Rolling Jazz Thread 2021

Yeah, I bought it and am listening now, and some other pieces with flute are also really lovely. Feels very intimate and warm, great record imho!

Oh yeah, that's nice.

Nice loose sense of dialogue and play; pleasing timbres

I also was rather pleasantly surprised by this record, a recent one from Astral Spirits— Shocron's piano playing is particularly multi-faceted and wonderful. https://astraleltemplo.bandcamp.com/album/el-templo

Stay tuned... pic.twitter.com/yIf8wjQt6s

— Blue Note Records (@bluenoterecords) October 6, 2021

This looks promising, anyone know more about what this will be?

I've emailed the label publicist. I hope it's a box of all 5 of his albums for the label (The Empty Foxhole, Love Call, New York Is Now, and the two Golden Circle live albums), with all the bonus tracks. That would be great - The Empty Foxhole has been out of print forever.

Yeah, that would be fantastic.

They're not announcing it until the release date is confirmed, but apparently it's a box set in their Tone Poet vinyl reissue series - it'll be all of the aforementioned albums in their vinyl configurations (so, no bonus tracks), plus Jackie McLean's Old & New Gospel (with Ornette as sideman).

Oh, excitement sufficiently dimmed, but thanks for finding out. Be nice if it was a CD box as well.

It is going to cost an arm-and-leg too, based on their "Tone Poet" pricing

Exactly why I'd like a CD box. Nothing against vinyl and it's cool they are getting it out there, but I just don't have time of money for these prohibitively expensive vinyl reissues.

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

Haven’t even clicked yet, but love that picture of Jorge.

I'm halfway through that Monk bio, and investigating Guy Warren (drummer from Ghana who made crossover jazz records in the U.S.) and Ahmed Abdul-Malik (bassist/oudist who experiment a lot with middle eastern/north African influences) from their mentions.

Those Ahmed Abdul-Malik albums are pretty interesting. There's a British out-jazz group named [Ahmed] in tribute to him that have done some cool shit in recent years.

https://astralahmed.bandcamp.com/

the [ Ahmed ] record from earlier this year is in my top 5 of the year for sure, it's a wild record.

Bought the Ackerley/Carter.

The Other Minds festival (With Tyshawn Sorey, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, and William Parker in SF is streaming:

https://www.otherminds.org/festivals/

New Rova on ESP:
The Circumference of Reason includes six tracks composed or, in the case of the piece "NC17," designed between 2011 and 2016. Then – in typical ROVA fashion – the pieces were worked over and performed by the quartet in rehearsals and concerts until perceived to be ready for recording. They include an arrangement of a Glenn Spearman piece as well as a piece by Steve Adams dedicated to Glenn; the playing on both inspired by that expressive saxophonist’s spirited personality and playing.
As well, this recording features two distinctly different versions of NC17, another in the series of ROVA’s structured-improvisations, all of which have been designed using an ever-expanding set of visual and aural cues that the quartet has invented, or borrowed and adapted. On its face, "NC17" is simply a specific set of conceptual options to cue in, in any order, and to then explore, populating the spontaneously chosen series of cued events with immersive music/sounds/energies etc.(sic)
Released October 15, 2021

Bruce Ackley – soprano and tenor saxophones
Steve Adams – alto and sopranino saxophones
Larry Ochs – tenor sax
Jon Raskin – baritone sax

“ROVA's provocative, resolutely avant-garde music draws on influences as disparate as John Coltrane and Iannis Xenakis, Anthony Braxton and Olivier Messiaen.”—Chamber Music
https://rovaesp.bandcamp.com/

Oh wow, I didn't keep up with them but I remember I used to love them. Saw them live in Buffalo in another life and they were great.

My latest Stereogum column is up. I talk about a whole bunch of versions of "A Love Supreme" including the original, of course, the two live versions, Alice Coltrane's take, Branford Marsalis's three versions, the Carlos Santana/John McLaughlin version, and more, plus a bunch of new albums, all of which rule.

hey, great column. going to pick up that Cookers record!

also, not trying to be a dick, but the Mazzarella trio record isn't out until Friday (I know because I tried to download it and only got the sample :-( ), and the Artifacts record is on Astral Spirits, not International Anthem.

Yeah, I sent in a correction about the label thing already. I said "out now" about the other one because I was expecting them to post the column on Friday, but I have no control over that.

Cool. I anticipate your columns a lot, thanks for this one.

Can’t read properly now but your article looks great, thanks! And I love me some Cookers, looking forward to that one.

Yeah thirding the love for the Cookers!

Wait a sec, how did my most anticipated jazz album of the year - Kinfolk 2: See the Birds by Nate Smith - come out a month ago and I had no idea?

Incidentally I really enjoyed this interview with him -- good stuff about Brian Blade, how he was initially going to turn down the Vulfpeck dudes, how he accidentally produced a song for Michael Jackson in the late '90s, etc
http://www.third-story.com/listen/natesmith

I interviewed him too, for a story in the new issue of DownBeat. Interesting dude. (And a really good album.)

apparently there is some more lost "legendary" Haasan ibn Ali recordings coming out, some solo material this time.

I love the new James Brandon Lewis album.

Still need to listen to xpost the new Rova, and now I notice they've got quite a few on here, going back to '89: https://rovasaxophonequartet.bandcamp.com/ Looking fwd to new Cookers also, thx unperson

Ok the Nate Smith album is pretty great, but I could do without most the vocal features, even though Stokley and Brittany Howard are fantastic obv. Obviously it was better to experience these tunes live, and the core band has enough going on to stand on their own.

Now listening to the new Matt Wilson Quartet album "Hug!" and really digging it. Always appreciate his sense of humor, there's more than enough serious jazz to go around (ok 'Space Force March/Interplanetary Music' goes over the line into schtick).

Love Matt Wilson! Saw him recently at Birdland, where I am considering going tonight, as a matter of fact

Another appealing description of new Trane, up close and in this whole era of his music: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/a-newly-released-live-recording-of-john-coltranes-a-love-supre

Third Eye TV, the project I've been working on these past few months, has just launched. I've been exploring the jazz, improvised and experimental archive of the Third Eye, Glasgow's pioneering arts centre of the 70s and 80s, and commissioning responses to it from contemporary Glasgow associated artists including Tony Bevan, Fritz Welch, Helena Celle, Richard Youngs, Semay Wu, Caroline McKenzie and more.

Tonight we're premiering a previously unseen video of John Tchicai, Danny Thompson & John Stevens from 1976, plus archive video of Derek Bailey, Julius Eastman and Glasgow skronk outfit the Andy Law Project. Plus interviews with Danny Thompson and Tchicai biographer Margriet Naber.

Watch it all here: https://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/third-eye-tv

The Wire has a preview of two tracks from next weekend's shows: https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/richard-youngs-helena-celle-reinterpret-third-eye-centre-performances

Wonder if I should go to Smalls/Mezzrow tomorrow?

Very cool, Stew. Looking forward to watching more of it.

Thanks sund4r! Back on Friday with some sound poetry related shenanigans, while on Saturday we take a look at South African jazz at the Third Eye, with vintage footage of Brotherhood of Breath.

From Grandstand Media (grandstandhq.com):

Theon Cross is expanding the sonic possibilities of tuba playing, and is at the forefront of the thriving London jazz scene. The gifted musician, composer and core member of Mercury Prize-nominated outfit Sons Of Kemet will release new album Intra-I (meaning “Within Self”) on October 29th on New Soil / Marathon.

Intra-I is an uplifting celebration of Black music, synthesizing the diversity of his musical art and experience to deliver an essential message to a world gripped by tribulation. Across ten sonically divergent and bass-rich tracks, Intra-I explores themes of self-reliance, origins, identity and more. An exploratory and upful celebration of Afro-Diaspora Music, the album features songs that examine self-development, the importance of history and heritage and the strength in adversity shown by the first generations of post-war Caribbean immigrants to the UK. In addition to being entirely made from sounds taken from the tuba, it is his first music to feature guest vocalists adding a whole other dimension to his music: the album features Remi Graves, Shumba Maasai, Consensus and Oren Marshall, as well as Afronaut Zu and Ahnansé on “The Spiral.”

Theon Cross is an award-winning tuba player and composer who not only redefines what can be done with his instrument but also transcends traditional genre conventions with his heady brew of low end theory combined with strains of jazz, dub, hip-hop, soca, grime, and other sounds from the Afro-Caribbean diaspora. In 2019, he released his acclaimed debut solo album, Fyah, and has collaborated with Little Simz, Stormzy, Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia, Kano and others.

An incredible live performer who's constantly looking to push boundaries, Cross participated in SXSW Online earlier this year by playing both a live set from Abbey Road Studios and, using motion capture technology, as a 3D digital avatar in a VR showcase. His sets were highlighted by The New York Times as one of the “15 of the Best Acts” @ SXSW 2021, noting: “a virtuosic set by the tuba player Theon Cross… merged wah-wah funk with Caribbean carnival rhythms as Cross hopped between holding down the bass lines and joining the band’s brassy melodic crossfire."

Cross will also embark on an extensive UK & Europe tour this year in support of the album. He’s also confirmed a U.S. performance at the Big Ears Festival in March 2022 -- look for additional 2022 North American dates soon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV-ZLfbyNHQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQKvTMucw50

Another vid, but can't get it to play, try the publicity site I guess:
xpost http://grandstandhq.com/

Nice, his record "Fyah" is really good.

Can someone on here who got the vinyl of the Love Supreme in Seattle let me know if there's a download code or not?

Oops, just now checked email sorry:

Tomorrow, four-time Grammy-winning pianist, composer, and producer Robert Glasper will air the second installment of his visually immersive livestreams presented in 4K UHD and Dolby Atmos in partnership with On Air. Dinner Party — a nod to last year’s critically acclaimed self-titled album — will stream tomorrow (October 29) at 8pm EDT, PDT, BST* & AEST* (*October 30) and will see the Robert Glasper Electric Trio lineup adding long-time collaborator, co-producer, and creative partner Terrace Martin, and renowned trumpeter and composer, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah.

Tomorrow’s show follows the first stream which aired earlier this month, Robert Glasper Electric Trio, with guests Burniss Travis, Justin Tyson, and Jahi Sundance taking the stage alongside Glasper. For those unable to make it to Robert’s ongoing residency at New York’s legendary Blue Note Jazz Club, the two streams provide fans across the globe with a rare opportunity to see one of this generation’s foremost artistic talents operating amongst state-of-the-art production design in a quality truly befitting of his music. Both streams will be available for On Demand viewing now until November 30.
More details via links in here:
https://mailchi.mp/girlie/robert-glasper-terrace-martin-dinner-party-global-livestream-tomorrow-livestreams-available-on-demand-until-1130?e=fdd9971b11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS9sNYwkHKo

So available for another month, yay.

https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/10-10-10

excellent last studio album by Kieth Tippett's Mujician get's a release, it was recorded a decade ago shortly before Levin passed.

I interviewed Terrace Martin for Stereogum. He's working on an album with Herbie Hancock.

Great interview!

I had a blast talking to him, and feel like I edited out another couple of thousand words before submitting it. He can really talk.

unperson that's a fucking wild interview!

Revisited Matthew Shipp's Piano Sutras from 2013 the other night. It holds up really well; I actually get more from it now than I did at the time.