Rolling Jazz Thread 2020

curious that such a good release has gone completely under the radar. Even with the Rona on the run still loads of shite is getting reviewed!

apparently this sextet performed this live in early March. 4 weeks is a long time in the era of pandemic.

It slid under the radar because it was a surprise release at the time. That doesn't work as well in jazz as it does in pop.

he's got the laziest twitter account in the world - he doesn't even announce his new releases on it. But I respect that!

https://jewishinsider.com/2020/04/checking-in-on-the-village-vanguard-the-worlds-oldest-jazz-club/

My latest Stereogum column is up. A litany of the dead, and 15 awesome new albums to listen to.

https://www.stereogum.com/2081658/the-month-in-jazz-april-2020/franchises/ugly-beauty/

Excellent column Phil. BTW, have you ever seen Robert Altman's "Jazz '34: Remembrances of Kansas City Swing"? It was made from the performance footage he shot for his otherwise poorly-received "Kansas City." Great documentary, it was hailed by the few film critics who reviewed it, but unfortunately it never got decent distribution and it remains out-of-print due to licensing issues. (When Arrow Films in the UK tried to include it in their new reissue of "Kansas City" on Blu-Ray, they found out the music licensing for "Jazz '34" was poorly done - everything was short-term and thus expired, and the cost to re-license made it impractical for them to pursue it further.) I bring it up because Hal Willner was the music supervisor for that entire project after previous musical consultants had dropped out. He handpicked the players from all over the jazz and R&B world, which created some on-set tension when the musical sensibilities of certain individuals were at odds with each other. Some quit early on, but things seemed to calm down once they saw themselves on screen. It's probably my favorite project he's done.

I know of it, but have never seen it. I did see the Kansas City Big Band live at Town Hall in NYC in 1997, though I was more excited to see the opening acts, Charlie Haden's Quartet West and Joe Henderson (with George Mraz and Al Foster).

I posted this on the New Orleans brass thread, but someone got Derrick "Kabuki" Shezbie (formerly of the Rebirth Brass Band, and 26 years ago recorded his previous solo album as a teenager, when he was supposed to be the next New Orleans trumpet star a la Wynton, Terrence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton) to record a trad album. It's not necessarily a great album but I'm always happy to hear him play, this is my fave cut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-_9YPzP2PQ

Jaimie Branch at the last show at Roulette before they closed. I had tickets and opted out.
https://vimeo.com/407212407/822e55b8ee

https://www.soundohm.com/product/lena

new Anna Högberg Attack album is fantastic. Mats Gustafsson is raving about it in the link above.

Nice! I loved their first album.

yes it was ace. I definitely need to dig that one out again

Guitarist Hedvig Mollestad, whose long-running trio combines heavy fusion with monster blooze-rawk riffage, has a new album coming out next month with a different, larger ensemble: trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, Marte Eberson and Erlende Slettevoll on keyboards, Torstein Lofhus on drums and Ole Mofjell on percussion. Mollestad wrote the music for the Vossa Jazz festival in Norway in 2019, and after the performance they recorded a studio version. It's really good — kind of a cross between Zappa and early '70s Santana, with the trumpet up front and some really out, noisy electronics at times. On Rune Grammofon.

oh hell yeah, I love Hedvig Mollestad

International Jazz Day, panel and concert streaming tomorrow on jazzday.com:
International Jazz Day Panel with host Nate Chinen, featuring performer Marcus Miller and South African vocalist Sibongile Khumalo.
Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
International Jazz Day Global Concert
Marcus Miller, Lang Lang, Charlie Puth, Cécile McLorin Salvant, John McLaughlin, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Sibongile Khumalo, Alune Wade, John Beasley, Ben Williams, Lizz Wright, John Scofield, Igor Butman, Evgeny Pobozhiy, Youn Sun Nah, A Bu, Jane Monheit, and Joey DeFrancesco, among others.
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
Leading up to the virtual Global Concert, there will be a free series of educational masterclasses, children’s activities and discussions via web conference featuring renowned educators and jazz artists, streamed live via jazzday.com.
more info: https://jazzday.com/

A live audience will be able to submit questions throughout the session. NPR will co-host a live stream of the virtual International Jazz Day activities.

There's some really nice stuff on this Tim Daisy comp (of his compositions with different bands throughout the years):
https://timdaisyrelayrecords.bandcamp.com/album/tim-daisy-a-forward-line-original-sounds-2004-2020-relay-digital-011

I wrote about the new Anna Högberg Attack album, which I bought on Friday during Bandcamp's fee-waiving day.

great album is that. I've had it on repeat rotation for the last week.

Thanks for the heads-up, Phil (and for continuing to cover great artists like her)

I indeed thought the same thing in terms of that 10-min tune on her new one sounding very Conquistador!, but wasn't sure to what degree my thinking that was due to Henry Grimes having passed away a week and a half before her album dropped...

Yes, and as what unperson calls the creepy groove things stalk the leash-singeing trumpet in track 2 (unperson trans. "It IS Not Too Late"), I think of Gil Evans & Miles Davis, *if* they'd gotten together later (in an official, upfront-type presentation, not w Gil's un-or under-credited input to Miles records, as actually seemed to happen, some say), except Miles didn't usually stick so much to lower, wider notes like this (at moments reminding me of Masekela's flugelhorn on the amazing recent release w Tony Allen--but again, not too close).
Also thinking of Gil, the faster side of Gil, during bluesy balancing act portions of "Dansa Margit"---and when the horn gets softer, and everybody else comes swarming back in, kind of like when the cop show hold-out finally lowers his weapon..."Antigen" has this good use of contrast, dynamic development too---and yeah those opening notes of track one are for all time.

unperson trans. "It Is...," not "It IS," sorry. the notes begin to decay like the reed is dissolving also like how other instruments can go through this in diff. time cycles, as is surely the way of nature, not always but ultimately, after the boom-boom ('appreciate they don't automatically lock into blazing finales, like some free-stylized jazz)

if the title of Moses Boyd's Dark Matter suggests a science fiction soundtrack, you're on the right trek: "Nommos Descent," feat. Nonku Phiri and Nubya Garcia, is like Quincy Jones of Young London Presents the New Nocturnal PostFreeBop Pop--that's the one that The Guardian calls "over produced," but I don't think so, it fits perfectly after the gruff, vivid social observations over circular jagged beats and recurring sax fiber of "Dancing in the Dark" feat. Obongjayar, the dubbier drive of "Only You," (incl. roil of looped[?] drums), and "Far Gone"'s flexing core times the rippling ricochet piano of Joe Armon-Jones. Elsewhere we get well-chosen bits of conversation, overblown flute, tough guitar---so far I'm only underwhelmed by the opener, which incl. tinny muted trumpet, not good to start w anticlimax.
I guess early works of Soul II Soul and Massive Attack might also be suggested, but this seems more consistently expansive and energized, in a cool, wider-ranging-record-collection way.
https://mosesboyd.bandcamp.com/album/dark-matter-2

One of my favorites this year for sure

agreed! the shape of acid jazz to come: MOSES BOYD's Dark Matter

How it's done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDpHbc50oM0&feature=youtu.be

This should work better (new Youtube video of Monder doing a spacey solo version of "Never Let Me Go"):
https://youtu.be/UDpHbc50oM0

I'm catching up with some of Eric Hofbauer's more recent releases. This was really pleasant wake-up music this morning (goes down much easier than the solo Ghost Frets - which I also like): https://soundcloud.com/erichofbauer/sets/remains-of-echoes

New album by Dinosaur / Laura Jurd is fantastic. They don't really fit into current UK/London scene so don't get much coverage.

agreed. Need to check out the new Alexander Hawkins & Tomeka Reid duo album as well.

are previous Dinosaur albums as good as this one?

I don't know what put me off them previously, might be a case of mercury award poisoning or something. Which isn't fair bevause they can't help being the token jazz placeholder and it doesn't mean they are shit
!

I'm biased, but Lucian Ban, John Surman and Mat Maneri's Transylvanian Folk Songs, based on Béla Bartók's field recordings, is absolutely fantastic.

The new Kurt Rosenwinkel is cool so far, really nice to hear him just burn out a blues with Gregory Hutchinson.

xp

I like that one a lot as well, must be quite a coup for Sunnyside Records because it is the very definition of an ecm album!

Yeah, agree about the Ban/Maneri/Surman disc; I reviewed it for The Wire.

this got rec'd when i was bopping around yt today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkRJpB0Mhyc

a lot going on here lol

A mate is taking part in a live DJ jazz marathon thing - some great stuff so far. Currently playing Charles Brackeen.

https://www.mixcloud.com/live/thejazzmeet/

Watched Eugene Smith and the Jazz Loft last night (Sarah Fishko of NPR's doc), and it was pretty disappointing. Lots of (nearly all white) talking heads barely saying anything of substance, all over the place, sort of a notebook/footage dump inasmuch as half of the subject matter was just sort of episodic stuff about Eugene Smith's life and career that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Jazz Loft, music very much taking a backseat and never allowed to run for more than 20 seconds or so of a single piece (tbf there's no film footage of the sessions in the loft, sadly).

The one bright spot for me was the section on Overton working with Monk for the Town Hall concert. That honestly should have just been a whole doc, even if it could only be stretched to 30-45 mins.

Eric Alper
@TharEricAlper

Jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb - one of the greats in ANY genre - has died at age of 91. He played on Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue” and “Sketches of Spain” and also performed with John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Wes Montgomery, Art Pepper, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. Damn. Lung cancer, not Covid.

Still performing 'til fairly recently, considering his age (YouTube has him w Eric Alexander Quartet, incl Harold Mabern and Bob Cranshaw, in 2015, for inst)

Should be ThatEricAlper

yarrrr

Rolling Yarrrrs Thread 2020

The thing to judge in any yarrrrs artist is, does the man shiver me timbers and does he have an eyepatch.

The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays The Music Of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison w/Jamie Saft is a fucking cracking album, me hearties!

RIP Jimmy Cobb, you knew it was coming, but end of the era for sure.

it was pointed out to me that he was the last living member of the band from Kind of Blue

No doubt you accepted this novel piece of information with the grace you are accustomed to display.

He joins that roster of cats I have a tiny tinge of guilt or regret about never quite making it out to see them live such as Percy and Jimmy Heath. Did read Peter Bernstein's FB post about him, but not quite the same.