Republic of Jazz

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Simon Eskildsen Trio - Introducing The Simon Eskildsen Trio (2017)

1. Goru 6:37

2. Fredet Land 6:20

3. Jeep Dirts 7:23

4. Grannystyle 3:34

5. Helle 6:43

6. Blanche 3:53

7. Sterling No. 1 7:04

www.simoneskildsen.dk

The Jazz Passengers - Still Life with Trouble (2017)

Please join us in celebrating The Jazz Passengers exciting new release Still Life With Trouble.

Enja/Yellowbird is really proud and thrilled to be part of this landmark release and hope you share our enthusiasm.

The Jazz Passengers "Still Life with Trouble". 30th Anniversary Release Reaches New Heights.

Note from Roy Nathanson: The magnificent chaos of creating this 30th anniversary Jazz Passengers CD kicked off some serious personal introspection. So, if this press release appears to double as memoir, it's no coincidence.

In 1986, when my friend Ray Dobbins suggested we call our new band "The Jazz Passengers," I thought, "that's kinda funny!" The name felt like a clever take on the alpha nature of the great iconic names: The Jazz Messengers and The Jazz Crusaders. The self-deprecating irony of the term "The Jazz Passengers" seemed about right for our eclectic crew.

Most of us had been playing in the Lounge Lizards and several of us blended our appreciation for jazz with a deep affection and involvement in the east village culture of those late 80s early 90s days: punk music and poetry, gender bending theatre, and avant musics of different types in the context of venues that allowed for real experimentation with the support of cheap rents. Somewhere in this "downtown" universe we found a political/cultural/psychological world that valued stupid jokes and serious commitment to various types of exploration equally, and it was from this world that the Passengers emerged.

Then like the rest of our money infused global city and the world, the guys and guise in the band got shoved along in a variety of separate directions. But we liked each other enough, and valued these influences enough that somehow we hung in there. Somehow we stayed deeply connected and continued to evolve. No longer centered in a geographical location we managed to nurture and grow a collective sound and sensibility that has imbued quite a list of projects, which I recently digitized and got a chance to watch and listen to.

The Fire at Keaton's Bar and Grille, 2000 (the song cycle about a mythical bar with loads of mythical guests), The Rock Concert, 2005 (commissioned by the University of Wisconsin Science Museum to contextualize their discovery of the world's oldest piece of geological material), You're the Fool, 2003, (my semi-autobiographical Radio play for NPR), Jazz Passengers in Egypt (our own 1990 Marxist ? as in the brothers - musical comedy featuring members of the downtown Ridiculous Theatre community), and tons of our live performances from 1987 to today.

Seeing all this work ? all these crazy solos and stories, jokes and nuts arrangements was something of an epiphany. What struck me most was how the work sung of community and shared language, the weight of a collective life's work. It is in that spirit we carved out time in these last 2 years to work on this 30th Anniversary CD, "Still Life With Trouble". Thankfully, deep into our late 50's and mid 60's we've managed to record a CD that is a pure representation of this very particular Passengers language. It contains nine musical stories about trouble and the passage of time that describe a Still Life of odd birds native to these parts whose calls employ a variety of pitches, words, harmonies and rhythms that collectively translate into the following sentence: If there's still life, there's certainly still trouble!

With the help of our longtime producer/engineer/friend Hugo Dwyer these nine tracks represent a new path in the Passengers journey. The original members of the band, Curtis Fowlkes (who started the JPs with me while playing for dancing elephants in the Big Apple Circus), Bill Ware, Brad Jones, EJ Rodriguez and myself are supplemented here with newish (last 10 years) violinist Sam Bardfeld and a second drummer, the wonderful Ben Perowsky. Original member Marc Ribot plays on one track. After years of trying other guitarists in Marc's absence, we finally found a different way to broaden the band's palette in this recording by adding Ben as a second drummer.

This new CD finds inspiration in the intuitive abandon that characterized our first two CDs recorded in the late 1980s. "Paris," which opens this recording, is a blues dedication to the great city whose beleaguered banlieus has been a home to our band through the wonderful Banlieus Bleus Jazz Festival. "Everybody Plays the Fool" is a rearrangement of the great R and B classic. I was always so touched by the first verse when Cuba Gooding of the Main Ingredient asks, "I hear you're even thinkin' about dyin' / but before you do anything rash / dig this!". Such a thing to say in a pop tune! I thought we should try to make our sense of that.

"Trouble" is a multi-meter piece of mine with a blues head that moves between solo set-ups to give several of us a well-organized opportunity to complain with some eloquence. Brad's tune "Gleis, Spoor, Binario" is dedicated to all these years of European touring that have enabled so many of us to continue to play this eccentric heartfelt music. Next is my Passengers style pop tune, "Wake Up, Again," an off kilter groove in 5/4 featuring Curtis' mellifluous voice. Curtis wrote the next tune, "Where's Lonely Junior" and it features his distinctive loping trombone, one of the great delicacies of this peculiar world we all live in.

The seventh song "We're All Jews" references Lenny Bruce's perfect description of New Yorkers. True, no? The last two tunes are by Bill Ware whose vibes and arrangements have provided a whole lot of sheen on all of our work. Bill claims that the first of the two, "Friends", was given to him in a dream by Louis Armstrong, and who am I to quibble? The last tune, "Spring Flowers" celebrates the miracle of chemical enhancement.

Simply put, I'd like to share the joy and enthusiasm I feel about this CD - and about being a passenger on this 30 year ride with these very special odd musicians - and to offer you a seat.

Fernando Benadon - delight / delirium (NEW FOCUS RECORDINGS 2017)

Fernando Benadon has a rich background as a composer, saxophonist, improviser, and scholar. He brings this experience to his most recent recording project, delight/delirium, particularly to the final two tracks, Búgi Wúgi and Rhythmensional, both of which engage with the boundaries between improvised and notated music in interesting ways. For Rhythmensional, Benadon recorded an improvised drum solo by acclaimed Cuban jazz drummer and composer, Dafnis Prieto. Benadon then composed a through composed piece to be performed along with the recording of Prieto’s solo essentially turning Prieto’s improvisation into fixed media. As a scholar, Benadon has had an enduring interest in the field of “microtimings” (for a very different look at “microtimings”, see Richard Beaudoin’s New Focus release of the same name, FCR125 using the microscopic temporal inflections of iconic recordings as the basis for new composition), which investigates the aspects of time in a performer’s performance that go beyond notation, particularly as they relate to different styles. By recording Prieto and then placing his playing at the foundational level of the piece, in a sense, Benadon has frozen the microtimings in the improvisation while guaranteeing micro-variation in the rhythmic realization of the score by the live performers playing along with Prieto’s track. Búgi Wúgi consciously goes in the opposite direction, achieving the looseness of early jazz piano masters Earl Hines and Bubber Miley and the post-modern sensibility of contemporary experimental improvisors like Ethan Iverson and Vijay Iyer by keeping the left hand steady and meticulously notating improvised “sounding” material in the right hand.

Cotxes in inspired by the visual imagery of Barcelona, as this unique quartet of sax, vibes, harp, and piano spin out lush, impressionistic harmonies through notated lines that again sound improvised. delight/delirium opens with material that perhaps could be improvised, but reveals itself clearly as a fully through composed piece when we hear tightly coordinated unisons between clarinet and piano near the one minute mark. Nevertheless, the work often falls forward like an improvisation, with a sense of structure that is less oriented towards managed development of material than it is towards a journey whose changes of directions are suggested each moment anew. Cosmicomics is the odd man out aesthetically on the recording, not only because it is the only large ensemble work, but also because it inhabits a more conventionally composerly sound world. The work ebbs and flows between the gently pulsating, impressionistic chords of the opening and more explosive moments that bristle with orchestral color. Cosmicomics is a more direct look at Benadon’s material palette apart from his engagement with exploring the subtle boundaries between improvised and notated music.

1. Cotxes 09:15

2. delight/delirium 07:35

3. Cosmicomics 10:01

4. Bugi Wugi 07:27

5. Rhythmensional 11:47

Track 1,2,4,5 recorded at American University

Track 3 recorded at University of Illinois

Track 5 recorded at Systems Two

Produced with support from the Guggenheim Foundation and the American University’s College of Arts and Sciences

Mix: Rogerio Weis Naressi

Mastering: Yana Sakellion

Monday, July 24, 2017

Stephan Micus – Inland Sea (ECM 2017)

Inland Sea is Stephan Micus’ 22nd solo album for ECM, each one taking his audience on musical journeys to far-flung places and unique sound worlds. For decades, he has been travelling, collecting and studying musical instruments from all over the world and creating new music for them. Micus often combines instruments from different cultures and continents that would never normally be played together, adapting and extending them, and rarely playing them in a traditional manner. The instruments then become a cast of characters that help tell the particular story of that album. While he plays nine different instruments on Inland Sea, the lead role belongs to the nyckelharpa – a keyed fiddle from Sweden, with an array of other instruments and vocals providing layers and textures throughout.

Stephan Micus Balanzikom, Nyckelharpa, Chord and Bass Zithers, Shakuhachi, Voice, Steel String Guitar, Genbri

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Isamu McGregor - Resonance (feat. Bennie Maupin & Seamus Blake) GHOST NOTE RECORDS 2017

Resonance was recorded in New York and Los Angeles in May 2016, and will be released via Los Angeles-based music label Ghost Note Records on July 7. It features the three stellar musicians from my first record, Live at the Baked Potato: Evan Marien (bass), Gene Coye (drums) and Deen Anbar (guitar). Additionally, I'm thrilled that a couple guest musicians make appearances on the record: bass clarinet legend Bennie Maupin, and saxophone virtuoso Seamus Blake.

"At age 27, Isamu McGregor has established himself on a global scale as a highly sought-after pianist, keyboardist, musical director and arranger. Having toured the world over the last few years with an amazingly diverse group of artists (Richard Bona, Colbie Caillat, Virgil Donati, Sadao Watanabe), he has gradually been finding time between tours to work on his new album, Resonance, which will be released in May 2017 through LA-based Ghost Note Records. This will be his second album as a leader, following his 2012 debut Live at The Baked Potato, which received strong reviews from All About Jazz and other publications.

While McGregor's first album was dominated by an electric/fusion sound that many characterized as a unique mix of Weather Report, Headhunters and Wayne Krantz, Resonance finds McGregor returning to a more acoustic setting. "I've always loved playing acoustic piano, but I found that people knew me mainly as a keyboard player, due to the nature of my first album. And while I love keyboards and electronics, it wouldn't be difficult for me to admit that acoustic piano is still my first passion."

1. The Dreamer 10:18

2. Relentless 07:22

3. Halfway There 06:28

4. Because 05:17

5. The Drifter 09:57

6. Thor vs James Brown 08:17

7. The Tao of Flying 08:17

The Dreamer. Evan Marien, Gene Coye

Relentless. Seamus Blake, Evan Marien, Gene Coye

Halfway There. Evan Marien, Gene Coye

Because (no credits, it's solo piano)

The Drifter. Bennie Maupin, Evan Marien, Gene Coye

Thor vs James Brown .Deen Anbar, Evan Marien, Gene Coye

The Tao of Flying. Evan Marien, Gene Coye

Tommy Smith - Embodying the Light: A Dedication to John Coltrane (2017)

Marking the 50 the anniversary of John Coltrane’s death, this acoustic quartet-based album features compositions by, & inspired by, the legendary saxophonist it features Coltrane compositions including “naima”, “dear lord” & “resolution” & music associated with coltrane alongside smith compositions written in homage to coltrane. smith has been a presence on the world jazz scene since his teenage years. at the age of nineteen he was touring internationally with gary burton's whiz kids quintet & three years later he signed to the legendary jazz label blue note. he has since gone on to establish & direct the internationally acclaimed scottish national jazz orchestra & he regularly tours the world with norwegian bass master arild andersen's trio, widely regarded as one of the premier groups working in jazz today. on drums, we find herbie hancock’s astonishing drummer, sebastiaan de krom.

transformation

dear lord

embodying the light

naima

resolution

the father, the son, and the holy ghost

summertime

embodying the darkness

transition

Olie Brice Quintet - Day After Day (BABEL LABEL 2017)

It’s hard to explain how music can evoke the same feelings in different people, but it’s also one of life’s more wonderful truths. Musing on adjectives to convey something about this set of free but lyrical pieces, I toy with saying something about melancholy abandon. Then, referring back to leader Olie Brice’s own words from a year ago, I find he is drawn to “emotional, mysterious music with an intense vocal quality and sense of complete commitment and abandonment, droning, melancholy yet also joyous, and a collective, communal process of generating melody and harmony”. A few more words, but I think we’re talking about the same thing.

Bassist Brice was describing influences - including old blues, Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler, Leo Smith, the liturgical music he once sang in synagogues - and the music he hoped to make with this quintet on the road. This CD, recorded just after that tour, suggests they succeeded.

There’s a change in the front line since his first quintet recording, 2013’s Immune to Clockwork with George Crowley on tenor sax and Mike Fletcher on alto coming in for Mark Hanslip and Waclaw Zimpel. Alex Bonney remains essential to the group sound, though switching from cornet to trumpet, and master drummer Jeff Williams contributes that unbeatable sensation of always being loosely propulsive even when he’s apparently heedless of timekeeping.

It’s a post-Ornette quality, and that’s where one can locate most of the music, as Brice indicates. (He’s also deeply influenced here, he says, by the novels of Nathaniel Mackay, about whom I know nothing). There are four original pieces, which dig deep into multi-vocal improvisation from the horns as well as offering solo-plus-rhythm contributions from all three - Bonney spontaneously melodic at will, Fletcher fluid and inventive, Crowley thoughtfully fierce. If You Were the Only Girl in the World - a song Brice learnt from his grandmother but was inspired to perform by a recording of Sonny Rollins and one of his bass heroes, Henry Grimes - rounds out the set.

There are hints of other great bassists, too - William Parker comes to mind at times. But as Brice’s inspirations indicate, the music is about building feeling through interaction more than individual brilliance. There’s nothing formulaic here, just an open, responsive approach that speaks to many different strands of improvising tradition, old and new, and makes them personal. The closer and title track, a simple, folkish theme evoking ancient echoes, sees the three horns bring many of these threads together, weaving them into a fresh, vividly coloured fabric. It’s a great realisation of Brice’s prospectus, rewarding for players and listeners alike. READ MORE

1. Aunt Nancy's Balloons 8:04

2. Red Honey, Yellow Honey 9:22

3. Interruptions No. 1 4:49

4. Another Mad Yak 6:18

5. If You Were The Only Girl In The World 7:10

6. Day After Day 8:14

Olie Brice double bass

Alex Bonney cornet

Mike Fletcher alto saxophone

George Crowley tenor saxophone

Jeff Williams drums

Silke Eberhard Trio - The Being Inn (INTAKT RECORDS 2017)

It’s no secret that reedist Silke Eberhard is a keen student of jazz history, a player whose inspiration routinely gets recharged by immersing herself in the music of her early heroes. For her that means more than listening to old records by the likes of Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, and Ornette Coleman (the subject of Eberhard’s 2007 Intakt debut, a duo album with pianist Aki Takase titled Ornette Coleman Anthology) – but diving into that repertoire and reshaping it with novel instrumentation.

But Eberhard makes it clear that the trio featured on The Being Inn is the context for which she always imagines her own material. “I feel a lot of freedom with this group,” she says of working with bassist Jan Roder and drummer Kay Lu¨bke. Although this particular group coalesced in 2006, her history with each player stretches back to the mid-90s and there’s no missing the rapport they’ve all developed together.

Eberhard and company make a conceptual leap on the album, with many of the pieces tied to the titular concept – an imaginary inn the saxophonist pictured as she composed numerous tunes. She jokes that the spry opening track, “Ding Dong,” is the kind of number she likes to open one of the trio’s sets with – “a door bell,” she calls it, although the first sounds we actually here are her footsteps leading toward a door that soon opens, inviting the listener in. (Peter Margasak, from the liner notes)

1. Ding Dong 05:10

2. Willisau Suite 18:12

3. Schlappen 00:48

4. Mininatür 04:12

5. Kanon 02:44

6. Towels 00:37

7. In Drei 03:35

8. Wake-Up Call 00:35

9. 8915 04:40

10. Schirm 03:59

11. Another Pint 00:35

12. Verst Last Order 00:38

13. Last Order 00:38

Silke Eberhard: Alto Saxophone, Bass Clarinet

Jan Roder: Bass

Kay Lübke: Drums

Wilfried Wilde - Oscilenscope (FRESH SOUND NEW TALENT RECORDS 2017)

01. Feeling Droiden 4:32

02. Nerve Vibrations 5:50

03. Nasty Introduction 1:13

04. Nasty meditation 6:36

05. La Valse à Huit Temps 6:26

06. La Houle 8:05

07. Ordering 4:25

08. Le Cri de l'Oiseau 7:35

09. Lynel 4:59

All music composed and arranged by Wilfried Wilde

Wilfried Wilde (guitar)

Charley Rose (alto sax)

Xan Campos (piano)

Demian Cabaud (bass)

Iago Fernández (d)

Recorded at Cangas Auditorium, Spain, July 27 & 28, 2015

Sopund engineer: Andrés Caputi

Assistant engineer: Michi Castro

Cover art: Rudy

Produced by Wilfried Wilde

Executive producer: Jordi Pujol

Jeong Lim Yang - Déjà Vu (FRESH SOUND NEW TALENT RECORDS 2017)

Jeong Lim Yang gained her recognition from playing with New York City's veteran artists such as Tim Berne, Oscar Noriega, Adam Kolker, Michael Attias and Billy Mintz since she moved to the Big Apple in 2011. Yang's first leader album "deja vu", has reflected her pure inspiration of playing with these musicians and her compositional ideas resemble much of her hero's like Charlie Haden and Paul Motian.

"Yang's interpretation of modern jazz is unique and creative, and her musicianship is at the top level of current community standards in jazz and art." - Michael Attias

01. Moon Tethered 5:53

02. Are You Happy Now? 5:51

03. Déjà Vu 5:42

04. Ravine 4:47

05. Obtuse 7:08

06. Cherry 6:52

07. Peculia 6:45

08. Deal Breaker 7:26