad Trio: Bees in the Bonnet (2024 [2025], Rune Grammofon): Norwegian electric guitar-bass-drums trio, with Ellen Brakken and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad. Fast, heavy fusion. B+(***) [sp]

John Patitucci: Spirit Fall (2024 [2025], Edition): Bassist, has many albums since his eponymous debut in 1988, few I've bothered checking out, but a trio with Chris Potter (tenor/soprano sax, bass clarinet) and Brian Blade (drums) is promising, playing nine of his own songs, plus one from Wayne Shorter. B+(***) [sp]

Pé: Æzæl: Eternity of Nonexistence (2025, Tokinogake): Probably Puria M. Rad, "a Bandar Abbas-based musician and sound designer/engineer who was born and raised in Tehran, studied audio production in Malaysia and has been exploring experimental electronic music since 2014" -- my doubts because this and another album on the same Japanese label have yet to appear on Discogs, although a 2021 album and a couple of 5-file FLACS are listed there, and the notes fit: title is an Arabic word, tied to Sufism, also used in Farsi. Not without interest, but pretty minimal, obscurantist even. B [bc]

Sault: 10 (2025, Forever Living Originals): British funk group, a dozen albums since 2019, don't know what the four with numerical titles are meant to signify. B+(*) [sp]

Joona Toivanen Trio: Gravity (2025, We Jazz): Finnish pianist, debut in 2000 with this same trio: Tapani Toivanen (bass) and Olavi Louhivuori (drums). Has an interesting ambient feel. B+(**) [sp]

Gregory Uhlmann/Josh Johnson/Sam Wilkes: Uhlmann/Johnson/Wilkes (2023 [2025], International Anthem): Guitar/sax/bass + effects all around. Gives this a certain plastic quality, which comes home on the "Fool on the Hill" cover. B+(**) [sp]

Julia Úlehla and Dálava: Understories (2021 [2025], Pi): Singer-songwriter, trained as an opera singer, draws on Moravian folk music, has studied at Stanford and Eastman, worked in New York and Vancouver, but bio is short on specifics. Dálava is basically Aram Bajakian (guitars, bass, piano, synths, percussion), sometimes supplemented by others: Peggy Lee (cello) and Josh Zubot (violin) appear on several tracks each. Strikes me as dark and heavy, but there's something to it. B+(**) [cd]

Jordan VanHemert: Survival of the Fittest (2024 [2025], Origin): Also saxophonist, born in Korea, based in Oklahoma, third album, a postbop sextet with familiar names: Terell Stafford (trumpet), Michael Dease (trombone), Helen Sung (piano), Rodney Whitaker (bass), Lewis Nash (drums). B+(**) [cd] [05-16]

The War and Treaty: Plus One (2025, Mercury/UMG Nashville): Duo of Michael Trotter and the former Tanya Blount, both strong singers, credited on their 2016 debut as Trotter & Blount, fourth album under this name, slotted as country but blows up huge with rafter-raising chorus. B- [sp]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Borghesia: Clones (1984 [2025], Dark Entries): Electronic music group founded 1982 in Ljulljana (now Slovenia), could pass for Krautrock, recorded extensively through 1991, regrouped in 2009. Second album. B+(**) [bc]

George Colligan: Live at the Jazz Standard (2014 [2025], Whirlwind): A really good pianist since the late 1990s, but it's a crowded field. This is a live set, coming off a trio album with Jack DeJohnette and Larry Grenadier, with Linda May Han Oh subbing for the bassist. B+(**) [sp]

The Descendants of Mike and Phoebe: A Spirit Speaks (1973 [2025], Strata-East): One of bassist Bill Lee's projects at the label, with "soprano" (meaning operatic) vocals by A. Grace Lee Mims, plus flugelhorn (Cliff Lee), piano (Consuela Lee Moorehead), and percussion (either Billy Higgins or Sonny Brown). B [sp]

Shamek Farrah: First Impressions (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Alto saxophonist, born Anthony Domacase in New York City, started playing in Latin jazz groups, first album, group here is as unfamiliar to me as he is: Norman Person (trumpet), Sonelius Smith (piano), Milton Suggs (bass), Ron Warwell (drums), Calvert "Bo" Satter-White (congas). B+(***) [sp]

Shamek Farrah & Sonelius Smith: The World of the Children (1976 [2025], Strata-East): Second album, the pianist getting co-credit with two songs to the alto saxophonist's one, the other songs coming from Joseph Gardner (trumpet) and Milton Suggs (bass). B+(**) [sp]

Art Pepper: An Afternoon in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert (1980 [2025], Elemental Music): Another stop on a European tour that's been getting a lot of coverage recently, with the alto saxophonist's regular touring group of Milcho Leviev (piano), Tony Dumas (bass), and Carl Burnett (drums). Terrific, if course, but no better than the Geneva 1980 date I recently reviewed. B+(***) [sp]

The Piano Choir: Handscapes (1972 [2025], Strata-East): Multiple pianos, some electic, also credits for "vocals, percussion, African piano, and harpsichord," the performers listed as Stanley Cowell, Nat Jones, Hugh Lawson, Webster Lewis, Harold Mabern, Danny Mixon, Sonelius Smith. This runs very long (9 tracks, 104:55), which makes it hard to find the point. B [sp]

The Piano Choir: Handscapes 2 (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Further sessions, five pieces, 33:30, same pianists (possibly excepting Danny Mixon; the other six are featured once or twice) with extra percussionists (Mtume, Jimmy Hopps, John Lewis). Liveliness and brevity help a bit. B+(*) [sp]

Albert White: The Definitive Albert White ([2025], Music Maker): Blues guitarist/singer, had an uncle known as Piano Red and started playing with him in 1962, is 82 now, had two albums released on Music Maker 2007 & 2016 but they seem to have been tapes from the 1970s. No dates given for this, but title suggests this is also collected from old tapes. B+(*) [sp]

Old music:

Khan Jamal: Cool (1989 [2008], Porter): Mallets player (1946-2022), spent his career on the margins of free jazz, starting with a group called Sounds of Liberation. This "percussion and strings quartet" didn't appear until 2002, with a later reissue. Vibraphone, with John Rodgers (cello), Warren Ore (bass), and Dwight James (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.

Isaiah Collier/William Hooker/William Parker: The Ancients (2023 [2025], Eremite): Young tenor saxophonist, making a name for himself, also credited with "Aztec death whistle, siren, little instruments," with and drummer and bassist who probably figure they qualify. ++ [bc: 22:41/93:40]

Grade (or other) changes:

Marshall Allen: New Dawn (2024 [2025], Mexican Summer): Alto saxophonist, joined Sun Ra's Arkestra in 1958, has led the ghost band since 1995, started work on this shortly after his 100th birthday, also playing kora and EWI, leading a large band with a string section and guest vocalist Neneh Cherry. I'm seeing hype for this as his "debut" album, although I have eight previous albums under his name in my database, not all co-credited to Sun Ra Arkestra. I'm also seeing a lot of people treating this as monumental album, but I'm still not hearing it. Wishful thinking, perhaps? It seems unlikely to me that they're appraising it against the 81 Sun Ra albums I've heard, as well as 6 more under Allen's own name. On the other hand, I paid so little attention first time around that I got the title wrong, so felt I had to fix that much. [was: B+(*)] B+(***) [sp]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Albare: Eclecticity (Alfi) [05-02]
  • Paul Dunmall Quartet: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (RogueArt)
  • Michika Fukumori: Eternity (Summit) [06-06]
  • Ramon Lopez: 40 Springs in Paris (RogueArt) [05-25]
  • Madre Vaca: Yukon (Madre Vaca) [05-26]
  • Polyfillas: Rude Boys of England E.P. (self-released, EP)
  • Ron Rieder: Día Precioso! (Mason) [05-15]
  • Transcendence: Music of Pat Metheny (FMR) [07-01]

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Monday, May 5, 2025

Music Week

May archive (in progress).

Music: Current count 44154 [44107) rated (+47), 21 [25] unrated (-4).

Another week, with little to show for it, other than a high rated count, thanks to being able to use the Strata-East reissue bonanza as a checklist (in turn pointing me to some related albums). I also followed up on social media mentions to dig up a few old albums I had missed but by artists I've listened to much by (Don Cherry, Dudu Pukwana). I also largely caught up with the release schedule of my demo queue, but I have so little sense of the current date that I may have slipped behind again.

I might also note that I while I rarely request review copies, I did ask for the Murray album, and despite what I took to be a favorable reply, never got it. But since I could stream it, I did. I also didn't receive the Eskelin, nor have I heard the remaster, but I graded both constituent albums A- when they came out, and relistening showed that the grades held up, so I went ahead and wrote the best review I could. One more note is that I got a nice letter from Jon Gold hoping I like his album, a day or two after I plainly didn't like it. Seems like a nice guy who probably deserves a more sympathetic ear than I could muster at the time.

I published a fairly substantial Loose Tabs last week. I didn't update the file this time, but have some new material in the Tabs and Books files. I finally got around to updating the books archive, clearing the way for a new column.

I have an invite to vote in DownBeat's Critics Poll, deadline May 12, so I'll probably try to knock that out. The invite promises it will take less than an hour to fill out, but I've never done it in less than 3-4 hours, and the only way I can do it in less than 6-8 is by shifting to a mode where I stop caring and just copy down answers from previous years. It occurs to me that George Russell may finally be eligible for their Hall of Fame Veterans Committee. They have a weird system that makes it easier for someone who died young to get into their Hall of Fame (e.g., Booker Little, Scott LaFaro) than someone like Russell, whose career was long with many remarkable aspects.

Carlos Lozada's The Washington Book is stimulating a lot of thought on my part. One nice thing about it being an essay collection is that when I run across a chapter I like, I can usually find a link to the original that I can share. The biggest and most important piece so far is 9/11 was a test. The books of the last two decades show how America failed. I've read about half of these books, plus twice as many more, but reached this same conclusion before I read any. I'm not sure I can find the citation, as I wasn't blogging at the time, but my initial reaction was that it was a "wake up call," a challenge to reexamine one's values and make remedies to get back into the right. But I started with a pretty keen awareness that America wasn't always right or honorable or even decent. While that much I learned since growing up with the Vietnam War, what the last twenty-four years have taught me is that Americans have not only "failed the test," they've become much worse people as a result.

New records reviewed this week:

Kris Adams/Peter Perfido: Away (2021 [2025], Jazzbird): Singer, has several albums going back to 1999, teamed with a drummer who was a long-time associate of guitarist-composer Michael O'Neil (d. 2016), playing many of his songs. Also with Bob Degen (piano) and André Buser (bass). B+(*) [cd]]

Anika: Abyss (2025, Sacred Bones): British-born, Berlin-based singer-songwriter Annika Henderson, also a DJ and a political journalist, debut album 2010, this seems to be her third, not counting a band called Exploded View (two albums, 2016-18). Runs on the noisy side of new wave, which is smart. B+(***) [sp]

Gustavo Cortiñas: The Crisis Knows No Borders (2022 [2025], Desafio Candente): Drummer from Mexico, based in Chicago, has a couple previous albums. Quartet with Mark Feldman (violin), Jon Irabagon (tenor sax), and Dave Miller (guitar), all freely into crossing borders, plus a long drum solo. B+(***) [sp]

Alabaster DePlume: A Blade Because a Blade Is Whole (2024 [2025], International Anthem): British saxophonist and spoken word artist Gus Fairbairn, ninth album since 2012, not sure exactly when this was recorded but liner notes quote him as saying "the album was written before the genocide started, but I had Palestine on my mind all the time." I can't say as I followed this closely enough to understand the point, but he does have some interesting goings on. B+(**) [sp]

Destroyer: Dan's Boogie (2025, Merge): Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Bejar (and/or band), more than a dozen albums since 1996. I never noticed him/them until Kaputt (2011) got a lot of hype, and since then I haven't been impressed much, but "boogie" is a welcome novelty (at least while it lasts). B+(**) [sp]

Joe Fiedler Trio 2.0: Dragon Suite (2024 [2025], Multiphonics Music): Trombonist, moved to New York in 1993, where he quickly established himself in big bands (Satoko Fujii, Anthony Braxton, Andrew Hill, Charles Tolliver) while pursuing diverse side projects, including tributes to Albert MAngelsdorf and Captain Beefheart and a trombone/tuba choir called Big Sackbut. Discogs lists four previous Trio albums -- I recommend I'm In -- but the revision here has less to do with personnel (Michael Sarin returns on drums) than configuration: filling the bass slot with Pete McCann on guitar. B+(***) [bc]

Jon Gold: Chasing Echos (2025, Entropic): Pianist, other keyboards, has a couple Brazil-themed albums, co-produced this with drummer Mauricio Zottarelli, scattered musician credits not that the comings and goings make much difference, with vocals often filling in for horns, or maybe just caught up in the flotsam. C+ [cd]

The Haas Company Featuring Samuel Hällkvist: Vol. 3: Song for Mimi (2025, Psychiatric): Fusion group led by drummer Steve Haas, each volume featuring a guest, in this case playing guitar. B+(*) [cd]

Christoph Irniger Pilgrim: Human Intelligence Live (2023 [2025], Intakt): Swiss tenor saxophonist, sixth group album, postbop quintet with piano (Stefan Aeby), guitar (Dave Gisler), bass, and drums. B+(**) [sp]

Melissa Kassel & Tom Zicarelli Group: Moments (2022 [2025], MKMusic): Jazz singer-songwriter and pianist-composer, have at least one previous album, backed by bass (Bruce Gertz) and drums (Gary Fieldman), with help from Phil Grenadier (trumpet). B+(*) [cd]

Kingdom Molongi: Kembo (2025, Nyege Nyege Tapes): Portuguese producer/composer Jonathan Uliel Saldanha, has worked with African groups like HHY and the Macumbas. Mostly chorals. B- [sp]

Marilyn Kleinberg: Let Your Heart Lead the Way (2022 [2025], Waking Up Music): Standards singer, only album I can find but I read things like "brings a lifetime of experience" and "storied jazz singer." Will Galison produced, and gets a "featuring" credit, playing chromatic harmonica, which is an effective alternative to adding a saxophonist, to backing of piano (John DiMartino), bass (Noriko Ueda), and drums (Victor Lewis). Well chosen songs, done with authority. B+(***) [cd]

Le Vice Anglais: Vas-y (2023-24 [2025], 4DaRecord): Portuguese duo, Ricardo Guerra Pires (electric guitar) and Bruno Parinha (alto sax), where "electronic processing and loops were made 'live'." Titles are a mix of French and English, but just as titles. The music emerges from ambient industrial noise, but just barely. B+(***) [cd]

Mira Trio: Machinerie (2022-23 [2025], 4DaRecord): Miguel Mira (cello), Felice Furioso (drums), and Yedo Gibson (saxophones). Two pieces, first a pretty impressive 22:38 slab of inventive improv, second a puzzle that spends way too much time at the barely audible level, which is a personal peeve (in part, perhaps, because I'm not a high volume listener). Mira, by the way, is building up a pretty substantial discography, having started with Rodrigo Amado's Motion Trio. Gibson isn't Amado, but he's often impressive. I don't know if the drummer coined his name, but it's a good one (but not warranted on the second track). B+(**) [cd]

David Murray Quartet: Birdly Serenade (2025, Impulse!): Tenor sax great, pretty great on bass clarinet as well, fought his way through the NYC lofts, and spent the 1980s and 1990s on small foreign labels (mostly Black Saint in Italy and DIW in Japan), compiling the most prodigious discography in modern jazz. After 2000, he slowed down a bit, gated by small labels in Canada (Justin Time) and Switzerland (Intakt). So this is supposedly a big deal: a major label debut (Impulse! is one of many brands managed by Universal, which is as major as they get), recorded at Van Gelder Studio. Same Quartet as has appeared recently on Intakt: Marta Sanchez (piano), Luke Stewart (bass), and Russell Carter (drums). This offers eight Murray originals, with titles that fit well enough with "The Birdsong Project" (a tie-in to a group that issued a 20-LP Grammy-winning box celebrating the avian world, with little if any connection to Charlie Parker). Two feature vocals by Ekep Nkwelle, a third with poetry by Francesca Cinelli. They're ok, but I'd rather just listen to the sax (and especially to the bass clarinet), and the rhythm section is exceptionally fluid. I should point out though that despite how much as I enjoy this, I wouldn't rank it in his top dozen albums (or probably two dozen, or maybe even three). But still: A- [sp]

The Reddish Fetish With the Jersey City All Stars: Llegue (2025, F&F): Drummer Jason T. Fetish, in a tribute to his father, wrote one song while covering standards from Parker and Strayhorn, Silver and Timmons, and both Coltranes. I don't recognize any of the supporting cast, but they sail through some fetching melodies, with a couple vocals (J Hacha De Zola on "Señor Blues" and "Lush Life"). B+(***) [cd]

Clay Wulbrecht: The Clockmaster (2024 [2025, Instru Dash Mental): Keyboardist, evidently some kind of prodigy, "released three albums before he was a teenager," "selected as a Disney All American in 2018," but this is his first album in Discogs. Promises "rich themes, dramatic performances, with bits of his wit," and, sure, he delivers all that. B+(*) [cd]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

Charles Brackeen: Rhythm X (1968 [2025], Strata-East): Tenor saxophonist (1940-2022), first album, originally appeared 1973, cover also notes "The music of Charles Brackeen" and "Dolphy Series 4," and lists the musicians: "Edward Blackwell (drums), Charles Brackeen (saxophone), Don Cherry (trumpet), Charlie Hayden (bass)." B+(***) [sp]

The Brass Company: Colors (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Bassist Bill Lee (1928-2023) has very little under his own name -- people who recognize his name today mostly as Spike Lee's father -- but Discogs lists 206 performance credits, and the notes describe him as "an integral member of the Strata-East family." Group here is deep in brass, with trumpets (Bill Hardman, Eddie Preston, Harry Hall, Lonnie Hillyer, plus Charles Tolliver takes a guest solo), trombone, tuba, and euphonium, plus drums (Billy Higgins, Sonny Brown), with a solo spot each for Clifford Jordan (tenor sax) and Stanley Cowell (piano). B+(***) [sp]

Stanley Cowell: Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Pianist (1941-2020), made a big impression on me with his 1969 debut Blues for the Viet Cong, was co-founder (with Charles Tolliver) of the Strata-East label. Solo here, with some electric and kalimba (thumb piano). B+(***) [sp]

Stanley Cowell: Regeneration (1975 [2025], Strata-East): Pianist, but strays from his usual fare here, mostly playing kora or mbira behind various singers and lots of flutes. B [sp[

Stanley Cowell/Billy Harper/Reggie Workman/Billy Hart: Such Great Friends (1983 [2025], Strata-East): Documenting a live tour in Japan, the pianist opens, with the saxophonist holding back until the second tune, when he unleashes his full power and glory. Second half evens out a bit as a group. A- [sp]

Ellery Eskelin: Trio New York About (or On) First Visit (2011-13, Ezz-Thetics): Remaster of Trio New York and Trio New York II, previouly released on Prime Source -- hence the title fudging for what is normally a series of previously unreleased tapes. Leader plays tenor sax, with Gary Versace (organ) and Gerald Cleaver (drums). A- [dl]

Joe Fiedler's "Open Sesame": F . . . Is for Funny (2018 [2024], Multiphonics Music): The trombonist's group is a quintet formed for the 2019 album Open Sesame, with Jeff Lederer (soprano/tenor sax), Steven Bernstein (trumpet), Sean Conly (bass), and Michael Sarin (drums). This reissues that and another album from 2021 (Fuzzy and Blue), with some vocals by Miles Griffith. B+(**) [bc]

Billy Harper: Capra Black (1973 [2025], Strata-East): Tenor saxophonist (b. 1943), first album (or a couple dozen through 2013), shows he always had this huge raise-the-rafters sound, fortified here with brass, piano (George Cables), bass, drums, and a choir that can be a bit too much. B+(**) [sp]

John Hicks: Hells Bells (1975 [2025], Strata-East): Early album, released in 1980 but recorded well before his 1979 debut, a trio with Clint Houston (bass) and Cliff Barbaro (drums), three original pieces plus Barbaro's title tune. B+(***) [sp]

John Hicks: Steadfast (1975 [2025], Strata-East): Solo piano, recorded in London, not released until 1990. Four originals, standards from Ellington ("Sophisticated Lady" and "In a Sentimental Mood") and Strayhorn ("Lush Life") to Waldron ("Soul Eyes"), all nicely, if not remarkably, done. B+(**) [sp]

The New York Bass Violin Choir: The New York Bass Violin Choir (1969-75 [2025], Strata-East): Directed by Bill Lee, seven tracks, compiled from five sessions, so it's doubtful the six bassists (including Ron Carter and Richard Davis) were all in play at the same time. Other guests pop up here and there, including Sonny Brown (drums), Harold Mabern (piano), and George Coleman (tenor sax). B+(**) [sp]

Billy Parker's Fourth World: Freedom of Speech (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Drummer, from Buffalo, d. 1996, this appears to be the only album under his name but he appeared on several other Strata-East albums. Parker composed the long (16:00) title piece, the other four pieces coming from band members Cecil Bridgewater (trumpet), Ronald Bridgewater (tenor sax), Donald Smith (piano), and Cecil McBee (bass). Smith sings on the opener, and Dee Dee Bridgewater later on. B+(**) [sp]

Cecil Payne: Zodiac (1972 [2025], Strata-East): Baritone saxophonist (1922-2007), started on Savoy in 1946, early into bebop but often found himself in mainstream settings. His own albums start in 1956, with just this one album for Strata-East -- part of their "Dolphy Series" -- before he moved on to Muse and Delmark. Quintet with Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Wynton Kelly (piano and organ), Wilbur Ware (bass), and Albert Heath (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Charlie Rouse: Two Is One (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Tenor saxophonist (1924-88), best known for his 1960s work in the Thelonious Monk Quartet, although he has some fine albums on his own (mostly later). This was his only album between 1964-78, with especially prominent funk guitar -- George Davis, who wrote 2 (of 5) songs and/or Paul Metzke --backed with cello, bass, and drums. I don't mind that, but was hoping for more of his distinctive sax. B [sp]

Strata-East: The Legacy Begins (1968-75 [2025], Strata-East, 4CD): Label established in 1970 by two young musicians, pianist Stanley Cowell and trumpeter Charles Tolliver, who each had a significant debut albums earlier (Cowell's Blues for the Viet Cong, later reissued more innocuously as Travellin' Man, and Tolliver's The Ringer) but who were witnessing the near collapse (or, just as bad, the mad scramble toward fusion) of most of the decade's major jazz labels. Taking "black power" as something more than a slogan, they took control of their own business to open up space for their visionary art. They weren't especially successful, but managed to release 50+ albums in the 1970s, and even after the principals moved to other labels in the 1980s, much of the catalog has been kept in print, with the occasional extra tape surfacing. When Mack Avenue picked it up, their initial foray has been to put together this label sampler -- a massive 33 tracks over 4 hours, 21 minutes -- plus a few select vinyl reissues and an initial batch of 25 albums on digital streaming platforms. I worked my way through nearly all of the 25 before putting this one on, which works for me more as interesting background than tour de force. B+(***) [sp]

Charles Tolliver With Gary Bartz/Herbie Hancock/Ron Carter/Joe Chambers: Right Now . . . and Then (1968 [2025], Strata-East): The trumpet player's first side credits came in 1965 with Jackie McLean, followed by work with Booker Ervin, Horace Silver, and Max Roach. This could have been his first album, although it looks like it wasn't released until 1971, first as Charles Tolliver and His All Stars, then on Arista/Freedom as Paper Man. A 2019 reissue adopted this title/cover, and added a bonus track, which has now grown to two. The "stars" were pretty young at the time -- Carter was 31, Hancock and Bartz 28, Chambers and Tolliver 26 -- but well on their way, with Tolliver writing all the songs (I would have guessed Horace Silver). A- [sp]

Charles Tolliver's Music Inc: Live at the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival (1972 [2025], Strata-East): Live set from a festival in the Netherlands, five songs, 64:55, a quartet with John Hicks (piano), Reggie Workman (bass), and Alvin Queen (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Charles Tolliver Music Inc & Orchestra: Impact (1975 [2025], Strata-East): Maximalist big band, with 14 horns, 8 strings (not counting extra bassists), Stanley Cowell on piano, drums and extra percussion. Impressive, especially the trumpet, but perhaps too much? B+(**) [sp]

Charles Tolliver Music Inc: Compassion (1977 [2025], Strata-East): Trumpet, quartet with guitar (Nathan Page), bass (Steve Novosel), and drums (Alvin Queen), recorded in Paris, originally came out in 1980, also released as New Tolliver (mostly in Japan). Four songs (39:15), snappy up front, seductive when they take it easy, oustanding trumpet both ways. A- [sp]

Charles Tolliver: Live in Berlin: At the Quasimodo (1988 [2025], Strata-East): Two live sets, originally released as separate volumes, here totals 10 tracks, 114:40 (including a bonus track), a quartet with Alain Jean-Marie (piano), Ugonna Okegwa (bass), and Ralph Van Duncan (drums), all Tolliver songs except for the "'Round Midnight" bonus. B+(***) [sp]

Harold Vick: Don't Look Back (1974 [2025], Strata-East): Tenor saxophonist (1936-87), didn't lead many' albums -- his best known is his one Blue Note album, from 1963 -- but racked up a steady stream of side credits, especially with organ players. Also plays soprano, bass clarinet, and flutes here, with Joe Bonner (piano), Sam Jones (bass), Billy Hart (drums), and others in spots. B+(**) [sp]

Old music:

Don Cherry/Lennart Åberg/Bobo Stenson/Anders Jormin/ Anders Kjellberg/Okay Temiz: Dona Nostra (1993 [1994], ECM): Trumpet player (1936-95), started with Ornette Coleman, continued in that vein with Old and New Dreams, but moved to Scandinavia, where he had huge influence and developed his own unique world fusion jazz. Last album, first three names (trumpet, soprano/tenor sax/alto flute, piano) above the title, others (bass, drums, percussion) below. B+(***) [sp]

Stanley Cowell: Brilliant Circles (1969 [1992], Black Lion): Early album, initially released on Freedom in 1972, then part of Arista's 1975 reissue series, which introduced me to a lot of great early-1970s free jazz. Four musicians wrote one song each: Cowell (piano), Woody Shaw (trumpet), Tyrone Washington (tenor sax, flute, clarinet), and Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), joined by Reggie Workman (bass) and Joe Chambers (drums). B+(***) [sp]

Stanley Cowell: It's Time (2011 [2012], SteepleChase): The pianist started appearing on the Danish label in 1989, eventually recording 16 albums for them. Many were trios, this one with Tom DiCarlo (bass) and Chris Brown (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Joe Fiedler: Will Be Fire (2023, Multiphonics Music): Trombonist, experiments with effects here, adding tuba (Marcus Rojas) to reinforce the bottom, along with Pete McCann (guitar) and Jeff Davis (drums). Seems like good ideas with mixed results. B+(**) [bc]

John Hicks: After the Morning (1979, West): Pianist (1941-2006), led 30 albums, played on more than 300, started with Art Blakey and Betty Carter, but I know him best for his later work with David Murray and several albums he led. This duo with Walter Booker Jr. (bass) plus drums on one tracks was the first album released under his name, but not the first he recorded. B+(**) [sp]

Cecil Payne: Patterns of Jazz (1956 [1959], Savoy): Baritone saxophonist, possibly his first album -- originally released in 1956 as Cecil Payne Quartet and Quintet, reissued as Cecil Payne in 1957, and again under this title in 1991. Starts as a quartet with Duke Jordan (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), and Art Taylor (drums), back half adds Kenny Dorham (trumpet). Bebop but ballads too, with a horn built more for comfort than for speed. B+(***) [yt]

Cecil Payne: Cerupa (1993 [1995], Delmark): After a couple albums on Muse 1973-76, the baritone saxophonist languished through the 1980s (one album on Stash) before his comeback in his 70s, with this the first of four 1995-2001 albums for Delmark. Eric Alexander (tenor sax, 25 at the time) is a driving force, allowing him to switch to flute on two tracks, and Harold Mabern (piano) is vibrant. B+(**) [sp]

Dudu Pukwana and Zila: Life in Bracknell & Willisau (1983, Jika): South African alto saxophonist (1938-90), went into exile with the Blue Notes for a career that spanned and fused his native township jive with avant-jazz. Two festival sets from England and Switzerland, featuring credit for vocalist Pinise Saul, the band including Harry Beckett (trumpet) and Django Bates (piano) as well as African percussionists. A- [yt]

Harold Vick: Steppin' Out (1963 [1996], Blue Note): The tenor saxophonist's one (and only) Blue Note album, his first of fewer than a dozen (through 1977), doesn't stray far from his many side credits, especially those in organ-led soul jazz groups: many with Jack McDuff, more with Jimmy McGriff and John Patton, who plays here, along with Blue Mitchell (trumpet), Grant Green (guitar), and Ben Dixon (drums). B+(**) [sp]

Grade (or other) changes:

New Orleans Party Classics (1955-91 [1992], Rhino): Nowhere near as classic as Rhino's 3-LP (later 2-CD) The Best of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues (the CDs came out in 1988, the LP titles never made it into my database, but most likely appeared in 1987 as A History of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues), so this is an afterthought, which I initially devalued. As with many Rhino comps of this period, this scoops up obscurities, and extends well past the classic period: e.g., the Wild Tchoupitoulas, Dr. John doing "Iko Iko," the Dirty Dozen Brass Band doing "Lil Eliza Jane," but they also include "Sea Cruise," which I have on at least a dozen comps. It's not all great, but hits more than it misses, and it's proven a great way to start off more than a few days. Top earworm: Oliver Morgan's "Who Shot the LaLa." Song that finally erased the minus from my upgrade: "Second Line -- Pt. 1" by Stop, Inc. [was: B+] A [cd]

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

  • Alyn Cosker: Onta (Calligram) [05-02]
  • James Davis' Beveled: Arc and Edge (Calligram) [05-02]
  • Dickson & Familiar: All the Light of Our Sphere (Sounds Familiar) [05-31]
  • Mark Masters Ensemble: Dance, Eternal Spirits, Dance! (Capri) [06-06]
  • Mark Masters Ensemble: Sam Rivers 100 (Capri) [06-09]

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