Rolling Jazz Thread 2018

https://studsterkel.wfmt.com/programs/henry-threadgill-conversation-studs-terkel

this won't play for me, possibly some global copyright issue, if it works in the US I might have to VPN up.

MICHAEL MANTLER With LARRY CORYELL / CARLA BLEY / STEVE SWALLOW / TONY WILLIAMS - Movies (Watt 7; USA) Last sealed copy = $20

MICHAEL MANTLER with PHILIP CATHERINE / GARY WINDO / CARLA BLEY / STEVE SWALLOW/D SHARPE - More Movies (Watt 10; USA) Last couple of sealed copies / covers slilghtly worn = $20
Spotify has these as a twofer: both splendid, though if anything the sequel seems even more consistently engaging on first listen, even getting into kind of an art-metal groove thing at times (not xp "fusion funk")---when was the last time I thought of Philip Catherine!? And I didn't know Bley played tenor sax.

Mantler's 1968 The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is proving surprisingly hard to get through, so far: the initial excitement of hearing these avant stars together----Pharoah Saunders, Don Cherry,Roswell Rudd, Gato Barbieri, Larry Coryell, with Cecil Taylor to come, in front of an Orchestra incl. Charlie Haden, Bob Northern/Brother Ah, Steve Swallow, Julius Watkins, Andrew Cyrille, and many more---gets pulled into the inertia of Mantler's long, lugubrious lines, like the worst of Gil Evans and his imitators. When Mantler the composer's thinking more like Mantler the trumpet player, as on Movies and More Movies, that's what I'm talkin' about. Think I'm going to jump ahead to his albums incl. Robert Wyatt, Kevin Coyne, Marianne Faithful.

Meanwhile, Carla Bley's 1976 Dinner Music seats her and Mantler and Rudd and Carlos Ward with funky-smooth session aces Eric Gale, Richard Tee, Cornell Dupree, Steve Gadd, Gordon Edwards---tuba player Bob Stewart is kind of the hinge--for results that can be sneaky-acerbic in the mellow pocket, keeping or bringing it all back to the foreground, forebrain: "Ad Infinitum" def. keeps it, from the beginning, and Rudd soon takes a hold of the closer. "A New Hymn," after the near-generic chit-chat/inconsequential refinements of "Ida Lupino" and "Funnybird Song"--but "Dreams So Real" seems as sincere and even urgent as highbrow, and "Song Sung Long" is urban romantic intrigue, and "Dining Alone" is urban anxiety unifying furtive imagery (via Bley's sung-spoken thoughts)---the pressure of that Manhattan candlelight!

The opener, "Sing Me Softly of the Blues," starts well but turns into something like more nerf-funk chatter, music for the pilot of a pre-PBS afterschool series, but the good tracks here are really up my alley.

I always like Sanders' appearance on that album - it's got nothing to do with anything else happening in the piece; it's like someone pushed a button labeled "Pharaoh Sanders" and he did his thing for a couple of minutes and then they pressed the button again to shut him off.

Last night I went to see Broken Shadows, a new quartet featuring Tim Berne on alto sax, Chris Speed on tenor sax, Reid Anderson on bass, and Dave King on drums, playing the music of Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman, Julius Hemphill, and Charlie Haden. Most of the tunes were by Ornette ("C.O.D.", "Ecars," "Humpty Dumpty" and two more), though they also did "Walls-Bridges" by Redman, Haden's "Song for Che," and Hemphill's "Body." It was a blast, and I learned something - I always thought Julius Hemphill's last name was pronounced "hemp-hill," but it's pronounced "hem-fill."

Looking forward to seeing that band here later this summer

I like the new Nolatet album because it's a lovable pop album with New Orleans influences, like the last one, I will have probs forgotten about it in a couple of months - but it is still ace.

Michael Mantler:
The Hapless Child
Watt/4
words by Edward Gorey
(from 'Amphigorey')

Robert Wyatt (voice)
Terje Rypdal (guitar)
Carla Bley (piano, clavinet, synthesizer)
Steve Swallow (bass)
Jack DeJohnette (drums)

recorded July 1975 through January 1976
Willow, NY, and England
A whirlwind right out of the gate, and I knew from later all-instrumental versions how strong some of these frameworks would be---did not expect the excellent and unusual studio effects on some of Wyatt's vocal turns---but eventually, when the words are more upfront, can seem overly emphatic---Gorey's dank little narratives work better with his spare, black white & grey drawings or etchings or whatever they be. Also, c'mon, it's Gorey---think I'll go on to the settings of Beckett and Pinter.

That is, the *overall* effect, the ensemble onslaught, not primarily Wyatt's vocals, can seem overly emphatic here.

Mantler again: Silence(1976)---the overemphasis here is confined to some of MM's heavier handling of Pinter's words, and Chris Spedding's often repeated use of sustain etc., drawing a note out and curving it around 'til it's a needle in my earphones ---but it can hurt so good, and the voices are strong and distinctive, Carla Bley holding her on with Kevin Coyne and Robert Wyatt---and sometimes everybody follows Wyatt's dustdevil percussion, without ever missing their cues (it's a play with a small cast/combo, compressed, maybe condensed, into a single LP's worth of songs).

The text itself may grow on me, but so far doesn't seem up to several Pinter plays I'm more familiar with, though Mantler can highlight the weak spots in his literary sources, maybe by blurring some of the plot points.

Jazz at Lincoln Center is gonna be livestreaming their tribute to Ornette tonight at 8 PM EST. I saw a little clip from the rehearsals on Twitter; arranging Ornette's melodies for a big band turns them into...well, big band melodies, basically. But I'll check it out anyway, and compare it to the Broken Shadows show I described upthread, for my Stereogum column.

https://www.jazz.org/media/live-webcasts/

I know I'm a year late on this, but I just got into Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah's Centennial Trilogy and it's pretty awesome. They were playing all of it on WWOZ last night, and I had it on in the background and it was one of those things where at a certain point I was just like, "What IS this?"

been listening to the sprawling Dave Holland/Evan Parker/Taborn/Ches Smith - Uncharted Territories LP and the new Mehldau today, glad they both exist!

NYC based Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto's Big Band album Back to the Sunset has some nice material. Guests on it include Henry Threadgill and Steve Coleman. While I like Eddie Palmieri's album from last year better, maybe they shouldn't even be compared.

Always want to hear Latin x post-out or whatever it's called now, will check that thanks.

@JustinFarrar 14 hrs ago
Of course, the highlight of #tripmetalfest3 was getting to see the #artensembleofchicago. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen. They played HARD, with #roscoemitchell setting the tone early.

@residentmusic
Fasinating collaboration incoming from Charles Lloyd & The Marvels (@CharlesLloydSax) + Lucinda Williams (@HappyWoman9)

'Vanished Gardens' out via @bluenoterecords 29.06.18

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DeDmQkQXUAA7tzZ.jpg:large

Wow speaking of and with Dave Burrell, re unperson's excellent podcast upthread---next dig this: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/arts/music/dave-burrell-archie-shepp-vision-festival.html

Open Land - Meeting John Abercrombie TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U3UQFY9_II

More details here

My latest podcast is up - I interviewed David Murray.

new JD Allen album of ballads is really lovely and chill. I got lost in my thoughts and became convinced I was listening to Sonny Rollins about half way through it.

Yeah, he's very Rollins-esque at times. A big, big tone. I've interviewed him a couple of times before, and I'm hoping to have him on the podcast this summer.

Lost 1963 Coltrane album discovered

xp
The JD Allen album - Love Stone, is deffo my fave of his yet, although I've only listened to a few, but this current band he has is A+.

xp More on the Trane album (Both Directions at Once) in Search & Destroy: John Coltrane

I finally bought Starebaby and I love it. I'm planning to go see that group at this year's jazz festival, maybe Herbie Hancock and Angles 7 too.

Saw Kamasi Washington last night (he was opening for Alt-J at Forest Hills Stadium; the rest of his US tour is club dates, I think). Two songs from Heaven & Earth, one from Harmony Of Difference, one from The Epic. I hadn't seen him live since 2015, when The Epic was just out. Really good show, and the overwhelmingly young, indie-rock crowd was really into it (I think having their skulls crushed by the double drummers helped a lot).

A bassist I've done some playing with put out his debut as a leader, don't know what I expected but it's really lovely:
https://shiftingparadigmrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dear-friend-2

Has some folk elements that remind me of the Fellowship.

x-post- Kamasi Washington is also on new Florence and the Machine album coming out June 29, and doing some shows opening for her/them

Silkheart is putting their catalog up on Bandcamp.

https://silkheart.bandcamp.com/

Tons of crucial early titles by Charles Gayle (they were the first label to record him), David S. Ware, Other Dimensions in Music, Matthew Shipp, and a ton more. All for just $7 each.

So I'll be in NYC (staying in the Village) June 23-July 1, and I'm hoping to use the opportunity to hear some jazz. There's quite a bit going on, e.g., William Parker, David Murray, Ravi Coltrane, and JD Scott afterhours at Smalls (not to mention a lot of other stuff). As I've never been to NYC for jazz, any must-see things or places?

!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DhnVAXn22k

Wow

If any band can give shredding a worthy context...

My latest Stereogum column is up. This is such a ridiculously stacked month: Kamasi Washington, John Coltrane, JD Allen, the R+R=NOW record, two new Thumbscrew albums, albums by Shamie Royston and Tia Fuller (they're sisters)...

I'm so glad someone has mentioned that ace Matt Penman album, some really nice pulsating fender rhodes work from Parks on there as well, I love it!

I saw Craig Pedersen Quartet the other night. They put on a really good show, with a lot of out playing but always grounded in melodic themes and (complex) grooves. The quintet CD from last year that I picked up is really good too: took a couple of listens to digest. Thierry Amar (GYBE) is probably the most famous guy who plays in the band but Linsey Wellman's circular breathing and extended techniques on sax probably make the group for me.

Angles 7 tonight.

They put on a really good show, playing things from the last couple of Angles 9 albums, I gather. Drummer kept a solid 4 or 12 most of the time, with intricate but still singable horn riffs and out breaks. We caught Tanya Tagaq doing an outdoor set from the fence on the way home too, which was great. (I feel a bit bad about not paying but I rationalize that I've spent a lot on the festival and have paid to see her twice.) Dan Weiss/Starebaby tonight: I'm most excited about this; I haven't seen Monder live before.

love that Starebaby album!

Yeah, I've been playing it all the time since getting it.

Just came across this interview which seems to have a lot of interesting detail: http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2018/05/milt-bernhart-have-trombone-will-travel.html

Also, how was that show? Did you talk to Ben?

just listening to the new Jamie Saft Quartet - Blue Dream. Finding it most agreeable.

Starebaby were very good, even inspiring. So tight and precise. They were playing from sheet music. I was a little surprised that some of the lines on the album that I thought were played on guitar were actually synth/keyboard parts and vice versa. Monder played really fast, really complex parts without missing a beat, playing a note out of place, or making a facial expression. I introduced myself and looked at his pedals afterwards but got nervous and left him alone.

I almost feel bad that I didn't coach you ahead of time about how to talk to him but maybe what works for James Redd wouldn't work for Sund4r.

Herbie did a great all-electric set last night. Age isn't slowing him down. Loueke was dazzling, getting all sorts of timbres out of his guitar and effects and singing through a harmonizer.

Wait is there some sort of festival going on there?

Yeah, it finished today.

You didn’t go to see Russell Malone, did you?