I’m posting the TNB album round-up a few days into July, and a few days late. You can blame the summer doldrums – I’ll try and catch up soon. As always, a wealth of great music to report about. Below are some of the best of the month!
TNB Pick!
Peter Brötzmann / William Parker / Hamid Drake – Song Sentimentale
(released June 6, 2023)
Peter Brotzmann – tenor sax, b-flat clarinet, tárogató
William Parker – double bass, guembri, skakuhachi, shenai
Hamid Drake – drums, frame drums, voice
After the recent death of Brötzmann in late June, we’ve been giving this remarkable release extra attention. Song Sentimentale was recorded over three nights at Cafe OTO in January 2015, with performances previously released in part but never before collected all in one place. Here you can appreciate Brötzmann’s horns’ awesome power, attention to detail, and poetry in ballads like “Dark Blues.” There are so many great Brötzmann records to listen to, and he’s one of the titans of modern avant-garde music. There’s no better place to start than with this release. Brötzmann lives!
TNB Pick!
Carlos Bica – Playing With Beethoven
(released June 23, 2023)
Carlos Bica – double bass
Daniel Erdmann – tenor and soprano saxophones
João Barradas – accordion
Dj Illvibe – turntables
Serious fun! Bassist Bica takes themes from Beethoven and creates a dialogue with them from a modern (or post-modern?) perspective. The gambit sees melodies from the 7th, 9th, and 5th symphonies, the Moonlight sonata, and other familiar Beethovenalia sharing company with metal guitars, melted opera singers, a turntablist, prohibition blues, and some stylish jazz playing. Surprisingly, most of it works, and I doubt you’ve heard anything like it. The audacity and execution of the project get top marks and keep me coming back—my most played album of June 2023.
Chris Speed Trio with Chris Tordini and Dave King – Despite Obstacles
(released June 16, 2023)
Chris Speed – tenor saxophone, clarinet
Chris Tordini – acoustic bass
Dave King – drums
While listening to Chris Speed’s new album, I thought of Coltrane Plays the Blues. Not that Speed, who has his own unique approach, sounds anything like Trane, but his new album has the classic vibe of tracks like “Blues to Bechet” and “Mr. Syms.” One of the things I love about Speeds’ album is the deeply satisfying range of emotions it conveys – from the upbeat “Advil” to the dreamy “Wrangled” or the beauty of “Sunset Park In July.” Despite Obstacles is the perfect album title to capture these emotions – like the Blues, this music depicts a mercurial and mesmerizing range of attitudes.
Linda May Han Oh – The Glass Hours
(released June 2, 2023)
Linda May Han Oh – electric/acoustic bass + voice
Mark Turner – tenor saxophone
Sara Serpa – voice
Fabian Almazan – piano + electronics
Obed Calvaire – drums
The influence of progressive rock on jazz is all over bassist Linda May Han Oh’s new album, The Glass Hours. Often the music sounds like something from Soft Machine, but with playing that is very much of the here and now. The Bandcamp page says the collection is “based on abstract themes of the fragility of time and life; exploring paradoxes seeded within our individual and societal values.” To expose these ideas, Oh employs Sara Serpa to sing both wordlessly as a “horn” (often in unison with Mark Turner’s sax) and with lyrics such as on the songs “Antiquity” and “Jus Ad Vellum.” Under the vocal and sax lines, the accompanying frisson of advanced bass, keyboard playing, and drumming is exhilarating.
Peggy Lee – A Giving Way
(released June 9, 2023)
Brad Turner – trumpet, flugelhorn, cornet
Jon Bentley – tenor saxophone
Jeremy Berkman – trombone
Peggy Lee – cello, compositions
Ron Samworth – 6 & 12 string electric guitars, acoustic guitar
Tony Wilson – electric guitar
André Lachance – electric bass
Dylan van der Schyff – drums
Peggy Lee (the cellist and composer, not the singer) is new to me, and this profile and interview is a great place to catch up with her inventive music. Lee and her band hail from Vancouver, and this album, her 6th, has especially strong writing for Lee’s octet. I’ll single out trumpet player Brad Turner, who plays magnificent solos on “Boat Ride Into Go Home Bay” and “Internal Structures,” but the musicians are all great and get lots of space to shine. Discovering this album and discovering Lee remind me what’s so great about creative music – there’s always a new gem awaiting you.
Gerald Cleaver – 22 / 23
(released May 26, 2023)
Gerald Cleaver – electronics, voice
Jean Carla Rodea – voice
Andrew Dahlke – alto & tenor saxophones
While driving in a rain and wind-swept June morning, I put on Gerald Cleaver’s new electronic album, 22/23, as the rain pelted the car’s roof, and Cleaver’s ominous electronic humming mixed into the din. The blips beat on as hard rain blasted the hood, and processed kick drums pounded the doors along with gravel from the tarmac. The experience was overwhelming (I had to turn to music off for a bit), but that’s the power that Cleaver’s densely textured electronic compositions can have. If you read TNB’s Cleaver profile, you know how we’ve been looking forward to this one, his follow-up to 2020’s Signs, and 2021’s Griots. The best tracks here, such as “Twins,” “MDD,” and “OK Now,” show more complexity than those prior records. However, note that the CD, LP, and digital releases have different lengths and different tracks included. The digital release consists of a whopping 22 tracks and is over 2 hours – frankly, some of the music could have stayed in the can. The shorter LP and CD programs are much more compelling; the latter hits all the high points and is the way to go.
Wild Up – Julius Eastman Vol. 3: If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?
(released June 16, 2023)
The Eastman Renaissance continues with Wild Up’s terrific third volume of the late composer’s music. This time the offerings are even more experimental than on last year’s Vol 2: Joy Boy. Vol. 3 consists of performances of three Eastman works. “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?” (1977) leans into extended vocal techniques buttressed by a dramatic orchestral score. “The Moon’s Silent Modulation” (1970) is the recording debut of work accompanying a ballet. The multi-media nature of the piece is obvious on the recording – the band stomps, claps, chants, and emotes over tense string arrangements. Best of all is “Evil N–r” (1979), which uses two pianos rather than the four usually employed, together with the orchestra to create a lush, spellbinding, and eventually claustrophobic atmosphere. The result is fantastic – don’t miss it.
Illegal Crowns – Unclosing
(released June 2, 2023)
Tomas Fujiwara – drums
Taylor Ho Bynum – cornet, flugelhorn
Mary Halvorson – guitar
Benoît Delbecq – piano
Illegal Crowns starts with a blast. Fujiwara’s “Crooked Frame” is a minor mode tune with an odd meter that already had grit, even before Mary Halvorson’s solo. But what a solo! It sent me hitting the “rewind” button (or slider, which is what that is now) to listen again to some of the sickest playing Halvorson has committed to record. This is a supergroup; Taylor Ho Bynum’s cornet is beautiful, Fujiwara’s drums always impress, and Delbecq’s piano is striking throughout. But on Halvorsen’s “Osmosis Crown,” she does it again – plays a solo that flips the ship over and squeezes all the oxygen out now the room. Illegal Crowns features terrific writing and solos by some of the best, plus a genius of modern music who keeps getting better and better. Hire Mary Halvorsen at your own risk – she is always the star!
John Dikeman, Pat Thomas, John Edwards, Steve Noble – Volume 2
(released June 23, 2023)
John Dikeman – tenor saxophone
Pat Thomas – piano
John Edwards – bass
Steve Noble – drums
For those who don’t share our obsession with Pat Thomas, you can skip this one if you wish. But that would be a mistake because you’d miss the second dispatch from a great band. Vol. 2 consists of two more long tracks to add to last year’s Vol. 1, all sourced from one epic night of music at Cafe OTO in February 2019. As on Vol. 1, the group sound is balanced, with plenty of space for imposing solo statements. Not only are we digging Thomas, but saxophonist Dikeman is a revelation – his playing is fiery and unrelating in the best way. Bassist Edwards fills the music with energy from below, and drummer Noble is authoritative and has a very organized concept that focuses the band beautifully. Like its predecessor, Vol. 2 shows how mesmerizing and fun-free playing can be.
Zoh Amba featuring William Parker and Francisco Mela – O Life, O Light Vol. 2
(released June 9, 2023)
Zoh Amba – tenor saxophone, flute
William Parker – bass, gralla
Francisco Mela – drums
I knew I had to hear Zoh Amba as soon as I saw this album cover and read this from the liner notes: “New York-based Zoh Amba first cultivated her musical passion in the lush forests of the Appalachian mountains, playing to the woods around her home . . . her music honors her roots, full of folk melodies, mesmerizing refrains, repeated incantations and powerfully-executed Free Jazz.” The music on O Life, O Light Vol. 2 does not disappoint – Amba delivers fiery, old-school free jazz in the Albert Ayler mold. Then on side B, Amba switches to flute, and the music turns introspective but no less passionate. William Parker and Francisco Mela are the perfect rhythm section, as well. Album highlight: on the first track, Parker suddenly switches to gralla (a Catalan double reed instrument), and Amba and Parker’s reeds go toe to toe, with drums and some yelling, maybe from Mela—an instant classic.
Ben van Gelder – MANIFOLD
(released June 16, 2023)
Ben van Gelder – alto saxophone and flute
Kit Downes – pipe organ
Fuensanta – voice and lyrics
Joris Roloefs – bass clarinet
Hristo Goleminov – tenor saxophone
Jean-Paul Estiévenart – trumpet
Antoine Pierre – drums
Tijs Klaassen – bass
What a sound! MANIFOLD is built around the pipe organ that Kit Downes plays here (we usually hear him playing piano). The result is a recording soaked in atmosphere – you feel as if you’re seated in the church where this recording was made and that the music is unfolding around you. The key track that will give you the idea is “Spectrum.” The music develops episodically – after a brief opening from the horns, there’s gentle murmuring led by flute and voice, then the pipe organ appears like the sun sweeping away the fog. More idyllic settings develop with Van Gelder’s alto on top of the mix, segues into a gently swaying theme played by the whole band, and finally into a coda of organ and voice. The track is striking, and the entire album sounds unique to my ears. A wondrous recording.
Archival release pick!
Evan Parker – NYC 1978
(released June 2, 2023)
Evan Parker – soprano saxophone (1,3,5,6) tenor saxophone (2, 4)
Solo recitals are so dramatic because they demand the performer bring their A-game – when you are standing alone in front of the audience, you need to win the room over with a compelling vision and the chops to back it up. Solo performers should take notes on what Evan Parker can do and what he pulls off in this 1978 live recording. Parker dominates the audience with the 17 minutes opening salvo that literally had me gaping in wonder at its audacity and execution. Parker’s solo soprano cycles through an intense, continuous drone using cyclical breathing – no breaks for a breath of air! This 1978 recording was Parker’s first solo tour of the United States, and it allows you to imagine being in the room at Environ (a legendary and short-lived outpost for progressive and avant-garde music). This a potent reminder of how great the still active Evan Parker is.