Rolling Jazz Thread 2022

I feel like the Bad Plus are on the downward slide and just don't want to admit it yet. I mean, swapping Orrin Evans in when Ethan Iverson left/was fired is one thing, but to bring in Monder and Speed, neither of whom has shown much interest in the past in being part of a steady, hard-touring band... it feels kinda desperate, and I don't see it lasting very long. Plus, it's too big a structural change. People (rightly) think of TBP as a piano trio, so to now become a sax-guitar-bass-drums quartet runs the risk of alienating a whole lot of the audience, many of whom were originally drawn in by piano-trio covers of rock songs and only incidentally converted to fans of original jazz music...which was still presented in piano trio format!

This has nothing to do with the merits of the music, of course. I hope they make a record soon, 'cause I'd love to hear it. Monder's skronk on top of a rhythm section that hard-hitting? I'm 100% on board for that.

A guy I know produced this. I really like it

https://theofficialcowmusic.bandcamp.com/album/live

Yeah, I'll listen to Monder play on anything but I don't get how this is still the Bad Plus.

The Bad Minus Plus Plus Plus

Add Ben to (X)

Finally got the Courvoisier/Halvorson album from last year: https://sylviecourvoisiermaryhalvorsonpyroclastic.bandcamp.com/album/searching-for-the-disappeared-hour . It really is marvellous, almost like a bizarro world Undercurrents. The connection between the two of them is really strong throughout, no matter how intricate they get.

Ah! you mean the Jim Hall Bill Evans Undercurrents, I take it:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61gr6T-rTuL._SL1200_.jpg

Yes, exactly. Obv a lot further out.

The Courvoisier/Halvorson album is so, so good.

I feel like the Bad Plus are on the downward slide and just don't want to admit it yet. I mean, swapping Orrin Evans in when Ethan Iverson left/was fired is one thing, but to bring in Monder and Speed, neither of whom has shown much interest in the past in being part of a steady, hard-touring band... it feels kinda desperate, and I don't see it lasting very long. Plus, it's too big a structural change. People (rightly) think of TBP as a piano trio, so to now become a sax-guitar-bass-drums quartet runs the risk of alienating a whole lot of the audience, many of whom were originally drawn in by piano-trio covers of rock songs and only incidentally converted to fans of original jazz music...which was still presented in piano trio format!

I'm inclined to agree with all that, yeah. On the other hand, they've gotta eat, and I'm looking forward to hearing the new lineup play the old material. Also since I've seen both Chris Speed's trio with Dave King and Broken Shadows (including Chris/Dave/Reid) recently, it'll be interesting to hear how different they sound in context as 'The Bad Plus'.

Also I guess TBP did do that record with Joshua Redman already, but that's one of their projects I've listened to the least.

I really like a few things on that Redman/Bad Plus record, I actually enjoyed it more than some of their other material.

love this one especially
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmQTZb81qQ8

Youtube has been very concerned that I should watch this Ari Hoenig video, and I'm glad I finally did

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1zPpLdc-Go

Can't tell who he is playing with there.

Credits say:

Tom Ollendorff - Guitar
Conor Chaplin - Bass

Not familiar, but they're great, especially that trading with the bass player.

Francis Davis comments on the year in jazz, and his own ballot, a little longer than usual, as he says, with several I hadn't heard of, looking good:
https://artsfuse.org/244710/the-2021-jazz-critics-poll-only-the-best/

Saw a great Christian Scott Atunde show last night

Speaking of 2021, here's one I should have mentioned the, from my forthcoming blog round-up:

The cover of Leni Stern’s Dance is a winter curb full of musos, looking for the bus. Sure, that’s always a big part of the roving life, whether coups and pandemics happen to be on at the moment or not: guitarist Stern, of Munich, Manhattan, and Mali, for instance, has seen all that, also The Big C, and just so far, of course. Her lines, whether building to solos or not, are always headphones, finding what they need in the mesh and tapping, digging in, birds on the wire and then some. Dance sees Stern again fronting her cross-cultural New York quartet, featuring brilliant Argentine keyboardist Leo Genovese and the bone-deep rhythm duo of bassist Mamadou Ba and percussionist Eladji Alioune Faye, both originally from Senegal. ..Along with Genovese, Ba and Faye, the album features one of Leni’s confreres from her days playing in Salif Keita’s band, Haruna Samake, who added his harp-like kamele n’goni to three tracks from afar and co-wrote one song with Leni, the buoyant “Kono” (“Bird”).

Along with “Yah Rakhman,” co-written by Leni and Faye, other highlights of Dance include the freshly arranged, richly harmonized traditional West African griot tune “Daouda Saane” and the hard-grooving, Genovese-penned “Kani” (“Spicy Pepper”), which features some characteristically piquant solos by the pianist. The track list also includes Ba’s atmospheric “Maba” (an homage to his great-great-great grandfather, a heroic figure in Senegalese history), Faye’s hopping, skipping instrumental “Hale” (“Children”) and Leni’s tuneful vocalise “Adjouma” (“Friday,” a tribute to multicultural New York City)

...As Leni explains, the band has gone from strength to strength. “It has been a real love affair between the keyboards and the rhythm section! The guys love Leo and all his fire. They always say, ‘Leo is so baaad!’ The West African rhythmic vocabulary – as well as its sense of form and call-and-response – can be challenging for any musician who isn’t native to the music, but Leo seems to relish that, finding it to be a fun way of connecting to the African roots of his South American heritage. And, of course, there are lots of European classical influences on South American music. The richness of Leo’s harmonic approach and his modern jazz idiom really add to the music, which you can hear on his new tune, ‘Kani’.
https://lenistern.bandcamp.com/album/dance">”https://lenistern.bandcamp.com/album/dance

Finally got around to the Shepp/Moran from last year and it's really nice, genuinely raw and moving at moments.

Also finally got around to hearing the Love Supreme Live in Seattle (on a Valentine's day playlist, along with Battle Trance's Blade of Love - both her picks fwiw) and wow, I did not expect the recording to sound that good. It seems to go pretty far out.

Nate Chinen this morning, with Lee Morgan updates, accompanied by excerpts from Lighthouse box: new doc, mainly from POV of his wife-killer, but apparently not just complaints? Or her words/take only. Dunno, will have to look up more about this. Also, a fan went looking to pay his respects, and How a jazz legend's resting place was lost and found, 50 years after his tragic deathhttps://www.npr.org/2022/02/16/1080984321/lee-morgan-50th-anniversary-death-gravesite

wife who was also his killer, I meant.

https://chetdoxas-whirlwind.bandcamp.com/album/you-cant-take-it-with-you

this is another 2021 release I've just caught up with. Would recommend if you like those 50's/60's Jimmy Giuffre trios.

Battle Trance for v-day, Sund4r you found a real one!

Sex Mob (AKA Sexmob, on Bandcamp), Theatre and Dance
Another pick for 2021 list, a reissue, from 2000, not quite top tier, because occasionally a tad bleary, world-weary, hungover, even jizzed-out (during some originals, not the Ellington), yet all of that's quite appropriate, as you will see---from Steven Bernstein's backstory: merch community
Theatre and Dance
by Sexmob

Share / Embed Wishlist
supported by
nick dimaria thumbnail joebee thumbnail jamminjazzmichelle thumbnail Robert Amis thumbnail Chuck Beers Sr. thumbnail mdotterer thumbnail moicci thumbnail winipuh thumbnail Jon-Erik Kellso thumbnail cbuccari thumbnail John Lilley thumbnail Sam Eastmond thumbnail Steve Burnett thumbnail Ben Rubin thumbnail Mark Shilansky thumbnail Markus Fronmueller thumbnail beef thumbnail Bob Miller thumbnail Jim Millar thumbnail Andy Hollander thumbnail Joe Sever thumbnail dblisten thumbnail Tal Somekh thumbnail yuvalliondrums thumbnail noel lairson thumbnail Watusi thumbnail
Black and Tan Fantasy 00:00 / 04:28
Digital Album
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Buy Digital Album $10 USD or more
Send as Gift
1.
Black and Tan Fantasy 04:28
2.
The Blues 04:51
3.
Night Creature 06:09
4.
It Don't Mean a Thing 03:39
5.
The Mooche 04:09
6.
Harlem (excerpt) 05:24
7.
Dirty Charity 04:25
8.
Mattress Blues 04:16
9.
Queen Mae 04:48
10.
Overture and Out 00:23
about
Reissue. Originally released in 2000.

In Nov/December 1998 I was touring with the Donald Byrd Dance Company for their epic staging of “The Harlem Nutcracker” which featured Duke Ellington’s arrangements of Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic, along with new arrangements by David Berger that continued in Duke’s lineage. Not only was the piece beautifully conceived and executed, but the band included many legendary musicians (some who had played with Duke) including Britt Woodman, Jerome Richardson, Jerry Dodgion, Marcus Belgrave and Art Baron. I knew that Donald Byrd had expansive tastes in music, and at a party at the end of the run, I gave him the 1st Sexmob CD, which had just been released. A little while later Donald contacted me, he had been turned on by the music and made me an offer couldn’t refuse…. To reimagine Duke Ellington’s music in the image of the “old 42nd St”, full of sex shops, peepshows, hookers and grime. … I know its typecasting.. but it was a perfect assignment. FYI, I listened to Duke Ellington’s music every day for approximately 30 years, starting in 1981.. it was as close as I ever got to a strict religious affiliation.
Donald gave me complete freedom in the recording, just giving me approximate timings for the pieces. I decided to use rhythms from across the decades of 42nd St’s reign as the smut capital of NY, brought the arrangements in, and Sexmob went to work...
he work, entitled “In A Different Light:Duke Ellington” was premiered at the Joyce Theatre Feb 29, 2000. Donald’s vision of capturing the feeling of the old 42nd St including outfitting all the dancers with giant prosthetic breasts and enormous hanging phalluses (each dancer having a different coordinated color pattern on their apendages). This made for an incredible spectacle, but limited the number of venues willing to present the piece…story of my life.. the blessing and curse of a band named “Sexmob”
There is a funny story about a workshop/preview of the piece where Stanley Crouch was on the moderating panel. You can imagine what he had to say!
The final 4 pieces on this CD were written for a production of Mae West’s 1926 play entitled “Sex”…yes more typecasting. The play was was presented by The Hourglass Group, and directed by Elyse Singer. It premiered in Dec 1999 at the Gershwin Hotel, and it was the first restaging of the play since it opened in 1926. The music manages to sound like classic Sexmob while being very “era specific”… Tony overdubs banjo, and Kenny sounds like a mix of Baby Dodds and Dave Grohl. Well, maybe not.

released April 1, 2021

1-6 Composed by Duke Ellington
7-10 Composed by Steven Bernstein /Spanish Fly Music ASCAP
All music arranged by Steven Bernstein
Steven Bernstein Arranger, Composer, Conductor, Primary Artist, Slide Trumpet
David Bias Sleeve Design
Jim Black Drums (Track 6)
Danny Blume Engineer, Mixing
Duke Ellington Composer
Chris Kelly Engineer, Mixing
Briggan Krauss Sax (Alto), Sax (Baritone)
Bubber Miley Composer
Irving Mills Composer
Gene Paul Mastering
Tony Scherr Banjo, Bass, Engineer, Mixing
Kenny Wollesen Chimes, Drums
Julie Lemberger Cover photograph
Read more, hear it all here:
https://stevenbernstein.bandcamp.com/album/theatre-and-dance

Oh sorry, didn't mean to incl. all that stuff before his story and track list etc.!

blade of love is one of my fave albums of the decade

Battle Trance for v-day, Sund4r you found a real one!

<3

A bit more on 2021 releases, from the blog round-up

Poet-novelist-songwriter-performer Anthony Joseph, of Trinidad and Tobago and Britain, gets compared to Linton Kwesi Johnson, but The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running For Their Lives is electrified by his own kind of speech-song, going back and forth from one to the other, syllable to syllable when he chooses, on the beat and calling it to free jazz, including splatter bop and Caribbean elements, whirling imagery—but then there's that show-stopping sound: dirt hitting the lid of his father's coffin. He's the immigrant in reverse, stepping around a now-unsettling setting in "my hip waistcoat," also in the apparently patient, good-humored, steady gaze of old and new friends and relations. Later he recalls other voices in the UK recalling when they eventually could call it home, and his own path toward that. The music always adapts to, is always just the right part of, each situation, and of him.

https://anthonyjosephofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-rich-are-only-defeated-when-running-for-their-lives

The spirit of free jazz also recharges its now familiar subgenre elements on the latest albums by Rova and Ill-Considered, with both brainiac ensembles going raw soon enough, although IC's Liminal Space starts out relatively tame, and overall can't escape slightly disappointing comparison w 2020's East-West, which was astonishing, as I noted then:

1 hour, 47 minutes, 58 seconds, rolls right along, segmentation down in there, tiny mile markers: seconds of distorted audience sounds back in the headphones every now and then, even a little back-and-forth of musos and crowd at one point, also distorted: all part of the carnival scrim, incl dub-associated effects, on the fly or might as well be. Sax turns into a swarm of bassoons about 8 minutes in, bass gets more distorted, needs no other guitars as suggestions of Last Exit just behind the curtain---in the vast Jazz Park (don't stick your fingers in there) on a windswept gray-green summer's day. Later clearing for a Middle Eastern view of the Med, which comes back later still as slow modal ferris wheel, empty but still turning-- for a minute,'til the bass has enough, and everything gets zigzag funky---going to night skies, night sweats, emitting then melting down, the ECM Sound expansions--the bass goes toward a metal chant, everybody falls into a funeral procession, like Ishmael at the beginning of Moby Dick: it's a sign it's time to ship out, and so they do, finding more excitement, along the way, that is--finale is black helicopter blades too fast and shakey, but still cutting through waves ov grooves. I dunno if there might be some predictable bits in there very eventually, for a while--hazards of long live performance--but an edit might kill the sense of pace, of searching in the moment, however in the moment this actually is. (All three of those albums are on Bandcamp too.)

Friend living in Belgium hyped me to this, enjoying:

http://blackflower1.bandcamp.com/album/magma

^^^

fair enjoying this

not overly keen on the vox, but I always say that about 99% of vocals on modern jazz albums

the new Mostly Other People Do The Killing album has one of the daftest bandcamp write ups I've ever seen. But tbf the album is decent enough.

The horns were the best thing about them. And the augmented version with banjo, guitar, etc. was great. Not sure I care about a piano trio incarnation.

Rolling Jazz! Would you all be willing to help me ID the song the house band plays from 10:37-10:55 in this video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wcSFoOPn3U

Sorry, I thought I did the thing where it was just a link, not embedded. :(

It starts out as Thelonious Monk’s “Epistrophy,” but I don’t recognize the line the horns are playing.

Probably familiar to some of you but I just found this great clip of Mazur in 1988:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9tiCflWbvE

It's like he gets distracted from listening by thinking about what he's going to say: I've done that too, recognize the symptoms.

Oops wrong thread sorry

Can't remember where I found this one— might have been on a Bandcamp list of Best Jazz of January or whatever— but I have really been enjoying this solo record from 17 year old Saskatchewan resident Chloe Jackson-Reynolds, "The Winter Concert."
https://sr3323.bandcamp.com/album/the-winter-concert

On her page, she writes: "I am a 17 year-old improviser, multi-woodwind player and jazz musician. My biggest inspirations are Anthony Braxton, Charlie Parker, Roland Kirk, Eric Dolphy and Henry Threadgill."

Of course there are lots of little jazz prodigies running around, but eh, I thought this record did some interesting stuff with looping effects etc.

A 17 year old in Saskatchewan that knows about Anthony Braxton, I love the 21st Century some times.

Haha wow, she would have been 6-8 when I lived in Regina.

"Recorded live in a Discord call on January 3rd, 2022"

!

Right? The whole thing is pretty neat.

The way that she's using looping effects does remind me of Shiroishi's recent output, though his approach is a little more punk.

this is probably old news to you jazzheads, but Chet Baker (with Massimo Moriconi on bass and Michel Grailler on piano) Live from the Moonlight has probably been the album I've listened to the most this year, and I say that as someone with this display name. It was recorded in Nov 1985, at the Moonlight Club in Macerata, Italy.

i find it to be the perfect music for just about every moment. his playing is very VERY "airy", and it's mic'd so that you can really hear the wind coming out. i'm not enough of a Chethead to know how that sound compares to his earlier playing, but as I remember from that (really, really good) film about him, Let's Get Lost, he lost all of his teeth due to misadventure and had to come up with a new way to play, or something?

the pace of the set is so languid, calming, relaxed. Each song exceeds 11 minutes. there are sound issues at one moment, a couple hours in, and you can hear chet and someone (the sound guy?) discussing the problem and laughing, the occasional barroom clatter. and it just gets better as it goes, imo - by the end chet is taking these really adventurous routes all around the register...it's amazing how he evokes Cool so easily, even at that late stage in his life, both in the cool jazz kind of style of playing of the late 40s/50s but also his entire persona, which couldn't possibly be more "cool jazz guy in the 50s" than it was

Thanks. One of the funniest bits in Miles is when Miles gets upset again about 50s suits promoting cute, clean-cut white boys Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Art Pepper, as the new faces of respectable American jazz, while Miles, Rollins, many others, were those junkie Negroes playing in b-movies across the tracks, proceed at your own risk (many did, of course)---when those particular white boys, sometimes put in sweaters on LP covers, were jazz-biz-notorious, like when Getz was found unconscious, having broken into a pharmacy and stuffed himself w pills---Baker was said to have gotten his embouchure busted by the goons of a dealer he'd burned, who was trying to ruin his career---didn't work; he adapted his playing and singing, never having been a conventional muso in the first place, of course.

Eerie contrast between the cool of his (and Getz') music vs. chaos of life in some other respects---also true of Pepper for a while, though his music evolved, without ever losing the sense of thoughtful control, though, no matter the shit that might be flying again offstage, so contrast still there. Same contrast w Sinatra sometimes, although he did have throat hemorrhage onstage, I think, while Ava Gardner was still on his mind.

I love all that stuff.