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The Best Jazz Albums and Live Shows of 23(artsfuse |
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snobb ![]() Forum Admin Group ![]() ![]() Site Admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Vilnius Status: Offline Points: 29003 |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posted: 20 Dec 2023 at 8:18am |
Music Feature: The Best Jazz Albums and Live Shows of 2023The magazine’s jazz critics look back over the past year and highlight their favorite albums and live shows. ![]() Cover art for Kris Davis’ album, Diatom Ribbons: Live at the Village Vanguard Here in no absolute order are the albums, or some of them, that I particularly enjoyed over the past year. They are certainly varied, with tributes to gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and composer Igor Stravinsky, both of whom I discovered in high school. The James P. Johnson opera De Organizer features lyrics by Langston Hughes. Johnson himself recorded “The Hungry Blues” much earlier. These new excerpts are welcome…and unforgettable. The Sonny Clark includes the famous, but often difficult to find Dial S for Sonny. Bostonians are lucky to hear pianist Laszlo Gardony on a regular basis. But really these choices are largely self-explanatory.
Vocal album: 1. Cécile McLorin Salvant, Mélusine 2..Sara Serpa, Night Birds Latin: 1. Miguel Zenon and Luis Perdomo, El Art Del Bolero Volume 2 2. Aruon Ortiz, Serranias Historical reissues: Sonny Clark, The Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions John Coltrane/ Eric Dolphy, Evenings at the Village Gate Wes Montgomery, Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings Here are some of my favorites from the new releases in 2023. I’m not saying that all of them are necessarily timeless classics, and I’m certainly not saying that I had the time to give every possible release equal consideration. They’re just the ones that I personally enjoyed for one reason or another, and I think you might enjoy them, too. Marc Jordan, Waiting for the Sun to Rise (Linus) In my review for the Arts Fuse, I wrote: “There are plenty of other rewarding musical moments throughout the album — the lush arrangement of an elemental melody on “The Downtown Lights,” hallucinatory lyrics that accent the slinky jazz feel of “Coltrane Plays the Blues,” the inventive chord progressions and piano harmonies on “Cradle to the Grave,” and the brief instrumental interludes that make this more of a concept album than a collection of tunes. On the title song, the poetic lyrics fit perfectly into the rises and falls of the melody, which track like natural speech patterns. . . . Waiting for the Sun to Rise is an elegant discovery, and it only gets better with repeated listening. This is an album to grow old with.” Alex Hamburger, What If? As I wrote for the Arts Fuse, “Alex Hamburger has her own style, with evocative compositions and ethereal flute playing. It’s improvisatory jazz, but it’s informed by trance music, fusion, and world music without ever dissolving into New Age noodling. . . . These tracks are full of imagination, showcasing the versatility of these musicians. What If? Is cool, trippy, imaginative music from iconoclasts with vision and style.” Bill Evans, Tales: Live in Copenhagen (1964) (Elemental) In my Arts Fuse Review, alongside another excellent but very different set from Les McCann, I wrote, “As for Evans himself, what more can be said? He’s an absolute pillar of inventive, sensitive, intelligent, and imaginative playing on every track, every session, every year. He plays with deep focus and concentration so that not a solo phrase or part of an accompaniment behind others goes by without his harmonic and/or rhythmic fingerprint. If you’re looking for a representative entry way into Evans’s genius, listen to “My Foolish Heart,” a fine example of his famous flexibility of touch and his instantly recognizable sound.” Samara Joy, “A Joyful Holiday, Featuring the McLendon Family” Austin, Texas, Bass Concert Hall, December 3 In my Arts Fuse review, I wrote, “At 22 years old, Joy is in her early prime, full of ideas, unjaded, and as surprised as anyone else at her own success. She sang every song like she meant it, and she was brought to tears three times (and held it back several times more). She uncorked her gospel pipes, the likes of which probably haven’t been heard on mainstream secular stages since Aretha Franklin.” ![]() Shakti at Boch Center Wang Theatre. Photo: Paul Robicheau Here’s my preview and a clip from a Nashville webcast. Kris Davis – Diatom Rhythms: Live at the Village Vanguard (Pyroclastic Records) Myra Melford – Hear the Light Singing (RogueArt) Zoh Amba/Chris Corsano/Bill Orcutt – The Flower School (Palilalia Records) Rob Brown Quartet – Oblongata (RogueArt) Irreversible Entanglements – Protect Your Light (Impulse) Darius Jones – fluXkit Vancouver (ITS-SUITE but sacred) – (We Jazz/Northern Spy) Aruán Ortiz – Pastor’s Paradox (Cleanfeed) James Brandon Lewis – For Mahalia, With Love (TAO Forms) Henry Threadgill Ensemble – The Other One (PI Recordings) Dave Liebman – Live at Smalls (Cellar Music Group) Best Live Shows 2023 These were some of my favorite shows in 2023. There was so much more good stuff that I saw, and so much other good stuff that I missed. In chronological order: ![]() Jason Moran at the Berklee Performance Center. Photo: Celebrity Series/Robert Torres I never hear enough recorded music during the year to presume to name “best CDs,” but of the ones I did hear, these stand out for great performances, historical importance, or both. ![]() Pulitzer prize-winning composer Wadada Leo Smith Photo: Micheal Jackson. Wadada Leo Smith: String Quartets 1 – 12 (TUM, 2022, 6 CDs), RedKoral Quartet and guests – A landmark: the first recording of a cycle of innovative string quartets by a composer primarily known for his work in jazz. The set was released last year but remains very important. Wes Montgomery and the Wynton Kelly Trio, with Jimmy Cobb: Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings (Resonance) – Finally, the release of more recordings by a quartet of remarkable players whose time together was all too brief. The restoration of these broadcast and private recordings is superb, but the music . . . oh, what music. Felipe Salles Interconections Ensemble: Home is Here (Tapestry) – The accomplished saxophonist-composer presents here a “multi-movement original music work” dealing with immigration and naturalization in the US. The program does not hamper the music, which is consistently inventive and beautifully played. Mary Lou Williams: Zodiac Suite (Mack Avenue), played by The Knights, with pianist Aaron Diehl – The Knights and Aaron Diehl have delivered the recording this music has deserved for decades. It’s a sensitive and fully-realized performance of an important major work by a perennially neglected figure in jazz. Don Byas: Classic Don Byas Sessions 1944 – 1946 (Mosaic, 10 CDs) – An arrival late in the year, but just in time for this spotlight. Tenor master Byas, who liked to say that he played the sexophone, is given the full Mosaic treatment, that is to say, his collection is a superbly curated selection of beautifully remastered material. It concentrates on some of Byas’s most important formative years, a time when he was building his craft and reputation. This set has the great commercial recordings from this period, including multiple takes of “Candy,” one of his signature ballads, and multiple takes of his astonishing performance of “I Got Rhythm.” But there’s more: two and a half CDs of live recordings, with excellent fidelity, made at the apartment of the “jazz baron,” benefactor and patron Baron Timme Rosenkrantz. The material here includes a full set featuring the young Thelonious Monk backing (really, leading) Byas and others in an inspired jam session. Plus broadcast recordings, exhaustive notes, great photographs – in short, another collector’s item. But caveat: the press run is limited to 5000 copies, and the recording is only sold through the Mosaic website. Live Performances April 1: December 14: December 15: Edited by snobb - 20 Dec 2023 at 8:20am |
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