New Jazz Releases – 11/25/2024
By Russell Perry
Jacob Chung
Bear with me, there are a lot of releases to cover this week- I’ve tried to be brief (but, hopefully, still informative). Young saxophonist Jacob Chung has a record out with his mentorVincent Herring. Likewise, local favorite Joe Fonda pays tribute to (and with) his mentor Wadada Leo Smith. Veteran pianists Ben Paterson and George Cables have given us worthy additions to their discographies. From somewhere, a terrific studio record from Roy Hargrove has been unearthed for our benefit! Treat your ears.
Jacob Chung – The Sage(Cellar Music, releases 11/15/2024). Vincent Herring – alto saxophone, Jacob Chung – tenor saxophone, Tyler Henderson – piano, Caleb Tobocman – bass, Joe Farnsworth – drums.
Tenorist Jacob Chung’s sophomore outing is a beautiful thing, consisting of a quintet of two contemporaries plus his mentor, at the Manhattan School of Music, altoist Vincent Herring (Something Else!, Heavy Hitters, Jill McCarron) and first-call drummer Joe Farnsworth (In What Direction Are You Headed, previewed 05/15/2023). Chung shows his talent extends to composing, penning six of the eight tunes. The interplay between Chung and Herring on several of the tunes is like father and son! Highly recommended.
David Friesen – A Light Shining Through (Origin Records), released 11/22/2024). Joe Manis – saxophones, David Friesen – hemage bass / piano / percussion, Alex Fantaev – percussion, Charlie Doggett – percussion with Kyiv Mozart String Quartet: Olga Sheleshkova – violin, Pavlo Khmara – violin, Andrew Makij – viola, Sergey Kazakov – cello.
Bassist David Friesen (This Light Has Not Darkness, Vol. 1, previewed 02/19/2024) has recorded several times recently with string ensembles of various sizes from quartets to full orchestras. In this release, about half of the tracks are solo or duets with Joe Manis on various reeds and the other half are with a string quartet plus reeds, piano, bass and percussion.
Spiniflex – Undrilling The Hole (TryTone Records, released 11/22/2024). Bart Maris – trumpet, Tobias Klein – alto saxophone, John Pikeman – tenor saxophone, Jasper Stadhouders – guitar, Gonçalo Almeida – bass, Philipp Moser – drums.
Players from Amsterdam, Berlin and Rotterdam share a very idiosyncratic approach to music, with jazz as one of their many influences.
Review: Paris Move
The Heavy Hitters – That’s What’s Up (Cellar Music, released 11/22/2024). Jeremy Pelt – trumpet, Eric Alexander – tenor saxophone, Vincent Herring – alto saxophone, Mike LeDonne – piano, Alexander Claffy – bass, Kenny Washington – drums.
Recorded live at Frankie’s in Vancouver, The Heavy Hitters are back with another classic-sounding sextet performance with shades of Blue Note in the 1960s. The same all-star players got together again with the exception of bassist Alexander Claffy stepping in for Peter Washington. Once again co-leaders pianist Mike LeDonne and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander share writing credits, but this time there are also two covers – My One And Only Love and It’s Magic. Solid, but I wasn’t as excited about this one as I was about their first.
Ben Paterson – Cookin’ In The Couve (Cellar Music, released 11/22/2024). Ben Paterson – piano, Neal Miner – bass, Aaron Seeber – drums.
The more I listen to pianist Ben Paterson’s new disc, the more I hear. Paterson (Von Freeman, Bobby Broom) has a broad discography, much of which is unfamiliar to me. This one is really persuasive. Half of the ten selections are by the leader and they are among the best the release has to offer. The other half are well chosen covers by the likes of Ray Bryant, Kenny Burrell and Bobby Timmons, He’s a powerful pianist with a delicate touch. Recommended.
James O’Donnell – Tough Talk (Self Produced, released 11/21/2024). James O’Donnell – trumpet / flugelhorn / maracas, Alvin Paige – tenor saxophone / baritone saxophone, Michael Zaporski – piano, Kurt Krahnke – string bass / electric bass, Djallo Djakate – drums, RJ Spangler – congas / tambourine / cowbell.
Trumpeter James O’Donnell has catholic tastes and has recorded a diverse set of covers ranging from Stevie Wonder and Eddie Harris to Duke Ellington and the Crusaders. Funk, boogaloo, blues, Motown – this stalwart of Detroit’s Planet D Nonet gets around.
Joe Fonda – Eyes On The Horizon (Long Song Records, released 11/15/2024). Wadada Leo Smith – trumpet, Satoko Fujii – piano, Joe Fonda – bass, Tiziano Tononi – drums.
Bassist Joe Fonda, whose visits to Charlottesville are eagerly anticipated, has recorded a tribute to his mentor trumpeter Wadada Leon Smith and has taken the unusual step of inviting Smith to join the session consisting of Fonda’s original music. Also included is another avant-garde giant, pianist Satoko Fujii. The ensemble plays with energy and intrensity. Fonda is in fine form as all participants play in the foreground. As always, Smith brings his clean bold tone and Fujii is inventive and strong.
Reviews: Jazz Views, Jazz Trail, Making A Scene, Paris Move
Zacc Harris – Chasing Shadows (Shifting Paradigm Records, released 11/15/2024). Brandon Wozniak – tenor saxophone, Bryan Nichols – piano, Zacc Harris – guitar, Chris Bates – double bass, Pete James Johnson – drums.
Twin Cites-based guitarist Zacc Harris has recorded his newest with three of the players from his well-received 2022 release Small Wonders plus a new drummer. The compelling sound is still there – very clean guitar playing linked to sweet saxophone playing from Brandon Wozniak in the company of a sympathetic rhythm section. Harris wrote all the tunes in this program.
Review: Jazz Weekly
Alvin Queen – The Jazzcup Café Blues(Cellar Music, released 11/15/2024). Jesse Davis – alto saxophone, Danny Grissett – piano, Dezron Douglas – bass, Cesar Granados – percussion, Alvin Queen – drums.
Switzerland-based drummer Alvin Queen released a piano trio record earlier this year (Feelin’ Good, previewed 07/29/2024) and now is back in a quartet with Jesse Davis on alto. The live set includes some bebop, some blues, some ballads and some soul jazz. While solid, I prefer the earlier trio disc.
George Cables – I Hear Echoes (HighNote Records, released 11/15/2024). George Cables – piano, Essiet Essiet – bass, Jerome Jennings – drums.
Now 80, George Cables played with Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Sonny Rollins, Bobby Hutcherson, Dexter Gordon and Art Pepper in the 70s and more recently appears on recordings from players such as Eddie Henderson, Nicole Glover, Jeremy Pelt and The Cookers. Definitely one of our jazz treasures. Here on his seventh release for HighNote, he is back in a favorite format, the piano trio, and back with his regular bassist Essiet Essiet. He still has a marvelous touch and ingrained swing. Recommended.
Colin Vallon – Samares (ECM, released 11/15/2024). Colin Vallon – piano, Patrice Moret – bass, Julian Sartorius – drums.
With a lot of time together and a regular performance schedule, pianist Colin Vallon and his trio have developed a beautifully nuanced sound deeply textured and spacious. The sound quality and the sound itself are vintage ECM – clean and rich.
Reviews: AllAboutJazz, The Big Takeover, Jazz Views
Sara Serpa – Encounters and Collisions (Biophilia Records, released 11/15/2024). Ingrid Laubrock – saxophone, Angelica Sanchez – piano, Erik Friedlander – cello, Sara Serpa- voice.
Alternating spoken word tracks with pieces featuring a trio of Ingrid Laubrock (Myra Melford, Satoka Fujii, Mary Halvorson) on saxophone, Angelica Sanchez (Nighttime Creatures, previewed 10/16/2023) on piano, and Erik Friedlander (Dave Douglas, Anat Cohen) on cello, vocalist Sara Serpa (Intimate Strangers, previewed 02/13/2023) has released an autobiographical story of her arrival in the US from Portugal. Her narration is compelling and challenging – the music beautiful and challenging. As you might imagine the range of emotions covered in this story of immigration is full and complex.
Review: Paris Move
Roy Hargrove’s Crisol – Grande-Terre (Verve Records, released 10/18/2024). Roy Hargrove – trumpet / flugelhorn, Frank Lacy – trombone, Sherman Irby – alto saxophone, Jacques Schwarz-Bart – tenor saxophone, Gabriel Hernández – piano, Larry Willis – piano, Ed Cherry – guitar, Gerald Cannon – bass, Miguel “Angá” Diaz – percussion, Changuito (José Luis Quintana) – percussion, Julio Barreto – drums / vocal, Willie Jones – drums.
In 1998, Roy Hargrove won a Grammy for his disc Habana. He assembled a similar ensemble of Cuban, US and Guadaloupean players and went back to the studio in Guadeloupe in April ’98 and recorded this excellent set, which for some unknown reason was never released. It certainly wasn’t held back because the music wasn’t up to standard – on the contrary it’s terrific. Hargrove contributed three of the tunes and other than a Cedar Walton cover, the rest of the program comes from members of the band. Hot Latin jazz & smoldering ballads – loved this. Highly recommended.
Review: AllAboutJazz
Arturo Sandoval – My Foolish Heart (MetaJAX, released 10/2024). Arturo Sandoval – trumpet, flugelhorn, vocal, Jeremy Siskind – piano, Brian Bromberg – bass, Charles Ruggiero – drums, The Budapest Scoring Orchestra.
Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval has recorded a very soft-focussed take on a set of standard ballads, many with an overload of strings.
Omar Talmor – Back To the Land (Intakt Records, released 09/27/2024). Shane Endsley – trumpet, Russ Johnson – trumpet, Adam O’Farrill – trumpet Ohad Talmor – tenor saxophone / bass clarinet / Prophet 10 / Mini-Moog, Denis Lee – bass clarinet, David Virelles – piano ,Leo Genovese – piano / Moog / sequential six-trak, Joel Ross – vibraphone, Grégoire Maret – harmonica, Chris Tordini – acoustic bass / electric bass, Eric McPherson – drums.
Multi-instrumentalist Ohad Talmor was a long-time collaborator with his mentor Lee Konitz. After Konitz’s death in 2020, Talmor reviewed some tapes informally made in 1988 by Konitz, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins (imagine finding that!). On these tapes are songs and fragments of songs composed by Coleman but never recorded. Those pieces became the basis of this project, recorded by ensembles ranging from duos to septets including a wide range of edgy players.
Reviews: The Arts Fuse, The Big Takeover, Making A Scene
Paul Yonemura – Survivors / Thrivers (Girod Records, released 09/09/2024). Michael Wolff – piano, Gary Brown or Edwin Lingston – bass, Paul Yonemura – drums.
Drummer Paul Yonemura has assembled a piano trio with his childhood friend Michael Wolff (Memoir, previewed 08/05/2024 & Wolff, Clark and Dorsey – A Letter to Bill Evans, previewed 03/04/2024). Wolff, who wrote four of the nine tunes is the dominant voice in this lovely set.
The Greyboy Allstars – Grab Bag 2007 – 2023 (Royal Potato Family, released 02/15/2024). Karl Denson – saxophones, Robert Walter – keyboards, Elgin Park AKS Michael Andrews – guitars, Chris Stillwell – bass, Aaron Redfield – drums.
The new release from funkmeisters The Greyboy Allstars consists of unused studio masters that hadn’t fit previous releases over the past 16 years.
That’s a lot! I hope that something here tickles your eardrums.
Russell Perry, Jazz at 100 Now!
If your music isn’t changing your life, you’ve simply picked the wrong songs. – Ted Gioia
