Jazz & Blues Music Reviews

James Carter – Present Tense (Emarcy, 2008)

As mercurial as he is talented, this is saxophonist Carter's fourth album on as many labels after a successful stint with Atlantic Records in the 1990's. Produced by legendary jazz re-issue maven Michael Cuscuna of Mosaic Records fame, he was convinced that we hadn't heard the true Carter, and vowed to bring him forth on this record. Supported by Dwight Adams on trumpet and flugelhorn, D.D. Jackson on piano, Rodney Jones on guitar, James Genus on bass, Victor Lewis on drums and Eli Fountain on percussion, they are quite successful and should be proud of their efforts. Carter is a musician with the entirety of jazz under his fingertips, and much like polymaths of the past like Jaki Byard and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, he is as comfortable with swing as with outre avant garde. Opening with the swinging "Rapid Shave" with it's brisk fanfare tempo, and along with Carter's statements, there are fine solos from the trumpet and piano. "Bro. Dolphy" is a wonderful evocation of Eric Dolphy's singular music and one of the highlights of the disc. Carter pays tribute without slavishly copying the great man's music. "Pour Que Ma Vie Demeure"plays to one of his finest strengths, that of being a great ballad player. He gives a very lyrical reading, never allowing his prodigious technique to overwhelm the melody. "Sussa Nita" and "Bossa J.C." have fine bossa nova grooves juxtaposed against deep saxophone. "Song of Delilah" has a Crescent period Coltrane feel, which is interesting because it always seemed to me that Carter drew his tenor inspiration form pre-bop masters like Don Byas and Ben Webster. "Dodo's Bounce" is a jaunty flute feature, while the lengthy "Shadowy Sands" is an atmospheric and lush performance focusing on bass clarinet. "Hymn to the Orient" uses a fast drum intro to blast us full-bore into a smoldering tenor led hard bop exploration. Like throwing a belt-high fastball to a slugger, Carter smashes it out of the park. The ballad "Tenderly" ends the album on a contemplative note, with trumpet and tenor saxophone slowly caressing the theme. This album successfully presents James Carter as an all around musician, proficient not just a number of different reed instruments, but comfortable in all tempos and situations. Where previous record labels have not known what to do with his extreme talent, Emarcy and Cuscuna realize that gimmicks are not needed, and that Carter's music speaks for itself. This album speaks with true eloquence.

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Labels: James Carter

Mississippi Heat – Hattiesburg Blues (Delmark, 2008)

Despite their name, this is a Chicago blues band with an interesting touch of Latin music and soul surging through their music. Led by harmonicist Pierre Lacocque and vocalist Inetta Visor, the group plays mostly original music with a couple of covers thrown in. Things start off promisingly, with a very saucy and soulful blues, “Tiger Man,” featuring the strong pipes of Ms. Visor. “Chicago is My Home” is a gutsy straight up blues with guitarist and vocalist Lurrie Bell sitting in and celebrating his hometown with a fine performance. The blues is at it's core a music that is by and of the working class, and several of the songs on this disc look at what it is like to make it in the city today as a blue collar citizen. "How Much Worse Can It Be" and "Hell and Back" have well written lyrics and good musical performances that make you think, as well as dance. But the highlight of the disc for me was the fascinating instrumental "Calypso in Blue" which puts Lacocque's harmonica front and center with a strong, jazzy performance. This is a solid and well played if occasionally generic example of modern blues. The band is hardworking, and have a wide range of music that they explore.

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Labels: blues, Mississippi Heat

New Yorker Jazz

The occasionally annoying but often interesting jazz DJ Phil Schaap is profiled by David Remnick in The New Yorker:

"Not long ago, I listened to him play a recording of “Okiedoke,” a tune that Parker recorded in 1949 with Machito and His Afro-Cuban Orchestra. Schaap, in his pontifical baritone, first provided routine detail on the session and Parker’s interest (via Dizzy Gillespie) in Latin jazz, and then, like a car hitting a patch of black ice, he veered off into a riff of many minutes’ duration on the pronunciation and meaning of the title—of “Okiedoke.”"

Inspired by his profile of Schaap, Remnick goes on to list 100 Essential Jazz Albums:

"These hundred titles are meant to provide a broad sampling of jazz classics and wonders across the music’s century-long history. Early New Orleans jazz, swing, bebop, cool jazz, modal jazz, hard bop, free jazz, third stream, and fusion are all represented, though not equally. We have tried not to overdo it with expensive boxed sets and obscure imports; sometimes it couldn’t be helped."

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Labels: Charlie Parker, misc.

Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra (Thrill Jockey, 2008)

Trumpeter and cornetist Rob Mazurek is the nominal leader of the Exploding Star Orchestra, a Sun Ra Arkestra like ensemble that made its debut last year with the interesting album We Are All From Somewhere Else. Trumpeter and educator Bill Dixon had been a longtime influence on Mazurek, and who invited Dixon to make an album with his large ensemble as featured soloist. Dixon and the Orchestra have stretches where the musical sound is reminiscent of the early fusion of Miles Davis, with the shimmering vibes and pungent and mysterious trumpet echoing the music of classic albums like In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, then giving way to stretches which sound like Sun Ra at his most cosmically cacophonous. The space poetry of the second track is certainly a Ra trip, but the abstract sequences of fractured poetic trumpet is pure Dixon. Full, beefy improvisation of a intergalactic big band with splashes of vibraphone providing Jackson Pollock like swathes of color compete with sections of spacey interlude are the order of the day here. This is challenging music to be sure, but it is also quite rewarding. Just as there are visionary scientists exploring the edge of the cosmos, Dixon, Mazurek and this ensemble are exploring the edges of the musical cosmos.

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Labels: Bill Dixon, Exploding Star Orchestra

I have a new online mix tape for your streaming pleasure at Muxtape. It contains music that I have been listening to recently, blogged and unblogged. Enjoy!

The playlist:
Bill Frisell - Sub-conscious Lee
Fleshtones - Shiney Hiney
Sun Ra - El is a Sound of Joy
Mudcrutch - Six Days On The Road
Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington - Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
Elvis Costello & The Imposters - Stella Hurt
Sékouba Bambino - Famou (Remix Danse)
Brad Mehldau - Wonderwall
Elmore James - Sho' Nuff I Do
Lionel Loueke - Seven Teens (Featuring Herbie Hancock)
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - More News From Nowhere
Willis Jackson and Pat Martino - The Goose Is Loose

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Labels: podcast

Commentary on Musical Inclusiveness

Saxophonist Ken Vandermark and drummer Tim Daisy are currently on a short duo tour of Europe. Someone posted an audience recording of the concert from Graz, Austria on the Internet and it was interesting to hear Vandermark talk between songs about the grass roots organizing that had led to his tour. He talks about how difficult is to find places to play “creative music” in this challenging economic environment, and thanks the people that made the tour possible. Vandermark is one of my favorite musicians, and his music is certainly creative, but I have always been uncomfortable in labeling improvised music in this manner. Many musicians, in particular Miles Davis, have been unhappy with the word “jazz”, feeling that it did not fully describe the depth and complexity of their music. But in applying the moniker “creative music” to free jazz or improvised music outside of the jazz mainstream seems to sell other types of music short. Does this mean that when Bill Frisell deconstructs an American folk song, or James Carter improvises on a song by the rock band Pavement, that their music isn’t creative? It seems that this throws down an unnecessary gauntlet of snobbishness that isn’t required. Of course Vandermark and other musicians on the cutting edge are creative, but I think that musicians who play bebop, ballads and blues can be so as well. Arguably, they have to be even more so, since they tread on ground that has already been well trodden by others and in order to get attention for their performances they need to be especially creative in order to stand out from the crowd. It’s interesting to think about this as the Vision Festival begins next month in New York City. As the festival season begins in earnest with the JVC Festival, there will be a lot of music competing for a limited dollar. It doesn’t seem like a wise idea to split an already fractured scene even further, for example on New York City, with the mainstream centered around The Jazz Standard and Village Vanguard, the “creative” musicians around The Stone and venues in Brooklyn and Jersey City, and everybody else scrounging for gigs and recording opportunities wherever they can get them. A philosophy of musical inclusiveness would be beneficial to everybody, with a rising tide hopefully raising all boats. It’s fascinating to look at concert posters from the 1960’s to see venues hosing two or three bands a night of wildly diverse musical focus. It would be a great way to broaden horizons and break down barriers if this could be done today. If musicians and fans work together to support the music as a whole, and recognize that all musicians are creative people instead of allowing further faults to develop between groups that have more in common than they realize, there could be substantial benefits for all.

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Labels: commentary

Bill Frisell - History, Mystery (Nonesuch, 2008)

As ambitious and eclectic as ever, guitarist Bill Frisell's most recent release is a two CD set of live and studio songs covering Frisell's beloved Americana, along with jazz, classical and world music. The band joining him is made up of Jenny Scheinman on violin, Eyvind Kang on viola, Hank Roberts on cello, Greg Tardy on tenor saxophone and clarinet, Ron Miles on cornet, Tony Scherr on bass and Kenny Wollesen on drums. Jenny Scheinman and the other string players really shine on the shorter more atmospheric studio pieces, while the band as a whole gives a great reading to the Boubacar Toure song "Baba Drame", and Greg Tardy takes a majestic, explosive and deeply soulful solo on "Change is Gonna Come". The breakneck pace of the band's cartoon theme like version of Monk's "Jackie-ing" is excellent fun. After the uneasy calm of the studio pieces, the live cuts where the band takes off and really blows are welcome. The leader himself finally breaks out with a scalding electric guitar and drums interlude on "Struggle Part 2." Disc two features the beautiful and vaguely middle eastern melody of "Faces", and the gleefully impish version of Lee Konitz's "Sub-Conscious Lee" with another fine Tardy solo. The saxophonist shines again on "Waltz for Baltimore" with swaths of deep and bold tenor bursting out kaleidoscopically. Careful listening, especially on headphones will reveal details about how finely crafted this album is. There is quite a bit of music to absorb, but the depth and breadth of the band's vision is inspiring.

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Labels: Bill Frisell