Month: April 2021

This April TNB listened to three special albums paying tribute to masters of 20th century music – Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman and Anthony Braxton. To those who think making repertory albums suggest a lack of new ideas, take a listen. These records show not only passion and a deep connection to the material, but a creative approach that makes the music current and relevant. Rounding out TNB picks, we have an excellent drummer led jazz album, the belated release of the last studio album by a legendary South African pianist, an album of political string music, and some intense noise and noise rock. Enjoy!

TNB pick!
Stephanie Nilles – I pledge allegiance to the flag – the white flag
(released March 5, 2021)

Stephanie Nilles – piano and voice

Pianist and singer Stephanie Nilles interprets the music of bassist and composer Charles Mingus. April 22nd was the 99th anniversary of Mingus’ birthday, and there’s no better place to start your Mingus centennial celebration than here. Mingus’ passion resonates with the current moment – he captures the plight of the underdog and stands up to injustice. Nilles captures the Mingus magic right out of the gate in her epic reading of the protest anthem Fabels of Faubus. The performance captures the outrage, surrealism, the simultaneous embrace of the blues and the European tradition, and the drama, that all define Mingus. Both timeless and now.

TNB pick!
Pat Thomas/The Locals – The Locals Play The Music Of Anthony Braxton
(released December 17, 2020)

Pat Thomas – piano, melodica
Alex Ward – clarinet
Evan Thomas – electric guitar
Dominic Lash – electric bass
Darren Hasson-Davis – drums

Pat Thomas and his band The Locals focus on early compositions of Anthony Braxton. This from a 2006 live performance in Austria, and it comes from Thomas’ personal archive. The arrangements are by Thomas. For those who only think of Braxton’s music as dry and academic, take a listen. Wild, angular and intense – maybe danceable too! And Pat Thomas’ piano playing is something else – he’s new to me, and I’m going to have to catch up with this great talent.

TNB pick!
Miguel Zenón – Law Years: The Music of Ornette Coleman
(released March 12, 2021)

Miguel Zenón – alto saxophone
Ariel Bringuez – tenor saxophone
Demian Cabaud – bass
Jordi Rossy – drums

We need more repertory albums of Ornette Coleman’s music! Zenón’s approach and sound have little in common with Coleman, and this album is better off for it. Zenón says in his liner notes: “[Coleman’s] music is everlasting, and I believe that we should all consider ourselves lucky to live during a time when we could all experience Ornette’s work, from afar and up close.” Durable and effervescent.

New Muse 4tet – Blue Lotus
(released February 26, 2021)

Gwen Laster – violin, composition
Hsinwei Chiang – violin
Melanie Dyer – viola
Alex Waterman – cello

The New Muse 4tet is the project of violinist and educator Gwen Laster, who has played with everybody – the Sun Ra Orchestra, Danny Elfman, Aretha Franklin and J Lo and Shakira at President Obama’s Inaugural Neighborhood Ball, just to name a few. This album features stirring string music, but made deeper by the themes of protest. “The Black Lives Matter Suite” is the center of the album, dedicated to Sandra Bland, Samuel Harrell, and the Newburgh Four, all victims of unlawful arrest, abuse or entrapment at the hands of police. Beautiful music with a righteous cause. Mingus would approve.

Florian Arbenz, Hermon Mehari, Nelson Veras – Conversation #1: Condensed
(released April 23, 2021)

Florian Arbenz – Drums
Hermon Mehari – Trumpet
Nelson Veras – Guitar

I’ve never heard Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz before, but he’s quite good – his ride cymbal swings, he packs in lots of detail, and it’s so well recorded too. You can tell right away the drummer is the leader, but the music is very strong. The first three tracks are especially striking, but don’t miss the cover of “Freedom Jazz Dance” that ends the album – the arrangement and playing are great. This is the first of 12 planned albums of “conversations” with different groups, and I’ll be checking in with future installments for sure.

Bheki Mseleku – Beyond The Stars
(released March 13, 2021)

Bheki Mseleku – piano, voice

A 2003 solo piano set recorded in London by South African expat Bheki Mseleku. The music was not released at the time, and is only coming out this year 13 years after Mseleku’s passing. Mseleku’s playing is spontaneous and shows a deep connection to the South African musical tradition. A welcome release.

Sana Nagano – Smashing Humans
(released March 19, 2021)

Sana Nagano – Violin/fx
Peter Apfelbaum – Tenor saxophone/megaphone
Keisuke Matsuno – Electric guitar
Ken Filiano – Acoustic bass/fx
Joe Hertenstein – Drums

These are musicians who take their noise very seriously. The first three tracks are especially focused and intense, with guitar, drums tenor sax and violin locking into an atonal parade march. Blistering! Also, I love the album cover.

¡FIASCO! – Post-Truth
(released February 16, 2021)

Nelson Dougherty – guitar
Andrew Frankhouse – saxophone
Stephen Arnold – bass guitar
Keith Butler Jr. – drums

Washington DC-based band led by the saxophonist and guitarist, who first recorded this quartet last year. What if Fugazi collaborated with Albert Ayler? You get the idea – a post rock free jazz mash up.

Here’s the Spotify playlist:

Bruford – Feels Good to Me
(EG/Polydor -1978)

Back to the Begining

Beezelbub

Seems Like a Lifetime Ago

Either End of August

Personnel:
Bill Bruford – drums, percussion
Allan Holdsworth – electric guitar
Dave Stewart – keyboards
Jeff Berlin – bass
Kenny Wheeler – flugelhorn
Annette Peacock – lead vocals

Art is often pigeonholed into categories that may enable basic understanding, but limit imagination and creativity. As musical language grows and becomes more emotionally nuanced, the use of yet more labels is an unfortunate consequence – it’s hard to keep up with all of the new terms used to describe a band, an album or a genre.

So it’s a refreshing change of pace to encounter music that embraces different worlds and refuses to be reduced to categories. The music on Bill Bruford’s Feels Good to Me combines different music genres to produce a unique sounding result. How did this genre crossing album come to be?

To 70s progressive rock fans, Bill Bruford needs no introduction. Bruford was one of the founding members of Yes, where he developed his intricate style of drumming. He left Yes in 1972 to join King Crimson, where he stayed until Robert Fripp disbanded Crimson (for the first time) in 1974. Bruford then became something of a journeyman drummer, playing with various bands which culminated in touring with Genesis for their 1976 tour.

Given Bruford’s resumé up to this point, you might not expect his first solo record to move away from rock, but Bruford went on to prove that his evolution was not a “one off” – he went on to make jazz influenced solo projects and uncategorizable music with his next group, Earthworks. Feels Good to Me sits at a hard-to-describe crossroads between prog rock and improvised jazz – the music is unusual, surprising and worth revisiting.

Bruford composed the material for this record together with multi keyboard player Dave Stewart in the first half of 1977. The tunes feature complex arrangements with intricate keyboard parts, memorable melodies and eschew sprawling prog rock-style runtimes. But the real magic is the unique blend of musicians. In addition to Stewart, Bruford hired American bassist Jeff Berlin, who does not sound like a rock bass player. (Check out his playing on “Beelzebub”, the second track posted here). Berlin plays notes that fall aggressively ahead of the beat, dominating the head of the song. Elsewhere his playing is virtuosic, drawing from funk, rhythm and blues, and Jaco Pastorious-style licks.

Even more unusual for a “rock album” is the inclusion of great trumpet player Kenny Wheeler (featured on flugelhorn here). Wheeler had at this point established himself as a leader on his classic album Gnu High (1976), so to see him here as a sideman is very unusual. Wheeler’s solo and accompaniment on “Seems Like a Lifetime Ago” and lead playing on “Either End of August” are gorgeous. Employing Wheeler here reminds me of another great album recorded in 1977, Steely Dan’s Aja, and it’s memorable use of jazz musicians including Wayne Shorter. Something must have been in the air!

And then there’s Allan Holdsworth. Holdsworth’s guitar playing was already legendary after his stint playing with drummer Tony Williams, where the world was introduced to his influential style of hyper fast “hammered” notes (later adopted by Eddie Van Halen). But that flashy technique is only part of Holdsworth’s playing – he also emphasizes melody energized by his terrific sound, and paces his solos to an emotional climax by using the tremolo bar to “bend” the timbre of his notes.

Bruford spoke extensively in interviews about the importance of Holdsworth’s playing to this project. After this album, Bruford recruited Holdswoth to join him in the prog “supergroup” U.K. The experience Holdsworth had with that group tells us a lot about what kind of player he is – Holdsworth (and Bruford) left after recording only one album because of musical differences with the rest of the band after Holdsworth’s bandmates told him to stop improvising different solos on each song. Being “in the moment” is clearly central to Holdsworth’s concept, which you can hear in this music.

On “Beelzebub,” Holdsworth plays a perfect rock guitar solo – he starts with soaring long notes, builds to a climax with terrific use of the tremolo bar, and ends with rapid “hammered” 64th notes. Elsewhere, Holdsworth plays a long adventurous solo on “Back to the Beginning”, and again shows the passion he can inject into his playing with his short but memorable solo at the close of “Either End of August.” All fantastic stuff! This record captures Allan Holdsworth in transition between his rock background and the more open improvisation of his subsequent work. Holdsworth’s solos here are succinct and exciting.

The most unusual choice that Bruford made is having Annette Peacock sing vocals at four tracks on this record (three of those posted above). Peacock’s background and contributions to music deserve their own post (deserve an entire book really!). She is one of the innovators of the Moog synthesizer (given the instrument by Bob Moog himself), she composed an entire catalog of jazz tunes (now standards), and has released decades worth of genre bending albums, some enjoying renewed interest such as 1970’s I’m the One and others waiting for rediscovery.

Unsurprisingly, Peacock’s singing here upends expectations. After the grinding rock riff that starts “Back to the Beginning”, you’d expect vocals that employ volume and vibrato typical of rock singers. Peacock’s speech like delivery, and clean vibrato, smartly placed high in the mix, are surprising and oddly perfect. On “Seems Like a Lifetime Ago”, Peacock effortlessly switches gears into jazz balladry. Peacock’s inclusion here is divisive of course, and many rock purists prefer Bruford’s 1979 One of a Kind, which has no vocals at all. To me, the inclusion of a Peacock elevates this record into something more interesting and fresh sounding, worth revisiting all these years later.

These choices all reflect the openness of Bruford taste and an interest in avoiding the staleness of composing and playing that falls in the rules of musical genre. Bruford’s title seems well chosen – not only is ‘feel’ the key attribute of a drummer’s playing, but he also creates fresh sounding music by bringing together different musicians based on this intuition. The result “Feels Good to Me” as well!

I hope you enjoy these genre-crossing tracks. If you like what you’ve heard here you can listen to the rest of this album on Spotify and Apple Music. Bill Bruford is retired from playing, but he maintains a terrific website that you should check out if you want to explore more of his music.

Enjoy!