Rolling Jazz Thread 2019

I put together a Spotify playlist of all five albums by the Norwegian jazz quartet Cortex (Thomas Johansson on trumpet, Kristoffer Berre Alberts on saxophones, Ola Høyer on bass, Gard Nilssen on drums). Here's a link.

Wayne Shorter's Emanon is now streaming on Spotify (and presumably other services as well).

Just heard Kevin Whitehead's Fresh Air take on the new Eric Dolphy collection, Musical Prophet, mentioned upthread by unperson. It gathers prev. released from a couple of albums with outtakes etc, and KW says some of the best versions made the original cut, but great sound, as unperson says, and cool to have them all together, esp. duets w bassist Richard Davis, also sessions w Woody Shaw and Bobby Hutcherson and larger groups. More info here: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/eric-dolphy-musical-prophet-resonance-review-784055/

If you want to hear Branford Marsalis talk about why Kamasi Washington and Christian Scott aren't jazz, check out my latest podcast:

https://simplecast.com/s/784800dd

He also talks about his time with Sting, playing with the Grateful Dead, and how it took him seven years to get good at playing classical music.

The lineup for Gilles Peterson's We Out Here festival (August 15-18) looks amazing:

https://www.weoutherefestival.com/lineup

Gary Bartz
Matthew Herbert
Tirzah
Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids
The Comet Is Coming
Sons of Kemet
Lee Fields & The Expressions
Nubya Garcia
Kojey Radical
Hailu Mergia
A Certain RatioMXMJoY
Moses Boyd Exodus
Steam Down Orchestra
Kokoroko
Children of Zeus
Yazmin Lacey
Kaidi Tatham
Theon Cross Fyah
Joe Armon-Jones
Maisha
Auntie Flo
Skinny Pelembe
Tawiah
Alabaster dePlume

yeah, that looks dope as fuck

Christ. And in August so can actually go.

Listening to the new Christian Scott album Ancestral Recall - it's great, of course. A single disc, and more organic/less trap than the trilogy, but still definitely him. Out in late March.

Did this on Nashville saxophonist-producer JayVe Montgomery and his current project, Abstract Black

man alive, have you heard Hamiet Bluiett live album with Ted on it? It’s great.

I had a very jazzy weekend. Played two nights at the Green Mill, but on Saturday there was some excitement after the show because Anderson Paak was playing across the street. While the next band was setting up I got to meet Makaya McCraven, who was super chill. Then we had to give up one of our band booths to make some room for Kamasi Washington, Maurice Brown and crew. AP came by for a little bit too, but I didn't notice him sitting behind me.

I stayed for the first set (1 - 2 am) and Kamasi didn't sit in, but Maurice B and he killed it. Btw the late night band was the successor to Sabertooth, Pat Mallinger's band with Pete Benson on organ (who is absolutely insane) and a great drummer I hadn't heard before, Samuel Jewell.

dang

Sounds awesome, v envious.
Heard a very nice "Nardis" last night on radio: Cannonball A feat. Blue Mitchell, who especially impressed with shadings into the endpoint, without ever imitating Miles. What other Blue Mitchell (his albums or on someone else's) should I check?

I mostly know him from those great early Horace Silver records

His Riverside albums from 1959-60 are really good, especially Big Six, Out of the Blue, Blue Soul and Blue's Moods. Killer bands on all of those.

Kamasi Washington, Maurice Brown and crew. AP came by for a little bit too, but I didn't notice him sitting behind me.

lol i was skimming and misread this as Kamasi Washington was sitting behind you and I was like goddamn how do you not notice Kamasi Washington?

It's true, he is hard to miss

Saxophonist/flutist Anna Webber's 'Clockwise', is an homage to some of her favourite 20th Century composers as seen through the lens of their works for percussion.
For the project, Webber researched and analyzed various percussion compositions by Iannis Xenakis, Morton Feldman, Edgard Varése, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Milton Babbitt, and John Cage, isolating particular moments that could be extracted and developed into new works.

love this so far, and would listen to any band with Tordini, M Mitchell , Ches Smith anyway, but this is really good.

Yeah, it's an interesting record - I wrote about it for my Stereogum column, which will be running later today I think.

Looking for Charles Lloyd on Bandcamp, found Manhattan Stories (2014), comprised of
Two 1965 New York Concerts, Disc 1 recorded at Judson Hall & Disc 2 recorded at Slugs' Saloon.

A remarkable and previously unrecorded quartet featuring three jazz giants: guitarist Gábor Szabó, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Pete La Roca.

'It was a specific time and place'; Lloyd told Manhattan Stories annotator Don Heckman. 'We all felt like the boundaries were being dissolved and we could do or try anything. This is a music of freedom and wonder -- we were young and on the move.' Which is just what the sample track, "Sweet Georgia Brown," sounds like (17' 49", but quite spritely). Especially digging the interplay of guitar and sax, bass and cymbals, also succinct solos, esp. PLR's and Szabo's---the latter bright and brittle, autumn leaves, but def not drifting. What other Szabo should I check? Used to see his LPs...
https://charleslloyd.bandcamp.com/

Here's my Stereogum column. I talk about Theon Cross, James Brandon Lewis, Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom, Lioness, Jeremy Pelt, Chris Potter, Anna Webber, Joe Fiedler, Maurice Louca, Itamar Borochov, Brent Birckhead, Miho Hazama, OK:KO, Matt Brewer, and Tom Rainey.

Thanks, Phil. Don (do you guys have a father named Ike?), see this thread: Gabor Szabo: Who Cares About His MIddle Eastern Modalities Aside From Me And Hurting?

Interesting that Maurice Louca has gone jazz. His last was egyptian dance music, great album. Looking forward to hearing it.

Something Ethan Iverson said on Twitter got me to check out the Brecker Brothers' Heavy Metal Be-Bop (an album I'd never heard before). I like a lot of 70s fusion - I have albums by Billy Cobham, Jean-Luc Ponty, Al DiMeola, Return to Forever, Weather Report and probably some others in my (digital) Walkman - but this shit is a step too far. This shit is gross.

the Maurice Louca album is very pretty and the vocal track is nice, it is quite a short and slight album - but definitely worth a listen I think.

xxp

you should check out the Anna Weber alb fred, the king of denmark part of the suite is probably the best new music I've heard this year!

Anna Webber

Yeah, thanks for the rec, I really like this.

glad you like it. For me I don't there is much on Pi Recordings that hasn't been A to A+ in recent years.

I listened to Heavy Metal Bebop in high school because of the title (and because we played Some Skunk Funk), but it's my ground zero for why effects on horns are almost always bad.

Also a rare Terry Bozzio appearance before he became a professional drum soloist (I never really got into Zappa).

Jim Black is doing a week at The Stone starting tonight; well worth the Jackson imo!
http://thestonenyc.com/calendar.php

Sigh, changing from Apple Music to Spotify means I lose access to the Pi Recordings catalogue :(

Is there something I should especially focus on in the next ten days?

Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, Tyshawn Sorey, Miles Okazaki, Dan Weiss imo.

You might check the new Allison Miller & Boom Tic Boom, which unperson linked above---very appealing review by Kevin Whitehead on this morning's Fresh Air, with excerpts well-chosen to match his comments:
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/28/698903730/all-the-parts-fit-together-like-clockwork-on-allison-millers-glitter-wolf?ft=nprml&f=

Just found out that Ed Bickert passed on Thursday. I listened to him a lot in Grade 10. RIP:( https://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/jazzblog/rip-ed-bickert

Listening to him this weekend for the first time. Great stuff. Doesn’t hurt that he plays with an excellent bass player, Don Thompson. Apologies for thinking that there was only room for one good Canadian jazz guitarist and that guitarist was Lenny Breau.

Also---Sonny Greenwich? Heard him only a little bit, long ago, but seemed good, kinda out there.

Thanks Youtube for recommending this banger of a clip with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Mingus, Roy Haynes, and Archie Shepp (etc) on Ed Sullivan, it was new to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzGj_-5FGT8

about as cool as it gets.

Buried in the announcement of a pair of April gigs at the Jazz Standard was the announcement that JD Allen's next album will be called Barracoon and be released in June; it features a new trio (Ian Kenselaar on bass, Nic Cacioppo on drums). He'll be playing at the Standard with them, plus Liberty Ellman on guitar.

Got a promo of the upcoming Art Ensemble of Chicago album, We Are On The Edge: A 50th Anniversary Celebration, today. It's a 2CD set (1 studio, 1 live, 70 minutes each) out in late April on Pi Recordings and features a ton of guests:

Roscoe Mitchell – sopranino, soprano and alto saxophones
Famoudou Don Moye – drums, congas, djembe, dundun, gongs, Congo bells, bendir, triangles, Thai bells, shakers
Moor Mother (Camae Ayewa) – voice, poetry (Disc One #3, 4, 10)
Rodolfo Cordova-Lebron – voice (Disc One #1, 6, 9)
Hugh Ragin – trumpets, flugelhorn, Thai bells
Fred Berry – trumpet, flugelhorn
Nicole Mitchell – piccolo, flute, bass flute
Christina Wheeler – voice, Array mbira, autoharp, Q-Chord, Moog Theremini, sampler, electronics
Jean Cook – violin
Edward Yoon Kwon – viola
Tomeka Reid – cello
Silvia Bolognesi – bass
Jaribu Shahid – bass, tuned brass bowls
Junius Paul – bass
Dudù Kouaté – djembe, tama/talking drum, calabashes, kanjira, whistles, chimes, bells and small percussions (Disc One only)
Enoch Williamson – bongos, congas, djembe, kenkeni, okonkolo, Congo bells, chekeré, shakers, tama/talking drum
Titos Sompa – vocals, congas, mbira, Congo bells, cuica, shakers
Stephen Rush – conductor

Just heard this great version of “Stella By Starlight” on WKCR with the melody played on a bass but I can’t figure out who was the leader, because the jock didn’t say and they didn’t update the playlist. Damn you, Pledge Week!

Maybe it was Paul Chambers but can’t seem to locate such a recording, especially since it is overshadowed by his playing it with Miles.

It wasn't this, was it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xCwCjYQwJ4

Not 100% sure, but it’s certainly close enough, thanks!

What about The Comet Is Coming, now streaming on NPR?

#FirstListen: Stream The Comet is Coming's (@cometcoming) 'Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery' before it comes out March 15. https://t.co/b5qfLSNn84 pic.twitter.com/dTEyL5mfaR

— NPR Music (@nprmusic) March 7, 2019

yes!

I can't tell whether I am going to go for the gimmick or not.

The TCIC album is really good. I didn't like their stuff at first but it's grown on me quite a bit. I interviewed all three members for a feature that'll be out next week on Tidal's website.