At TNB we took an impromptu break for July, but there will be extra posts for August – promise! During our break we listened to lots of new music that we’re excited to share. The Pick Hits feature a meeting of the “traditional” and the “new”, whether the fusion of jazz and folkloric Haitian rhythms, or the integration of melodic structures and cutting edge co-conspirators. Other great releases we listened to were by veteran bassists leading a smashing live album and a burning new guitar trio record, an exciting new recording of Julius Eastman’s Femenine, and a good old fashioned jazz sax trio. Hope your summer is going well!
Pick Hit!
Ches Smith and We All Break – Path of Seven Colors
(released June 11, 2021)
Sirene Dantor Rene – vocals
Miguel Zenón – alto saxophone
Matt Mitchell – piano
Nick Dunston – bass
Daniel Brevil – tanbou and vocals
Fanfan Jean-Guy Rene – tanbou and vocals
Markus Schwartz – tanbou and vocals
Ches Smith – drums, percussion and vocals
The modern harmony of the piano and bass collide with ancient rhythms of the Haitian vodou tradition – the results are truly fantastic! Drummer Ches Smith has contemplated and planned for this project for over a decade, which was first realized in 2014 with the core players here. Now Path of Seven Colors expands on that prior iteration, with the additional vocals, bass, and alto sax. The 50 minute long documentary about the sessions where the music was made is a good introduction to what’s going on here. Or just click the Bandcamp link; just don’t miss out on this. Unique music that inhabits the motto “ancient to the future” as few have.
Pick Hit!
Everything Happens To Be. – Ben Goldberg
(released June 18, 2021)
Mary Halvorson – electric guitar
Ellery Eskelin – tenor saxophone
Michael Formanek – bass
Tomas Fujiwara – drums
Ben Goldberg – clarinets
And here’s a blend of the past and future as well, that comes from a completely different place than the Ches Smith album above. Goldberg’s melodic compositions meet their ideal interpreters in Eskelin’s gruff tenor, Halvorson’s tart guitar, and the crack rhythm of Formanek/Fujiwara. An album full of delicious moments – just a few examples are the contrasting textures of the lead players, the laconic beauty Goldberg’s ballads, and the wonderful voicing of Goldberg and Halvorson’s lines. Goldberg at times channels the past, such as on the anachronistic head of “21” which then immediately runs into Halvorson’s cutting guitar. A truly enticing and wonderful album.
Koma Sax – Live
(released April 30, 2021)
Petter Eldh, bass / Otis Sandsjö, tenor sax / Jonas Kullhammar, tenor sax / Mikko Innanen, alto & baritone sax / Christian Lillinger, drums
The We Jazz Festival in Helsinki, December 2019 was the place to be! If you were there you could have joined the audibly floored crowd you hear on this exciting record. Yes you had to be there, but the audio document is pretty incredible too! The initial three tracks are a continuous performance that you really need to hear – Eldh’s bass is propulsive, the sax trio of Sandsjö, Kullhammar, Innanen
are fire breathing, and the druming of Lillinger provides texture and energy. David Murray’s live octet albums might be a reference point for you, but who needs reference points? Just listen in wonder.
Wild Up – Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine
(released June 18, 2021)
Wild Up:
Richard Valitutto – piano / bells / leader
Seth Parker Woods – cello / leader
Sidney Hopson – vibraphone / prime
Andrew Tholl – violin / bells
Mona Tian – violin / bells
Linnea Powell – viola / bells
Derek Stein – cello / bells
Jiji – guitar
Odeya Nini – voice
Jodie Landau – vibraphone / marimba / synth / voice / bells
Lewis Pesacov – bells
Jonah Levy – flugelhorn
Allen Fogle – horn
Shelley Washington – baritone saxophone / alto saxophone / bells
Erin Rogers – baritone saxophone / alto saxophone
Brian Walsh – tenor saxophone
Marta Tiesenga – baritone saxophone
Isabel Lepanto Gleicher – flutes / piccolo / bells
Erin McKibben – flutes / piccolo / bells
Christopher Rountree – music director / bells
TNB featured the Sō Percussion’s version of Eastman’s Stay On It in May, and the beautiful performance by Wild Up of Femenine has also been catching our ears. Like Stay On It, Femenine is very assessable and easy to enjoy. Femenine deploys a simple melodic idea, and then sustains and builds that idea over the course of ten continuous movements with sustained building of dynamics. The marvelous crescendo which has the entire 19 person Wild Up ensemble playing at full bore. Exhilarating! Let the Eastman renaissance continue.
William Parker – Mayan Space Station
(released July 23, 2021)
William Parker – bass, compositions
Ava Mendoza – electric guitar
Gerald Cleaver – drums
If you’re looking for a record full of burning guitar, look no further. Ava Mendoza’s extended solos on every tune here are epic and really cook. Of course this harkens back of McLaughlin, Sharrock and other guitar gods – Mendoza of our new fav! This album rocks.
Joel Frahm – The Bright Side
(Released May 13, 2021)
Joel Frahm – Tenor Sax
Daniel Loomis – Bass
Ernesto Cervini – Drums
We write a lot about progressive music here, but not everything needs to push the envelope. Frahm’s wonderful record caught us from 2 1/2 minutes into the opening tune, “Blow Papa Joe”, when Frahm quotes Joe Henderson’s amazing “Inner Urge”. Frahm and his trio are amazing too. This album pays tribute to masters of the past (Henderson, Benny Carter) and of course Sommy Rollin’s sax trios, but Frahm’s playing is very much his own, and this album shows how relevant the jazz tradition can continue to be.
Here’s the Spotify playlist: