Warren Wolf - Convergence (2016)

Label:

Source: Next Bop

Genre: Post-bop

GAB's Rating: ★★★★★

For years, I have known a certain truth-- don't sleep on Warren Wolf. the master vibraphonist has snuck up on me one too many times on releases of his own. He rolled through San Antonio three times in 2015 and never failed to impress. His work with Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah's large ensemble is a surprise and not a surprise at the same time. He has maintained a beautiful melodicism in his playing that would seem obvious for his instrument but he surpasses such expectations again and again. He's an unmistakable talent. He shouldn't be slept on. This is no more apparent than in his latest album, Convergence on Mack Avenue.

It's 1:55 into "Cell Phone" when Wolf literally quotes the classic Nokia ringtone where one realizes how much one shouldn't sleep on this kind of wit, cleverness, and sense of connection that his style of play just oozes. Of course, one could say the same thing about his take on Bobby Hutcherson's "Montara", just a sweet as the original and just as inspired in its simple trio format. One could also know this for sure by album closer, a sweet, solo of the standard "Stardust" as he transitions it to Chopin's "The Minute Waltz', a song so clever it's impossible not to stay woke.

Surely this band isn't sleeping on him-- Christian McBride on bass, Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums, with Brad Mehldau playing piano throughout half the album and John Scofield playing guitar on a couple of tracks. It's a band with complimentary chops-- McBride showing bounce and spring, Watts with a snap that always makes its presence felt. As a core trio, these men are quite effective and emotive, able to bring Wolf's soulful sound to its rightful stage. He can be sweet and he can be sharp and McBride and Watts are there for every move. However, it's the flourishes only Mehldau can provide where this album really sings, particularly when Wolf and Mehldau are playing off one another. Mehldau has always had sprightly moments, particularly when he's collaborating outside his usual circles. This is one of high points of his occasional canoodling.

Warren Wolf as a vibraphonist always seems to add perfect shades to whatever group he's in which makes his solo endeavors all the more endearing and revealing. In Convergence, what Wolf reveals with interplay like this and song selections like these is the ever-impressive talent of one of the finest vibraphonist of our time. Don't sleep on that.  Anthony Dean-Harris

Soul Sister
Four Stars From Heaven
King Of Two Fives
New Beginning
Cell Phone
Montara
Havoc
Tergiversation
Knocks Me Off Of My Feet
A Prayer For The Christian Man
Stardust/The Minute Waltz 

Warren Wolf - vibraphone
Chistian McBride - bass
Jeff “Tain” Watts - drums
Brad Mehldau - piano
John Scofield - guitar  

BUY IT @

 

Jay Hoggard - Harlem Hieroglyphs (2016)

Label: JHVM Recordings

Source: Hartford Courant - Michael Hamad

For vibraphonist Jay Hoggard, the content of composition is always fluid.
"It's a constant process of taking strands from this and that and putting them together for whatever you need them for," Hoggard says. "The name of something doesn't always mean that that's what it is."
Across decades of teaching and directing the Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra, Hoggard, 61, has remained a reliably innovative composer and recording artist, documenting his interests at every stage of his career: the music of vibraphone master Lionel Hampton (for whom Hoggard subbed in the 1990s), African-American spirituals and popular songs, excursions into various African diasporic rhythmic conceptions, even holiday music.
Few of Hoggard's earlier projects, however, approach the sweep of "Harlem Hieroglyphs," an expansive double album released March on his own JHVM Recordings label.

The recording pulls together strands from a previous suite, "Sonic Hieroglyphs from Wood, Metal and Skin," which premiered at Wesleyan in 2012, along with new original compositions, standards (by Duke Ellington, Sonny Rollins and others), new gospel and R&B-leaning flights and lengthy post-bop workouts, some of which approach the 10-minute mark.
"It was four years of composition and thinking about it," Hoggard says. "You can go from track to track and evoke a particular scene or image or painting. That's mostly how I think of it: Painting with a tonal palette."
This month, Hoggard celebrates "Harlem Hieroglyphs" with two presentations at Wesleyan: "Storied Places" (April 15-16; CFA Theater), a multimedia work with choreography by Nicole Stanton, narrative text by Lois Brown and visuals by L'Merchie Frazier; and a concert by his Harlem Hieroglyphs Ensemble (April 30; Crowell Concert Hall), featuring saxophonist René McLean, pianist/organist James Weidman, bassist Belden Bullock and drummer Pheeroan akLaff. Read more...

1. If I Were a Bell 7:06
2. Harlem Jazzbirds Swingin' and Swayin' 7:57
3. Let Me Make It Clear 7:15
4. I Am Free 9:09
5. Everything Must Change 7:06
6. Piety and Redemption 8:11
7. A Walk Through the Colorful Forest 7:18
8. Sonic Hieroglyphics 5:38
9. I'm Gonna Show You That I Love You 6:23
10. On a Wing and a Prayer 3:40
11. Airegin 3:33
12. I Live Because I Breathe 7:35
13. Disposable Consumption, Pt. 1 5:21
14. Sunlight Thru Pine and Mahogany 2:12
15. Mystical Cycles of Skin, Wood, and Metal 3:29
16. My Love 6:38
17. Pleasant Memories 9:34
18. Disposable Consumption, Pt. 2 4:33

JAY HOGGARD - vibraphone

GARY BARTZ - soprano and alto saxophones
JAMES WEIDMAN - piano,organ
NAT ADDERLEY JR - piano,organ
BELDEN BULLOCK - bass
YORON ISRAEL - drums

BUY IT @ 

 

Giovanni Perin 6et - #pera (2016)

Label: Self Released

Source: Giovanni Perin

BRECKER’S TUNE: this piece is a tribute to saxophonist Michael Brecker and his energetic music.

LOST IN A VIOLET SKY: imagine sunset colors, when the last warm rays of the sun paint the clouds violet.

CONVERSATION WITH DAVE: it was summer and my teacher, David Friedman, was on tour in Italy and came to see me in Padua. After having lunch together, we started to play and I played some chords I was working on for him. This odd blues is the result of that exchange of ideas and recalls that pleasant afternoon.

REBUILT: I composed this ballad during a period of reflection about the future, a moment in which I had to retake control of my life. Rebuilding implies having the strength to detach oneself from the past, start all over again and find the germ of life inside oneself once again.

STAR EYES: this particular arrangement has been locked up in a drawer for many years. I had already tried to record it on my first album, but probably it wasn’t the ripe at the time and I decided not to include it. However, this time I am really satisfied with the result.

DARN THAT DREAM: those of you who know me, also know that I like to play with different styles and to give a brand new color to pieces belonging to the American songbook. In this case, I have only maintained the original notes of the melody, turning both harmony and rhythm upside down. I hope you like this new version.

A SUNNY DAY IN BERLIN TOWN: it was April and the warm spring sun appeared after a long, freezing winter. Even if there were still spots of snow along the streets, I really wanted to be outdoors, so I took my bike and I cycled through the park with a jingle echoing in my head.

SONG FOR BILL: I owe the main part of my harmonic knowledge and of my way of playing vibes to pianist Bill Evans, an artist I will never stop listening to, who made me understand the profound beauty of jazz music.

BRAZILIAN NIGHT: I have been dreaming of going to Brazil for many years, because I like Brazilian people’s human potential, energy and wide musical culture. This piece is a tribute to this faraway land, where I will get sooner or later.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart to Cli, for always believing in me and for her constant and real help during the creation of this album. I really don’t know what would I do without her!
Thank you to all my family, who has always supported and encouraged me throughout this adventure. Thank you to my friends, both the close and distant ones, for making me become what I am.
I dedicate this album to my mom.  

BUY IT @

Eduardo Cardinho Quinteto - Black Hole (2016)

Label: Self Released

Source: Universidade Do Porto

O Comissariado Cultural da Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP) e a Porta-Jazz convidam toda a comunidade a assistir ao concerto de apresentação do CD “Black Hole” de Eduardo Cardinho Quinteto, que irá acontecer no próximo dia 4 de abril (segunda-feira), às 21h30, no Auditório da FEUP.

O quinteto vencedor do Prémio Jovens Músicos 2013, liderado pelo vibrafonista Eduardo Cardinho, é um dos grupos promissores do jazz português, segundo Mário Laginha: “Há relativamente pouco tempo fiz parte do Júri da 27.ª edição do Prémio Jovens Músicos e fui surpreendido pela performance do Quinteto de Eduardo Cardinho. Arranjos elaborados e muito bem feitos, bem como uma evidente procura de uma linguagem própria, numa faixa etária a rondar os vinte anos, levam-me a pensar – e dizer – que devem ser seguidos com muita atenção!”.
Para além do vibrafonista Eduardo Cardinho,  o quinteto é composto por José Soares (saxofone), Mané Fernandes (guitarra), Filipe Louro (contrabaixo) e Pedro Almiro (bateria).
Os cinco estarão em palco para a apresentação do CD “Black Hole”, editado pela Carimbo-PortaJazz. Cinco jovens reunidos e movidos pela questão: “todas as coisas que poderias ser por esta altura se a tua mãe fosse a mulher do Sigmund Freud”, que daí partem e, através dos seus instrumentos, inocência e garra, se dedicam à ousadia de fazer boa música, numa reunião íntima com o público de profunda reflexão e energia faiscante e com um repertório de música original.

1. And Then it Begins 08:57
2. O Mar 08:50
3. Black Hole 09:45
4. Song for Ana 08:45
5. Lua 10:10
6. Canção 07:18
7. Bipolar H. 14:54

Eduardo Cardinho - Vibraphone & composition
Mané Fernandes - Guitar
José Soares - Alto Sax
Filipe Louro - Bass
Pedro Almiro - Drums

BUY IT @