Difference between revisions of "J-gro"

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Maria Schneider's ''Data Lord'''s release was so widely covered I was actually able to hear the first and last song on "Open Jazz",<ref>Alex Dutilh, Fabien Fleurat, Emmanuelle Lacaze (24 August 2020), [https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/open-jazz/maria-schneider-connections-naturelles-et-deconnection-numerique-86242 Maria Schneider, connexions naturelles et déconnexion numérique], Open Jazz, ''France Musique''</ref> and the short extracts at [https://www.mariaschneider.com/home/albuminfo?id=1083 her website].  For the moment, I'm not going to say much more than that I love the title and can say that that level of digital inaccessibility is a ''surprisingly'' rare thing.  For example, I learned last weekend that ECM held out until almost three years ago before "finally" dropping their catalog into the bitstream.<ref>John Pareles (17 November 2017), "[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/arts/music/ecm-catalog-streaming-guide.html ECM's Catalog is Finally Streaming].  Here are 21 Essential Albums.", ''NY Times''</ref>   
 
Maria Schneider's ''Data Lord'''s release was so widely covered I was actually able to hear the first and last song on "Open Jazz",<ref>Alex Dutilh, Fabien Fleurat, Emmanuelle Lacaze (24 August 2020), [https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/open-jazz/maria-schneider-connections-naturelles-et-deconnection-numerique-86242 Maria Schneider, connexions naturelles et déconnexion numérique], Open Jazz, ''France Musique''</ref> and the short extracts at [https://www.mariaschneider.com/home/albuminfo?id=1083 her website].  For the moment, I'm not going to say much more than that I love the title and can say that that level of digital inaccessibility is a ''surprisingly'' rare thing.  For example, I learned last weekend that ECM held out until almost three years ago before "finally" dropping their catalog into the bitstream.<ref>John Pareles (17 November 2017), "[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/arts/music/ecm-catalog-streaming-guide.html ECM's Catalog is Finally Streaming].  Here are 21 Essential Albums.", ''NY Times''</ref>   
  
[[EverFonkyLowdown.jpg|thumb|right]]
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[[File:EverFonkyLowdown.jpg|thumb|right]]
 
However, and there's ''always'' a however, that album struck my admittedly already fatigued ear <span style="font-size:70%;">(good reader, please forgive me)</span> as being ''exactly what Alex Dutilh calls it'', music "inspired by the conflictual dialectic of... ", which reminded me [https://cla.purdue.edu/directory/profiles/leonard-harris.html Leonard Harris] once asking me if I was still jumping through them di'lectical hoops, just as I was off to testify on the yen and yawn of Sartre getting gifted Mauss.
 
However, and there's ''always'' a however, that album struck my admittedly already fatigued ear <span style="font-size:70%;">(good reader, please forgive me)</span> as being ''exactly what Alex Dutilh calls it'', music "inspired by the conflictual dialectic of... ", which reminded me [https://cla.purdue.edu/directory/profiles/leonard-harris.html Leonard Harris] once asking me if I was still jumping through them di'lectical hoops, just as I was off to testify on the yen and yawn of Sartre getting gifted Mauss.
  

Revision as of 16:54, 19 September 2020

If you are here, hear this!

You have found the secret cauldron where the next season's issue of jes' grew gets stirred up & out into cupcake molds. Sometimes there is (the) resistance.

Maria Schneider's Data Lord's release was so widely covered I was actually able to hear the first and last song on "Open Jazz",[1] and the short extracts at her website. For the moment, I'm not going to say much more than that I love the title and can say that that level of digital inaccessibility is a surprisingly rare thing. For example, I learned last weekend that ECM held out until almost three years ago before "finally" dropping their catalog into the bitstream.[2]

EverFonkyLowdown.jpg

However, and there's always a however, that album struck my admittedly already fatigued ear (good reader, please forgive me) as being exactly what Alex Dutilh calls it, music "inspired by the conflictual dialectic of... ", which reminded me Leonard Harris once asking me if I was still jumping through them di'lectical hoops, just as I was off to testify on the yen and yawn of Sartre getting gifted Mauss.

In short, I'd much rather see Wynton Marsalis get yet another Shiny Grammar Prize for his "Ever Fonky Lowdown", released on Blue Engine Records than to see Data Lords rake all the cake (& ice cream) off the chessboard.

O pieuvre, œuvrez ! How this is worth a time! Like Blood in the Fields back in the day, but Cassandra Wilson tells that story best...


Now I may go back to those Mahlerian textures of the Data Lords with fresh ears, but what is sure at the moment is that

Trombone.jpg Wagner once said, “Don’t look at the trombones, it only encourages them."[3] Trombone.jpg

And then the Word said, "Let there be paperclips," and there were trombones.

Bob Moses, When Elephants Dream of Music, 1983.
musicians include Barry Rogers (trombones), Chris Rogers (trumpet), Doc Halliday, Jim Pepper, David Gross (sax), Howard Johnson (contrabass, clarinet, tuba), Terumasa Hino (cornet), Bill Frisell (guitar), Steve Swallow (el. bass), Michael Formanek (ac. bass), ...

& then... the shells got bouncing

Steve Turre, "Morning" (Yusef Lateef), 1995.

... & the cat fused

Hitoshi Suzuki, Cat, 1975.
Hiroshi Suzuki (trombone & keyboards), Takeru Muraoka (sax), Kunimitsu Inaba (bass), Akira Ishikawa (drums).

off to Nubia (where there was only a mellophone)

Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra, "Ethio", 2011.
with Michael Leonhardt (trumpet, mellophone, cornet, vibraphone).

"No Fear !", Jaco'll save us !

Béla Fleck & Edmar Castañeda, Live at Big Ears Festival, 2019.
(with a banjo & a harp) Praise be.

Monkey Gods and Lizard Queens

Mosquito Coast
The Sorcerers, In Search of the Lost City of the Monkey God, 2020.

A well-spent hour at Banzzaï (France Musique) led me to this memorable title,[4] which is apparently the soundtrack to a documentary about the (re)discovery of ancient ruins in Mosquitia.[5]

With unexpected citations and funny deformations throughout—wait! what are you doing to Antônio & Luiz in the trunk, there ?!—this made for a great entry into a unique blend of sounds (bass clarinet, vibes & flute, in particular, with an excellent drummer). (bandcamp)

Sons of Kemet, Your Queen is a Reptile, 2018.
Shabaka Hutchings (tenor sax) Theon Cross (tuba), Joshua Idehen (poetry), five drummers. Congo Natty (jongleur)

Chess in your head

Arve Henriksen, "Patient Zero", 2017.
from a CD called Towards Language which gets thumbs up from the maskèd many. The bamboo sound of his mouthpiece-less trumpet[6] sent me looking in the time machine for Steve Turre. I found him back in Vienne in 1997 making (very different) sounds with his sanctified shells.
Charles Lloyd & Jason Moran, "Hagar's Lullaby", "Prayer", "Sand Rhythm", NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, 2016.
The first piece is from Hagar's Song (part V of "Hagar's Suite") (2013). Charles Lloyd apparently isn't only referring to the Biblical character but also to an enslaved forbear (his great-great-grandmother was taken from her parents at 10 and sold upriver at a slave market).[7] I have little common ground for a story like this as my distant forbears were likely more familiar with serfdom than slavery and I don't know Old World family stories. As a result, I remember in the mid-nineties being very perplexed about growing into 21st century "America". First there was "Call me Ishmael," then Mr. Reed, then "Lawd, lawd, wad'nat a fish"? "The Old Wives' Whale" is from that time. For some presumably good reason I did some Bib la study back then, and was encouraged to write a poem rather than an essay to prove I hadn't just been chewing on the corners of The Booktm.
The structure of Lloyd's suite and the choice of Monk's "Bolivar's Blues" (named not for Simón, but for a Manhattan hotel) as the next-to-last piece makes you wonder what exactly is being named.

Menagerie

Artemis, "The Sidewinder", Artemis, 2020.
Both the Rolling Stone reporter covering the Newport Jazz festival in 2018[8] and the president of the Blue Note magic department took note of the spellbound crowd.[9] With such star power the solos are short and the textures are deep. Lee Morgan & Joe Henderson's famous piece (§) is the last song on the album. It is cut in half, slowed down and reworked into what Sketches of Spain might have sounded like with a bass clarinet and a sax fused into the brew. It conjures up slitherin' sidewinders getting on very nicely with their sunny day.
Eliane Elias, "A Ra (The Frog)", 2009.
Eliane Elias (piano + vocals), Marc Johnson (bass), Rubens de La Corte (guitar), Rafael Barata (drums)
Tomoko Omura, "Revenge of the Rabbit," Branches, v.1, 2020.
Tomoku Omura (violin), Glenn Zaleski (piano), Jeff Miles (guitar), Pablo Menares (bass), Jay Sawyer (drums).[10]
Michael Leonhart & Avaramina 7, "Theme for a Jaguar Shark", The Seahorse & the Storyteller, 2010.
19 credited & most creditable musicians. :) There is a Steely Dan/War (-ish) feel to at least one song ("Dreams of an Aquarian") on the non-instrumental version of the album.
Camille Bertault, "A quoi bon", Le Tigre, 2020.
Camille Bertault (vocals), Jacky Terrasson (piano), Christophe Minck (D. Bass), Donald Kontomanou (drums), Minino Garaï (perc.), Stéphane Guillaume (winds), Michael Leonhart (producer, brass & perc.); "Tous ego" is a fun reminder that the tiger is the boss of its carosse, even in "Le Tube".
Rabih Abou-Khalil, 1) "Maltese Chicken Farm", The Cactus of Knowledge, 2001. . . . 2) "Is there wine?", The Flood and the Fate of the Fish, 2019.
. . .
1) Rabih Abou-Khalil (oud), Eddie Allen & Dave Ballou - (trumpet), Gabriele Mirabassi (clarinet), Antonio Hart (alto saxophone), Ellery Eskelin (tenor saxophone), Tom Varner (French horn), Dave Bargeron (euphonium), Michel Godard (tuba), Vincent Courtois (cello), Jarrod Cagwin (drums), Nabil Khaiat (frame drum)
2) Rabih Abou-Khalil (composer, oud), Kudsi Ergüner (ney), Jarrod Cagwin (percussion), Eri Takeya (violin), Gavion Murgia (cantu a tenòre, launeddas), Luciano Biondini (accordion)

Under Cover

Lonnie Smith, "As the World Weeps", Rise Up!, 2012
Lonnie Smith's original studio version finishes with a choir reminiscent of Donald Byrd, A New Perspective, but over the voices, there's a rebellious saxophone.
Anat Cohen Quartet & Paquito D'Rivera, "As the World Weeps", Claroscuro, 2012.
Anat Cohen & Paquito D'Rivera (clarinet), Jason Lindner (piano), Joe Martin (bass), Daniel Freedman (drums), Sixth & I, Washington DC, 2011.
Arguably closer to the original than the Artemis cover of "The Sidewinder" above, it unarguably brings down the synagogue made the crowd Rise Up! (Quod erat factum.) The album version also features a trombone -- (what else?) -- making -- let's say -- occasional sounds, which gives a very different feel to the piece.
Mulatu Atsatke, "Yèkèrmo Sew", 1972.

In Memoriam

Ryo Kawasaki, Juice, 1976.
as described on the label
Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999) Concierto de Aranjuez
         
Ryo Kawasaki (1947-2020), 1981. (guitar)       Dorothy Ashby (1932-1986), 1984. (harp)      Miles Davis (1926-1991), 1960. (trumpet)

!jazz

Ox on the Roof

Darius Milhaud, Le bœuf sur le toit, 1920.

Sea-sounds

Dominique Guiot – L'Univers De La Mer, 1978.
most excellent prog food :)

Some bob-foolery

overheard at the 2020 Wikiwiki BotSlam gala,[11] from Easy Rider (1969) (lyrics)

Roger McGuinn, "It's Alright Ma, I'm only bleeding" (Bob Dylan), 1969.
Cf. Shirley Jackson, "The Lottery" (1948) & then "Rainy Day Women #12 and #35", 1966.

What could possibly go wrong?

Mary Halvorson / Bill Frisell – The Maid With The Flaxen Hair: A Tribute to Johnny Smith, 2018.
I'm one of those people who had never listened to Mary Halvorson until someone who shall remain nameless got me looking into prolific women in jazz. I've included the subtitle, so the title doesn't mislead you into thinking this CD is all about Debussy. In fact, it is a tribute to a guitarist who once taught Bill Frisell "old fuddy duddy corny schmaltzy stuff". Frisell has since recanted this view and has dedicated songs and now, along with Mary Halvorson, an album to him. Described as a case study in "the bankruptcy of modern jazz guitar",[12] it's ipso facto worth a listen, or even several. :)
Charles Lloyd & The Marvels, "Vanished Gardens", 2018.
Charles Lloyd (tenor sax), Bill Frisell (guitar), Eric Harland (drums), Greg Leisz (dobro, pedal steel), Reuben Rogers (bass). The album also features Lucinda Williams (vocals) on five of the ten tracks (including "Dust"). "Vanished Gardens shows how the many currents of American music all flow into a single stream",[13] maybe somewhere between Cairo, Memphis and the Atchafalaya.

Previous issues

Refs

  1. Alex Dutilh, Fabien Fleurat, Emmanuelle Lacaze (24 August 2020), Maria Schneider, connexions naturelles et déconnexion numérique, Open Jazz, France Musique
  2. John Pareles (17 November 2017), "ECM's Catalog is Finally Streaming. Here are 21 Essential Albums.", NY Times
  3. Sebastien Scotney (24 July 2020), "Album: Maria Schneider Orchestra: Data Lords", The Arts Desk.
  4. Nathalie Piolé, Fabien Fleurat & Emmanuelle Lacaze (25 Jun 2020), Les ombres amis, Banzzaï, France Musique.
  5. Douglas Preston, Dave Yoder (2 March 2015), Lost City Discovered in the Honduran Rain Forest, National Geographic.
  6. John Lewis (1 June 2017), Arve Henriksen: Towards Language review – pushing the trumpet's sonic capacities, The Guardian
  7. Tryan Grillo (9 March 2013), Charles Lloyd/Jason Moran: Hagar’s Song, ECM Review
  8. Hank Shteamer (6 August 2018), Newport Jazz Festival 2018: 14 Best Things We Saw, Rolling Stone
  9. Alex Dutilh, Fabien Fleurat, Emmanuelle Lacaze (11 September 2020), Artemis, sept déesses chez Blue Note, Open Jazz, France Musique
  10. JT Video Premiere: “The Revenge of the Rabbit” by Tomoko Omura, 4 September 2020, Jazz Times
  11. Lev!vich (4 Aug 2020), "well that didn't go as planned, 2020 WikiSlam Bot Bracket, InedibleHulk's TP.
  12. Martin Schray (28 January 2019), Mary Halvorson / Bill Frisell – The Maid With The Flaxen Hair: A Tribute to Johnny Smith (Tadzik, 2018) The Free Jazz Collective.
  13. Hank Shteamer (27 June 2018), Review: Charles Lloyd and Lucinda Williams Fuse Jazz and Roots on Vanished Gardens", Rolling Stone.