Rolling Jazz Thread 2023

Reading unperson's newsletter, I can definitely hear pre-70 Grateful Dead in there.

People have made comparisons to On the Corner-era Miles, but I don’t hear that at all.

insanity, and this from the guy who literally wrote the book!

Really liking Chimaera, never been much into Courvoisier but the addition of Wooley, Smith, and Fennesz kicks everything up a notch.

Started an ILM thread on Patrick Shiroishi if people want to talk about his work.

S/D: Patrick Shiroishi

Today I listened to Susan Alcorn Septeto del Sur. More folk than jazz at times, but the free improv moments resemble Derek Bailey. The guitar solo in the last track is very Marc Ribot-esque.

Next up was Crossing Four by Ned Rothenberg. Great ensemble, especially the combination of Mary Halvorson and Sylvie Courvoisier.

Really enjoying the new Mike Reed record, The Separatist Party, out on Astral Spirits / We Jazz. Features Rob Frye, Cooper Crain, Ben LaMar Gay, Dan Quinivin and spoken word by Marvin Tate.

Not the biggest fan of the spoken word bits, tbh, but the rest of it smokes, really like Crain's contributions.

https://wejazzrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-separatist-party

Would also really recommend this Rob Frye album on Astral Spirits from two and a half years ago (sorry for the slight derail since this isn't a new jazz release!) if anyone is into the sound of that new Mike Reed album, since the main players are p much Bitchin Bajas + Ben Lamar Gay (the track below from it is esp awesomely Isotope 217-ish IMO):

https://astralexoplanet.bandcamp.com/track/xc175020

Missed that one, thanks for the heads up!

heard this Gregory Tardy track (from 2020) on the radio and am now excited to check out more. this tune rules!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gD_JrZr9uI

the Rob Frye stuff on AS is really ace, i honestly just subscribe to their digital albums and it is absolutely worth the $15/month

Angelica Sanchez Nonet - Nighttime Creatures

^^

this is lovely

I can't go (covid) but Ben Lamar Gay is playing down the block with a Norwegian rhythm section (and another Chicago sax player).

The Dave Easley record mentioned above has definitely made my end of year list over the past week— hard to listen to almost anything else.

Another pedal steel record of recent that has been great is the Jordan Martins record on Astral Spirits, 'Fogery Nagles.' https://fogerynagles.bandcamp.com/album/fogery-nagles

(wouldn't really call the latter "jazz," but yknow)

hope they call the follow-up record Fogerty Choogles

lol. it’s worth a listen! but could have easily been on their more “ambient-far out jazz” sub-label

checking it out now

my favorite record on AS remains quin kirchner's "the shadows and the light." i was thinking of QK the other day because a friend was showing me a very kraut-y record from the early 2010s that featured him and also hamid drake. can't for the life of me remember what it was, though

hard to pick my fave AS record, tho i often think of this one, which is a fucking scorcher https://astralahmed.bandcamp.com/album/nights-on-saturn-communication

oh yeah. i forgot that one is on AS. pat thomas >

Grammys nominees for Feb 2024

31. Best Jazz Instrumental Album

For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new instrumental jazz recordings.

The Source
Kenny Barron

Phoenix
Lakecia Benjamin

Legacy: The Instrumental Jawn
Adam Blackstone

The Winds Of Change
Billy Childs

Dream Box
Pat Metheny

32. Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new ensemble jazz recordings.

The Chick Corea Symphony Tribute - Ritmo
ADDA Simfònica, Josep Vicent, Emilio Solla

Dynamic Maximum Tension
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society

Basie Swings The Blues
The Count Basie Orchestra Directed By Scotty Barnhart

Olympians
Vince Mendoza & Metropole Orkest

The Charles Mingus Centennial Sessions
Mingus Big Band

Of those, I've only heard Lakecia Benjamin (pretty good), Billy Childs (decent but breaking absolutely no new ground), and Darcy James Argue's Secret Society (fantastic).

The Pat Metheny solo record is really nice

The new Matana Roberts is incredibly moving, album of the year.

Xp Quinn Kirchner. I saw him play drums with the comedian John Mulaney once. Just played drums while jokes were told at very large venue. One of the more interesting pairings.

Also, Budo Jeru, Quinn Kirchner plays on the Rob Frye record mentioned up thread

love the Kirchner record that begins with this excellent version of “Flowers for Albert,” also on Astral Spirits

https://quinkirchner.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-pro-musica

will check out both records, thanks

my favorite record on AS remains quin kirchner's "the shadows and the light."

Thanks for the tip on this, I sampled it last night and immediately placed an order.

I like the kirchner album I heard a lot then I saw him live and was like whoa ... this is AMAZING ... not sure why the album didnt sound more like this..

I love watching John Hollenbeck (looked this up after listening to their new studio album):

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

Higher quality video -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_7JUrtTQaA

Although he has much less of a clockwork muppet vibe in that one

My latest Stereogum jazz column is up; I used the André 3000 album as a springboard to talk about Yusef Lateef, Bobbi Humphrey, Hubert Laws, and Nicole Mitchell, and reviewed new albums by Ambrose Akinmusire, JD Allen, Thandi Ntuli (with Carlos Niño), Lafayette Gilchrist, Myra Melford and others.

I either missed or forgot about Chris Potter's Live at the Village Vanguard album from this year (Taborn/Colley/Gilmore), it's fucking sick.

https://chrispotterjazz.bandcamp.com/album/got-the-keys-to-the-kingdom-live-at-the-village-vanguard

Yeah, that's a good one — his third live-at-the-Vanguard disc, and they're all worth hearing.

I got super-confused the other day because there is a music student studying guitar with Pasquale Grasso whose name is also Chris Potter.

Great column unperson, thanks.

(That said, whew the plethora of ads on Stereogum gives my browser a workout)

Yeah, meant to mention that I liked your column as well unperson. Although I guess I missed that Shabaka Hutchings was completely ditching all his other bands for the flute, I guess I thought that was just another additional stream for him, bummer that he'd abandon all of those.

yeah that's kind of a shocker. I like to chill out as much as anyone the rehabilitation of New Age music has IMHO led to more bad than good.

but the rehabilitation

I saw Hitchings just past May subbing on sax for an indisposed Roscoe Mitchell in the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, maybe his last hurrah on sax?

Hutchings.

The Marxist scholar and cultural critic Robin D.G. Kelley wrote a biography of Monk that looks pretty interesting, and the first part of this interview focuses on the bio and the socius that surrounded Monk. Pretty interesting.

https://black-ink.info/2020/01/16/solidarity-is-not-a-market-exchange-an-interview-with-robin-d-g-kelley/

Kelly's Monk bio is indeed amazing and compulsively readable, an absolute must-read

I'm sold, just purchased the e-book.

I need to read that Kelley Monk bio. I recently read Laurent de Wilde's book when I found it in a local used shop, but it was pretty meh.

By comparison, I'm finding Aidan Levy's Sonny Rollins bio a little slow going (got it last Christmas, only getting to it now, lol).

Haha yeah, I've had that on my shelf for a few months now but keep choosing something else, it always seems daunting lol.

I read the Monk bio, it's excellent. It really covers every documented gig he ever played and every record, and it was really a pleasure listening through along with it.