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jazz music reviews (new releases)

THE JOYMAKERS Down Where The Bluebonnets Grow

Album · 2024 · Classic (1920s) Jazz
Cover art 4.00 | 1 rating
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js
Although early jazz styles like Dixieland and swing have had many revivals and dedicated bands that keep their sound alive, the style that historically came in between those styles, classic jazz (mid 20s - early 30s) has often been overlooked. Lately there have been several bands that are rising to prominence playing classic jazz, or ‘hot jazz’, as it was called back in the day, but many of these modern bands approach the style in too polite of manner. Back in the late 20s, this was music for gangsters, criminals, illegal alcohol manufacturers and drug abusers. It was wild crazy up tempo music that was outlawed in fascist and communist countries alike, as well as in parts of the US too. With their debut album, “Down Where the Bluebonnets Grow”, The Joymakers do a much better job than most when it comes to giving the music that raucous energy that makes it come alive.

The Joymakers are from Austin Texas and band leader Colin Hancock is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to his knowledge of early jazz in that area. His band concentrates on music that falls in between the early jazz cities of New Orleans, San Antonio and Kansas City. Bands in that southern mid-west region were often called ‘territory bands’, as they often worked within a certain territory as opposed to around the entire country or around the world. Territory bands had distinctive personal sounds all their own. Artists from this region often had a bit of country in their sound, which is great for a working band in Austin. As Colin is apt to point out, jazz in this era didn’t ‘swing’ as we know it today, instead they ‘stomped’, which has a more pronounced two beat feel to it and syncopations more similar to ragtime than mid 30s swing.

All of the songs on this album are good, but its those up tempo numbers that really push the energy. “Tiger Rag” and “Wolverine Blues” supply the juice, but it’s “Crazy Quilt” that really gets the adrenaline flowing. Turn this up on your next drive and watch that speedometer climb. Some of the tracks have vocals, which are probably useful in live situations for entertaining people not normally into early jazz. The lyrics are often humorous and full of sexual double entendres from that era, but for the music lovers, the silly vocals may get in the way of the jams. This CD comes with an extensive booklet that will tell you a lot about this music, but this isn’t museum music, its get down party time.

CLAUDIO MILANO (NICHELODEON) Alberto Nemo, Claudio Milano (with borda), Niccolò Clemente : Frattura, Comparsa, Dissolvenza

Live album · 2024 · Jazz Related Improv/Composition
Cover art 4.00 | 1 rating
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snobb
Unorthodox Italian vocalist Claudio Milano's newest album, "Frattura, Comparsa, Dissolvenza," was recorded by a quartet with electronic artist Borda and two pianists/electronic artists/vocalists, Niccolo Clemente and Alberto Nemo. Unlike many of Claudio's previous releases, the new one has nothing too much in common with the progressive rock of the 70s, which always was a strong Milano influence.

Just four pieces, 43 minutes long in common. Minimalist and liturgical atmosphere, dark and partially chamber. The opener "Frattura Iniziale" is Alberto Nemo's composition. Nemo began his career performing sacred music in chapels. Slow, dark, and minimalistic repetitive piano and operatic voice together sound like church liturgy. Partially recalls Ran Blake's music. Beautiful song and the best on this album for my ears.

"Comparsa" opens with a dark and dreamy(gothic?) piano solo, and operatic vocals come soon after. Song author and composer Niccolo Clemente adds electronics too. The vocals feel the space flying free. The same atmosphere of church liturgy and Gregorian chants continues.

"Dissolvenza", the longest album's composition, is more based on electronic effects sound. Claudio's vocal acrobatics pushes it towards a more leftfield zone. If the album's opener can be compared with chamber Ran Blake's works, "Dissolvenza" is closer to Diamanda Galas' music.

"Frattura Finale", the album's shortest piece, is written by Nemo again. Chamber piano, minimalist repetitive construction, and emotional voice over it. The Mass is ended.

As always in Claudio's music, there are a lot of philosophical themes and minds in the lyrics (true, it's good to be fluent in Italian though). According to liner notes, the album was recorded somewhere in a gas station. Surprisingly enough, its acoustics recall more of a church space. Probably not an album for Claudio's prog rock side fans, "Frattura, Comparsa, Dissolvenza" shows his great alternative talent - an electro-acoustic minimalist chamber vocalist. Well done!

ZACHARY BARTHOLOMEW Balancing Act

Album · 2024 · Post Bop
Cover art 3.50 | 1 rating
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js
Zachary Bartholomew has been active in jazz, both as a professor at Florida Memorial University, and as an on call session pianist for artists such as Dave Holland, Dave Liebman, Ira Sullivan and many more. “Balancing Act” is his first album as leader and it features ten of his original compositions. The music on here is modern post bop served up with complex compositions and arrangements that also leave ample room for solos. Although the CD credits might make you think this is a quintet, its actually closer to a piano trio, with saxophonist David Fernandez appearing on roughly over half the tracks, and trumpeter Benny Benack appearing on a couple. Zachary plays with a pronounced lyrical right hand in a tradition coming from Paul Bley, to Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau. The Mehldau comparison is furthered by Zachary’s leaning towards art pop meets modern classical passages that fall somewhere in between Philip Glass and Tony Banks.

Album opener, “Crazy Socks” is neo-bebop and contains one of Bartholomew’s more bluesy solos. This is followed by “Sunny Days Driven By’ with its grand sweeping piano passages that recall the Philip Glass meets Tony Banks sound mentioned earlier. “The Long and Winding Road” has nothing to do with the McCartney opus of the same name, but instead, the title implies a long compositional process that ends up with a driving syncopated ostinato that may remind some of Craig Taborn. Speaking of Paul McCartney, album closer, “Midnight Nefarity”, contrasts a section of hyper driving riffs with a descending art pop chord sequence that would have sounded right at home on the album, “Abbey Road”. “Hobo’s Lullaby” has a fast driving five beat rhythm, based on an Afro-Cuban bell pattern, that seeks to mimic a train roaring down the tracks. “Bring the Noise” has nothing to do with the Public Enemy track of the same name, but also uses Afro-Cuban rhythms matched with a hip-hop groove. In trying to avoid a tedious grocery list of every track, lets just say the rest are in that modern style that joins an eclectic approach to post bop with modern compositional arrangements.

PAT BIANCHI Three

Album · 2024 · Hard Bop
Cover art 4.00 | 1 rating
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Carmel
Pat Bianchi's “Three” is an album pulsating with vitality and creative energy. For the aficionados tucked in dimly lit corners of jazz clubs and the eager students in classrooms, Bianchi offers a set of musical ingenuity in a jazz organ trio format.

At its core, “Three” is a sonic adventure that beckons the listener to dive headfirst into the rich vibrations of jazz. Bianchi crafts an invigorating soundscape alongside Troy Roberts on saxophone and Colin Stranahan on drums. This is not your grandfather's jazz album, nor an attempt to mimic the past. Instead, it explores the possibilities of jazz when unshackled from expectation and focused on today's energy.

The album's ability to marry the familiar with the liveliness of today is the key to its success. Take, for example, the rendition of "Love For Sale." It's a track that has been reimagined by countless artists, but this trio, it becomes something entirely new—a vibrant conversation between the past and the present, echoing each player's passion. It's as if Bianchi expresses to us a sonic truth, reminding us that jazz is not a static entity but a living, breathing organism that thrives on innovation.

“Three’s” trio setup, eschewing the traditional guitar for saxophone, opens up a vast expanse of harmonic possibilities, allowing the music to flow from a different perspective. Roberts' voice speaks from the heart and the myriad emotions that arise when the spark of spontaneity ignites with deep musical understanding. Stranahan's drums punctuate this feeling by keeping the time feel centered and elastic.

Each track is a collective voyage that leaves the most indelible mark. From the smoky, sultry lines of "When Sunny Gets Blue" to the haunting beauty of "Stardust," Bianchi and his compatriots navigate the vast expanse of jazz with a map of their own making. The album closes with a live recording of "Cheek To Cheek," recorded live at The Jazz Kitchen (Indianapolis, IN) on June 3, 2023, by Mike Halperin, that is exhilarating, capturing the raw, unfiltered essence of jazz—the spontaneous creation, the risk, the sheer thrill of performance.

As we immerse ourselves in the soul-stirring depths of “Three,” let us not only applaud the exceptional artistry of Bianchi, Roberts, and Stranahan but also the boundless spirit of exploration they represent. Woven into the album's fabric, this spirit assures us that jazz remains a vibrant, ever-evolving art form destined to captivate and inspire future generations. “Three” captures a singular moment in musical time—a moment that, when we give ourselves over to the act of deep listening, transcends time and space, inviting us into a world of inspiration and infinite possibility. In these moments of attentive listening, the album's true genius unfolds, revealing layers of beauty that affirm jazz's enduring legacy and its potential to astonish and enrich us, anytime, anywhere.

JIMBO ROSS Jazz Passion & Satin Latin

Album · 2024 · Hard Bop
Cover art 3.50 | 1 rating
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js
Although Jimbo Ross has spent the last couple decades establishing himself as a top blues playing violist, he didn’t start out that way. Jimbo was originally a jazz guy who appeared on the famous Don Ellis recording, “Live at Montreux”, as well as many other jazz recordings over the years. After spending much of the 2000s playing blues, RnB and Zydeco, Jimbo has finally come full circle and returned to his jazz roots with his latest offering, “Jazz Passion and Satin Latin”. Notice that Jimbo plays the viola, not the more common violin or even ‘fiddle’. Viola players are rare in the jazz world, with LeRoy Jenkins and Jimbo being two of the few that are well known. Ross has added an extra treble string to his viola so that he can reach high violin notes as well as the viola’s usual deeper range.

The music on “Jazz Passion and Satin Latin” is a mix of bluesy hard bop, Latin jazz, some beautifully melodic contemporary tunes and a few ballads. The ensemble that Ross has gathered here does not go for flashy technique or gratuitous displays of practice room high speed scales. No, instead the solos are soulful and melodic and quite often steeped in the blues. You can tell Jimbo and his gang have been playing a lot of blues and RnB because their approach to jazz is not way different, which is kind of refreshing in a way. This is great outdoorsy party music, perfect for a backyard barbeque or visit to a favorite swimming spot. In the famous words of Lou Reed, ‘they play good times music’.

Although most of the songs on here are lesser known standards, one original by guitarist Joe Gaeta, “Don the Working Man”, has a gorgeous melody and nice chord changes. Hopefully we will hear more Gaeta originals on the next outing. Another nice melody comes with, “The Night has a Thousand Eyes”, a tenor sax version of this one was a big radio hit back in the late 70s, but it has since kind of disappeared, its nice Ross has brought this tune back. You get some up tempo bebop with “The Breeze & I” and “Indian Summer” and some energetic Latin jazz with “Delilah” and “Know it All”. Bluesy hard bop comes your way via Wes Montgomery’s “Jingles” and Gerry Mulligan’s “East Lag”.

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KARI ANTILA Dahill Road

Album · 2023 · Post-Fusion Contemporary
Cover art 4.00 | 1 rating
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Matti P
My first acquaintance with the Finnish jazz guitarist and composer Kari Antila (b. 1966) was circa 2016 when I attended his gig (as a duo with a pianist, I believe it was), in a Helsinki restaurant. I liked it enough to buy right there his first album The North Wind (2013), but have to admit I've seldom listened to it. It featured Manuel Dunkel's saxophone. This latest Antila album is a quartet work, featuring pianist Alexi Tuomarila and the rhythm section of double bassist Kaisa Mäensivu -- also known as a band leader of her own -- and drummer Tuomas Timonen. All seven pieces were composed by Antila.

Right from the opening track 'For Toninho' I came to think of PAT METHENY, his easy-going and light-hearted output, to be more precise. This association is helped by the Lyle Mays style pianism and, above all, Antila's use of his voice as an additional instrument in the similar manner as on several Metheny albums. 'Moving Clouds' is slightly moody in its peaceful tempo and features Kaisa's double bass solo.

'Wild Rooster' is naturally among the livelier stuff here, nevertheless it maintains the sonic smoothness. Throughout the album the music is sophisticated, melodic, fairly gentle and easy on the ears and mind. Happy moods and a more introspective delicacy are in a harmonic balance. Not even 'Waltz for the Swan of Tuonela' gets notably dark, nor it (or Antila's music in general) sounds particularly Finnish, despite the title's reference to Kalevala/ Jean Sibelius.

The voice as an instrument returns on the final piece 'On my Way to Nairobi'. All in all this excellently played and produced album is very easy to enjoy, and especially fans of Pat Metheny will feel at home here. What it perhaps lacks is a wider variety in (guitar) sounds and truly memorable highlights. Four stars, therefore.

CHASE Chase

Album · 1971 · Pop/Art Song/Folk
Cover art 4.42 | 3 ratings
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FunkFreak75
Released in April of 1971, Bill Chase was a Schillinger House of Music (later renamed the Berklee College of Music)-trained jazz trumpeter who had cut his teeth in the 1950s playing for Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, and Woody Herman's Thundering Herd. He is often seen on lists of the greatest trumpeters of all-time. This band and album was Bill's attempt to give the "hot ticket" of jazz-rock a try. Sadly, Bill died only three years later in a plane crash at the young age of 40.

1. "Open Up Wide" (3:48) amazing full-throttle brass rock. (8.875/10)

2. "Livin' In Heat" (2:54) a little Broadway musical feel to this one (as well as BS&T). I guess the lead vocals hear must be attributed to Dennis Johnson. (8.875/10)

3. "Hello Groceries" (2:56) R&B brass rock. Jerry Van Blair's lead vocal is pure R&B. (8.75/10)

4. "Handbags and Gladrags" (3:23) slowed down New Orleans funereal music start turns into New York City open air style jazz-rock. Love the wavy, layered horn arrangements in the back ground. Lead vocalist Ted Piercefield sure sounds like David Clayton Thomas. (9/10)

5. "Get It On" (2:59) (8.666667/10)

6. "Boys and Girls Together" (2:56) Ted Piercefield again in the lead vocals. (8.666667/10)

7. "Invitation to a River" (14:13) so much like the soundtrack and arias from a single act of a Broadway musical. Even so, it would be considered great, moving theater music. (27.75/30) a) "Two Minds Meet" - Dennis Johnson again on lead vocals? b) "Stay" - slow and atmospheric with choral background vocals supporting Dennis' plaintive lead. c) "Paint It Sad" - there's that David Clayton Thomas sound and feel again. d) "Reflections" (ad lib) - Astounding horn play--especially from lead trumpeter Bill Chase. e) "River" - more akin to the slow and plaintive music and lyrics of the second movement.

Total time - 33:09

This is an album that sounds as if the Don Ellis Orchestra produced Blood Sweat and Tears and they composed for Broadway musicals. The horn play is amazing throughout this album--so crisp and clear, creative and powerful--but the songs aren't always as engaging and are rarely inventive or forward-thinking (except for the horn arrangements) as some of the other J-R Fusion artists of the day. I feel that Bill and company's compositional and stylistic orientations are quite similar to the music Stephen Schwartz was doing for musical theater.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of theatric brass rock.

ASSOCIATION P.C. Sun Rotation

Album · 1972 · Fusion
Cover art 3.45 | 2 ratings
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FunkFreak75
Another go round with Pierre, Toto, Jasper, and, this time, all Siggi Busch on the electric bass. Recorded in Hamburg, Germany, in 1970 at Windrose Studio, from November 24 through 27, the album was released in 1971 by MPS Records and distributed by BASF.

1. "Idee A" (4:30) engineered far more toward the accentuation of the electrified elements of the music than anything on Earwax (8.75/10)

2. "Suite": a) "Scorpion" (6:47) spacey experimental soundscapes of a 2001: A Space Odyssey-like cinematic disorder opens up this suite as everyone in the band busies themselves with some unrestricted free-form play--yet there is a flow and tempo and even the shadows of some structural elements including harmony and interplay. The second half goes (13.25/15) b) "Neuteboom" (5:42) buoyed by a very repetitive bass and circus-organ arpeggio line, guitar and electric piano are sent soloing while drummer and bandleader Pierre Courbois messes around with perfect timing beneath. Interesting--and a little annoying after five minutes of the same bass line--though not quite so much when Toto and Jasper begin to try to weave their way into the bass and organ's line. (8.75/10) c) "Scorcussion" (5:56) Pierre is left alone to express on his drum kit. At the end of the third minute of Pierre's soloing Toto starts to inject some noise burst from his fuzz guitar while Jasper adds a spray of chords, flourishes, and crazed hits from his electric piano. At the end of the fifth minute everybody backs off to zero before Toto is given space for some target practice for his alien space ray gun. Despite my understanding the band's effort to take Herbie Hancock's spacey experimentation further, this is just not my cup of tea. (8.5/10)

3. "Silence" (0:18)

4. "Don Paul" (3:09) more jagged, angular jazz musings and exercises in cohesion and cooperation, this one opens a little too aggressively and then just as suddenly and quickly moves into a solo of Siggi's double bass. Eventually, he's joined by brushed drums and dissonant chord play from Toto's un-effected guitar. These guys are obviously so comfortable and proficient at their instruments that they can easily and smoothly do just about anything, but this is not the type of musical listening that I choose to come back to: there's just too much of the crazy Tony Williams Lifetime Emergency! avant garde experimentation going on here for my liking. (8.375/10)

5. "Totemism" (16:45) These guys are obviously so comfortable and proficient at their instruments that they can easily and smoothly do just about anything, but there's just a little too much of the crazy Tony Williams Lifetime Emergency! avant garde experimentation going on here for my liking. (Didn't I already say that?) Luckily, about two minutes into it the quartet gels into a forward-moving, single-direction motif over-and within which all of the individual musicians still find the freedom to move about and pave their own way. Having heard enough of Toto Blanke's guitar playing now to appreciate his skills, I have to say that when he plays like this--like 1960s jazz guitar with an experimental edge-- I am not a fan: impressed, yes, but not a fan. Jasper van't Hof is experimenting with way too much distortion on his electric piano which gives it a very "dirty" sound than I also do not like. This would probably be a very fun song to experience in a live jazz club scene but it is really not my kind of jazz (or jazz-rock fusion)--and here they're forcing 17-minutes of it down my throat! (30.375/35)

6. "Frau Theunisse"n (1:10) a FOCUS-like jam that seems to be coming out of some other jam (it's faded in to get started) but then is over far too quickly. (4.5/5)

Total time 44:17

After the previous year's Earwax, I was very excited to hear this, their follow-up!

B-/3.5 stars; a very good display of experimental, loosely-performed avant garde electrified jazz that feels like a detour down the wrong (but, I get it: necessary) direction. Check it out for yourself but this is no album that I will return to soon--maybe ever.

AKIRA SAKATA Harpacticoida / Akira Sakata ‎: La Mer

Album · 1998 · Jazz Related Soundtracks
Cover art 3.00 | 1 rating
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snobb
A leading Japanese avant-garde jazz sax player has formally graduated as a marine biologist. "La Mer" is his most unorthodox album, containing Sakata's compositions, recorded for the video program ”The Universe of Mijinko (Water Flea)”. Besides being a soundtrack composer, Akira plays reeds himself with the Harpacticoida trio ("Harpacticoida" is a planktonic or benthic water creature), consisting of Indonesian-Japanese pianist Febian Resa Pane, acoustic bassist Hiroshi Yoshino, and marimba player Kumiko Takara.

The album's music is opposite to almost everything we heard from Sakata on his regular albums. The compositions on "La Mer" are low-tempo, dreamy and soulful. Sakata plays many clarinet and alto solos, almost improvisation-less straight tunes. No trace of his regular harsh sound and screaming free sax can be found here. Febian Resa Pane plays almost chamber piano, and the whole music varies from soulful pop-jazz to almost ambient new age, scented with Japanese folk elements.

The original soundtrack material is completed with "Ballad For Taco (Octpus)" - a melancholic ballad with Sakata soprano sax soloing, it sounds a bit closer to his more regular material.

Originally a self-released edition in 2000, it has been reissued in Germany in 2002 by major label Enja and isn't a rarity anymore. Still, this album will hardly attract Sakata's explosive free-jazz fans and can be interesting mostly for his hot followers/researchers and collectors.

PAT METHENY New Chautauqua

Album · 1979 · Post-Fusion Contemporary
Cover art 3.72 | 22 ratings
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FunkFreak75
My first Pat Metheny acquisition. I was a bit thrown by the strange sound palette of Pat's solo work--sometimes layers of treated guitars, acoustic and, I thought, electric. There were also many melodies and structures that were strange to me, his tone so delicate and, I think I felt, folk-country-western, even, sometimes, quite angular and unmelodic. It took a long time for me to become familiar with this music--to eventually "like" it, much less understand it, but something about it kept me coming back, kept me trying--trying to "get inside" the music. Now I listen to it 45 years on and I don't have any issues: I like it all. It's all, of course, very familiar to me now.

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