Author: James Koblin

Music discussed:
Kate Gentile – Find Letter X
(released October 13, 2023, Pi Recordings)
The Find Letter X band:
Jeremy Viner – tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Matt Mitchell – piano, Prophet-6, modular synths, electronics
Kim Cass – acoustic & electric bass
Kate Gentile – drums, vibraphone, compositions

Kate Gentile has a lot of music to share, and 2023 is the year to listen. When TNB did this profile of Gentile in March, we noted all the projects Gentile has going on – playing on half of Matt Mitchell’s piano-drums duet album Oblong Aplomb, starting a new record label, Obliquity Records, and issuing the label’s first release, a fantastic collaboration between Gentile and the International Contemporary Ensemble. That record, biome i.i, centers Gentile’s writing for a modern classical chamber group augmented by her drumming, and would have been the highlight of any year for most artists.

Yet, there has been even more music from Gentile in 2023. She has followed up biome i.i with Flagrances (Obliquity #002), an abstract experimental album of her drums with guitarist Andrew Smiley, featuring music at the border of jazz and rock. Now, the Year of Kate continues with Find Letter X, which is both the name of the group and its new self-titled album. As discussed in this interview with Jazz Speaks, Gentile’s band played a lot in New York before the pandemic, but we’ve had to wait until now for a recording of its work. Yes, it’s worth the wait – Find Letter X is a massive 3 CDs with 41 tunes spread out over 3 hours and 16 minutes. All the compositions are by Gentile. Yet there’s really no filler on this album. Somehow, Gentile has managed to assemble a musical statement that is both more expansive and more focused than anything she’s done before. Let’s discuss just some of the music that awaits you . . .

There is a distinct identity for each “volume” of Find Letter X, and disc one (named Iridian Alphabet) picks up right where Gentile’s album 2017 Mannequins left off, with rhythmically astute and harmonically complex acoustic jazz with additional electronics from Matt Mitchell. I’ll single out the disc one track “recursive access” as an example of the inventive spirit of this project. That tune starts with a “rock” beat that is easy to dig, but the rhythm section quickly flips into a contrasting, slower tempo and then back to the groove section again, while Viner and Mitchell play the elaborate melody and solo at a speed that often contrasts that of the rhythm. Gentile accentuates this contrast by dragging the beat on the cymbal during the slow sections, allowing the energy to burst forward again when the cycle flips back to the “rock” beat. That may sound complex, but it’s not esoteric at all – Gentile builds this tune around accessible elements like swing and energy, which are immediately captivating. “recursive access” is just one example – this well-poised bridge between intricate arrangements and attention-grabbing elements is all over Find Letter X. For more of the same, check out the intense “prismatoid,” or the concluding track of the first disc “the 5th clone,” both of which feature bristling, interlocking sections and excellent solos from Mitchell on piano and Viner on tenor. So much great material, and that’s just disc one.

Disc two (called Senselessness) is a blast! I mean that literally because Senselessness is the culmination on record of Gentile’s love of metal, which she has been talking about since her 2019 interview with Hank Shteamer’s Heavy Metal BeBop. So, on Senselessness, we get the blast beats and jazz-metal we’ve been waiting for. For this disc, Cass switches to electric bass, and Mitchell’s electronics play the role that we would expect from the electric guitar – it’s all very heavy, but the compositions draw from a sophisticated and diverse musical palette, so even if you’re not a fan of metal, don’t skip this one. If you approach this as “jazz with a big jolt of energy,” you’ll enjoy it too, and just hearing the incredible drumming from Gentile is great. This disc from Find Letter X is the most successful blend of jazz and metal I’ve heard, and not to be missed!

Disc three (The Cosmic Brain) allows Gentile to play vibes as well as drums and brings back the acoustic quartet + electronics of disc one. This volume seems more open and less knotty than the first disc, features a lot of Viner’s terrific clarinet, and leans more toward the modern classical approach of biome i.i. I was amazed by all the material on this project, and the quality of the music on The Cosmic Brain did not let up one bit. Highlights include the stuttering rhythms on “bask,” the contrast of churning drums against cool clarinet on “clarion fluorescent,” and especially the precise band interaction on the epic “synaptic blazes.”

There is so much more to say about Find Letter X, but words don’t stand in well for the music, so buy it! However, I want to say something about each of the musicians on this album. First of all, the leader’s compositions and drumming reveal someone with an adventurous spirit – these tunes are not easy to play, and many, such as “Laugh Magic,” turn on the drop of a dime from one measure to the next. When I hear these tunes, I hear a challenge being made – to the band, “Can you play this?” and to the listener, “Can you dig this?” But none of it feels pretentious or abstract. Instead, Find Letter X is challenging in the best way – a playful dare. I don’t think you’ll have much trouble appreciating and enjoying what Gentile is doing here. As I said about the Snark Horse collaboration with Matt Mitchell, there’s an infectious sense of fun here.

Matt Mitchell is essential to this band. Not only are his piano and electronics prominent elements throughout Find Letter X, but his rhythmic poise and commanding solos orient the listener to the shifting environments of these tunes. Gentile gives a special thanks to Mitchell’s electronics in the liner notes, which have reached an impressive level of maturity since Mannequins. Electronics are used as intros, outros, or transitions to many of the tunes and have an essential role in giving energy to many of the melodies and supporting the accessibility of the music to the listener.

Kim Cass’ bass playing does the heavy lifting, not just for the rhythmic lines but also for the band’s sound. In a recent interview with Mike Watt (yes, that Mike Watt – bass player in Minutemen and fIREHOSE), Gentile credits Cass joining the band with forming the identity of the Find Letter X band. It’s easy to see why – on acoustic bass, Cass plays with volume and energy that propels the music and animates its texture. Check out “In Casks,” a Kim Cass feature named after him (“In Casks” = Kim Cass, get it?), which features a great bass intro and Cass’s riffs out front during the tune. Cass’ electric bass on disc two is something else – it reminds me of the prominent role of bass on prog rock albums. Disc two would not be the same without Cass’s impressive tone and quick-fingered electric bass phrasing.

Last and not least is tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Jeremy Viner. Viner’s clarinet was one of the most impressive aspects of 2017’s Mannequins, but now I’m especially bowled over by Viner’s tenor saxophone. On Find Letter X, Viner seems to be able to do everything the demanding music calls for with ease – from the unexpected balladry on “subsurface,” where the sax playing would not be out of place on one of the more avant Blue Note albums, to the high octane blowing on “laugh magic,” “ore whorls, ” or “importunate babble.” Viner does it all so well, and now is the time for more Jeremy Viner! I know he’s an essential piece of Battle Trance (their 2022 album Green of Winter is excellent), but Viner has truly arrived with his superb work on this album.

As I’ve mentioned, there is much more we could talk about, but there’s no substitute for listening – you can sample key tracks at Bandcamp or watch and listen to the preview videos that Gentile made for disc one and disc two (where you can see her creating the distinctive album art as well). If you’re in the New York area, get tickets to Roulette for the album release party on October 31. Gentile promises you’ll hear reimagined and different interpretations of the material on Find Letter X – she’s already off to the next thing! If you can’t make it to the show, there’s also a live feed at the link above, which Roulette usually archives for future viewing. Gentile is also hosting an online listening party on November 7 – you can find details at Bandcamp here. We’ll be there.

Let’s end by saying don’t be turned off by the size of this project. Yes, massive, multi-part albums are often forbidding or unnecessary. I’ve listened to many projects much shorter than this one and wished the artist had been better at self-editing. Incredibly, nothing on Gentile’s new triple album feels out of place; it’s all very strong, and I’ve kept returning to all three volumes of this compelling music. This level of ambition and execution is rare, and Find Letter X is strongly recommended – certainly one of the year’s best.

Kate Gentile’s Find Letter X – L-R Jeremy Viner, Kim Cass, Matt Mitchell, Kate Gentile; Photo credit – D. James Goodwin

(Live at Trinity Church 10/8/2023 L-R Luis Perdomo, Ugonna Okegwo, Tom Harrell, Adam Cruz)

It’s always a pleasure to see Tom Harrell live. With Harrell, that pleasure is not necessarily from the fire or virtuosity of the music, necessary ingredients for some other musicians. Harrell is now age 77, and while he’s always had plenty of chops on both trumpet and flugelhorn, his age and long-term health problems are a challenge, especially given the difficulty of playing trumpet well. But chops have never been the center of Harrell’s aesthetic anyway. Instead, he eschews pyrotechnics that are other horn player’s bread and butter for something much more profound – the ability to improvise melodically and to tell a story with music alone. Harrell has a deep and humble melodicism that is the rarest gift in music, a gift that fills Harrell’s fans and fellow musicians with reverence for what he can do with a simple phrase. This gig, presented at New York City Trinity Church on October 8th as part of the “Jazz Icons” series, was a great place to catch up with Harrell. The concert was free and open to the public, and where better to experience beauty than in a church? Trinity Church was packed with an appreciative house for an hour and twenty minutes of beautiful music in a wondrous setting.

After remarks from the church’s music director, Harrell and his regular working quartet assembled in front of the nave under soaring arches and stained glass, ready to play. But before we get to the music, let’s talk about Harrell’s excellent band! Bassist Ugonna Okegwo anchors the group and has been with Harrell for 25 years. Okegwo’s deep sound and swinging time are the band’s glue. Drummer Adam Cruz has played with Harrell for almost as long as Okegwo, from 2014’s Trip onward. In the spacious soundstage of the church, Cruz’s drums were both dynamic and detailed, and he made the band sound alive. Pianist Luis Perdomo is a more recent associate to Harrell, yet he fit into this group like a glove. Perdomo’s comping under Harrell’s lines and his solos were poised, relaxed, and beautiful. This band showed they are flexible, played with immense intuition, and each member of the rhythm section gave terrific solos.

The show started with a Tom Harrell original, “Sun Up,” which features a stuttering rhythm and the bright, cheery melody the name suggests. Live, Harrell and his band slowed the tempo, allowing Harrell to develop a relaxed two-chorus solo. Harrell’s tone was beautifully transparent, and his ideas flowed gracefully from one phrase to the next. The leisurely tempo for the opener was a good choice because, unfortunately, Harrell had difficulty with the faster tunes of the set. Although Harrell played several solos that were beautiful gems (like on the arabesque original “Delta of the Sea,” where he played with a convincing bite, or the labyrinthine “Sea,” where he played a tender solo over a gentle rubato feel from the rhythm), he seemed to be having what I guess were embouchure problems. On the faster standards the group played, such as “There Will Never Be Another You,” you could hear Harrell’s difficulty with the head of the tune and his solo. That performance was still fine and quite beautiful, but Harrell’s chops really gave him trouble with the changes on Coltrane’s “Moment’s Notice.” Here, Harrell had to give up playing at the top of the third chorus of his solo, leaving the band to “hold the music in place” for the next half chorus until Cruz could conclude the tune with a commanding drum solo. At moments, you could feel the band trying to carry their leader.

The gaffe on “Moment’s Notice” might have defeated other players. But the next tune was an astounding moment of grace and resiliency. Drummer Cruz and bassist Okegwo left the stage, and Harrell played a duet with Perdomo on a tune I’d never heard before, “Journey to the Stars,” which Harrell recorded on 2012’s Number Five. After a hypnotic piano intro, Harrell played some of the most transcendent, luminous trumpet I’ve ever heard. It was a dramatic moment; Harrell was bent over, his trumpet facing straight down to the floor, while he conjured phrases that seemed to soar to the church’s vault above. The beauty and power of this performance had me in tears, and it ended with screams and cheers from the audience as Perdomo clasped his hands in respect towards his duet partner. “Journey to the Stars” was a total triumph, made even more breathtaking after the trouble that Harrell had been having executing the music only minutes before. The band then rode out the afternoon of music with the breezy “Keep On Goin” from 2016’s Something Gold, Something Blue. The whole band sounded fine again, and the performance left the crowd happy after a fascinating and moving afternoon of music.

Seeing Tom Harrell reminded me of the remarkable honesty and courage of his playing. He’s at an age where many trumpet players think about retiring due to the demands of the trumpet. Instead, Harrell has pared down his working group to a quartet without another horn to carry the weight, and has focused more and more on the trumpet rather than the easier-to-play flugelhorn (which he left at home for this gig). What’s more, he does not play rehearsed “licks” or repeat himself – live, you could see and hear him creating melodic lines in the moment, always with the risk of running out of ideas or playing bad notes. Those imperfections are part of what makes Harrell’s playing so moving – even in the face of challenges from age and his health, he embodies what is best about jazz – playing music that’s real, that embodies experience and life, and is centered on beautiful expression that comes straight from the heart (and the brain too). See him when you have the chance.

It’s been a slow summer at TNB, but now we’re deep into September – the year is just flying by! The fall months are bringing a lot of great new music that we look forward to digging into and sharing with you. In the meantime, here are some of the albums we loved during the hot summer months, and we hope you will enjoy them, too.

TNB Pick!
David Virelles with Ben Street and Eric McPherson – Carta
(released June 16, 2023)

David Virelles – Piano
Ben Street – Acoustic Bass
Eric McPherson – Drums, Percussion

The piano trio may be the most difficult format to make your mark – from Ahmad Jamal to Keith Jarrett to Hank Jones to Tommy Flanagan, the great geniuses of that instrument have already put their stamp on the format. For that reason, many pianists take their time before making a trio record – what is there new to say? Following up on last year’s brilliant Nuna, which is (mostly) a solo recital, keyboard star Virelles has given us the piano trio we’ve been waiting for. Bassist Ben Street and drummer Eric McPherson are the perfect accompanists, and the music is evocative at every turn. Virelles’ take on the trio is highly rhythmic – the tunes have a dark Monk-ish sensibility, the writing is sharply percussive, and Eric McPherson’s clave-derived beats are essential. Highlights included the dense overlapping lines of “NYChepinson,” the poise and authority at a medium tempo on “Confidential,” and the lovely blending of tradition and the avant-garde on “Tiempos.” Virelles goes from strength to strength with each release – he’s shown each time he’s one of the most vital players alive. More Virelles to come at TNB!

TNB Pick!
Michael Formanek Elusion Quartet – As Things Do
(released May 19, 2023)

Michael Formanek – Double Bass
Tony Malaby – Tenor & Soprano Saxophones
Kris Davis – Piano
Ches Smith – Drums & Vibes

A new release from Michael Formanek is an event, and the terrific As Things Do showcases Michael Formanek’s “triple threat” talent as a composer, bassist, and bandleader. This is one of the year’s best releases. Formanek wrote all the tunes, balancing memorable melodies, clever arrangements, and open spaces for the soloists to leave their mark. This material brings out terrific playing from everybody. Formanek’s bass is full of rhythmic poise and beauty, Tony Malaby sounds fantastic here (especially on tenor), Kris Davis’s piano always takes the music in a new and exciting direction, and Ches Smith has the style and restraint to organize all of the fun explorations going on about him. An instant classical from start to finish.

TNB Pick!
jaimie branch – Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (​(​world war​)​)
(released August 25, 2023)

jaimie branch – trumpet, voice, keyboard, percussion, happy apple
Lester St. Louis – cello, voice, flute, marimba, keyboard
Jason Ajemian – double bass, electric bass, voice, marimba
Chad Taylor – drums, mbira, timpani, bells, marimba

The arrival of another Jaimie Branch album would have been a cause for celebration, but now that feeling is tinged with somber reflection. Branch’s death last year at age 39 has sadly left a void in the music landscape, and on Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (​(​world war​)​), Branch’s 3rd album with the “Fly or Die” band, you can hear the fulfillment of a promise made by her 2017 debut album. On that first record, Branch showed a way of making creative and “avant-garde” music accessible, urgent, and understandable, qualities that are fully realized in this new recording. The importance of directness is something Branch emphasized in interviews such as this one with Burning Ambulance – she did not favor esoteric, complex song forms and instead wanted to find a way to write simple tunes that shared feeling and meaning. That ability to communicate is all over Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die (​(​world war​)​), from the earthy rhythms of “borealis dancing” to the joyous “baba louie,” or the urgent vocals Branch deploys on “burning grey” and “take over the world.” Branch was a transcendent talent that will be sorely missed.

TNB Pick!
Guillermo Klein Quinteto – Telmo’s Tune
(released August 18, 2023)

Chris Cheek – tenor and soprano saxophones
Leo Genovese – Fender Rhodes and keyboards
Matt Pavolka – bass
Allan Mednard – drums
Guillermo Klein – piano

Reid Anderson described Klien’s music in a 2006 interview as “ethereal yet accessible . . . rich in detail, combining rhythmic and contrapuntal intensity with flights of pure melodic joy.” That description is just as accurate today, and we can’t have enough music from one of the greatest writers and arrangers in music. Usually, Klien presents his big band, but on Telmo’s Tune, he employs a small group recorded after a stint last year at the Village Vanguard. Even without the huge palette of the large group, the writing and arranging have a rare and striking beauty. Telmo’s Tune starts with a joyous aplomb on the opener, “Criolla,” which uses a dancing melody played by Chris Cheek on soprano sax set over the bouncy rhythms of the keyboards and percussion. Elsewhere, Klien uses stillness and open spaces (“Push Me Not and “Is cos me queres”) to let us admire the architecture of deconstructed rhythmic language and gorgeous sound and textures produced by the band. Denser arrangements return on the album’s back half, bridging a gap between traditional South American rhythms and the exciting, modern playing of sax player Cheek and keyboards from Genovese. Invariably, stunning beauty is at the center.

Emma Rawicz – Chroma
(released August 25, 2023)

Emma Rawicz – Tenor saxophone and Bass Clarinet
Ivo Neame – Piano
Ant Law – Guitar
Conor Chaplin – Upright and electric bass
Asaf Sirkis – Drums and vocals
Immy Churchill – Vocals

Emma Rawicz’s new album Chroma proves she is one of London’s most exciting new sax players. To hear Rawicz’s solo prowess, skip to the third tune on the record, “Rangwali.” On Rawicz’s tenor solo, you hear a biting tone and complex, elastic sax lines that reminded me of Bob Berg (one of my favorites!). Rawicz has assembled a fire-breathing group, with especially exciting playing from guitarist Ant Law and pianist Ivo Neame. Impressive! What will Rawicz and this band will do next?

Otis Sandsjö – Y​-​OTIS 2
(released July 24, 2020)

Otis Sandsjö – tenor saxophone & clarinet
Petter Eldh – bass & synthesizers
Dan Nicholls – keyboards & synthesizers
Tilo Weber – drums

I’m new to this project/band, a sequel to an album (Y​-​OTIS) that I have not heard yet, but I’ve loved bassist Petter Eldh’s music (check out his Koma Saxo), and I knew I had to listen to this. I’m glad I did! The best tracks here (“Tremendoce,” “Oisters,” and “Atombahn”) sound amazing and unique, with their multi-tracked and displaced world of woozy synths set over beats. The band calls the sound “liquid jazz of tomorrow” – take the plunge!

Luciana Souza & Trio Corrente – Cometa
(released August 25, 2023)

Luciana Souza – vocals
Fabio Torres – piano
Paulo Paulelli – bass
Edu Ribeiro – drums

It’s great to hear Luciana Souza back with “a new recording highlighting the pleasures of community, music making, and the Brazilian songbook,” as the album’s Bandcamp page says. Pianist Fabio Torres of Trio Corrente invited LA-based Souza to return to Brazil for concerts in the fall of 2022, coinciding with the election of Lula da Silva as Brazil’s new president. The performances went so well that Souza and Trio Corrente immediately decided to record an album featuring a combination of Brazilian classics and group originals. You can hear the air of celebration and uplift in the music, which celebrates rich tradition and a moment of hope for a new Brazil.

Nora Stanley and Benny Bock – Distance of the Moon
(released June 9, 2023)

Benny Bock – Steinway Grand Piano, Steinway Prepared Upright Piano, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer 200a, Hammond B3, Estey Pump Organ, Percussion, Baritone Guitar, ARP 2600, Yamaha CS60, Moog Minimoog, Prophet 5, UDO Super 6, Oberheim Two Voice Pro, Soma Lyra & Pulsar 23, Drum Programming
Nora Stanley – Saxophone, Korg Maxikorg 800, Soma Pulsar, Moog Minimoog, Percussion, Kalimba, Drum Programming
and other musicians

Distance of the Moon sounds like a late fall or winter album, but its quiet luminosity has also been lovely to listen to through the summer months. Keyboardist and composer Benny Bock created a series of duets with composer and saxophonist Nora Stanley, employing a giant battery of instruments to develop spare and charming music. The album’s highlight is the lilting, evocative melody of “March,” which features memorable playing. The rest is this album can cast a spell – I know I’ll return to it when the weather turns and the leaves start falling.

Trickster: Live in Brooklyn
(released August 15, 2023)

Miles Okazaki – guitar, compositions
Sean Rickman – drums
Matt Mitchell – piano
Anthony Tidd – bass

Trickster is led by guitarist Miles Okazaki, and finally gets to show what it can do in front of an audience on the appropriately titled Trickster: Live in Brooklyn. Trickster has been well-documented on several studio albums (such as Trickster from 2017 and The Sky Below from 2019). However, the lockdown intervened when Okazaki wanted to take the band on the road and make a live album in 2020. Instead, we got a “recorded live at home” record (Trickster’s Dreamtriuckers). With the Pandemic behind us, we finally get a document of Trickster at a small club in Brooklyn in front of an enthusiastic audience. The highlight of this double album has to be “Mischief/Caduceus Steps,” which takes two themes by Okazaki and smashes them into Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” To hear Matt Mitchell solo over Trane’s legendary tune is worth the price of admission alone! The jam flavor of the Trickster project seems endlessly renewable and, by the evidence here, a must-see live. Also, check out the cool vinyl issue of the album on Bandcamp.

Joe Farnsworth – In What Direction Are You Headed?
(released May 19, 2023)

Joe Farnsworth – drums
Kurt Rosenwinkel – guitar
Immanuel Wilkins – saxophone
Julius Rodriguez – piano
Robert Hurst – bass

Joe Farnsworth has always celebrated the jazz greats by playing with them, such as his collaborations with Cedar Walton, Harold Maburn, and George Coleman. With In What Direction Are You Headed? Farnsworth signals a change of approach and has recorded with younger players like saxist of the minute Immanuel Wilkins and vet guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. The shift in direction injects this album with energy and a new sense of adventure. Farnsworth’s sound has constantly reminded me of Billy Higgins, a drummer who could play with Cedar Walton and Ornette Coleman. Now Farnsworth has embraced open and exciting music forms still grounded in the tradition with this stimulating new direction!

Archival TNB Pick!
Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy
(released July 14, 2023)

Link to Spotify
Link to Apple Music

John Coltrane – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Eric Dolphy – alto saxophone, bass clarinet, and flute
Art Davis – double bass
Elvin Jones – drums
McCoy Tyner – piano
Reggie Workman – double bass

Play this newly discovered music and come time traveling to the Village Gate in the summer of 1961. You’ll hear the crackling fission of Coltrane and Eric Dolphy developing this unsettled, searching, and land-breaking music, right before your ears. The so-so audio only adds to the experience – you feel like you are eavesdropping on history in the making. Coltrane stretches out on the almost 16-minute-long “My Favorite Things” and burns on “Impressions.” Don’t skip the set closer “Africa,” making its only known recorded live performance. Coltrane had recently recorded “Africa” on the phenomenal Africa/Brass, which was, along with “My Favorite Things,” a formative launchpad for his concept of experimental music that embraced world influences and spirituality. The live version of “Africa” jumps out from the other performances due to the earth-shaking groove developed by Elvin Jones and the drama of the galloping arrangement set against dynamic solos by Coltrane and Dolphy—the highlight of a fantastic set captured on this essential release.

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.

Sorry I’m posting this round-up of May 2023 albums a few days into June. My lateness is no reflection on the wealth of great releases in May – frankly, it’s just been too stressful to think about writing when the sky is blood red, and the world is on fire. But music is a comfort, a source of wisdom, power, and an example of what humanity can do to create a better world instead of destroying it. So enjoy the great albums of May 2023! Those here are wonderful, as are many others we could not get to.

TNB Pick Hit!
Henry Threadgill – The Other One
(released May 26, 2023)

Personnel:
Henry Threadgill – conductor
Alfredo Colón – alto saxophone
Noah Becker – alto saxophone, clarinet
Peyton Pleninger – tenor saxophone
Craig Weinrib – percussion, electronics
Sara Caswell – violin
Stephanie Griffin – viola
Mariel Roberts – cello
Christopher Hoffman – cello
Jose Davila – tuba
David Virelles – piano
Sara Schoenbeck – bassoon
Adam Cordero – bassoon

The Other One is a welcome return to form for Threadgill after the slightly underwhelming Poof. This album documents a three-part suite of music that shifts back and forth between a chamber music feel and the power of this 12-player orchestra. On The Other One, Threadgill writes and conducts the orchestra, and it’s a sign of how good the compositions are that you don’t miss the acidic intensity of his horn. David Virelles plays the album’s introductions and transitions with authority, filling a key role that makes you wonder why Threadgill didn’t use pianists for years. When the whole band comes in, it sounds terrific, with essential contributions from the strings (two cellos and violins and viola), two bassoons, a trio of saxes, and that trademark Threadgill tuba. The audio fidelity is good enough that only when I heard the applause of an audience at the end, did I realize I’d been listening to a live recording (taped last year at Roulette when the suite was premiered). The release of this album coincides with the publication of Threadgill’s incredible autobiography, so this is the time to celebrate one of the great voices in music. TNB will be doing a more extensive Threadgill post shortly – in the meantime, get your copy of Threadgills’ book and make sure you listen to this album!

TNB Pick Hit!
salami rose joe louis – Akousmatikous
(released May 19, 2023)

Salami Rose Joe Louis – Korg Polysix, Moog, Rhodes, synth clav, synth bass, drum machine/programming, vocals, guitar, Polybrute, Microkorg, with various musicians featured, including Danalogue (synths), Betamax (drums) (Soccer96), Jason Lindner (synths) and others.

The world needs pop music this experimental and strange. Salami Rose Joe Louis is Lindsay Olsen, a California-based musician building complex and trippy electronic tracks with her Roland MV-8800. The title for Akousmatikous (Ah-coooz-mat-e-koi) draws from “a sect of Pythagorean mystics from the 5th century BC that were called the “listeners” who focused on ritual, harmony, and ethical behavior.” The music is a dreamy mix of club drum tracks, enigmatic pop vocals, synth backgrounds employing jazz harmony, and oblique mystery. The album comes from an open place that makes it all sound fresh; as Lindsay says, “I am enamored with the concept of listening to a sound when you don’t know the source. The act of listening in this great expanse of the universe, for answers, for questions, or just for something undefinable that we seek.” Wise words for winning tones.

Tineke Postma – Aria
(released May 5, 2023)

Ben Monder – Guitar
Robert Landfermann – Bass
Tristan Renfrow – Drums

Looking up into the environmental hellscape over NYC on June 6, I thought of “The Sky Is Everywhere” from Tineke Postma’s new album, Aria. The song captures urgency and foreboding, which says a lot about the expressiveness of the music throughout this album. Tineke Postma has a powerful sound, both on alto saxophone with her compositions (Aria is all originals by Postma.) I didn’t know of Postma before this recording (her 8th!), but after hearing her expressive playing and intricate arrangements, I look forward to what she does next. Aria is also an ideal place to hear Ben Monder’s electric guitar – here, he’s given a lot of space to use his trademark effects and distortion to craft moments of energy or simple beauty.

Pat Thomas & Steve Beresford – One Or Two Pianos
(released May 5, 2023)

Pat Thomas & Steve Beresford – “Pianos are featured because on some tracks, one of the pair plays toys and other objects”

One Or Two Pianos is one of a pair of new albums from Pat Thomas, which continue to show why he’s one of the most compelling music makers in the world. Here Thomas is joined by pianist Steve Beresford for a meeting that Beresford calls “Pianos, Toys, Music, and Noise,” an apt description of the weird clash of pianism and chaotic noise-making. I’m especially fond of the maniacal honky-tonk nine-and-a-half minutes into “Fred” and the brilliance of paying tribute to the iconoclasm of Cecil Taylor with electronics and percussion rather than piano (on “Cecil”). All the tracks are fascinating, and the imaginative use of “toys” leaves you wondering, “what was that noise?”

Pat Thomas – Burdah Variatrions
(released May 21, 2023)

Pat Thomas – Electronics

More Pat Thomas! I almost did not put this album in the round-up. When you first play this album, mind your volume button/dial – Burdah Variations starts with some of the most unremittingly assaultive electronic noise I’ve ever heard. This album’s opening notes caused my ears to hurt, and I could feel tingling in my nose. Dangerous music! I had to shut it off, and only later, when I returned to this album (and corrected my volume), I discovered a record of inventive, imaginative, and exciting noise experiments that sound like nothing else. The music is much more varied than the first track led me to believe, exploring many different electronic textures and often contrasting synthetic sounds against “organic” ones such as bells and woodwinds. The religious motivation is also notable – the album’s title is drawn from a poem by Sufi poet Imam al-Busiri recited for its spiritual and healing qualities. But Thomas avoids any cliched genre or “world music” references – instead, he states, “These are pieces which are concerned with combining various timbral characteristics to make new sonic soundworlds. In my view music works best as music, and I hope the listener can enjoy the pieces as much as I did when I created them.” A fascinating and stimulating record that I will be returning to.

Fire! Orchestra – Echoes

Link to purchase from Rune Grammofon
Link to Apple Music

The legendary Fire! Orchestra, formed around 2000 by sax player Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin, has upped the ante with one album after the next. Echoes, their seventh, is the most audacious record from this group yet, clocking in at almost 2 hours long and employing up to 43 players. That massive orchestra sometimes plays in a riotous, overdriven sprawl, but more often patiently develops something even more rewarding. The first track, “Echoes: I See Your Eye Part 1,” exemplifies this approach, building around restrained playing by bass, drums, and a string quartet. The rhythm section gets lots of room to create a sophisticated, slinky groove until, five minutes in, Gustafsson’s wild baritone sax enters and thrillingly tears the whole thing apart. Drama, melody, and noise are all playing in the same sandbox. In Echoes, sometimes you get beauty, and sometimes Fire!

Kate Gentile | International Contemporary Ensemble – b i o m e i​.​i
(released May 19, 2023)

Isabel Lepanto Gleicher – flute, piccolo
Jennifer Curtis – violin
Joshua Rubin – clarinet, bass clarinet
Rebekah Heller – bassoon
Ross aKarre – vibraphone & percussion
Cory Smythe – piano
Kate Gentile – drums & percussion

In a recent radio interview with Gentile, host Dave Lake commented on the increasingly blurry line between classical and improvised music. Gentile’s new b i o m e i​.​i (pronounced “Biome two”) is right at this intersection, with Gentile shepherding music in an exciting new direction. b i o m e i​.​i is a suite of 13 compositions that segue into each other seamlessly. The musicians comprising the International Contemporary Ensemble (“ICE”) deserve major props here. ICE is co-credited on the album cover and commissioned this work from Gentile. The group’s flair and technique is awesome, with multiple moments of superb writing (by Gentile) and playing (by ICE with Gentile on drums) throughout. As I’ve listened to this album, I’ve found myself getting lost in the music and letting the imaginative combinations of instruments pull me along, then unexpectedly sitting up in wonder at a surprising turn of phrase or an idea executed in a way I didn’t think was possible. The fractured melodies and stuttered rhythms may seem demanding at first, but it goes down easy, with friendly echoes of prog rock and sci-fi soundtracks. I’m sure there is something here waiting for you. And there’s more after this too – b i o m e i​.​i is the first album from Obliquity Records, a label which Gentile just started with Matt Mitchell – Obliquity # 02 has just been announced and is due July 28!

Samuel Blaser – Routes
(released May 12, 2023)

Samuel Blaser trombone | Alex Wilson piano, hammond organ, melodica | Alan Weekes guitar | Ira
Coleman double bass and baby bass | Dion Parson drums (except 7) | Soweto Kinch alto sax, voc | Michael
Blake tenor sax | Edwin Sanz percussion (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10) & drums (7)
And joined by:
Carroll Thompson vocals (2, 6) | Lee “Scratch” Perry vocals, dub (8, 9) | Steve Turre shells & trombone (4) |
John Fedchock trombone (4) | Glenn Ferris trombone (4) | Johan Escalante trombone (4) | Jennifer Warthon
bass trombone (4) | Heiri Känzig double bass (7)

Summer is here, and you need this album to kick-start your season of sun. If smoke from raging wildfires is choking the sun out, here’s the soundtrack to dance to on the edge of the apocalypse. Blaser revels in Jamaican roots music with the assistance of the late Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, saxophone from Michael Blake, trombone and shells from Steve Turre, with a whole trombone choir. As the liner notes say, “ROUTES is an adventure, a party and a celebration, and you’re invited.”

TNB Archival release of the month:
Milford Graves, Arthur Doyle, Hugh Glover – Children of the Forest
(released May 19, 2023)

Recorded: March 11, 1976
Milford Graves – drums and percussion
Arthur Doyle – tenor saxophone, flute
Hugh Glover – klaxon, percussion, vaccine
January 24, 1976
Milford Graves – drums and percussion
Hugh Glover – tenor saxophone
February 2, 1976
Milford Graves – drums and percussion

For those unfamiliar with Milford Graves’ drumming, go right to the last track of newly released archival material collected in Children of The Forest. There, you can hear the incredible power and complexity of Graves drumming in a solo performance – he can sound like an entire African drum choir. Once you’ve listened to what Graves is capable of, you’re prepared to dig into an hour of this powerful group, which adds scorched earth reads by Arthur Doyle on three blistering tracks and Hugh Glover on another four. Even though the audio is not hi-fi (it was recorded by Graves at his “legendary Queens basement laboratory and workshop”), the absolute passion and awesome capabilities of the musicians are never in doubt. An essential archival release.

London Brew – London Brew (2023, Concord Jazz)

If you have been following the press about the London jazz scene, you know about a new crop of musicians who draw on diverse music that connects with and engages a young, energetic audience. Skeptics who question whether the music matches the hype should listen to the new album London Brew, which features many of these new stars. In this post, we aim to introduce you to the musicians behind London Brew and recommend albums by its key players. Welcome to the London Brew Starter Kit!

Like many albums completed in the last year, disruption from the pandemic is a big part of the story. The music featured on London Brew is inspired by Miles Davis’ Bitches’ Brew and was initially planned to be presented in a series of 2020 concerts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the iconic Davis album. The first of these concerts was to be presented at The Barbican in London in early 2020 but was shut down due to the pandemic. In lockdown and unable to gig, the musicians decided to make a record from the music instead. For three days in December 2020, the London Brew band recorded hours of music, edited down to 90 minutes and now presented on two CDs or LPs if you buy the physical format.

(The London Brew band: L-R – Shabaka Hutchings, Tom Herbert, Nikolaj Torp Larsen, Nubya Garcia, Dave Okumu, Raven Bush, Dan See, Martin Terefe, Tom Skinner, Benji B, Nick Ramm, men with cap and wool hat unknown, Theon Cross at far right; photo credit Nathan Weber)

Regardless of the format you buy, the band you hear is a miniature who’s who of the young musicians making a name in the London jazz scene. The musical settings on London Brew are the work of producer Martin Terefe and guitarist Dave Okumu, who together took samples from Davis’ Bitches’ Brew, and used these excerpts to frame new performances. DJ Benji B then took these prepared tapes and played them live to the musicians during the recordings. Nubya Garcia’s tenor sax and Shabaka Hutchings’ reeds are at the heart of the music; the reeds bob and weave and play off each other throughout London Brew. One delight of the album is figuring out who is playing what, especially with pairs of saxes, keyboards, and drums – see below for a breakdown of the instrumentation.

Other instrumental highlights pop up and surprise you throughout. The drums of Tom Skinner and Dan See drive the record and occasionally lock together into a storm of rhythm, such as at the start of the second track, “London Brew, Part 2.” Theon Cross’ booming tuba appears on “More Ning Prayers,” giving the tune a contour and structure that contrast the ambiguous forms elsewhere on the record. Keyboards from Nikolaj Torp Larsen and Nick Ramm clash in jagged zones of dissonance through the two parts of the title track. The album closes out with serene amplified violin from Raven Bush. Even at an hour and a half of music without easily-accessed melodic lines, hooks, choruses, and other structure hallmarks, it all flows from intensity to atmospheric beauty and back – and it’s never boring!

Once you’ve absorbed and enjoyed London Brew, try listening to the music of the key musicians responsible for this record – it will be well rewarded.

(Shabaka Hutchings playing bass clarinet. Image: dirkneven1966 at The Vinyl Factory)

First up is Shabaka Hutchings – it’s hard to imagine London Brew happening without him. Hutchings (also known as Shabaka) first made his mark in 2013 with the debut album by Sons of Kemet, the band where Hutchings plays with Theon Cross and Tom Skinner, plus a second drummer (Eddie Hick since 2018). Sons of Kemet has perfected a style of riff-laden, groove-based music that is Afrocentric (and so cool), often combined with poetry about social justice and identity. The twin drums and tuba are already massively rhythmic, but Hutchings’s cyclical riffing patterns increase the intensity to 11. His approach sounds like the circular patterns of African drumming translated onto the saxophone. With all the energy, it’s easy to see why this band has made such an impression. This clip on YouTube shows you what it’s all about.

Hutchings is really prolific, and you can also check out his recordings with Shabaka and the Ancestors, as well as his solo album released as Shabaka, African Culture, where he concentrates on multi-instrumental Pharoah Sanders like atmospherics.

The Comet is Coming – Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam (2022, Impulse)
Link to Spotify
Link to Apple Music

But the most compelling entry point is the most recent record by The Comet is Coming, Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam. Why here? This band creates energy and spontaneity captured in the story of how they came together. In an interview with M magazine, band drummer Max Hallett said he was playing a gig with keyboardist Dan Leavers when an audience member jumped on stage and started playing the saxophone. This was Hutchins, of course, though Hallett and Leavers had no idea who he was at the time. The sound they “created [was] an explosive shockwave of energy that stunned us all,” so they decided to record together and have since continued to hone their synth/drums/sax sound that leans into England’s famous rave culture. We dare you to stop dancing around your room after you put this album on! Also, if you’re in the New York area, you can catch The Comet Is Coming at Summerstage on August 3rd. You know we’ll be there!

(Nubya Garcia in 2019 Photograph: Peter Van Breukelen/Redferns at The Guardian)

Next, you must check out the other saxophone player on London Brew, Nubya Garcia. You may have heard of her already, even before you read this piece – Garcia has made a terrific splash in the music world, and her star has just started rising. Garcia released her ebullient debut EP Nubia’s 5ive in 2017, which features strong tunes, a dynamic band, and music that respects the jazz tradition while embracing an up-to-date rhythmic language. Garcia is prominently featured on the scene-defining We Out Here compilation (where she plays on five of the comp’s nine tracks) and made high-profile gigs, like playing to a packed house at Royal Albert Hall.

Nubya Garcia – Source (2020, Concord Jazz)

However, the place to start with Garcia’s music is Source, her debut full album. Source is uplifting from beginning to end, shaped by Garcia’s fully formed soloing and her fresh rhythm section of Daniel Casimer on bass, Joe Armon-Jones on piano and electric keyboards, and Sam Jones on drums. The album mixes various styles that draw from Garcia’s roots in the Caribbean, such as the Jamaican dub title track, or the nod to the bedrock of Latin American rhythms, “La cumbia me está llamando.” Elsewhere Garcia deploys soaring jazz harmonies on “The Message Continues,” and graceful balladry on “Together Is a Beautiful Place to Be.” Another strength of the album is its sincere connection to Garcia’s past. Garcia calls the album a story “about my heritage, my ancestry, exploring those places and those stories from my parents and my grandparents.” Lovely stuff – Garcia is only 31, and we can expect lots of great music to come.

Like Nubya Garcia and Shabaka Hutchings, the music of Dave Okumu is driven by identity, and has a passion for creating new, relevant art that explores the past and the present. Okumu is the son of Kenyan immigrants and grew up in Vienna until his family moved to England at the age of ten. He has been on the scene for years and is one of the older players on London Brew at 46 years old. Okumu has been the guitar player in the indy rock band The Invisible, whose eponymous record from 2009 was nominated for a Mercury prize and was iTunes Album of the Year. The Invisible’s brand of mumbled vocals with subtly dark instrumentals framing sunny lyrics still sounds pretty good but only hints at the potential realized on Okumu’s new album, I Came From Love.

Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations – I Came From Love (2022)
Link to Bandcamp

Okumu says he regards I Came From Love as his first solo record because the music and themes represent his identity and history. The album draws from hip-hop, spoken word poetry, rhythm and blues, rock, jazz, and world music and is intensely autobiographical and political. One highlight is “Blood Ah Go Run,” which uses spoken narration from newspaper reports of a 1980’s fire that killed 13 Black teens. The track is propelled by thick, slightly funky baselines and backbeat even as the grim subject enfolds. Elsewhere, the album leans heavily into lyrics and poetry about slavery, Black identity, reclaiming history, and justice. Even though the issues are heavy, the music is not depressing, and the detailed production is often fascinating, with some tracks using layers of samples, effects, and instrumental detail. Given the variety, your mileage may vary from track to track, but the album’s range of approaches and ambition is impressive and easily recommended. Like the albums of Nubya Garcia and Shabaka Hutchings, a personal story fuels a clear and compelling artistic vision.

Tom Skinner – Voices of Bishara (2022, International Anthem)

Like Okumu, drummer Tom Skinner is a scene veteran who has just released his first solo album, the fascinating EP Voices of Bishara. After playing with several jazz, electronic, and rock groups, Skinner co-founded Sons of Kemet in 2011 with Hutchings. Recently, Skinner has been the drummer for Thom Yorke’s non-Radiohead side project, The Smile. However, Voices of Bishara is Skinner’s first solo album, and he uses many of the same players from London Brew – Hutchins, Garcia, and bassist Matthew Herbert, joined by cello player Kareem Dayes. The album’s concept is right up our alley at TNB – Skinner says that during the pandemic, he found himself listening to Abdul Wadud’s By Myself, and he conceived this album as a reaction to the singular beauty of Wadud’s masterpiece. Skinner titled Voices of Bishara after the self-released imprint Wadud used for his classic, Bishara, which means “bringer of good news.” Skinner says his album is “an attempt to put something truthful into the world, through collaboration and community, at a time of rising dishonesty and disinformation.”

While this release is compact at six songs in 27 minutes, it makes a big impact using deep, resonant lines built around bass and cello under the double tenor sax front-line growl. Skinner explains that he arrived at an EP length after recording hours of music and using an extensive post-production process to boil it down to the most impactful material. This music reaches an apex during the tune “The Journey,” built around an interlocking, loping theme with an extroverted cello solo and the propulsive atmospherics created by post-production on “Voices (Of the Past).” Voices of Bishara was one of the remarkable releases of 2022, drawing on an ideal mix of spontaneity in the studio and deliberate post-production.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the London Brew Starter Kit! Hopefully, this has given you points of entry to appreciate and follow one of the world’s most exciting music scenes and to become part of the community of fans supporting these great musicians. We’ll keep following London Brew here and share what we find at The Necessary Blues.

London Brew album breakdown:

We promised to give you more detailed information about the players on London Brew and what they’re doing. Here’s the personnel and instrumentation according to the back cover of the album:

Benji B – “sonic recycling”
Raven Bush – electric violin, electronics
Theon Cross – tuba
Nubya Garcia – saxophone, flute
Shabaka Hutchings – saxophone, woodwinds
Tom Herbert – electric bass, double bass
Martin Terefe – guitar, electronics
Dave Okumu – electric guitar
Nick Ramm – Piano, synthesizers
Nikolaj Torp Larsen – synthesizers, melodica
Dan See – drums, percussion
Tom Skinner – drums, percussion

On an album that has multiple pairings of musicians playing the same instruments, it’s an interesting challenge to figure out who’s playing what. This is especially the case with Hutchings and Garcia, who are both credited as playing “saxophone” (that’s tenor sax), and Hutchings is also credited on “woodwinds.” On London Brew, Hutchings mostly sticks to the “woodwinds” (bass clarinet and B flat clarinet), but occasionally Hutchings and Garcia both play tenor at the same time. Even then, you can tell them apart. If you listen carefully, you can hear the difference between the two on tenor – Garcia has a lighter sound, and Hutchings has a more percussive, sharper attack. I probably don’t have it all down correctly, but here’s what I’m hearing Hutchings and Garcia playing:

“London Brew“: Hutchings on bass clarinet throughout; Garcia enters at 4:50 on tenor sax; Hutchings plays the B flat clarinet after 8:00; tenor sax at 10:00 played by Garcia; at 19:00 Hutchings on bass clarinet and Garcia on tenor sax in duet; at 22:00 both tenors playing at the same time – Hutchings playing short percussive phases, and Garcia playing longer, higher ones.

“London Brew, Part 2“: At 2:45, Garcia on tenor sax (played altissimo); at 5:20, woodwind counterpoint figure (oboe?) played by Hutchings; from 9:00 B flat clarinet (Hutchings) to 12:50.

“Miles Chases New Voodoo In The Church“: from 0:25 to 3:00, Garcia solos on tenor played through wah-wah pedal; at 3:10, Hutchings on B flat clarinet; at 4:50, Garcia on tenor in the background briefly.

“Nu Sha Ni Sha Nu Oss Ra“: This song is a feature for the tenor saxophonists, who both play tenor throughout. I believe it’s Garcia playing starting at 0:25 and Hutchings playing the second theme at 1:50; at 4:00, the saxophonists trade improvised lines until 7:00, and Garcia then plays to the end. Because I think Garcia plays the main theme, I believe Hutchings is playing the “breath” sounds (played through a tenor) that start and end the song.

“It’s One Of These“: This one features Hutchings, who solos on bass clarinet, first buried in the mix at 1:25, and then out front from 2:00 to 4:20. From 4:30 to the end, there are intermittent accents on tenor sax behind guitar and keyboards, played by what sounds like two sax players – Garcia and Hutchings.

“Bassics“: Garcia is credited by the liner notes as playing flute, and the only flute that I hear on the record occurs at 0:25. I hear no reeds on this track.

“Mor Ning Prayers“: The two reed players are featured again on this track. From 0:28 to 0:55, Garcia plays an opening theme, with Hutchings’s bass clarinet mixed way back. A guitar is featured from 0:55 to 3:37, and then Garcia and Hutchings return, now both on tenor. I believe Hutchings plays the main theme from 3:27, with Garcia joining with embroidered phases at 4:00. Hutchings continues with a repeated melodic phrase to 5:30, which goes into another guitar solo. The saxophones return at 7:45, this time with Garcia playing first and Hutchings joining at 8:10. Hutchings plays a repeated phrase, then returns to the theme he played at 5:30, and then ends the tune with a vibrato heavy slap-tongue phrase. Garcia is mixed to the left channel and Hutchings to the right – that will help you sort it out!

“Raven Flies Low“: This is a beautiful feature for Raven Bush’s violin. Hutchings plays a repeated background motif on the (B flat) clarinet at 3:15. At 4:55, there is riffing which sounds like the bass clarinet (Hutchings), which is way back in the mix. At 6:40, Hutchings’ B flat clarinet appears in the background, and at 7:40 comes to the front of the mix – Hutchings plays a long clarinet solo (7:40-10:20). I don’t hear any playing by Nubya Garcia on this track.

I hope you enjoy that analysis! One of the pleasures of music appreciation is trying to pull apart the music with your ears and figure out what’s going on. Please email me if you have corrections – I’d love to make it as accurate as possible!

April was a great month for new record releases. However, at the end of the month, we found ourselves at a loss for words to describe and categorize our finds. Words have their purpose, too – they help provide context and, when used thoughtfully, help us understand the music. It’s a struggle, though – writing about music is not easy, and words are a clumsy way to describe and analyze ineffable and elusive music. Unfortunately, a lot of writing about music falls into cliches (and I’m surely guilty of those), with the same tired phrases used over and over. So I’ll try to be brief and let the music do most of the talking.

TNB Pick!
Ben Wendel – All One
(released April 21, 2023)

Ben Wendel – Tenor and Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, EFX, Hand Percussion
Cécile McLorin Salvant – Vocals
Terence Blanchard – Trumpet
Bill Frisell – Electric and Acoustic Guitar, EFX
Elena Pinderhughes – Flute and Alto Flute
José James – Vocals
Tigran Hamasyan – Piano
Steve and Beth Wood – Hand percussion

In two standout tracks from All One, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Ben Wendel makes old songs (“Tenderly” and “I Loves You Porgy”) sound new. The rest of the performances, where Wendel uses multiple layers of overdubs, are thrilling too. Recorded during the pandemic, Wendell created a concept and framework in isolation and then reached out to collaborators to create a “message of togetherness, friendship and unity.” A message to celebrate! The living room “pandemic album” becomes fascinating and eloquent with All One.

Ken Vandermark and Hamid Drake – Eternal River
(released April 7, 2023)

Ken Vandermark – tenor saxophone
Hamid Drake – drums

Vandermark and Drake are the perfect musicians to channel the untamed wildness of Don Cherry’s music. Vandermark’s sax is all texture and grit; Drake’s drums are dynamic and commanding. The live sound is excellent, too – you feel like you’re in the room during this October 2021 performance.

Gerald Cleaver, Brandon Lopez, Hprizm – In The Wilderness
(released March 17, 2023)

Hprizm – Electronics
Brandon Lopez – Bass
Gerald Cleaver – Drums

For those who missed the sound of drums on Signs and Griots, Cleaver makes In The Wilderness a drum clinic – his technique centers and propels these compositions. In The Wilderness is also a hip-hop soundtrack sans rappers, maybe a gateway drug from hip-hop to jazz or vice versa.

Matt Mitchell – Oblong Aplomb
(released April 14, 2023)

Oblong (tracks 1-12):
Matt Mitchell – piano, compositions
Kate Gentile – drums, percussion
Aplomb (tracks 13-24):
Matt Mitchell – piano, compositions
Ches Smith – drums, gongs, percussion, vibraphone, glockenspiel, tam-tam, timpani

We discussed this album with this month’s profile of drummer Kate Gentile. The piano/drum interplay is fascinating, and the intricate compositions and playing are addictive. Also, don’t sleep on disc two with Ches Smith on percussion – he brings the energy of his ride cymbal and quiet introspection with his glockenspiel.

Alexander Hawkins Trio with Neil Charles and Stephen Davis – Carnival Celestial
(released April 21, 2023)

Alexander Hawkins – Piano, Synthesiser, Sampler, Percussion
Neil Charles – Double bass, Percussion
Stephen Davis – Drums, Percussion

The Bandcamp page for this album says that Hawkins “celebrates the connection of freedom and structure.” It finds a great balance – the tunes have just enough melody but still leave space for the energy and spontaneity of improvisation. Interestingly, the album is totally of the moment and yet seems drawn from classics of the avant-garde. Two examples – “Fuga, the fast one” sounds like the best tribute to Andrew Hill I’ve heard in a long time, and the deep bass at the center of “Rupture” could be right from Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch. Good influences!

Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru – Jerusalem
(released April 14, 2023)

The first new issue of music from Emahoy since the fabled Éthiopiques Volume 21 of 17 years ago. The Bandcamp page says another release is planned, which is welcome with Emahoy’s recent death at 99 years old. The world cannot have enough of her transporting music. See our recent post from December, celebrating her life and music.

Wadada Leo Smith and Orange Wave Electric – Fire Illuminations
(released March 31, 2023)

Wadada Leo Smith – Trumpet
Nels Cline – guitar
Brandon Ross – guitar
Lamar Smith – guitar
Bill Laswell – bass
Melvin Gibbs – bass
Hardedge – electronics
Mauro Refosco – percussion
Pheeroan akLaff – drums

Miles Davis’ electric music is more influential than ever (see this month’s Strange Brew below for one example). However, Wadada Leo Smith is the OG of channeling electric Miles, and it’s great to have this new album – he shows everybody how this electric/acoustic hybrid is supposed to sound. The album notes say, “the album [was recorded] in a series of sessions and configurations, compiling the final product through extensive post-production.” That sounds like you’d have a disorganized final product, but the album is far from it. Instead, it is well organized, charismatic, and has great features for the all-star band. Smith writes and plays like a painter, an analogy that is not lost on him. He says in the album notes, “orange is such a vitalizing color, it relates to the vitality of electricity that I’m working with in this ensemble.” Listen and hear the colors – also, orange is the best color!

Ingrid Laubrock – The Last Quiet Place
(released March 31, 2023)

Ingrid Laubrock – tenor and soprano saxophones
Mazz Swift – violin
Tomeka Reid – cello
Brandon Seabrook – guitar
Michael Formanek – double bass
Tom Rainey – drums

The opening notes from the strings immediately signal the album’s emphasis on unpretentious beauty, and the mysterious cover art matches the slippery and spare music. The writing and arrangements are the star here, at an intersection between structure and open expression, where both the tunes and the playing shine.

Dave King Trucking Company – old TV
(released April 7, 2023)

Erik Fratzke – electric guitar
Dave King – drums and piano
Chris Morrissey – acoustic bass
Chris Speed – tenor saxophone
Brandon Wozniak – tenor saxophone

It’s always exciting to have a new release from Dave King Trucking Company, whose music is super fun (and maybe underrated). King is always hiding a trick up his sleeve, and I guarantee there will be a point when you are surprised or delighted. Also, the duel tenor sax front line of Chris Speed and Brandon Wozniak always impresses. Make sure you go back and listen to Adopted Highway and Surrounded By The Night.

London Brew – London Brew
(released March 31, 2023)

We’ll be writing about this disc and the London Jazz scene in May, so we’ll save the analysis until then – suffice to say that the spirit of Miles’ Bitches Brew (and In A Silent Way) loom large, but London Brew is not just an exercise in crate digging, but music for here and now.

Steve Swell’s Fire Into Music – For Jemeel – Fire From The Road
(released April 7, 2023)

Steve Swell – trombone
Jemeel Moondoc – alto saxophone
William Parker – double bass
Hamid Drake – drums

A massive release – 3 CDs of live performances from 2004 and 2005. The musicians get to stretch out, and most of the tunes are 20 to 55 minutes long. Swell’s trombone is extroverted, and Moondoc’s alto has so much presence. For me, deep listening to the legendary Parker/Drake rhythm section will keep me coming back to this release – Parker’s tone, both playing pizzicato and arco, is impressive, and when Drake gets into high gear, it’s spellbinding. This release earns the use of “fire” in the title.

Ivo Perelman, Dave Burrell, Bobby Kapp – Trichotomy
(released March 31, 2023)

Ivo Perelman – tenor sax
Dave Burrell – piano
Bobby Kapp – drums

An ideal entry point into Perelman’s lavishly imposing discography, Burrell lights up this session with his staccato rhythms, bell-like overtones, and kernels of melody spread out under the din. The great pianist makes any session he’s on special, and Perelman responds with energy and, eventually, his own lyricism. This album has intrigued me to listen to more Perelman, and April’s two other Perelman releases, Artificial Intelligence and Live in Carrboro, also sound great.

Archival/Reissues:

Abdul Wadud – By Myself
(Reissue released April 30, 2023, by Gotta Groove Records)

Abdul Wadud – Cello

At long last, here is the reissue of one of music’s most elusive holy grails! There really is nothing we can say that we didn’t say here and here. This release is an event, and we thank The New York Times for publishing Hank Shteamer’s essay, where he calls the album a “landmark of self-determination.” Make sure you get your copy, which is available either on LP or streaming at Bandcamp.

Sun Ra & Arkestra – Hendersonia: Sun Ra Performs Fletcher Henderson
(released April 11, 2023)

All keyboards by Sun Ra
Arkestra personnel varies

A collection of live performances between 1976 and 1991 are a glorious throwback to the big band music of Sun Ra’s former boss, Fletcher Henderson. Ra’s performances of traditional jazz were always legendary and would captivate audiences when played on the heels of a long set of unrepentant free jazz. (I’m told) the joy was palpable live, and the infectious results came through on this uplifting disc. Join the party!

(Kate Gentile behind the drums at The Jazz Gallery, April 14, 2023; Image by James Koblin)

Rhythm is the essence of music. Music’s other parts are also essential – beautiful melodies, rich harmonies, fascinating texture, and the power of sound itself. But those elements are organized around rhythm, without which there is no song at all. Rhythm frames the other musical elements, providing the propulsion to make the composition move. It is the beating heart of music – time itself. Rhythm is also endlessly fascinating. For decades, art and popular music have explored the nuance and majesty of 4/4 meter – even this most common time signature has seemingly endless permutations of counterpoint, syncopation, and swing. Equally exciting has been the development of music in other time signatures, first in 3/4, which Max Roach and Dave Brubeck pioneered in the 1950s, but since then, the creation of music with increasingly complex and fascinating rhythms. On the current music scene, 4/4 is crowded out by 7/8, 11/8, you name it. While these new rhythms are now widely accepted, they are also a form of expression just in its infancy. After hundreds of years of 4/4, we have only had a few decades of exposure to the possibilities the world of new rhythms can give us. The musicians on the vanguard of this new approach are the rhythmic warriors of a new age.

These thoughts bring us to the main instrument for expressing rhythm, the drums, and a particular drummer who captures this new approach to music – Kate Gentile. We could discuss many musicians, and many drummers, who trade in this new rhythmic language, but Gentile plays it with ease and writes compositions that are built around these new structures.

The place to start with Gentile’s music is her auspicious debut, the 2017 album Mannequins. Pop Matters featured this album in 2017 as one of the year’s best, and you can find Will Layman’s interview with Gentile here. Mannequins is an incredible album from top to bottom, and Gentile spends time breaking down her composition style and playing in the Layman interview, as well as another 2017 interview with Jazz Speaks. I recommend playing all of Mannequins from beginning to end (the music is really well programmed), but the track from Mannequins that best captures Gentile’s music is “alchemy melt [with tilt].” This track begins with low, rumbling bass (Adam Hopkins) and piano (Matt Mitchell), with accents from Mitchell’s right hand and splashes from Gentile’s cymbals. The opening section is menacing, largely from the stuttering rhythm which drives the music forward with no rest. “alchemy melt [with tilt]” has an episodic structure and proceeds to an open section with soloing on tenor from Jeremy Viner, and then a return of the piano/bass/drums. Ten minutes in, the performance arrives at a theme so intricate you’ll wonder how any musicians could play it accurately. Gentile, Mitchell, Viner, and Hopkins do that with verve. Remarkably, this section of the music (10:08 to the end of the tune) morphs from one time signature to the next every few bars. In a 2019 interview on Dave Douglas’ Noise From the Deep podcast, Gentile describes the components of the structure, saying, “It actually goes, like 5,6,7,6,7,8,9,8” (each number indicating the time signature). Then, Gentile doubles down on this scheme, ending the recording with a pre-programmed electronic version of the same rhythmic structure, but played much, much faster than any human could. The explosion of intricate, impossible music is thrilling.

However, I don’t want to mischaracterize Gentile’s music by overemphasizing rhythmic complexity to the detriment of everything else going on. Yes, to these ears, the crazy rhythms are a major draw, but the music is also rich with other ideas. Gentile states in the interview with Pop Matters that her compositions explore the intersection of “language” (the grammar from which the music is constructed) and “sound” (the sonic qualities of the forces used). Rhythm is simply a means to explore these other artistic avenues. Aside from rhythm, the richness of harmonies and the exploration of sonic possibilities immediately jump out. You can hear these possibilities realized in, to cite two of many examples, the beautiful and moody counterpoint played by electronics throughout “Micronesia parakeet,” or the guitar-like edge of Mitchell’s Prophet-5 (an analog synthesizer) on “stars covered in clouds of metal.” Another strand is the influence of modern European classical music. On Mannequins, when the heated improvisation cools down, “third stream” musical episodes explore texture, dynamics, and melody, such as during Viner’s clarinet playing on “trapezoidal nirvana.”

The other element I’ve neglected to discuss is fun. Talking about 11/8 meter, unusual harmonies, and European art music might give the impression that this music is very intellectual (sure, a lot of it is), but it’s also visceral, dynamic and has a puckish sense of humor not limited to the quirky song titles. The spirit of curiosity, excitement of discovery, and experimentation are all over Mannequins, and even more so on the six-disc magnum opus Gentile released with Matt Mitchell four years later, Snark Horse.

Snark Horse consists of five and a half hours of original music composed by co-leaders Gentile and Mitchell. Where to start with a release that captures 70 compositions written over eight years? Gentile states in the podcast interview with Douglas that Snark Horse began with a dare between Gentile and Mitchell to write a bar of music – just one bar – every day. This regimen gradually developed into a massive book of micro compositions, which Gentile and Mitchell recorded in 3 days in 2019 and released in 2021. The performances on Snark Horse use different strategies to turn all those bars into fleshed-out performances, such as repeating the bar to make a tune or combining several separate one-bar compositions. The Bandcamp page says the bars “can be looped, connected, made into vamps, transposed, inverted, alternated, played together to create otherworldly counterpoint.” To improvise over those small nuggets of composition, Gentile and Mitchell employ the “Snarkestra” – top-shelf players including, (in addition to Gentile’s drums and Mitchell’s piano/electronics) the saxophones of Jon Irabagon, the viola of Mat Maneri, and guitar and banjo, respectively, of Ava Mendoza and Brandon Seabrook.

The resulting music keeps drawing you back for its open-minded sense of adventure, and highlights abound from both the Mitchell and Gentile tunes. Since our emphasis is on the music of Gentile, I’ll mention a few of her tunes that stand out: “f tessellations” (paired with “chimeric number”) is built around a loping phase over which the entire Snarkestra layers cacophonous harmony while Gentile pounds out rolls on her snare. “for teens” has Mendoza’s buzzing guitar and Irabagon’s tenor dancing around a taunt circular pattern. “trapezoids” (matched with Mitchell’s “matching tickles”), opens with a rock beat from Gentile against electronics with Mitchell’s piano playing the theme, and segues into an intricate solo from Irabagon’s saxophone. Those are just three gems from hours of music that does not disappoint. With so much to explore, you’ll want to spend time inhabiting this unusual and, yes, fun sound world. You can order the digital version on Bandcamp, and as of the time of this writing can also get the boxed set—highly recommended.

Gentile also is a very in-demand drummer who has played and recorded with Dave Douglas, Tim Berne, and especially Matt Mitchell – Mitchell and Gentile regularly play on each other’s projects. In addition to Snark Horse, Gentile has been the drummer on Mitchell’s incredible albums A Pouting Grimace, Phalanx Ambassadors, and Mitchell’s new double album Oblong Aplomb (Gentile plays on the first disc, drummer Ches Smith on the other). I recently caught Mitchell’s April 14 set at The Jazz Gallery celebrating the release of Oblong Aplomb, where he and Gentile performed all the compositions they play together in the album.

Hearing these musicians in a duo provided an excellent chance to get acquainted with their sound and appreciate music written for the needs of the piano and drums alone. Without other musicians, Mitchell’s piano has to hold down the harmony that the bass would play, and the music takes on a very structured shape. For me, the reference point for this approach is the music of Herbie Nichols, who shares with Mitchell a self-enclosed sound word, funny song names, and music that thirsts for the drums. This music was a perfect vehicle to show off what Gentile can do, and it made for a riveting set of music.

Mitchell and Gentile played the 12 tunes of disc one (called Oblong) as they appear on the new album. The music’s dense language was immediately apparent in the opener, “all immoderation,” which contrasted Mitchell’s dense two-hand voicing with drumming by Gentile that shadowed the piano lines. The tune ended with stunned silence from the audience, who evidently were trying to process the dense polyrhythms. As the audience settled into the music, the shared language of the two musicians became more apparent. “slarm biffle” may have been the highlight of the set. This labyrinthine 13 1/2 minute performance progressed from a raucous opening vamp into several sections of music built around Mitchell’s left hand under cascades of runs in the upper register. Throughout the performance, Gentile summoned an astonishing variety of accents, rhythms, and counterpoint to the piano playing. Part of what captivated me was the distinctive drumming style – Gentile does not rely on the ride cymbal to play time like most drummers have since Max Roach and others in the 1940s developed the technique. Instead, Gentile creates syncopated polyrhythms by splitting the beat between the bass, snare, tom toms, and cymbals. At the Jazz Gallery show, I was fascinated by the complex drumming as Gentile used the whole kit. The variety was heightened with extra texture from wood blocks and a cowbell unceremoniously tucked inside the snare. This was the first time I’d heard either Gentile or Mitchell live, and it was riveting. For those fortunate enough to live in the New York area, the two of them can regularly be seen not only at the Jazz Gallery but also at Roulette, Nublu, Barbès, The Stone, or IBeam. Make sure you get out to support live music!

It’s been a blast getting acquainted with the music of Kate Gentile and sharing it with you. Happily, there’s more to appreciate right around the corner. On May 19, Gentile will release her 2nd album as a leader, b i o m e i​.​i. The music is a 12-part suite of through-composed music with improvisation. There are two tracks available to listen to on Bandcamp right now, and the music sounds just otherworldly. You can order the album from Bandcamp here. Also, you can check out a live performance of this music from last year on the Roulette website. Gentile says b i o m e i​.​i is the first of three albums to expect from her this year! You know we’ll keep you posted about this amazing music here, and don’t forget to check out Gentile’s website, which is regularly updated.

More Gentile

If you want to explore the artistry of Kate Gentile further, there’s a lot else out there. Here are some rabbit holes I recommend:

Secret People – The name of another cool project, Secret People is a cooperative trio of Gentile with Nathaniel Morgan on alto saxophone and Dustin Carlson on electric guitars. Their self-titled album was released last year, and the music is unsurprisingly exciting guitar-driven skronk with an infusion of advanced harmony. You can get their album on Bandcamp here.

Cool album art – Gentile makes fantastic visual art that appears on her records – the cover art for Manequins (and the album title) suggests artificial elements taking the place of a human form. It’s evocative, and maybe provocative too. Gentile also created the art for her new album Biomei.i. You can see a time-lapse video of the cover coming together (and also hear excerpts of the music that are not posted anywhere else yet!)

Heavy Metal – Take a listen to the (long) interview with Hank Shteamer’s Heavy Metal Bebop, where Gentile discusses her love of, yes, extreme metal music. I think you can find parallels to the textures of metal in Gentile’s music, and the discussion about trying to create a new musical language that draws from metal and jazz is tantalizing.

The AEC – Gentile contributed a segment to the New York Times music feature “Five Minutes That Will Make You Love Percussion.” So cool that Gentile picked a performance on the “little instruments” by the Art Ensemble of Chicago. I encourage you to check out this piece and listen to the album Reece and the Smooth Ones.

The Percussion Barista – A podcast interview called Discussions in Percussion gets into some interesting background about the difficulty of balancing a day job with the life of a creative musician. Gentile talks about how after arriving in NYC, she had a job on boats around the city and supported her life as a drummer by working as a barista during the day.

March was an excellent month for album releases; as usual, there are too many to cover! Part of the glut of great records is attributable to one label alone – see my write-up below about the deluge from the Portuguese label Clean Feed. A common thread runs through most of the great releases of March 2023 – a brave embrace of multiple genres at once and an effort to move beyond categories to find a new way of expressing ideas that are common to us all. Great music will do that – convey what is human and affirm that connection in the ear and mind of the listener.

Pick hit!
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily – Love In Exile
(released March 24th, 2023)

Link to Apple Music
Link to Spotify

Arooj Aftab – Vocals
Vijay Iyer – Acoustic and electric pianos
Shahzad Ismaily – Electric bass

Combining Arooj Aftab’s haunting vocals and the mesmerizing instrumentals of Vijay Iyer’s piano with Shahzad Ismaily’s bass immediately sounds like a terrific idea. The new record created by these three musicians has exceeded even these high expectations – Love In Exile reveals an astounding stream of consciousness and pacing that segues beautifully from beginning to end. The three musicians also explain their music really well in a terrific interview with Nate Chinen at NPR, which you can listen to here. I love Aftab’s funny remark that they would avoid “new-aging it” when an idea got tired. Love In Exile is surely a fusion of jazz and world music idioms, but it’s also better than that – it communicates in a language that transcends genre and speaks to the listener directly—an early frontrunner for album of the year.

Pick hit!
Clean Feed “Data Dump” (the good kind)
I’m sure you’ll agree a “data dump” does not have positive associations. But that was what came to mind when I got an email from Clean Feed on March 21st, announcing the release of 11 new albums on the same day. I thought they must be putting out a bunch of old stuff stuck in the vaults, so imagine my surprise when I discovered each album is a gem, one distinctive and magnificent release after another. It’s too much to review them all here, so here is an alphabetical list of these releases, which are linked for your own exploration:

André Carvalho – Lost in Translation Vol​.​II

Asbjørn Lerheim | Roger Arntzen | Michiyo Yagi | Tamaya Honda – Chrome Hill Duo meets D​ō​j​ō​: Live at Aketa No Mise

François Houle Genera Sextet – In Memoriam

Grdina | Maneri | Lillinger – Live at the Armoury

Luis Lopes ABYSS MIRRORS – echoisms

Mário Costa – Chromosome

MOVE – The City

Roots Magic Sextet – Long Old Road

Sei Miguel Unit Core – Road Music

Sei Miguel – The Original Drum

THE SELVA – Camar​ã​o​-​Giraf

Several of these did grab our ears right away (and are reviewed below), but they all are more than worthy! Right now, we’re thinking about packing up our bags and taking a long – and musical – trip to Lisbon, which judging by these albums, might be the world’s center for exciting music.

Mário Costa – Chromosome
(released March 21st, 2023)

Mário Costa – drums, electronics & composition
Cuong Vu – trumpet
Benoît Delbecq – piano, synths & samplers
Bruno Chevillon – double bass

Mário Costa is a Portuguese drummer with a very unique sound. On this, his second solo album, Costa plays the trap drum kit but does it with a range of soft percussive ideas that engage with – but don’t overwhelm – the rest of the band. The quiet drumming prompts you to hear the interaction between Delbecq’s keyboards and Vu’s trumpet. The knotty compositions are just as fascinating as the band’s dynamics. A terrific album from a real talent.

Sei Miguel Unit Core – Road Music
(released March 21st, 2023)

SM – all compositions, arrangements and (pocket) trumpet
Fala Mariamc- alto trombone
Bruno Silva – electric guitar
Pedro Castello Lopes – triangle on 2, clave on 3, pandeiro on 4, kalengo on 8

Sei Miguel – The Original Drum
(released March 21st, 2023)

André Gonçalves – Lyra-8 on track 1
Bruno Parrinha – Alto Clarinet on track 3
Ernesto Rodrigues – Viola on track 2
Fala Mariam – Alto Trombone on all tracks
Helena Espvall – Cello on track 4
Monsieur Trinité Udu – Mbwata on track 2
Nuno Torres – Alto Saxophone on track 3
Paulo Curado – Flute on track 3
Rafael Toral – Modified MS-2 Feedback on track 4
Raphael Soares – Claves on tracks 1 and 3
Rodrigo Amado – Tenor Saxophone on track 3
Sami Tarik – Tamborim on track 3, Pandeiro on track 4
Sei Miguel – (Pocket) Trumpet on all tracks

Two outstanding albums by Portuguese pocket trumpet legend Sei Miguel, both released on the same day. Hard to pick between the two – they are cut from the same musical cloth, and complement each other. The Original Drum is a studio album that makes effective use of spare background percussion and electronics to give a spacial dimension to the music. The settings help lend a centered peacefulness to Migeul’s microtonal trumpet. Road Music consists of live recordings from 2016 to 2021, which focus on the dialogue between Migeul and alto trombonist Fala Mariam that is crucial to both albums. Miguel and Mariam share a very simpatico language, creating complementary lines of sound, texture, and thought. Miguel emphasizes the importance of the dialogue he shares with his musicians in his music and compositions – “My pieces, more or less ambitious, are on the brink, the edge: between what I think I know and what I think I ignore. Visions. Tributes. And, of course, also a means to highlight the talent of musicians I am grateful to work with.”

Grdina | Maneri | Lillinger – Live at the Armoury
(released March 21st, 2023)

Gordon Grdina guitar, oud
Mat Maneri viola
Christian Lillinger drums

Grdina, Maneri, and Lilinger are well-known, all essential players in improvised music. This entry sounds especially noteworthy for its sheer musicality – it’s a remarkable achievement to make completely free, outside music that’s not intimidating, where everything clicks so completely. Maneri, in particular, shines here – I loved the section 14 minutes into the opening track, when the music softens, and Maneri plays a cycle of sustained, eerie notes over subtle drum accents. When totally improvised music finds this feeling of presence in the moment, nothing is better.

THE SELVA – Camar​ã​o​-​Girafa
(released March 21st, 2023)

Ricardo Jacinto cello and electronics (+ harmonium on Cocuruto)
Gonçalo Almeida double bass and electronics
Nuno Morão drums and percussion

THE SELVA, according to its Bandcamp page, “explores the intersections between the broad musical spectrum of each of its members, presenting live an improvised, electro-acoustic, multi-idiomatic musical dialogue and strongly influenced by minimal and repetitive strategies.” The band states their music is “without a defined genre and reaches progressively more focused compositions on repeated motifs and slow textural transformations, new horizons and contours.” The music is at the intersection of jazz, classical, and rock, each moment morphing from one to the other. Why use labels? The album is a persuasive argument to leave them behind.

Ludovica Burtone – Sparks
(Released March 3rd, 2023)

Ludovica Burtone – violin
Fung Chern Hwei – violin
Leonor Falcon – viola
Mariel Roberts – cello
Marta Sanchez – piano
Matt Aronoff – bass
Nathan Ellman-Bell – drums
Sami Stevens – guest vocalist
Melissa Aldana – tenor sax on “Awakening”

Composer, arranger, and violinist Ludovica Burtone presents a debut album inspired by her experiences immigrating from Italy to the United States. The album’s mix of classical, jazz, and a string quartet with rhythm section integration is stimulating and fun. Bizarrely, the Bandcamp page does not list the players, who are all world-class. I love Melissa Aldana’s sax feature, but even better is Marta Sanchez’s piano throughout, a constant complement and diversion to Burtone’s dynamic settings.

Nguyên Lê Trio – Silk and Sand
(released February 24th, 2023)

Nguyên Lê – guitar
Chris Jennings – bass
Rhani Krija – percussion

Before this album, I had never heard of French/Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê. If you want to get a visual metaphor for his sound – check out the picture on the front page of Lê’s website, which shows him shredding his axe while standing on top of an ancient mountain, his robes flowing behind him in the wind. Wild! Yes, this album is a blast, ping-ponging back and forth from influences from Asian music and modern guitar music – or, as he declares on one of his albums, “roots to future, local to global.” Evocative and fun.

Genevieve Artadi – Forever Forever
(released March 17th, 2023)

Genevieve Artadi – vocals and
Pedro Martins -guitar
Chiquita Magic – synth bass
Christopher Fishman -piano
Louis Cole – drums
Daniel Sunshine – drums

Genevieve Artadi’s Forever Forever is an exciting new release that Artadi says “encompasses a truly kaleidoscopic range of influences . . . rooted in jazz, but winding up at alternative rock or avant pop, it’s in the lineage of legendary boundary-testers Stereolab and Talking Heads.” Atari describes the influences that inspired the album as “random flashes of inspiration from Chopin, Bach (I was learning some 2-part inventions during the lockdown), Debussy, Nancy Wilson, Björk, Ryan Power, Nobukazu Takemura, The Beatles, Dionne Warwick…” A great mix and the album takes one surprising and delightful turn after the next. If you’re in the NYC area, you can see Artardi on May 3rd at Public Records in Brooklyn.

GEORGE – Letters to George
(released January 27th, 2023)

Anna Webber – tenor saxophone/flute
Aurora Nealand – voice/alto saxophone/soprano saxophone/keyboards
Chiquita Magic – keyboards/voice/piano
John Hollenbeck – drums/piano/composition

Letters to George is music born as a reaction to the world’s darkness. GEORGE leader and drummer John Hollenbeck says, “The murder of George Floyd was a point where people like me, who thought they were already on a righteous path, realized they were ignorant and de-sensitized to the rampant racism, sexism and injustice that is ingrained in our world. After trying to get over the utter stupidity and anguish that I felt in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, I promised to work harder and to not forget. In hindsight, I realized that this was the beginning of my new band, GEORGE, which is in a quiet way, a tribute to George Floyd.” Hollenbeck decided to make this change by challenging himself with a new band of musicians (all women) that could create a stimulating combination of sounds and textures. Here Hollenbeck has brilliantly combined (along with his trap drums) the powerful sax and flute playing of Anna Webber, the altogether one-of-a-kind Aurora Nealand on vocals and saxophone, and the energetic keyboards of Chiquita Magic (who also plays keys on Genevieve Artadi’s Forever Forever reviewed above). It’s a diverse set of sounds, which remarkably combine into a cohesive band aesthetic. I hope these musicians continue to play and develop their concept together – the world needs more records from GEORGE.

TNB Achival Release of the Month:
As​-​Shams Archive Vol. 1: South African Jazz, Funk & Soul 1975​-​1982
(released March 3rd, 2023)

Sometimes compilations don’t gel for a variety of reasons – the styles of the artists may not complement each other, the label may not have the rights to the best material from the artist(s) involved, or maybe the artists used to fill out the album don’t have the juice to make a great release. Those thoughts are blown away when you’re listening to a compilation like As-Shams Vol. 1 – the voltage of these artists from a prime period in South African funk and jazz is enough to light a small city. Highlights abound, from Kippie Moeketsi’s ebullient alto sax, the chromaticism of Tete Mbambisa’s big band sound, or in particular, Basil Coetzee’s iconic tenor, which graces four of the album’s ten tracks. Bandcamp did an excellent Daily feature called “Legendary South African Jazz Label As-Shams Gets a Second Life,” which spotlights this release and the mid-1970s South African scene. Maybe what’s most remarkable is that these albums were produced and recorded under Apartheid and in the shadow of the Soweto Uprising of 1976—a tribute to invincible music and the spirit of freedom.

It got cold again in NYC after a warm winter. We even saw a few flakes in the air, but still no real snow until the very end of the month. With more time indoors, we’ve been listening to music (of course) and bring you are album picks for the month. This time we have burning twin guitar energy from Greg Ward’s Rogue Parade, and a classic free jazz journey from Dave Liebman with incredible trumpet by Peter Evans, and the lots of other good stuff, too – hope you enjoy it!

TNB Pick!
Greg Ward’s Rogue Parade: Dion’s Quest
(released February 10, 2023)

Greg Ward – Alto Sax, Vocals
Matt Gold – Guitar, Effects, Synths, Vocals
Dave Miller – Guitar, Effects, Vocals
Matt Ulery – Upright and Electric Bass, Vocals
Quin Kirchner – Drums, Vocals

Ward brings the noise with this two-guitar program of ecstatic, soaring music. Dion’s Quest is Rogue Parade’s follow-up to 2019’s Stomping Off From Greenwood, and the two albums result from seven years of developing a sound that the liner notes say is “raw, eclectic and full of passion.” I agree, and the whole album is strong, our most-played record of February. Need to see this band live!

TNB Pick!
Dave Liebman – Live at Smalls
(released February 3, 2023)

Dave Liebman – saxophones
Peter Evans – trumpet
Leo Genovese – piano
John Herbert – bass
Tyshawn Sorey – drums

A continuous set of free jazz, which Liebman breaks up on the record as “The Beginning,” “The Middle,” and “The End.” The liner notes are by Liebman’s daughter, who says John Coltrane inspired her father to return to “free” playing. Remarkably, the musicians here had never all played together before. You can’t tell that from the evidence of this album, they sound great together, and I can only hope we get a studio record from this band. Special kudos to Peter Evans, who tears up every solo he gets, and when he does, he frankly dominates the music (in a very good way).

Oriol Roca Trio & Lynn Cassiers – Live at Jazz Cava
(released February 11, 2023)

Lynn Cassiers – Voice and Electronics
Giovanni Di Domenico – Piano
Manolo Cabras – Bass
Oriol Roca – Drums

Live at Jazz Cava features drummer Oriol Roca alongside his regular trio and singer and soundscaper Lynn Cassiers. Cassier’s singing immediately made me think of Asha Puthli, which is high praise and is, to me, the main draw here. But the band’s playing is also very strong – an excellent release.

Algiers – Shook
(released February 24, 2023)

This album is all over the place; some of it is great, some less so, but the ambition and energy are impressive. The biggest thrill for me was seeing (TNB fav) Patrick Shiroishi’s name on the album cover of a high-profile release! Very cool. Check out Jon Pareles’ profile at NYT.

Zack Lober – NO FILL3R
(released February 24, 2023)

Zack Lober – double bass
Suzan Veneman – trumpet
Sun-Mi Hong – drums

Bassist Zack Lober recorded this with what sounds like a minimal and very natural mic set up in one large room at the Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, The Netherlands. The sound on the album is beautiful, as is the playing with a Netherlands-based trio Sun-Mi Hong (drums) and Suzan Veneman (Trumpet).

Antti Lötjönen – Circus​/​Citadel
(released February 24, 2023)

Antti Lötjönen – double bass
Mikko Innanen – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone
Jussi Kannaste – tenor saxophone
Verneri Pohjola – trumpet
Joonas Riippa – drums

Like the Lober album above, another European-based jazz record with a bassist leader. It’s a theme this month! Themes are on Lötjönen’s mind in composing this album; he says: “the temporal closeness of the ideas brings with it a certain kind of unity. The world we live in sometimes feels like an absurd circus from which you need to get away from to get new ideas and energy. Everyone needs their citadel, whatever it may be.” The album has great energy and a wide range of ideas, from affecting ballads to pent-up carnival cacophony.

Stick Men – UMEDA (Live in Osaka 2022)
(released February 3, 2023)

Tony Levin – Chapman Stick, Voice
Pat Mastelotto – Acoustic and Electronic Drums & Percussion
Markus Reuter – Touch Guitars@ U8 Custom, Soundscapes

You probably know how much we love King Crimson (TNB profile of one of their classics here), and Stick Men is a great way to satisfy that Crim fix. The guitar sound from the Chapman Stick (hence Stick Men, right?) is terrific. This live album was recorded from last year’s tour at the BB club in Osaka, Japan—heavy and enticing music.

Astroturf Noise – Blazing​/​Freezing
(released February 17, 2023)

Sam Day Harmet – Mandolin/fx/op-z
Sana Nagano – Violin/fx
Zachary Swanson – Bass

Another winner from 577 Records and the funnest album of February! The Bandcamp page captures the flavor: “Here, American roots music coexists with electronics-spiked free improv, Downtown skronk, and on the new album, manipulated samples sourced from Tennessee, Wisconsin, and their home city of Brooklyn, NY.” We don’t need more music labels, but avant-Americana is good.

TNB Top Archival Release:
Paul Dunmall, Paul Rogers, Tony Orrell – That​’​s My Life
(released January 3, 2023; Recorded live July 1, 1989, at The Albert Inn, Bristol, England, UK by Andy Isham)

Paul Dunmall – Soprano saxophone
Paul Rogers – Double bass
Tony Orrell – Drums

The intention of TNB’s monthly album round-up is to feature newly released albums by today’s musicians. We also want to feature (freshly released) archival performances, and this is a very good one to start with. If you Google “Albert Inn, Bristol, England” and look on street view right now, you’ll see banners over the friendly-looking pub/restaurant that announce “Families Welcome” and “Good Food.” Not sure if those signs were there on July 1, 1989, when this performance was recorded, but the marquee could have said “Burning Music Inside!” Dunmall’s soprano sax is like a flamethrower, and the rest of the band is right there with him. Amazing to think you could just go down to your local pub and hear this!