The excellent British reed player and musical conceptualist Shabaka Hutchings plays as King Shabaka alongside keyboardist Danalogue (Dan Leavers), and drummer Betamax (Max Hallett) in The Comet Is Coming. Their electronic jazz is Sun Ra meets J Dilla to the Nth degree and keeps improving with every album. Like a science fiction film opening, "Code" is epic and cinematic, pulsating, leading to a massive electronic beat. Stuttering saxophone, waves of synth and electronics frame the fresh sounding saxophone and beats. The dance floor and the jazz club meet head on with impressive results, building huge swells that break and then reform. "Technicolor" uses slower synth and clattering percussion, with saxophone and synth weaving and move around each other, as the intensity increases, leading to blocks of sound. Using live drums and light saxophone flitting electronics, "Lucid Dreamer" is all about the feel, leading to "Tokyo Nights" which has cyberpunk thick blobby synths meeting lightning fast improvising saxophone for a short, sweet blast off. "Pyramids" opens with mysterious beeping searching, kicking into a dance music groove, saxophone adding urgent notes to the proceedings, scooting in and around the electronics and programmed beats, everything comes together to create a very infectious and exciting track. Probing electronic sounds, opening of "Frequency of Feeling Expansion" light sounding saxophone and live drums push the tempo faster, long well constructed lines of saxophone and the excellent drumming make this a very organic and appealing track. "Angel of Darkness" develops scouring waves of electronic sound, with the saxophone muscling in from the outside, creating a dark ominous overall sound, heavy deep stuff with live drums pushing even harder but the electronics overwhelm, making a grinding prog metal feeling. The saxophone digs in and gets down and dirty with a powerful solo cutting through the electronic curtain and pulverizing drumming, walking a high wire act, great stuff. "Aftermath" develops a dated 1980's type synth patch with multiple waves of electronics facing flute and drums segueing into "Atomic Wave Dance" which uses video game like sounds, with saxophone pushing fast, sending out staccato notes of amid excellent live drumming. Adding further accents to the horn allow the saxophone to continually build the tension. "The Hammer" builds slow grinding saxophone, surrounded by a fuller and more lush electronic treatment, that it pushes back against, creating an oppressive sound of the electronics, finally leading to "Mystik" featuring fast cymbal playing and electronic frittering, raw stark saxophone and fast manic drumming. Bringing it all together towering saxophone playing reaching high, electronics and drums finally flashing into the ether. The Comet Is Coming creates music that is a vivid punch to the gut that leaves moldy fig Downbeat critics giving one star and harumphing fraud! (true). If their eyes could only see, the future belongs to the bold. Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam - amazon.com
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Joe Lovano and Jakob Bro lead a dynamic nod to the master drummer and bandleader Paul Motian, which features compositions by the leaders and an exciting take on Motian’s own “Drum Music.” The full band consists of Lovano on tenor saxophone and tarogato, Bro on guitar, Larry Grenadier and Thomas Morgan on bass, Anders Christensen on bass guitar, Joey Baron and Jorge Rossy on drums. "As It Should Be" develops shadowy bass and percussion with shades of saxophone and guitar. The band meshes nicely, with an increased sense of urgency. Shards of guitar spark, as Lovano blows gales of deep and dark tenor saxophone, perfect for this setting, building to a tightly coiled full band improvisation, adding a drum feature to close. Soft guitar and airy saxophone opens "Sound Creation," with spare bass notes enter from soft soprano saxophone and light and agile percussion leading the way. Moving to tenor saxophone and sticks played drums, the music becomes fuller and more muscular, leading to a spare and haunting outro. On "For The Love Of Paul," drums set the stage, leading to a Monk like theme ascending and descending from the saxophone, developing a free, open area for deep bass and percussion astride stark sounding tenor saxophone. Lovano's solo is deep and complex, played with power and grace. The guitar moves in with a strident affected sound, sharp lines of sound shot across the soundstage. Lovano returns to engage, and the the sound breaks leading to a well articulated bass feature before the band returns to the tidy melody with drum embellishments. A gentle ballad, "Song To An Old Friend" has a pleasant guitar and saxophone tone with luxuriant bass playing the music that is deeply melodic and lush, played with patience and a sense of gratitude. The music flows clearly like a stream, and the group is playing together without ego. Heavy handed percussion opens "Drums Music," with strong deep saxophone and electric guitar harmonizing, creating a heavy nearly oppressing sound. There is a stark grinding industrial prog guitar solo, followed by Lovano surprisingly sounding out and free, casting out raw peals of saxophone sound, overblowing and really pushing the limits. There is a short deeply rhythmic drum solo that underpins the all-in push to the end. The closing track, "Pause," calms things down, blossoming as a ballad of soft guitar sound mixed with tasteful bass playing, gentle and quiet, evening music on the porch at sunset, adding the lightest of feathery brushed percussion, while Lovano's soprano saxophone enters late weaving among the other instruments like a late arriving guest. This album was very successful, Paul Motian has a huge influence upon modern jazz and this album reflects that with the thoughtful compositions, and spontaneous improvisations by fully committed musicians. Once Around The Room: A Tribute To Paul Motian - amazon.com
Brought to the attention of the jazz public in the postwar years by Blue Note Records when the label was looking to update its sound from New Orleans and swing music to modern jazz, the iconoclastic composer and pianist Thelonious Monk recorded for the label from 1947-1952. No stranger to the jazz scene, Monk was center stage at the bebop evolution at Minton's (read Robin D.G. Kelly’s excellent biography for all the details) and also played with the likes of Coleman Hawkins during the war years. This disc collects the master takes and highlights from six sessions Monk led in New York City, with the pianist leading groups ranging from trio to sextet. Though Monk was misunderstood by many at the time as someone who was trying to attack the stilted beliefs and institutions of jazz, he (and his wife Nellie) never lost sight of his single minded pursuit of excellence, one that would lead him from being an outsider to the cover of Time Magazine in fifteen years. Some of Monk’s best trio work would come in a late 1947 session that included recordings of original classics like “Well You Needn’t” “Ruby My Dear” and “Introspection." Thelonious Monk had a simpatico relationship with the vibraphonist Milt Jackson, the two clicked like two sides of a coin, playing a joyous romp of music on a 1948 session including “Evidence,” “Mysterioso,” and “Epistrophy.” Jackson returned with the drummer Art Blakey in tow for a July 1951 date that showed the three developing close knit percussive tapestries on the likes of “Four in One,” “Criss Cross” and “Straight, No Chaser.” Monk wrapped up his Blue Note recording tenure with a sextet session during spring of 1952 with a band that included two saxophones and trumpet. They developed a full and brash sound on the likes of his own “Skippy,” “Hornin’ In” and “Let’s Cool One.” This is a fine representation of some of the most influential jazz music of the immediate post war era. The remastering is well done, bringing out details of this intricate music and well written liner notes by Art Lange put everything into historical context. Celebrating 75 Years Of His First Recordings, Revisited - Squidco
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