Rolling Jazz Thread 2021

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.

The complete Cecil Taylor concert from Town Hall in November 1973 is being released digitally in February. The final third of the show was released at the time as Spring of Two Blue J's; 20 minutes of solo Taylor on Side A, 20 minutes of the full quartet with Jimmy Lyons on alto sax, Sirone on bass, and Andrew Cyrille on drums on Side B. But prior to that, they had played a single 90 minute piece, "Autumn/Parade," which was impossible to break up for vinyl. But the engineer held onto the original tapes, and has mastered the entire thing. For a four-track live recording it sounds pretty great. Sirone can be hard to discern at times, but the other three are going at it full bore on the previously unreleased material.

Hell yeah coked up CT I’m there!

New Jeff Parker advance track "Suffolk" is v pretty minimalism. Interested to hear how it will work in the album. It's the most I've enjoyed solo Jeff Parker, I think: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/forfolks

Enjoying Shubh Saran's Inglish. Nice guitar-based Hindustani/jazz/rock fusion.

my fave recent release is the Borderlands Trio's Wandersphere. I've been in a very Paul Bley mood recently and this fits in nicely with that.

New Stereogum column up. Wynton Marsalis turned 60 last month; I had some thoughts. Also reviews of Makaya McCraven, Matthew Shipp, Irreversible Entanglements, and a bunch of other artists.

https://thisisredkite.bandcamp.com/album/apophenian-bliss

new one from Norwegian jazz-rock supergroup Red Kite

Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few's Cosmic Transitions is a super Coltraney — it was recorded on the anniversary of his birth last year, at the Van Gelder studio ...

only just caught up with this, very nice!

Big announcement that kinda fits in this thread:

My site/label is putting on an online streaming event, the Burning Ambulance Festival, on January 1, 2022. It will begin at noon ET on our Bandcamp page and feature performances by the following (running order TBD):

• saxophonist Rodrigo Amado (Portugal)
• Code-Switch (JD Allen, saxophone; Eric Revis, bass; Nasheet Waits, drums) (USA)
• saxophonist Caroline Davis (USA)
• saxophonist Muriel Grossmann (Germany)
• pianist Karin Johansson (Sweden)
• organist Susanne Kujala (Finland)
• saxophonist José Lencastre (Portugal)
• Massacre (Anton Pomonarev, saxophone; Anton Obrazeena, guitar) (Russia)
• cornet player Rob Mazurek (USA)
• trombonist Peter McEachern (USA)
• guitarist Ava Mendoza (USA)
• bassist William Parker (USA)
• trumpeter Steph Richards (USA)
• Senyawa (Rully Shabara, vocals; Wukir Suryadi, instruments) (Indonesia)
• saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi (USA)
• drummer Tyshawn Sorey (USA)
• electronic musician Submerged (Estonia)
• pianist Lisa Ullén (Sweden)
• percussionist Shirazette Tinnin (USA)
• pianist Eli Wallace (USA)

Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased here; they include a download of the compilation I put out last year, Eyes Shut, Ears Open, which contains exclusive tracks from Mats Gustafsson, Burnt Sugar, Melissa Aldana, and a bunch of other people. Hope you'll watch!

Wow!

Hell yeah man. But it first I thought it was Fred Frith’s Massacre and got even more excited!

Cool, unperson!

The new Ava Mendoza record is pretty good, tho I haven't spun it more than once.

NYC Bassist Tyler Mitchell To Release Dancing Shadows CD Jan 28 Via Mahakala Music, Featuring Legendary Alto Player & Arkestra Director Marshall Allen

Tyler Mitchell and Marshall Allen go way back — and way out. Having worked together in the Sun Ra Arkestra in the mid 1980s, the two resumed their partnership again over the past decade, with Mitchell rejoining the Arkestra after exploring other paths. That group carries on the Sun Ra name today under the direction of Allen, now 97, yet what they have in common goes far beyond the music of one man. Inspired by their former boss, the two are finding new common ground, cross-pollinating their experiences with both free and arranged jazz, and harvesting a new album in the process, Dancing Shadows.

Joining Mitchell and Allen on the new Mahakala Music release are Chris Hemmingway (tenor sax), Nicoletta Manzini (alto sax), Wayne Smith (drums) and Elson Nascimento (percussion), and the sextet can deliver both horn arrangements and free passages with aplomb. In so doing, the album fulfills a vision that Mitchell has had for years.

Having studied bass with Donald Rafael Garrett (John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Rahsaan Roland Kirk) and Malachi Favors (Art Ensemble of Chicago), Mitchell has always straddled the worlds of conventional and avant garde jazz. He was still in his mid-twenties when he made the jump from his native Chicago to New York and landed a gig with the Arkestra in 1985. While his restless nature soon took him elsewhere, he can be heard on two Sun Ra albums from that period. “Reflections in Blue and Hours After, we recorded both of those at the same time,” Mitchell recalls. “Sun Ra was doing a lot of standards and Fletcher Henderson arrangements.” Even then, he was exploring the possibilities of combining free jazz with less chaotic settings.

Indeed, Mitchell distinguished himself as one of the nation's premiere hard bop bassists in the years that followed. By 1988, he was adding his distinctive fat sound to Art Taylor's Wailers, and later he worked with Jon Hendricks, Shirley Horn, and George Coleman. By the turn of the century, “I went down to Mexico, Cuba and Central America for about ten years. And when I came back in 2010, 2011, I joined the Arkestra with Marshall. And Marshall's just such a great player. So I said, 'You've got to do a project with me one day!' I was just waiting for this moment to come. Oh man, it's beautiful, man! Everything just came so natural with Marshall. He's a master, man. He's from before be bop; he's from the swing era, you know?”

In fact, almost a century of music-making has given Allen an insight into nearly every facet of jazz. Leaving his native Louisville, Kentucky during World War II, he played clarinet and alto saxophone with the U.S. Army's 17th Division Special Service Band, spent the late '40s working with James Moody, then studied at the Paris Conservatory of Music. By 1951, Allen had returned to the U.S. and in 1958 joined Sun Ra's Arkestra, with whom he's been associated ever since. With James Spaulding initially being Ra's main alto player, Allen was encouraged to cultivate other talents over the years, including flute, oboe, piccolo, and EVI (a brass- and wind-based controller for synthesizer). Moreover, the Arkestra was the perfect ensemble for Allen to perfect his expressive, non-chordal approach, full of howls and birdsongs.

Nowadays, when Allen leads the Arkestra, Mitchell says he “covers all the different styles in jazz when we do a concert. It's not just swing, it's not just free. It covers a little bit of everything. We mix it all up, with some free stuff and old Fletcher Henderson stuff, to rhythmic songs with different kinds of layers. That's why this record has got a little bit of everything.”

The compositions of Sun Ra himself are the perfect vehicle for this eclecticism, especially those from the earliest years of the Arkestra, and the album includes “Interstellar Low Ways,” “Angels & Demons at Play,” “Dancing Shadows,” “Carefree,” “Enlightenment” and “A Call for All Demons.” Yet this is no slavish reproduction. As Mitchell points out, “Marshall was on all those records back in the day. But he chose not to sit and play the same arrangements. He preferred to put something fresh on top. A new line. He didn't want to just do his line again, like back in the '50s. He wanted to create on the spot.”

The set is rounded out with a Thelonious Monk tune, “Skippy,” two by the alto player Manzini and three by Mitchell himself. His contributions spring directly from his impressions of his fellow players. “Nico” and “Nico Revisited” refer to Manzini's nickname. “We did a couple of takes on the song, and they were so similar, yet so different. That's why I called the other one 'revisited',” says Mitchell. His third was inspired by Allen, but actually begins with only Mitchell's bass.

“I had him directing me,” says Mitchell. “He directed me so I could go off into it. 'Marshall the Deputy' is the title — that's what Sun Ra used to call him. It was a play on words: You've got the marshall and you've got the deputy. In fact there's a song called 'Deputy Motel' that he wrote for Marshall.”

All in all, Mitchell is pleased with the ensemble, which he put together with a particular kind of freedom in mind. “I thought the voicings from the horns would do all the chords I needed,” he reflects. “Sometimes a piano can really lock a person in, you know? It locks you up where you can't get out and be free. But when the piano and guitar are gone, I can play a lot of different notes. A lot of different things that ordinarily would clash with the piano.”

Mitchell was especially keen to try some of the Sun Ra tunes with a smaller band than the Arkestra. “The tenor player, Chris Hemmingway, joined the band just recently, and he turned out to be really good. Nicoletta is one of Marshall's proteges. She put a lot of arrangements together, and put in a lot of stuff to make it really happening. The horns kept things from really sounding too out there. The way they blew around the music really kept a cohesiveness around each song, where it wasn't just a soloist blowing. The shape of the song was always there. And then the drummer and the percussionist both play with the Sun Ra band, so they knew the music I wanted to do. It really paid to have somebody who knew the songs. I just did them a little different.”

And then there was Allen. “Marshall will improvise on the spot. And if a song's too nice and neat and clean and all too perfect, he'll come and just mess it all up. You don't want it to be all too perfect. He likes to have the chaos. Because he believes there are no wrong notes, you know? His philosophy is, you play one note, you make a mistake, and then say something right. Then make another mistake. Say something wrong. He hears the song like that. 'Play something wrong! Now play something right! Now play something wrong!' I just let Marshall do his thing. Everybody else had special things they had to play, arrangements to follow, but Marshall, I just let him do what he does. I really had no instructions for him except to direct us. We do a lot of free stuff, and use a lot of space chords and all that. I need him to direct us. Other than that, I just want him to fill in all the right places, and put his signature on it.”

The final product is the perfect synthesis of freedom and constraint, hard bop and pure sonic texture. The listener is never lulled into complacency. And this goes for Mitchell himself: “Each song's got a different vibe,” he says, “and I still listen to the music. I usually don't like to listen to what I've done. I don't like to keep hearing myself. But this particular record really holds my attention.”

SINGLES & RELEASE CALENDAR

January 11 - "Dancing Shadows" Single + Album Announcement

January 28 - Full Album

LINKS
Tyler Mitchell: Website
Mahakala Records: Website || Twitter || Facebook || Instagram || Bandcamp

ALBUM CREDITS


Marshall Allen – sax and evi
Tyler Mitchell – bass
Chris Hemmingway – tenor
Nicoletta Manzini - alto sax
Wayne Smith – drums
Elson Nascimento – percussion

CONTACTS
US Press: Gabriel Birnbaum, Gabe at clandestinepr dot com
Radio: Evan Welsh, radio at clandestinelabelservices dot com

Tyler Mitchell featuring Marshall Allen
Dancing Shadows

Release date: Friday, January 28th 2022

Airplay Date: Friday, January 28th 2022

1. A Call For All Demons

2. Angels and Demons

3. Care Free

4. Dancing Shadows

5. Enlightenment

6. Interstellar Loways

7. Marshalls the Deputy

8. Nico Revisited

9. Nico

10. Skippy

11. Space Travelers

12. Spaced Out