Rolling Jazz Thread 2023

Reminds me of those Thirsty Ear Blue Series records of the early '00s in terms of the sound and some of the players, but harder and less soup-y.

xp

from 2022 but just caught documentary Music for Black Pigeons which if you like Jakob Bro is wonderful but also has great scenes with Lee Konitz, Thomas Morgan, Midori Takada and many others, some incredible live recordings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI07dp_pFsU

Listening to this John Hollenback/Dan Cavanagh/James Miley album from last year "Another Life". It starts with a cheeky mash-up of Everything In Its Right Place and All the Things You Are (ok jazz nerds), but is really good, also sounds absolutely incredible.

Two pianos and drums! I had to look up who mixed it, and it's bassist Todd Sickafoose.

Cool.

Finally getting around to listening to Champion Fulton since the Smalls Livestream just alerted me a little while ago. Her trio (drummerless tonight, since it's Mezzrow, although sometimes they do have drummers) is sounding really good.

I'd been avoiding listening to Samara Joy, but I suppose I have to now.

She can sing but do we need more traditional versions of Misty and Someone to Watch Over Me as she offers on her album. She’s only 23 and I did like her enthusiasm and passion when getting the award, so hopefully she can at some point do something more original

Maybe her first album is more interesting (just guitar/bass/drums, no piano):

http://samarajoy-whirlwind.bandcamp.com/album/samara-joy

i missed a showcase gig this past summer, don't think i'll be seeing her in a small room anytime soon now!
the current album is a bit unexciting though her voice is solid as oak. would like to hear her live.

https://eastaxis.bandcamp.com/album/cool-with-that

love the latest Shipp "East Axis", he seems to be on a bit of a roll recently

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says tenor saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and organist Shirley Scott had one of the great jazz partnerships in the late 1950s. A new anthology focuses on their "Cookbook" series of albums recorded over a six-month period. Here's Kevin's review.

(SOUNDBITE OF EDDIE "LOCKJAW" DAVIS AND SHIRLEY SCOTT'S "HEAT 'N SERVE")

KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: "Heat 'N Serve" from a new roundup of tenor saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis' 1958 "Cookbook" sessions with organist Shirley Scott. The set "Cookin' With Jaws And The Queen" celebrates the inexhaustible power of the blues. They play a bunch of fast, medium and slow blues in seven keys that leave you hungry for still more. This collection also celebrates a musical partnership then two years old. Lockjaw was the horn man with a sizzling tone and swagger. Scott would swoop in behind him with dramatic gestures and perfect timing.

(SOUNDBITE OF EDDIE "LOCKJAW" DAVIS AND SHIRLEY SCOTT'S "HIGH FRY")

I saw Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble last night and just want to say that if you get the chance to see them you should definitely take it

say more?

I like El'Zabar generally and have every reason to believe any of his groups would be great live, but the Don Cherry tribute album he's got coming out in April (it was supposed to be out next month, so I've already filed a review for The Wire) kinda sucks.

oh man, you need to say more please

ah ok, I wasn't really expecting that kind of response — I'll give it a shot, though I don't see nearly as much live jazz as y'all, so ymmv

Primarily what I meant was that he is ~70 years old, so if you're into him, it's wise to see him sooner rather than later! The friend I went with had seen him in 2019 and said on that date they'd played for something like 2.5 hours, while the other night was more like <1.5 (fine by me for a Thursday tbh).

But it was also just a really great spiritual jazz show. The two "opening acts" were poets, which I might normally have been bothered by but it fit the mood, and fuck it I'm more open to some vintage countercultural energy these days. One factor might be that I've mostly seen jazz shows in Montreal via the Jazz Fest, which is a fantastic event that I love but is def a little on the formal, bourgeois, tourist-y side, whereas this was at La Salla Rossa and felt much more community-oriented. Apparently he's been playing annually in Montreal for decades, so the whole thing felt homey.

Probably the most impressive aspect was how deftly they ranged from fiery to hypnotic. I've tried some of his albums, and they've never quite blown me away (possibly I tried the wrong ones), so it was a pleasant surprise. In particular I didn't much care for his vocals on the records I tried, but live they make much more sense. I was impressed that sometimes it sounded like solfeggio (is that the right word? that humming thing Monk and Powell do), and sometimes he sounded more like a soul singer, reminiscent of Sly or GSH. He's a good drummer, afaict, though I almost liked it more when he played mbira or, especially, this box-drum thing I don't know what to call. I was also really into his baritone sax player, Alex Harding, who did this amazingly funky, in multiple senses of the word, intro to "Caravan". The trumpeter was Corey Wilkes, also good though maybe more solid than spectacular, but they were a great uh ensemble with a ton of positive energy

They didn't play any Cherry songs — which I would have loved, I've been listening to him a lot lately and making my way through the Organic Music Societies book — but in addition to Caravan, they played Lonely Woman and Resolution (from A Love Supreme) as well as some originals.

oh, sorry, i didn't intend to put the guy down or dampen your enthusiasm. i'd love to see him live. but as a certified cherryhead, i had a keen interest in hearing details about a "failed" DC homage, which strikes me as morbidly fascinating is all

DEXTER GORDON CENTENNIAL BROADCAST
dexter
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2023 - 12:00AM TO 11:59PM
WKCR presents a day long tribute to the life and work of Saxophonists Dexter Gordon. Join us from midnight to midnight on February 27th as we celebrate the "Sophisticated Giant's" 100th birthday.

89.9FM wkcr.org

Full schedule TBA

Well, I missed Kahlil El'Zabar yet again last night.

I have occasionally referred to Ethan Iverson as a "small-c conservative", meaning I figured he was probably somewhere in the neighborhood of Albert Murray, politically. Well, today I found out via the Twitter algorithm that he follows Libs of TikTok. That puts him in "fuck this guy" territory for me.

Hard to imagine that a guy who knows and understands the history of jazz music as well as Iverson does could be interested in that sort of thing, political affiliation notwithstanding. Maybe it's one of those follows-are-not-endorsements things?

In other news, Eremite just announced a new Natural Information Society album

Being reported that Wayne Shorter has passed away.

Ugh

Today being Bandcamp Friday, I've bought seven albums by drummer Willie Jones III from his label WJ3 Records. Lots of good mainstream players represented: Eddie Henderson, George Cables, Buster Williams, Eric Reed, up-and-coming pianist Isaiah Thompson, saxophonist Stacy Dillard, etc.

Nice

TIL that trumpeter Jeremy Pelt has a sister...Danielle Spencer, who played mouthy younger sister Dee on What's Happening! (She left acting behind decades ago and is a veterinarian.)

We were listening to the new James Brandon Lewis record “Eye of I” in the car and my husband said, “I like this but it is very fucking weird of you to be into” lmfao

Anyway, I like it— more jazz/drone/stoner sludge and adjacent music, please.

I think half of it is fantastic. Not entirely sold yet on the doom cello bits

I’ve been kinda on the fence too about the new one. I loved Jesup Wagon, but Eye of I hasn’t clicked for me yet. It’s not the doom cellos - I dig that element. The album just maybe feels a little directionless.

no idea who this is, but qobuz recommended Emil Brandqvist Trio - "Layers of Life" to me and I'm really digging it...I'm so bad at talking about jazz but maybe some Brad Mehldau meets prog influences thing?

count me as a non-jazz guy (sorry) who digs the JBL album. i like that it's kinda noisy and weird, but also with what i think are pretty melodies played well.

maybe i should write for Jazz Times

Was reminded on Twitter of the existence of Stephen Scott, a pianist who got the big push in the early '90s (four albums for Verve, was in Sonny Rollins' band for a bit, worked with Roy Hargrove as well) but faded out at the turn of the millennium. He's still alive, living and teaching down in Florida. He was one of the first jazz artists I interviewed, around the time of his final Verve album, The Beautiful Thing. It's a good record: Dwayne Burno on bass, Victor Lewis on drums on most tracks, Russell Malone on guitar on about half of it, guest appearances from Kenny Garrett and Branford Marsalis, versions of Kenny Dorham's "Blue Bossa" and "La Mesha," Wayne Shorter's "Oriental Folk Song," and Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman." Worth pulling up on streaming. I saw him play with Rollins at Tramps around that time, too.

Unperson, thanks for your recent Stereogum column. I was on the fence about that London Brew record, for precisely the reason you mentioned, but your review pushed me into pre-ordering it.

Something I learned while researching my book: Cecil Taylor's Silent Tongues, a solo performance from the 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival, was part of a whole evening of solo piano performances. The other three were by Earl "Fatha" Hines, Jay McShann, and Sir Roland Hanna, and they were all recorded and released, too:

Hines: West Side Story
McShann: Vine Street Boogie
Hanna: Perugia

Listening to them all in sequence is pretty amazing. Taylor sounds 100% "in the tradition" when coming after these three guys, who do, respectively, very nice somewhat Bud Powell/Art Tatum-esque versions of pop tunes; straight-ahead blues 'n' boogie (with some vocals); and florid, sort of Jaki Byard-esque post-stride. (I can hear a direct link between Byard and Hanna and Jason Moran and Aaron Diehl.)

I love some Jaki Byard, it's awfully sad the way his life ended.

Pi Recordings is selling 100 (well, 99 now) autographed copies of Henry Threadgill's upcoming autobiography Easily Slip Into Another World via Bandcamp. $45 plus $5 for shipping in the US.

ARTEMIS returns with the May 5 release of In
Real Time, a marvelous follow-up to their 2020 debut that highlights the improvisational strength of its members as well as their respective gifts as composers. The album showcases a new lineup with founding members—pianist Renee Rosnes, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, bassist Noriko Ueda & drummer Allison Miller—joined by newcomers Nicole Glover on tenor saxophone & Alexa Tarantino on alto saxophone, soprano saxophone & flute. Pre-order & hear the single “Lights Away From Home.”

You may have seen this on her thread, but just in case:

Multi-instrumentalist, singer & songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello makes her Blue Note debut with the June 16 release of The Omnichord Real Book, a visionary & deeply jazz-influenced album that taps into a broad spectrum of her musical roots. The Omnichord Real Book features a wide range of guest artists including Jason Moran, Ambrose Akinmusire, Joel Ross, Jeff Parker, Brandee Younger, Julius Rodriguez, Mark Guiliana, Cory Henry, Joan As Police Woman, Thandiswa, and others. Pre-order & hear the expansive lead single “Virgo.”

Heard this on the radio today. This kills. I need more Booker Ervin in my life. Dude named Gildo Mahones on piano? Sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILhyDtvL4g8

only other Ervin I've heard is THE QUEST with Dolphy and Mal Waldron, but that's pretty killer too

he did loads of good stuff with Jacki Byard as well

indeed -- was just checking out THE TRANCE w/ jaki on keys

https://ingrid-laubrock.bandcamp.com/album/the-last-quiet-place

love the new Laubrock, apparently the concept running through the album is "we are all too online" lol. Don't really care about that, she's consistently good.

Oh man, the Booker Ervin 'book' records with Alan Dawson on drums are fantastic, enjoy.

The Laubrock record really is beautiful — so are her recent Contemporary Chaos Practices and Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt. I just interviewed her for DownBeat; it'll probably be in the next issue.

the Booker Ervin 'book' records

oh, it's a series! thanks for the tip

xp

yeah Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt was brilliant as well, it was like an improvised soundtrack for a Hitchcock movie or something. Well that was the impression it made on me at the time, will have to have another listen.

New album by the Dave King Trucking Company on Bandcamp:
https://daveking.bandcamp.com/album/old-tv

Dave on piano as well as drums, Chris Speed in the mix

A pen pal got me onto this:

Legendary trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith debuts his all-star ensemble Orange Wave Electric with the exhilarating Fire Illuminations. This scintillating album features Nels Cline, Brandon Ross, Lamar Smith, Bill Laswell, Melvin Gibbs, Hardedge, Pheeroan akLaff and Mauro Refosco.

My reply:

Just now auditioned it on Bandcamp, thanks for the tip! Big Fun yas, though no surprises within Milesian perimeters, though of course MD and these guys have set the bar very high, but attentive, thoughtful w/o ever getting introverted, esp. struck right off by guitars erupting from big earthy groove whenever it seems almost more comfortable than combustible, on epic"Ntozake Shange," also Smith's trumper is particularly full-bodied and sparkling on "Tony Williams," also dig effects of short vs. long tracks. Smith was excellent guest w Ross and Gibbs' jazz power trio Harriet Tubman, on my gateway to HT. thee bodacious Araminta

Thanks again! Will get back to your linked Arcana, which I can already tell will be more surprising, when I have more time.

Ross's Breath of Air, with Charles Burnham and Warren Benbow, made my 2022 Top Ten via s/t Burning Ambulance arrival: https://breathofair.bandcamp.com/album/breath-of-air