This is a fascinating feature for some of John Zorn's more unique compositions with an all star band consisting of Bill Frisell on guitar, Brian Marsella on piano and Fender Rhodes piano, John Medeski on organ and Kenny Wollesen on drums and chimes. Built like a suite with religious overtones, looking for the truth through somnambulant exploration. "Introit" opens the album with probing piano which resonates well along side lightly played cymbals, building a short and repetitive motif as the other instruments float in spectral form. This is a very restrained performance, hypnotic in its simplicity, the short piano figure shadowed by the ghosts of other instruments. The electric piano builds a pleasing theme on "A Secret Twilight," organ and guitar with light percussion, creating a nimble sound that is ready to take flight. It is beautiful the way the keyboards and guitar mesh together to complete a tapestry of sound with a kind shuffle beat below, the interplay between the musicians is excellent. "Lacrimosa" sees an organ drone building tension, with acoustic piano playing off of it providing nice dynamic shade, then the music resolves into a spare and melodic feature for acoustic piano and soft drumming while the organ and guitar provides the framework. Frisell's subtle and pretty solo sings amid the organ and percussion, leading to a finely designed organ feature before wrapping up with a heady finish. A subtle guitar opening on "Eventide" leads to a swirling and mysterious full band development. The guitar anchors the piece as keyboards ripple and cascade and the drums provide shifting rhythms. Organ and brushed drums provide a change of pace, the electric piano giving the piece a faster pace as the twin keyboard approach really pays dividends. Guitar and cymbals plus organ and electric piano evoke long mysterious tones on "Hekate," coming together into a more potent form with barbed guitar, fast time on cymbals while the hallucinatory keyboards ebb and flow. Electronics play havoc with the sound creating a wild experimental landscape where creativity is king. "Tenderness" uses lush piano and guitar in stop and go time, where soft brushes and droplets of piano notes build a slightly sad and melancholic tone. Two keyboards guitar and brushes, yet it works, Frisell bides his time and then solos in an understated and thoughtful manner. The music then glides out as mysteriously as it entered. This album has an interesting instrumental makeup and both Zorn and the musicians make the most of it, with the composer supplying music that was specifically designed for this unit, and the band interpreting and improvising on it in their own personal way. Perchance to Dream - amazon.com
From the vantage point of sixty years out from the time of recording, it seems like such a benign revolution, Ornette Coleman and his band even (even including a pianist on the first album) straining at the bonds of hard bop orthodoxy, aiming to fly free. But even here on their first two albums they have the hallmarks of their sound already in place, short snappy themes that can launch the group into whatever kind of improvisation that they are seeking, led by Coleman's tart, citrus like alto saxophone that has a unique attack and Don Cherry's individual sounding pocket trumpet which is locked in for excellent unison statements, along with punchy and powerful solo sections. The first album, Something Else!!!!, also includes Walter Norris on piano, Don Payne on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. This is their most hidebound album, but there is still much room to move, with Coleman dedicating a track to his then wife "Jayne" along with the much enduring composition "When Will the Blues Leave" which is one of the true highlights of the collection, Coleman comes from a rhythm and blues background, scorned and even beaten at times for bringing his open minded approach to the saxophone to the bandstand. Here he bares his soul with a beautiful keening sound that evokes the blues but the quest for freedom in music and beyond. The follow up album is called Tomorrow Is The Question!, with a different cast including Shelly Manne on drums, and Percy Heath and Red Mitchell sharing bass duties. Even when paired with a swing based bass and drum unit, Coleman and Cherry fly quite high, bursting with energy on the short title track opener and then taking their time to explore several compositions some that would become Coleman standards like the ebullient "Turnaround" and the complex yet thrilling "Rejoicing." These two albums would be the calling card that brought Coleman and his soon to be quartet east to the Lenox school at Tanglewood, and then on to Atlantic Records and destiny. But the two early records on this collection deserve to be heard, as they show Coleman in transition, fully developing his own voice and approach, one that would change the jazz world forever. Genius of Genius: The Contemporary Albums - amazon.com
Recorded spontaneously during one of their earliest meetings, this album features Matthew Bourne on piano and Emil Karlsen on drums. These two musicians really clicked, performing music that ranges from jazz through free improvisation and beyond. The opening track “Clench” has a spare and quiet section of brushed cymbal and drums meeting restrained keyboard, with the music slowly filling in like a fluid. Increasing in pace, the music begins to tumble and cascade, building its own inexorable forward momentum. This leads to “Snuff” with its intricate percussion and Bourne playing inside the piano creating a fascinating sequence. The sounds they create may slip the boundaries of jazz, but their addition proves the limitless nature of their musical vision. Deep dark clusters of low end piano then anchor the conclusion of the piece. “Prick” uses swirling piano and brushes, creating a restrained melodic sound. Short clipped phrases from the piano are met by percussive bursts and shaken textural sounds. This lengthy performance benefits from the duo’s patience, playing with time and space and allowing the sounds to work themselves out. The crushing attack of “Tool” is particularly potent, achieving a muscular, machine like industrial grind that is unique and affecting. The spare “Chalk" is the opposite, with some deft light percussion and droplets of fine piano notes. The musicians improvise in a nimble and unexpected fashion, raising the complexity and heft of the music as the piece evolves, at times it sounds as much like a battle of wills as a free flowing collaboration. Deep low end piano clusters meet up with percussion in an exciting fashion, leading to a fine drum solo filled with distinctive qualities. Finally “The Embalmer” uses crystalline piano notes hanging like snowflakes on a frigid night to set the mood, elegiac and spacious. Brushed percussion adds deft texture to the performance, building a haunted grace, which is the perfect ending for this fine album. The musicians really came together openly and showed the creativity that they are capable of on this project, creating performances that stretched beyond the boundaries that often constrain modern music. The Embalmer - Bandcamp
This release collects radio broadcasts of the classic John Coltrane Quartet with the leader on tenor and soprano saxophone, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums, playing at the end of that great group's tenure in mid 1965. Editing out the applause and introductions, ezz-thetics records remastering is able to squeeze all of the music onto one CD. At this stage, the group's improvisations had grown to epic length, and some were clocking in at nearly one half hour in length. These four titles were recorded for the Portraits in Jazz radio program at the Half Note in New York City, but the engineering brings the music out with as much clarity as possible, with Tyner's contributions sounding particularly dazzling during his solos on some of the more melodic passages. “Afro-Blue” was a regular composition played by the band at this time and Tyner gets in an excellent solo, he was starting to feel uncomfortable with the direction of the music at this point of his tenure in the band, but he really rises to the occasion here with a thoughtful and well performed feature. Lengthy performances of Coltrane standards "Song of Praise" and the fan favorite "My Favorite Things" are also present. The band played these compositions every night, but they always kept their improvisations fresh and the ones presented here are no exception. Coltrane would play them for the rest of his all too short career, but he always approached them in a open manner, ever searching for something new, something beyond what he had found in the pervious performance. Shifting the running order moves “One Down, One Up” to the end of the album, but the decision works out as the rest of the band comes together and then launches Coltrane full blast into a monstrous twenty-five minute solo that has become legendary, standing along side “Chasin’ The Trane” and a few of his other epic recorded performances for its stamina and consistent unrelenting creativity. This really is something special both in terms of the endurance involved and the amount of improvisational ideas being used. Eventually Tyner and Garrison drop out and the music becomes a breathless duet between Coltrane and Jones. Hearing this exciting music again with a fresh coat of tinkering is enlightening, thinking about where it fits at the crossroads of John Coltrane's career. This was the end of the classic quartet, soon would come the concerts from Seattle and a new lineup on a new journey all their own. Song Of Praise, New York 1965 Revisited - Squidco Music
Saxophonist Binker Golding and drummer Moses Boyd have been at the forefront of the dynamic London jazz scene for many years now, with scalding live performances and excellent albums making believers out of all that hear them. Rather than risk going stale, they have invited Max Luthert to add live tape loops and electronic effects to this album, allowing for a subtle shift in the music while maintain its strong modern jazz appeal. “Asynchronous Intervals” opens the album with strange reverberating sounds and low tones that build up from the silence to yearning tones of saxophone branching out over the electronic backdrop, with cymbals adding shade, creating a searching medium tempo. The music shifts to a stark yet powerful saxophone and drums duo improvisation, pushing back to the finish. Free flowing and developing, "Active-Multiple-Fetish-Overlord" uses organically treated echo saxophone in an experiment of sound choppy phrases that are phased by the electronic treatment. "Accelerometer Overdose" builds from a mysterious saxophone opening with drum bursts shifting to long tones with an almost Bitches Brew like echoing treatment. Drums coalesce into a solid beat with multitracked saxophone sounds developing into a burning improvisation. The electronic instruments bubble up as the ultimate wild card, adding to the music’s structure. Long, light saxophone and tapping percussion which is subtle and spare mark "Feed Infinite," coming together with electronic shading of saxophone and drum sounds. Interesting percussion sounds meld into a more complex rhythm with saxophone playing along side. The group is confident in spooling out a collective improvisation in fine fashion, playing modern jazz with complex drumming and steely saxophone. "After The Machine Settles" rises, building slowly and confidently, with uneasy electronic sounds, drum rolls, abstraction, altered saxophone sounds, all combining with a heavy drum beat and raw true tenor saxophone playing, making for a deep grinding improvisation that is coursing with energy. Fading in, "Because Because" sees the saxophone echoing electronically and swirling against the electronics in something that resembles frippertronics for jazz, gradually becoming more organic, the saxophone strains at bonds, developing raw wrenching peals of sound, playing a mysterious long game. Kudos to Binker and Moses for taking chances and experimenting, it would have been easy to pump out another duo record, but Luthert really mixes things up and foments change. Feeding the Machine - amazon.com
This album is an interesting and thoughtful piano trio album melding European free improvisation and jazz which is wide open to various tempi and states of being. The group is a very well integrated unit that consists of Lisa Ullén on piano, Elsa Bergman on bass and Anna Lund on drums, they are the engine of the Anna Hogberg Attack, whose album Lena was my Album of the Year for 2020, so it is clear that this is a very distinguished and talented trio. Without the horns of that sextet present, the trio is able to move with subtlety and grace, allowing open spaces to develop that the musicians can use to develop textures and complex rhythmic passages that work very well. The opening track "Come Together" is spare and free in the beginning before as advertised, the musicians coalesce in a buoyant three way improvisation. "Tempest" is the longest performance, and a very exciting one, with the musicians playing in a very dynamic manner, using an elastic sensibility and approach to keep the music in continuous motion, through episodes of cascading piano, and strong bass and drums or interludes of quiet, this is a fine demonstration of the trio's considerable skills. The group dynamics are what make this record special. The musicians play with a great respect for each other but also with a exploratory approach to making music in the moment that keeps everything fresh. Space - bandcamp
This is a delightful modern jazz album that is as fresh as a morning sunrise, combining deep abstraction, flat out near free jazz and an extended duet drum performance that shows the depth of music that this band can achieve, and the compositional and instrumental acuity that Fujiwara possesses. He leads from the drums (also adding some vibraphone) with a wonderful group consisting of Gerald Cleaver on drums, Mary Halvorson and Brandon Seabrook on guitar, Ralph Alessi on trumpet and Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet. Such a talented group gives the opportunity for the music to range far and wide, whether running at breakneck speed on the opening track “Pack Up, Coming For You” with powerful electric guitars meeting insistent brass and deeply rhythmic drumming or “The March of the Storm Before the Quiet of the Dance” where spare brass probes open spaces, that snap awake with some gnarly electric guitar playing and rockfish drumming creating an impressively dynamic performance. The music is unpredictable, changing course when you think you have a bead on it. The final track “For Alan, Part II” is a massive seventeen and a half minute drum performance that makes the most of its running time to move through several different rhythmic areas. A nod to the deceased master drummer Alan Dawson, the piece is riveting and maintains the listener’s energy from start to finish, as does this excellent album as a whole. March - Bandcamp
