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New Jazz Adds – 6/9/2020

Ambrose Akinmusire – on the tender spot of every calloused moment (Blue Note): “During his career, Ambrose Akinmusire has paradoxically situated himself in both the center and the periphery of jazz, most recently emerging in classical and hip hop circles. He’s on a perpetual quest for new paradigms, masterfully weaving inspiration from other genres, arts, and life in general into compositions that are as poetic and graceful as they are bold and unflinching. He has proven himself an artist of rare ability and wide-ranging aesthetic interests on his Blue Note albums When the Heart Emerges Glistening (2011), the imagined savior is far easier to paint (2014), A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard (2017), and Origami Harvest (2018). With on the tender spot of every calloused moment (2020), Akinmusire reaches a new pinnacle with his quartet of longtime bandmates – Sam Harris (piano), Harish Raghavan (bass), and Justin Brown (drums) – on an album of gorgeous, shape-shifting art that is a study of the blues in a contemporary context. His unorthodox approach to sound and composition make him a regular on critics polls and have earned him grants and commissions from the Doris Duke Foundation, the MAP Fund, the Kennedy Center, and the Monterey Jazz Festival, amongst others. While Akinmusire continues to garner accolades, his reach is always beyond—himself, his instrument, genre, form, preconceived notions, and anything else imposing limitations. Motivated primarily by the spiritual and practical value of art, Akinmusire wants to remove the wall of erudition surrounding his music. He aspires to create richly textured emotional landscapes that tell the stories of the community, record the time, and change the standard. While committed to continuing the lineage of black invention and innovation, he manages to honor tradition without being stifled by it.” (https://store.bluenote.com/products/ambrose-akinmusire-on-the-tender-spot-of-every-calloused-moment) This set offers several short to medium sketches on the melodic edge. Click here to listen to “Mr. Roscoe” (consider the simultaneous) from this release.

Ambrose Akinmusire – Origami Harvest (Blue Note): “Composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire’s fourth studio album began with a challenge of sorts. It was a commission from curators Judd Greenstein of Manhattan’s Ecstatic Music Festival and Kate Nordstrum of St. Paul’s Liquid Music Series that began with Greenstein asking, “What’s the craziest idea you have?” Considering “challenge” and “crazy” are the order of the day, Akinmusire’s reply was right on time: “I wanted to do a project about extremes and putting things that are seemingly opposite right next to each other.” The result is Origami Harvest … a surprisingly fluid study in contrasts that—with help from New York’s Mivos Quartet and art-rap expatriate Kool A.D. along with drummer Marcus Gilmore, pianist Sam Harris, and saxophonist Walter Smith III—pits contemporary classical wilding against deconstructed hip-hop, with bursts of left-field jazz, funk, spoken work, and soul.” (https://www.ambroseakinmusire.com/origami-harvest) “That the album’s spirit evokes this era is no accident. These songs actively respond to societal divides, the way our politics hold us emotionally hostage, and the ever-growing list of black lives ended by structural racism. As with each of this Oakland native’s works there’s exquisite beauty and superb artistry here, each track a world unto itself lithely traversing moods and modes. But there’s heft too, even in the title. “Origami,” says Akinmusire, “refers to the different ways black people, especially men, have to fold, whether in failure or to fit a mold. Then I had a son while writing this and I thought about these cycles repeating: Harvest. I was thinking a lot about the masculine and the feminine. High and low art. Free improvisation versus controlled calculation. American ghettos and American affluence,” says Akinmusire. “Originally, I thought I put them all so close together that it would highlight the fact that there isn’t as much space between these supposed extremes as we thought, but I don’t know if that’s actually the conclusion of it.” The answer, of course, is being written all around us. (https://www.ambroseakinmusire.com/origami-harvest) There is strong language in several songs. Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.

Bill Frisell – Valentine (Blue Note): Bill Frisell offers a new set of beautifully contagious originals with backing from Thomas Morgan (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums). Frisell’s wonderful style is immediately recognizable and infectious. Most of the songs are originals, but even when he covers a well known song like “What The World Needs Now Is Love” it sounds like it’s his. I regret I am unable to find a sample from his release.

Keith Jarrett – Testament, Paris / London (ECM): “Since Heidelberg, Germany in the early 70’s I have done improvised piano solo concerts. It all started, however, back when I was a six or seven-year-old so-called “child prodigy,” studying and playing classical recitals for the Allentown Pa. Women’s Club, etc. The programs would usually include masters such as Mozart or Schubert, Chopin or Debussy, but would also include something I “wrote.” But this “writing” wasn’t executed at all the same each time. Almost nothing was written down on paper. There were motifs and melodies that remained the same, but then around these were “takeoffs” in the same mood. The pieces were almost always “program” music. There was “Jungle Suite,” for example. When I would be practicing at home, I would often change the notes of some composer, and my mother would catch this at times. I told her not to worry: I would play it as written at the concert.” (Keith Jarrett) There are two concerts in this set – one from Paris and the other from Paris. Terrific solo performances comparable to his earlier released concerts. Click here and scroll down to listen to samples from this release.

Roscoe Mitchell – Bells For The South Side (ECM): “For more than 50 years, Roscoe Mitchell has blurred relationships between sound and silence, scripted composition and improvisation, jazz, classical, and even R&B musics as a soloist, bandleader, member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and composer. The music here glances back to the many places Mitchell has visited, but this is no mere retrospective: most of this is bracing new music that looks forward to further exploratory musical landscapes.” (https://www.allmusic.com/album/bells-for-the-south-side-mw0003053372) The offering is a sound painting which is determined by the leader and players and ultimately categorized by the listener. Click here and scroll down to listen to samples of the songs on this set.

George Nazos – Heat Song (Street Of Stars): “NYC based Guitarist and composer George (Giorgos/Georgios) Nazos from Athens Greece is described in the “Jazz and Jazz” magazine as a “sophisticated and imaginative player and one of the most creative and nonconformist musicians of the local scene”. (https://www.georgenazos.com/about) This is his second release as a leader and he is backed by Harvie S (bass) and Tony Jefferson (drums). Vocalist Tamuz Nissim joins in on three songs. Nazos composed nine of the songs on this release and co-composed “Our Melody” with Nissim. Harvie S added an original to the list and the closer is Leonard Cohen’s “Bird On A Wire”. This music is beautifully infectious. Click here to check out “Changing Lanes” from this disc.

Chris Potter – The Dreamer Is The Dream (ECM): “For his third ECM release as a leader, Chris Potter presents a new acoustic quartet that naturally blends melodic rhapsody with rhythmic muscle. The group includes superlative musicians well known to followers of ECM’s many recordings from New York over the past decade: keyboardist David Virelles, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Marcus Gilmore, who each shine in addition to the leader on multiple horns.The Dreamer Is the Dream features Potter on tenor saxophone – the instrument that has made him one of the most admired players of his generation – in the striking opener “Heart in Hand” and such album highlights as “Yasodhara,” as well as on soprano sax (“Memory and Desire”) and bass clarinet (the title track). Potter is an artist who “employs his considerable technique in service of music rather than spectacle,” says The New Yorker…. (https://www.chrispottermusic.com/latest-albums) Everyone is solid on this set and Potter’s and Virelles’ solos are terrific! Click here and scroll down to listen to segments of the songs on this disc.

Christian Sands – Be Water (Mack Avenue): “Christian Sands’ third recording for Mack Avenue Music Group captures and establishes him as a forceful leader in composition and conceptual vision. With Be Water (available May 22 worldwide), the music is akin to the element which has no form of its own, taking on the structure of whatever musical composition and performance in which it finds itself and is a universal necessity. For this recording, Sands has reunited with bassist Yasushi Nakamura and saxophonist Marcus Strickland, and is joined by trumpeter Sean Jones, trombonist Steve Davis, guitarist Marvin Sewell, and drummer Clarence Penn. It can be overwhelming to realize how much water surrounds us, affects us and impacts our lives. It’s an element vital to survival yet can be utterly devastating; it can be placid and beautiful or torrential and violent. It’s ubiquitous – flowing at the turn of a faucet, comprising 70% of our own bodies – yet somehow intangible, able to change form or assume the shape of its surroundings. On his stunning new album, Be Water, pianist Christian Sands takes inspiration from water’s tranquility and power and muses on the possibilities offered by echoing its fluidity and malleability. Through ten gorgeous and thrilling pieces, Sands alternately conjures the serenity of a sun-dappled lake and the drama of a relentless thunderstorm. Just embarking on his 30s, Sands has already enjoyed a remarkable career trajectory, touring and recording with Christian McBride’s Inside Straight and Trio, as well as collaborating with the likes of Gregory Porter and Ulysses Owens. The album takes its title from the philosophy of martial arts master and movie star Bruce Lee (by way of screenwriter Stirling Silliphant, who distilled his thoughts for the screen). Lee’s voice appears on both halves of Sands’ title track offering this profound advice: “Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle… Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” (Bruce Lee inspirational quote) Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.

John Scofield – Swallow Tales (ECM): “When John Scofield first met Steve Swallow in the early 70s while the former was a student at Berklee College of Music, Scofield was still years away from being, you know, John Scofield but Swallow was already Steve Swallow. Over the prior decade, the trailblazing bassist had been a part of Jimmy Guiffre’s cutting edge trio with Paul Bley and later Gary Burton’s groundbreaking fusion jazz band. By the time he encountered Scofield, Swallow had been playing electric bass exclusively, becoming a pioneer in the use of that instrument within the jazz context. Sco didn’t simply learn from Swallow, they’ve played together on and off over the decades. In 1979, John Scofield formed a trio with the bassist and drummer Adam Nussbaum that continues to this day…. The guitarist became a lifelong colleague and admirer of Swallow’s probably for all those things and more, but there’s another reason: starting around the mid 60s, Swallow became force to be reckoned with as a composer, too. So Swallow Tales is not just a continuation of this long-running trio, it’s John Scofield’s way to call attention to that side of Swallow that probably does need more notice. All recorded on a single afternoon in March, 2019, these are songs performed without much formal forethought, but they know these songs plenty well enough to play them at the gut level, and the time not spent overthinking produces a very breezy, loose session, especially by ECM standards. Everyone is ripping, but the distinction is that they’re ripping away on some rather sophisticated harmonies even if they are also very melodic; if someone — especially Scofield — were to lose track of the song during improvising, you’d know it right away. That was never going to happen with these elite musicians.” (https://somethingelsereviews.com/2020/05/24/john-scofield-swallow-tales-2020/) Great solos and interaction among three great musicians! Click here to listen to one of the wonderful songs on this disc.

Bobo Stenson – Contra Ia Decision (ECM): Pianist Bobo Stenson began his instruction and performance as a classical player, but shifted to jazz after moving to Stockholm. In fact, Stenson played on one of the first ECM recordings, Jan Garbarek’s Sart. A month later, in his ECM debut as a leader Stenson taped his own trio album, Underwear (with bass player Arild Andersen and Norwegian jazz drummer / percussionist Jon Christensen). This performance was released in 2018 after a six year hiatus. This release features drummer Jon Fält who joined Stenson in 2012 and bassist/composer Anders Jormin, who has performed with Stenson for 30 years. The program consists of one Stenson composition, five by Jormin, a group improvisation, and readings of Bela Bartok’s “Wedding Song from Poniky” (based on a folk dance), Federico Mompou’s “Cancion y Danza VI,” Erik Satie’s “Elegie,” and the startling opener “Cancion Contra la Indecision” by Cuban folk singer and dissident Silvio Rodriguez. (https://www.allmusic.com/album/contra-la-indecisi%C3%B3n-mw0003131649) Click here and scroll down to listen to samples of the songs on this release.

David Virelles – Gnosis (EMC): “Cuban-American pianist/composer David Virelles continues the exploration of Afro-Cuban musical traditions begun with his first recorded collaboration with vocalist/percussionist Roman Diaz on Continuum (Pi Recordings, 2012), continuing through Mbókò (ECM, 2013) and Antenna (ECM, 2016). He uses “gnosis” to refer to ancient collective knowledge, and this music is about the intersection of cultures—contemporary improvisational language and Cuban sources, especially the sacred Abakuá percussion ensemble.” (https://www.allaboutjazz.com/gnosis-david-virelles-ecm-records-review-by-mark-sullivan.php) “Even though classically trained at the conservatory, he was also surrounded by many types of music in the culturally rich Santiago while growing up. Eventually, Virelles also discovered Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Andrew Hill, and he would soon start studying the connections between this musical tradition and those from his birthplace.” (http://www.davidvirelles.com/about/)  Click here and scroll down for a sample from this disc.

Dan Wilensky – All In All (Self-produced): “Dan Wilensky was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and moved to Berkeley, California the following year. Music was in the air at the Wilensky house: every family member played at least one instrument, and family jam sessions were frequent. He began piano lessons at age 8, and saxophone at 9 after he attended a Duke Ellington Orchestra concert…. The summer after high school, Wilensky heard that Ray Charles was looking for a lead alto player for his big band. He auditioned, and got the gig. “Ray told me to be in LA on Monday. It was surreal,” he recalls. After six months with Ray, a brief stint at Eastman, and six months with jazz great Jack McDuff, he moved to New York. Wilensky has performed or recorded with an amazing list of musicians including can be heard on over 250 records, including hits by Santana, Madonna, R. Kelly, Freddie Jackson, Deborah Harry, Donna Summer, Bryan Ferry, Mark Murphy, Keith Washington, Hall & Oates, Melissa Manchester, James Brown, Rory Block, Manhattan Transfer, and Faith No More.” (https://danwilensky.com/about/) This disc features Wilensky on tenor sax with Clay Giberson (piano, B3, Fender Rhodes, synthesizer), Bill Athens (bass) and Micah Hummel (drums, percussion). Click here to listen to the opening song on this disc.
Kopasetically,

Professor Bebop