Rolling Jazz Thread 2023

My wife designed the cover for Zero, and a couple of other recent Shipp albums:

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0082742188_10.jpg

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0938933033_10.jpg

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1396954279_10.jpg

wide range ov excellence!

Those are awesome covers!

This isn't a 2023 release, but I just got into Nduduzo Makhathini's album from last year, In the Spirit of Ntu. It's great, South African spiritual jazz. Need to listen to some of his previous releases.

I’ve really grown to appreciate Shipp these last several years and while I don’t collect every album I always try to see him live when I can (saw a great solo set at the French Embassy here in DC about 10 years ago).

That new David Murray quartet mentioned upthread in January, is going to be at Blues Alley in Washington DC shortly on June 29 and 30th

Marta Sanchez on the piano, Luke Stewart on the bass and Kassa Overall on the drums

What a pleasure to watch the master (Chris Dave) at work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPIL8wsIuBk

And this show with Pino and Sharkey has been making arounds, I know someone who went to NYC just to catch it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un7LPvH38xA

I did catch Kassa Overall btw, it was a lot of fun. Drums, percussion, keyboards, and bass with everyone triggering samples etc. Lakecia Benjamin sat in on sax for a couple impromptu jams.

New Yorkers should go see James Francis, Immanuel Wilkins, and Tyshawn Sorey at NuBlu tomorrow.

My latest Stereogum column is out. Talked about 70s Mingus, the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, and some other stuff.

Borderline here but singer-songwriter / avant-vocalist Natalie Rose Lebrecht (if anyone remembers her excellent 2003 Warraw suite) has a new album out called Holy Prana Open Game which are long pieces of piano/strings/woodwinds. Her vocals retain the personality that made her first album so endearing. The music is on the ambient / spiritual side with any icy-warm quality. It's maybe not quite Promises but I enjoyed it.

Eric Lewis Fuck Yeah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gmdt4yCzrU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO8oKt2kvdg

There are moments in there that nearly reach seeing him with Elvin Jones, where I really felt like I was levitating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IfjLUe3SjU

Experimental Multi-Instrumentalist & Composer Vinny Golia To Release Massive 110 Track Second Movement of Even to This Day - Music For Orchestra and Soloists
--
Guest Soloist Appearances By Nels Cline, Susan Alcorn, Chas Smith, & More
--RIYL: Anthony Braxton, ICP Orchestra, Olivier Messiaen, Sam Rivers, Iannis Xenakis, Ken Vandermark

He brings a painterly discernment to the colours and textures inherent ineach of his insturments - The Wire
"an anchor and catalyst of the experimental scene in Los Angeles for some 40 years" - WBGO
longtime left-field hero - JazzTimes
Vinny Golia looms fairly large in the ranks of Los Angeles’ jazz scene, even from his perch outside the mainstream - LA Times
a MASSIVE musical contribution - Free Jazz Blog, on Movement One

Hi all - this is a wild one. I've been a fan of Vinny Golia's work for a long time, and as soon as I heard from him about this project I felt compelled to be involved. I love ambitious music, and Even to This Day is a truly enormous work in every sense. It was initially conceived as part of a 75th birthday celebration performance featuring 75 musicians, before COVID interfered, and it has only expanded in the face of that setback.

Volume two was recorded almost entirely by Golia and his collaborator/engineer Wayne Peet, with the help of some excellent guest soloists, and beyond the shocking length, the music itself is thrilling: constantly inventive, full of twists and turns and restless energy. Golia began his art career as a painter, and his use of texture in these pieces is so remarkable - "Follow the Tracks," for instance, is composed of overtone-laden breathy winds, scratchy percussive sounds, and something that could be bowed cymbals, multiphonic winds, twitching electronics, or a combination of all three.

Initially intended to be a short interlude between the equally large volumes one and three, volume two began with the suite for guitarist Alkis Nicolaides that you'll find scattered throughout. However, when Golia felt there was much more to explore in those ideas, it organically grew into the 110 track piece you now have before you.

Golia has been a fixture of LA's experimental music scene for decades, and he's the type of artist I admire greatly, resolutely pushing forward with the work that he believes in regardless of trends. But, notable for someone who has had to blaze their own path so extensively, he retains his faith in the positive power of music, and this work is his tribute "to our sanity, endurance, and patience." You can read more in his note below. It's no coincidence that his large ensemble work has always had a collectivist spirit, intended to unite the disparate music scenes of LA.

Please note that due to the length of the project it is stretched over two PJB "albums" - tracks 1-55 here, and 56-110 attached as "part two". That separation is not a part of the piece itself, and just reflects a technological limitation, the full second movement is all 110 tracks.

You can also see Golia perform some of the music from the first movement at Roulette with his large ensemble HERE

Hit me up with any requests/queries by replying to this email or writing to gabe at clandestinepr dot com
I know this is a lot to take in, but I really believe it's worth it. Incredible creative spirit here.

new matthew halsall very promising (if you like mellow nature spiritual hat jazz)
https://matthewhalsall.bandcamp.com/album/an-ever-changing-view

Listening to a bunch of Kurt Rosenwinkel after listening to an interview with him on Pablo Held's podcast. Really enjoying this year's Undercover: Live at the Village Vanguard record so far (great rhythm section of Greg Hutchinson, Aaron Parks, and Eric Revis).

His piano album from last year is real nice too.

And his solo baritone guitar release from last year (Berlin Baritone) is just gorgeous. It's nice to hear him play with a clean tone.

he was like the coolest new jazz artist around when I was in high school lol

glad to hear hes still at it

I'm reviewing Undercover and another album he's featured on, the latest from Brian Blade's Fellowship band, for Stereogum this month. I'm hot and cold on Rosenwinkel: he can really play, but he chooses some of the most obnoxious effects ever. When he doesn't sound like an electrified slide whistle, he's great.

I know what you mean, but way to bury the lede...*siren* new Brian Blade Fellowship record *siren*!

It's been out for a month, how did I miss this

Oh, because it's self-released. Apparently Blade also released a double album tribute to Bobby Hutcherson that has Jon Cowherd and Myron Waldon on it, and a live Fellowship bootleg from 2000. I've got some juicy catching up to do!

https://brianblade.bandcamp.com/album/live-from-the-archives

https://brianblade.bandcamp.com/album/volumes-l-ll-now-and-forevermore-honoring-bobby-hutcherson

Yeah, I bought two of those (the Fellowship and the Hutcherson, not the live thing).

My latest Stereogum column is up; I interviewed bassist Jason Ajemian about jaimie branch (they were friends and collaborators for more than 15 years), whose final album comes out this week.

Nice one, enjoyed the Brian Blade write-up.

I've been listening to that Pablo Held podcast and checking out some albums that get mentioned. There was a John Patitucci live trio album with Blade and Chris Potter that's nice, a bunch of Scott Colley records with Blade (and one with Nate Smith on drums), but what I'm really enjoying is this improvised piano & drums duo album from Kevin Hays & Bill Stewart, 'American Ballad' (from last year). Really really cool stuff.

genuinely not trying to speak ill of the deceased, but i simply don’t get what i’ve heard of branch. the energy and vision everyone talks about seems ham-fisted and the music is really dull, to my ears— is it one of those “you have to see it live” type of things that i will now, sadly, never experience?

Same, I try to hold my tongue because why trash something people are enjoying (especially now), but I've never gotten it or liked her playing. I figure it must be about the energy and maybe it's better to think about it as a theatrical performance/punk rock thing with jazz instruments and players, just not my thing.

Yeah, Branch was a had to see her live thing. The live album was also the key for me.

Yeah after I got over my "Jazz has to have long solos" prejudice I just enjoyed it for what it is. I have a feeling many people who are marketed as Jazz today are making "jazz-influenced, but not strictly jazz" and I have to recalibrate my expectations of like, George Coleman or something.

Yeah, the livealbum made me a fan of jamie branch too.

i had never heard of jaimie/fly or die but they opened for yo la tengo at one of the hanukkah shows and it was truly transfixing. i bought the live record vinyl and was sitting at the balcony bar holding it on my lap and she passed by and punched me in the shoulder and gave a smile & thumbs up and it was such a sweet moment. i wish i was able to see her/them many more times but sadly that was it. rip.

yeah, i kind of figured— wish i could have seen her and a group perform live!!!

in other news, in a poor financial but excellent happiness decision, i bought two tickets to see Natural Information Society in about a month here in Philly. exceptionally stoked.

yeah, i kind of figured— wish i could have seen her and a group perform live!!!

in other news, in a poor financial but excellent happiness decision, i bought two tickets to see Natural Information Society in about a month here in Philly. exceptionally stoked.

Today's listening is Jorge Rossy on various instruments after listening to his Pablo Held interview. I really didn't know that after leaving the Brad Mehldau Trio he switched to piano, and then has been making records on vibes as a leader ever since (while still acting as a sideman on drums). Sounds like he's much more interested in composing and playing piano & vibes and doesn't practice on drums anymore, but can't argue with people if they keep calling him to play drums, lol.

He's such a unique and sensitive accompanist though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lG7B0lRclU

Sounds like he's much more interested in composing and playing piano & vibes and doesn't practice on drums anymore, but can't argue with people if they keep calling him to play drums, lol.

Tyshawn Sorey is in a somewhat similar position — he wants to focus on composition but people keep wanting him to play drums for them.

Photographer & chef Frank Stewart has had 2 exhibits in DC this summer-- one at a gallery (exhibit has now closed but photos are on the link) and a larger one at the Phillips Collection museum (exhibit is open till Sept. 3). Plenty of jazz photos, plus New Orleans ones and more

Stewart was exposed to gospel, blues and jazz music through his mother Dorothy Jean Lewis Stewart as well as his stepfather, jazz pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr. However, it was not until the 1970s that Stewart began photographing jazz when he traveled with Ahmad Jamal. Later in the 80s and early 90s, he traveled with the Wynton Marsalis Septet and co-created the book, Sweet Swing Blues on the Road with Marsalis. During this time Stewart worked in jazz clubs in New York and Chicago and ultimately became the senior photographer of Jazz for the Lincoln Center in 1993.

http://www.galleryneptunebrown.com/20236-frank-stewart-exhibition-page

https://www.phillipscollection.org/event/2023-06-10-frank-stewarts-nexus

Don't really get this have to see live thing - fly or die were an electrifying live band, but the studio albums are very well crafted. The new one is a superb example of this: recorded mostly live, but with some edits, overdubs and creative mixing. I don't think anyone else in her generation has come quite as close to bringing avant-garde ideas - explorations of timbre, extended techniques and electronic processing, graphic notation etc - into such an accessible, uplifting and politically charged format. Of course it has broader influences, but it's absolutely jazz. She was a brilliant trumpet player. Even when playing short phrases or melodies her tone is so strong, and when she does take a longer solo it's fantastic. I'd recommend checking out her album with Ig Henneman and Anne Leberge to see how good she is in a free improvised context.

Don't really get this have to see live thing - fly or die were an electrifying live band, but the studio albums are very well crafted. The new one is a superb example of this: recorded mostly live, but with some edits, overdubs and creative mixing. I don't think anyone else in her generation has come quite as close to bringing avant-garde ideas - explorations of timbre, extended techniques and electronic processing, graphic notation etc - into such an accessible, uplifting and politically charged format. Of course it has broader influences, but it's absolutely jazz. She was a brilliant trumpet player. Even when playing short phrases or melodies her tone is so strong, and when she does take a longer solo it's fantastic. I'd recommend checking out her album with Ig Henneman and Anne Leberge to see how good she is in a free improvised context.

like honestly, i’ve never been more disappointed in a record that i bought because of the hype around it, only to find it’s not even something i want taking up space on my phone

Saw Jaimie live a couple years back and it still stands out as one of the best shows I’ve seen in the last decade. I didn’t listen to the previous studio albums much, but I’m not really feeling the new one…vocals are weak, lyrics are a little clunky, music almost feels corny at times. I’ll still give it a few more listens and it’s certainly possible I’ll change my mind, as I’ve only given it one listen so far. The trumpet playing is uniformly excellent even when I’m not really into the tunes.

Thanks for the xxxxpost pix, curm!

My label, Burning Ambulance Music, is putting out a CD in October that I think some folks here would like. It's by saxophonist Ivo Perelman and trumpeter Nate Wooley and it's called Polarity 2, a sequel to a set of duos I released in 2021. Here's a sample track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwFeIJtPK04

It's out October 13, but pre-orders will launch on Friday, including a specially priced bundle so you can get both Polarity discs at once.

RIP Charles Gayle

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/08/1198248630/charles-gayle-saxophonist-obit

counterpoint:

fuck Charles Gayle

i'm certainly not trying to tell you how to feel

xp I will check out Ivo & Nate, thanks for the reminder!

Before I'd heard about Gayle, last night a friend sent me this:
Charles Gayle Trio live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6mk-j8vsJM

& here they are with Joe McPhee:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPptathTLz0

gayle never did much for me even his supposed masterpiece “Touchin on Trane”. It’s just that I didn’t think there was really much that distinguished him from much superior exponents of free music.

gayle never did much for me even his supposed masterpiece “Touchin on Trane”. It’s just that I didn’t think there was really much that distinguished him from much superior exponents of free music.

I used to think that too. But I saw him live three times, twice playing sax and once playing piano, and when I dug into his catalog I found a whole lot of material that was much more thoughtful and carefully structured than the screaming-in-your-face stuff that people fixated on. In fact, he was an unbelievably technically skilled horn player, up there with Pharoah Sanders and Sonny Rollins in terms of absolute mastery of the instrument. His albums with two bassists — Translations, Raining Fire, Blue Shadows, and More Live at the Knitting Factory — are really beautiful.

Now Arthur Doyle — him I don't get.

Jordan posted great stuff about his teacher Richard Davis over on Roll Call: Jazz Heroes of the Upright Bass